New here - help with yellow diamonds?

[shattrstar]

Hi all,

I am interested in getting a yellow diamonds for my e-ring and wanted to know price range. I've looked at fancydiamonds.net already, but haven't found anything I really liked.

Do you all know what the price range would be for a 0.7-0.8 carat, VVS2-IF fancy vivid yellow would go for? Cushion cut too (I've read that cut is good for yellows).

Also, I noticed the cuts seem to make a huge difference in price. Is cushion cut more pricey than other cuts (say pear?)

I'm hoping I posted in the right forum too haha.

Thanks in advanced for your input!!

 

[Rockdiamond]

Hi shattrstar,
Congrats on getting a yellow diamond!

First thing- Clarity is less important in yellow diamonds. Not to say that you should buy an imperfect stone- or anything you don't want. But I'd suggest widening the search to include VS and even SI diamonds. The reason is that in fancy colored diamonds, the color trumps clarity in many circumstances.
For example- say we're comparing two vivid yellow diamonds- an IF and an SI1- but the SI1 is an incredible vivid yellow, while the IF is a borderline Intense yellow- the SI1 can be worth a lot more than the IF in such a case.
Plus, the color of such diamonds hides imperfections much better than in a colorless stone.
By specifying such a narrow band of clarity, you might miss the best stone

Pricing: I don't know if I can post specifics about price- but in general, the shapes of pear and cushion are on par.

 

[shattrstar]

Hi shattrstar,
Congrats on getting a yellow diamond!

First thing- Clarity is less important in yellow diamonds. Not to say that you should buy an imperfect stone- or anything you don't want. But I'd suggest widening the search to include VS and even SI diamonds. The reason is that in fancy colored diamonds, the color trumps clarity in many circumstances.
For example- say we're comparing two vivid yellow diamonds- an IF and an SI1- but the SI1 is an incredible vivid yellow, while the IF is a borderline Intense yellow- the SI1 can be worth a lot more than the IF in such a case.
Plus, the color of such diamonds hides imperfections much better than in a colorless stone.
By specifying such a narrow band of clarity, you might miss the best stone

Pricing: I don't know if I can post specifics about price- but in general, the shapes of pear and cushion are on par.

Thanks for the info! That's quite informative. I'll keep it in mind when I'm searching then!

 

[yssie]

If I might butt into your thread w/ a quick coloured diamond q for RD or others shattrstar -


RD - random question, but do you find that some inclusions help saturate colour (or tend to de-saturate)? I'm thinking about something like (sufficiently severe) wisps that impedes light return, which could be a bonus in an FCD? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Also - do you find that certain inclusion types are more likely with certain colours - maybe because of the type of environment the crystals must form in?

 

[kenny]

If you like high clarity go ahead and like high clarity.
Don't let any vendor tell you clarity in FCDs, Fancy Colored Diamonds, is less important.
If it is important to YOU, then it is important to you.
Vendors want to sell every diamond they stock so anything that reflects poorly on any of their inventory may be met with arguments, especially here on Pricescope where diamond shoppers of the world are influenced.
I would be uncomfortable dealing with such a vendor whether he pays to advertise on PS or not.

Colored diamonds are very rare and price is determined mostly on the color's hue, saturation and tone.
You could pay a zillion bucks for a tiny pure blue or red of clarity so hideous that it would dramatically lower the value of a white diamond.
Just because clarity affects price proportionally-less in FCDs, than in white diamonds, does not mean you HAVE to settle for low clarity in FCDs, especially in yellow.

Low clarity will not lower the price of an FCD proportionally as much as it may a white diamond.
FCDs are just so rare that the color itself is king.
That is what the market has decided - but you are the boss; it's YOUR money and you can find a high-clarity Yellow.

Speaking from experience, I just bought a GIA VVS1 Fancy Vivid Yellow, with no modifying hues, and it is an Asscher, rare in FCDs because that a cut does not amp up the color of an FCD.
They ARE out there; it may take you longer than finding the perfect high-clarify white diamond.
Leibish didn't have one but they sourced this one for me.

