Why does my Ideal Cut look yellow in certain light?!?

[unc1]

I recently purchased an ideal-cut diamond with the following specs. Its IdealScope image was almost perfect, suggesting VERY little (if any) light leakage.

1.62ct Round Brilliant H VS1 AGS0
7.64 x 7.66 x 4.64mm
Depth: 60.5%
Table: 56.7%
Pavilion Angle: 40.9
Crown Angle: 34.7
Culet: 0.9%
Girdle: 1.2-1.7%
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Excellent
Flourescence: None
HCA Score: 1.6


My only reservation prior to purchase was the H color, but I was assured that the diamond (with its excellent cut) would face up very white. Most of the time it does...but, in some light, I swear it glows YELLOW! Yikes! Given the H color, I expected "off-white" or some tinge of color from some angles in some lighting, but I definitely did not expect a "fancy" yellow glow under incandescent bulbs.

Can anyone tell me whether the vivid and uniform yellow color I see is the result of the H color of my stone or its high level of light reflection (or some combination)? The stone looks very white in direct sunlight and under flourescent bulbs but appears especially yellow (gold really) under the recessed lights in my kitchen. Help!!

I have seriously considered returning what I think otherwise is a truly exceptional stone...If the dramatic change in color I see is "normal" (that is, happens with stones of all colors), I don''t want to overreact. It''s just hard to believe the same diamond can look SO different from time to time!

 

[aljdewey]

Maybe it will help to explain it this way.




Have you ever seen a woman's make-up mirror.....the kind that has a dial to change the lighting from daylight to office to evening, etc?




These settings are to help someone gauge how to apply their make-up relevant to the lighting they'll be in.




When you sit in front of one of these and you turn the "evening" setting on, everything takes on a rosy, pinkish color....including your face. When put on the office setting, everything gets stark white....including your face.




Your skin didn't really change when you changed the setting, but the way it appeared (performed) looked different under different lighting conditions. Your diamond is likely doing the same.




Does that make sense?

 

[valeria101]

The diamond can only show you whatever light is out there. If the respective lighting is yellowish, the diamond will just concentrate that and reveal the lights' spectrum much more than any object around. Are you sure other diamonds look white under the same light? This could be hard to test if you don't have a D around, but you could view your stone using a usual light filtered through something colored, and see if the effect I am talking about is what you have previously seen. This should color your stone good - much more than the faded yellowish light you mention, but I can't imagine what other experiment will not require other diamonds for benchmark. If this is not it, well, maybe you need another stone after all regardless of the obvious tallents of the current one.

Hope this helps a bit...

 

[unc1]

aljdewey,

It does make sense, but do all diamonds perform this way? Or, does my diamond look yellower under such light because of its cut and/or color? I guess I'm trying to figure out whether there's a problem with the diamond or my own expectations. Thanks for helping!!

 

[aljdewey]

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On 12/3/2003 9:02:38 PM unc1 wrote:





aljdewey,

It does make sense, but do all diamonds perform this way? Or, does my diamond look yellower under such light because of its cut and/or color? I guess I'm trying to figure out whether there's a problem with the diamond or my own expectations. Thanks for helping!!

----------------

I'm no expert, but think about this logically.

A diamond is like a mirror....it can only return the light it receives. If you were standing on the street and the blue lights from a police cruiser were shining toward your diamond, would expect it to look white then too? Of course not.

Incandescent light IS yellow, and so the diamond reflects the yellow light it is getting.

Allow me to be candid: I think it's all in your head. You KNOW the stone is an H and you were concerned about going with an H. Sooooo, now you're prejudiced toward seeing "yellow". If this stone has been sent to you and you were told it was an F.......and then you saw this same effect......you wouldn't give it a second thought because your mind would say "it can't be the color....it's a F."

Your stone has SCREAMING proportions and sounds gorgeous. You're having a (perfectly natural) touch of buyer's remorse. My advice: relax and enjoy the new stone!

 

[unc1]

I'm sure you're absolutely right. I think I've overanalyzed this stone to death because I'm so wary of seeing yellow. It's funny you mention the F-colored stone. I used to have one, and I don't think I ever even noticed what it looked like under the very same lights. As you say, I wasn't "looking" for a yellow/gold appearance in those situations. I would, however, feel better if I could just remember whether it took on a similar appearance...Many thanks for the insights and the vote of confidence!