Get educated about clarity, but after your education if you still want high clarity hold out for it.

I've been collecting fancy colored diamonds and I've bought around a dozen.
I've exchanged and returned some, and currently have 8, and have 1 or 2 in the oven, so to speak.

They have all come from Leibish aka www.fancydiamonds.net and I love this vendor.
They have a related company called Ishay Ben-David http://www.fancycolordiamond.net/search/fancy_yellow_diamonds/
They may have what you are looking for as they have 131 Yellow FCDs in stock.

If I were you I'd contact Leibish and tell them your target specs.
I have returned and exchanged diamonds with Leibish and they are very understanding that finding the perfect one is not easy.

BTW, with Yellow you can be more picky about clarity and cut and shape.
There is a relatively large supply of yellow FCDs compared to red, green, blue violet, orange or pink.

 

[Rockdiamond]

If I might butt into your thread w/ a quick coloured diamond q for RD or others shattrstar -


RD - random question, but do you find that some inclusions help saturate colour (or tend to de-saturate)? I'm thinking about something like (sufficiently severe) wisps that impedes light return, which could be a bonus in an FCD? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Also - do you find that certain inclusion types are more likely with certain colours - maybe because of the type of environment the crystals must form in?

Great question Yssie.
In fact, if we're looking at ultra rare, natural green diamonds, imperfections do indeed help to broadcast the color. Many, if not most natural green diamonds have a part of the "skin" of the rough diamond left intact to help with color broadcast.
In cases of extreme detrimental imperfections, it can go either way.
In most cases, imperfection severe enough to block light return also kills sparkle- and that, to me, is an important aspect of color.
If a stone is pink, but dull, it's simply less attractive- but it might, in some cases, be "pinker" than a clean stone of the same body color as the imperfection reflects and amplifies the body color.

shattrstar- Vendors do want/need to sell their inventory. However it's a very poor , pushy vendor who tries to push their wares on folks who don;t want whatever it is they don't want. The company Kenny loves so much would likely never do that, nor would I.
**edited by moderator. please respect the policies**

As I mentioned, by all means do not buy any diamond you don't love.
I'm committed to providing great stones for our clients- and strive to buy only stones I'd wear, or present to my wife- or stones that present good value, even if they are not my cup of tea..
I'm also committed to educating readers.
In addition to having experience buying many millions of dollars of Fancy Colored Diamonds- an experience base which I like to share- I have also have a lot of experience interacting with shoppers that may have misconceptions about clarity, which in turn hampers their ability to take advantage of all that might be appealing to them.
For example: I've heard this many times " I don;t want an SI2 diamond because I want it to be shiny, and sparkly. I've read (and or) heard that SI2 diamonds are never shiny and sparkly"
This is simply a widely held misconception. Even I1 diamonds can be incredibly lively and there are cases of totally eye clean I1 diamonds
Sometimes I find that imperfect stones have a certain charm which does not diminish their appeal.

By all means, if two Fancy Vivid Yellows have equal color, and one is IF, and the other SI1, the IF will likely be more valuable.
But that in itself might make the SI stone a great buy for someone with a limited budget ( read: 99% of all shoppers)
That's why I'd stand by my initial suggestion to include a wider range of clarity- unless you have a real love of VVS stones for that reason- and there's certainly nothing wrong with that.

 

[shattrstar]

Thanks for the replies kenny and Rockdiamond. I appreciate the information and I intend to analyze what I can. I'm an engineer and can think critically, so i intended to go into my yellow diamond purchase with AS MUCH info as possible and PS seemed to be the place to get it.

I see the points being made and all in all, seems like what you see is what you get - regardless of clarity, its how everything works together to produce color (and I'm hoping to find something along the vivid yellow range). Obviously, clarity would affect price, but so does everything else it seems. Just finding something that's the best bang for my buck is all I'm concerned with. It's just harder to do that online when I cannot see the stone so it's easier to create "limits" so I'm not overwhelmed with too many options. Be rest assured though, I'll be asking many questions and asking for many photos before I commit to any purchases like that (and then double checking here lol). As for my clarity preferences, I'm open to other ranges as long as it's eye clean; that's all I really care about.

Again, thanks for the information! What fun would science be if there weren't some friendly debate involved?

 

[kenny]

The source of the color in colored diamonds is . . .

Yellow: nitrogen contamination.
Blue: Boron contamination.
Pink/Brown: deformation of the Crystal lattice structure when the diamond was formed.
Green: proximity to radioactivity.

FCDs do not get their color from inclusions.
Of course a really large nasty opaque inclusion will block light and color in any diamond.
Sometimes the body color of a strongly-colored FCD can make some inclusions less noticeable than they would be in a white diamond.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Kenny- you're correctly stating the chemical reasons diamonds have color- however that overlooks the physical light properties.
To prove my point, we can look at how the way a diamond is cut may increase color, by increasing the length of light path, or bounces within the stone. This is related to chemical composition, in a way that allows us to capitalize on it.
Imperfections can also achieve a similar change in color, in some circumstances buddy.
Can I call you buddy?

Green diamonds which are left with natural" area are also a good example of the way imperfection can increase color.

 

[Amethyste]

Hey there

It's uinfortunate (well not to a diamond vendor!) that you are looking into "vivid" cause I was about to suggest that you
look in the W to Z range to get your hands on amazing yellow diamonds without paying the steep premium for the fancy classification.
I have a W to X colored pear as my ering and it is plenty yellow

Good luck with your search!

 

[Tom Gelb]

If I might butt into your thread w/ a quick coloured diamond q for RD or others shattrstar -


RD - random question, but do you find that some inclusions help saturate colour (or tend to de-saturate)? I'm thinking about something like (sufficiently severe) wisps that impedes light return, which could be a bonus in an FCD? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Also - do you find that certain inclusion types are more likely with certain colours - maybe because of the type of environment the crystals must form in?

Hello Yssie,

In answer to your first question it really depends on the specific diamond. As David notes below there are times when twining wisps or clouds can tend to dull the sparkle of a diamond and make it appear a richer color. I am unsure of the mechanism for this. One could be that by blocked the light it is being forced to bounce through the diamond a few more times and thus producing a richer color. Another may be that by reducing the brilliance the color may look enhanced. I know of no study on this topic so these are just my best guesses. On rare occasion a feather can reflect the color of a diamond a few more times causing the color to enhance, this I have seen and written about.

In answer to the second question there are certainly cases where it is more common to see certain inclusions in certain color diamonds, and you are right that this can be a result of the different environments that the crystals grow in. But please remember that it is not just the growth environment that causes the color. For example, as Kenny notes below, the coloring agent for most yellow diamonds is the presence of nitrogen within the diamond. However there are sub-catagories here. As we go deeper into this area we learn that it is not just that nitrogen is present but how that nitrogen is attached to the carbon atoms or themselves within the lattice. Remember that the vast majority of diamonds have nitrogen, but in most cases this does result in yellow diamonds. Thus within yellow diamonds there is a category called single-substitutional nitrogen where you often find clouds of needles and pinpoints that you would be much less likely to find than in other yellow diamonds. Pink diamonds are another example. In type 1 pink diamond (those containing nitorgen, but still pink!) there are often numerous large inclusions that most often are garnets, while in type II pink diamonds inclusions are much more rare and likely to be small and graphite like. I really could go on forever here, but the nuances make it hard to get everything clear in a blog form.

I hope this helps at least a little.

 

[Tom Gelb]

The source of the color in colored diamonds is . . .

Yellow: nitrogen contamination.
Blue: Boron contamination.
Pink/Brown: deformation of the Crystal lattice structure when the diamond was formed.
Green: proximity to radioactivity.