 

[strmrdr]

Is it in a yellow gold setting?
If so that could explain it.
Even so im willing to bet the lights have a yellow tint and it is picking it up.
Lightbulbs in a kitchen tend to yellow over time from greese and smoke buildup on the bulb.
Replace the bulbs with ge reveal bulbs and you will be amazed not only how well your ring looks but how everything else looks.
The colors you thought were brown you will find out are yellow and it will bring the red out.
They are billed as broad spectrum pure white lights and they live up to it.
There are whiter bulbs but they are a lot more expensive and dont last very long.
Looking at white paper under them you can realy see the difference between them and other bulbs.

 

[gunsuka]

I agree with the others, your mind is making it appear more yellow. An H color diamond will not appear as yellow as you say.

Also, the material it is set in can make it appear a little different. If it is in yellow gold the diamond will pickup some of that yellow (your going to say it is in Plat. now I'm sure!).

 

[unc1]

The stone is set in platinum, so the yellow I'm seeing must be coming from the lights. Thanks again for your posts...I guess I'll have to look into some whiter lightbulbs to alleviate the anxiety!

 

[aljdewey]

You know.....don't feel bad. Mara's told us all before the story of her initial diamond earrings.




Bought them, thought they were H color.....loved them for two years. Then she bought her e-ring (a G), and noticed that the earrings looked yellow. She took them in to get evaluated.....turned out they were "N" color!!!




It's easy to let the mind tell us what we *should* see instead of what we *do* see. Incidentally, that's what's so great about kids......they don't know what they're *supposed* to see, so they tell it like it is! LOL

 

[Groovy Chick]

Okay, don't panic! The exact same thing happened to me except that my diamond was a G colour, and there was a simple and easily fixed explanation. My boyfriend proposed to me a couple of weeks ago with a beautiful 1.54ct pear solitaire. I'd chosen the stone and setting myself after months of research. It was a lovely proposal and i was on cloud 9 (sniff sniff). I was even pleasantly surprised with the way my stone appeared exceptionally white in daylight having only seen it previously in the jewellers. However, a few days later i couldn't resist going into some jewellery stores to reassure myself that what i'd chosen was great, but what happened was the exact opposite. My stone looked more yellow than all the Hs and Is. I was devasted. It was so hard to hide my immense disappointment and concern from my fiance. For days i went into various stores with the same result. Finally, in despair i walked into a store and told the man behind the counter what i had observed. He happened to be a gemologist and asked to see my ring. He looked at it and straight away said "it's definately a G colour, it's just really really dirty". He then cleaned it and after that it out-whitened the Hs by far. I'd didn't realise but apparently diamonds pick up dirt very easily and they need to be cleaned with proper jewellery cleaner. So, now i'm cleaning it daily like a total nut! This may or may not be the case with your stone. If not, take it to a gemologist and get him/her to eyeball it for you, or get an official appraisal. You're probably just being paranoid like i was. I'm sure it'll be fine




Pear Princess

 

[glitterata]

One more thing--what color is your kitchen ceiling? Is it yellow or perhaps a yellowish off-white? My (K-L) OEC looks sky blue on a clear day outdoors--because it's reflecting the blue sky.

 

[Mara]

Yes your diamond will also reflect other colors around it. Certain lights make my stone look different. Funny odd story, there is this vietnamese noodle place near us that we were dining at one night and they have this really random blue neon sign on the ceiling....not small, not big...hung over cashier. We were sitting across the room and I noticed my ring looked blue! I had never seen that before. Turned out it was picking up the blue light from about 50 feet away at certain angles. SO ODD but it looked really cool.




I have also seen stones take on tinges depending on what the person is wearing. So if your kitchen is yellow or your lights are more yellow...the stone could definitely be taking on a color.




I have a G stone and its white in pretty much every circumstance, and also I just got an H stone and didn't see a tinge of color with my naked eye. I'm sure if I stared at it for days looking for yellow, I'd see something, because you really start to look for it. Lately sometimes I catch a flash of off-white on my e-ring stone, but chances are its the lighting, or a nearby color or maybe just my mind! Our minds can definitely play tricks on us.




I would take your stone and get it independently appraised. Make sure it's an H...I'm sure it is but maybe an expert opinion will help you set your mind at ease. And yes I was the one with the N color earrings thinking they were the hottest thing out there. Until I saw something else up close to it. Tricky!

 

[Stephan]

Go outside, in your garden, and you will see that your diamond is perfectly white, so as all the true H-color diamonds...

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Can you take a photo in a place where the diamond appears yellow - pointing the camera lens in the same direction as the diamond.
You should be in the photo - wearing the same clothes (or if you are a lady you could .... edited out) and the camera should be exactly where the diamond is.

Then we can see where and what type of light is shining onto the diamond.