FCDs do not get their color from inclusions.
Of course a really large nasty opaque inclusion will block light and color in any diamond.
Sometimes the body color of a strongly-colored FCD can make some inclusions less noticeable than they would be in a white diamond.

Hello Kenny,

This quote is almost always true. The exceptions are natural black diamonds where the color is solely due to inclusions, and some gray diamonds, where dark and pervasive clouds are the culprit. Green radiation stains that penetrate the surface of a diamond (not all do) are considered inclusions by diamond graders and a diamond could not be called internally flawless with such an inclusion. Some pink and brown diamonds show such strong color along their grain lines that the grain lines would be considered as colored graining and thus an inclusion. There are probably a few more examples here, but right now I can't think of them.

I hope this helps.

 

[Tom Gelb]

If I might butt into your thread w/ a quick coloured diamond q for RD or others shattrstar -


RD - random question, but do you find that some inclusions help saturate colour (or tend to de-saturate)? I'm thinking about something like (sufficiently severe) wisps that impedes light return, which could be a bonus in an FCD? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Also - do you find that certain inclusion types are more likely with certain colours - maybe because of the type of environment the crystals must form in?

Great question Yssie.
In fact, if we're looking at ultra rare, natural green diamonds, imperfections do indeed help to broadcast the color. Many, if not most natural green diamonds have a part of the "skin" of the rough diamond left intact to help with color broadcast.
In cases of extreme detrimental imperfections, it can go either way.
In most cases, imperfection severe enough to block light return also kills sparkle- and that, to me, is an important aspect of color.
If a stone is pink, but dull, it's simply less attractive- but it might, in some cases, be "pinker" than a clean stone of the same body color as the imperfection reflects and amplifies the body color.

shattrstar- Vendors do want/need to sell their inventory. However it's a very poor , pushy vendor who tries to push their wares on folks who don;t want whatever it is they don't want. The company Kenny loves so much would likely never do that, nor would I.
**edited**

As I mentioned, by all means do not buy any diamond you don't love.
I'm committed to providing great stones for our clients- and strive to buy only stones I'd wear, or present to my wife- or stones that present good value, even if they are not my cup of tea..
I'm also committed to educating readers.
In addition to having experience buying many millions of dollars of Fancy Colored Diamonds- an experience base which I like to share- I have also have a lot of experience interacting with shoppers that may have misconceptions about clarity, which in turn hampers their ability to take advantage of all that might be appealing to them.
For example: I've heard this many times " I don;t want an SI2 diamond because I want it to be shiny, and sparkly. I've read (and or) heard that SI2 diamonds are never shiny and sparkly"
This is simply a widely held misconception. Even I1 diamonds can be incredibly lively and there are cases of totally eye clean I1 diamonds
Sometimes I find that imperfect stones have a certain charm which does not diminish their appeal.

By all means, if two Fancy Vivid Yellows have equal color, and one is IF, and the other SI1, the IF will likely be more valuable.
But that in itself might make the SI stone a great buy for someone with a limited budget ( read: 99% of all shoppers)
That's why I'd stand by my initial suggestion to include a wider range of clarity- unless you have a real love of VVS stones for that reason- and there's certainly nothing wrong with that.

Hello David,

My understanding of this is a bit different. Are there not two relatively distinct categories of natural green irradiated diamonds on the market today? One where the vast majority of the green skin is left on the pavilion (so-called skin jobs) and those where the vast majority of radiation stains are removed and the color is actually a result of the radiation damage that penetrated the diamond and not the stains themselves. In the first case I agree with you completely that it is the stains themselves that are almost exclusively the cause of color, but in the second case I see it differently. My understanding is that the green skin is often left on, at least during the cutting, to help the GIA determine that the diamond is naturally colored. Please enlighten me if you find this incorrect or incomplete.

Thank you

 

[LD]

Shattrstar - I own quite a few yellow diamonds and I would urge you to look around and, if you get the opportunity, look at a number in person. Why? Because colour is very very specific to each person. One person's "vivid" may not be another persons! In all honesty, some of the paler yellow diamonds can be sublime and have a vanilla yellow quality (think vanilla ice cream) and with that typically comes a huge amount of dispersion (fire).

I would agree with David (Rockdiamond) that inclusions are far less important in fancy coloured diamonds and so is cut. Colour is "king" in these diamonds and inclusions can be forgiveable if they don't detract from the overall beauty of the diamond. Having said that, if inclusions will worry then you should screen those out during your search BUT you really do need to see a range.

I have bought from all the companies mentioned above (including Rockdiamond) and have always been happy. Yellow diamonds are much much much easier to come by than other colour FCDs and therefore the price is normally much more affordable than, say, a blue or pink diamond.

Hope that helps.

 

[Rockdiamond]

If I might butt into your thread w/ a quick coloured diamond q for RD or others shattrstar -


RD - random question, but do you find that some inclusions help saturate colour (or tend to de-saturate)? I'm thinking about something like (sufficiently severe) wisps that impedes light return, which could be a bonus in an FCD? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Also - do you find that certain inclusion types are more likely with certain colours - maybe because of the type of environment the crystals must form in?

Great question Yssie.
In fact, if we're looking at ultra rare, natural green diamonds, imperfections do indeed help to broadcast the color. Many, if not most natural green diamonds have a part of the "skin" of the rough diamond left intact to help with color broadcast.
In cases of extreme detrimental imperfections, it can go either way.
In most cases, imperfection severe enough to block light return also kills sparkle- and that, to me, is an important aspect of color.
If a stone is pink, but dull, it's simply less attractive- but it might, in some cases, be "pinker" than a clean stone of the same body color as the imperfection reflects and amplifies the body color.

shattrstar- Vendors do want/need to sell their inventory. However it's a very poor , pushy vendor who tries to push their wares on folks who don;t want whatever it is they don't want. The company Kenny loves so much would likely never do that, nor would I.
**edited by moderator**

As I mentioned, by all means do not buy any diamond you don't love.
I'm committed to providing great stones for our clients- and strive to buy only stones I'd wear, or present to my wife- or stones that present good value, even if they are not my cup of tea..
I'm also committed to educating readers.
In addition to having experience buying many millions of dollars of Fancy Colored Diamonds- an experience base which I like to share- I have also have a lot of experience interacting with shoppers that may have misconceptions about clarity, which in turn hampers their ability to take advantage of all that might be appealing to them.
For example: I've heard this many times " I don;t want an SI2 diamond because I want it to be shiny, and sparkly. I've read (and or) heard that SI2 diamonds are never shiny and sparkly"
This is simply a widely held misconception. Even I1 diamonds can be incredibly lively and there are cases of totally eye clean I1 diamonds
Sometimes I find that imperfect stones have a certain charm which does not diminish their appeal.

By all means, if two Fancy Vivid Yellows have equal color, and one is IF, and the other SI1, the IF will likely be more valuable.
But that in itself might make the SI stone a great buy for someone with a limited budget ( read: 99% of all shoppers)
That's why I'd stand by my initial suggestion to include a wider range of clarity- unless you have a real love of VVS stones for that reason- and there's certainly nothing wrong with that.

Hello David,

My understanding of this is a bit different. Are there not two relatively distinct categories of natural green irradiated diamonds on the market today? One where the vast majority of the green skin is left on the pavilion (so-called skin jobs) and those where the vast majority of radiation stains are removed and the color is actually a result of the radiation damage that penetrated the diamond and not the stains themselves. In the first case I agree with you completely that it is the stains themselves that are almost exclusively the cause of color, but in the second case I see it differently. My understanding is that the green skin is often left on, at least during the cutting, to help the GIA determine that the diamond is naturally colored. Please enlighten me if you find this incorrect or incomplete.

Thank you

Hi Tom,
Great discussion- your input enriches it greatly.

In terms of the part in bold- Since natural pure green diamonds are so rare, there's not a tremendous amount of info out there to correlate,
However in the case of the "skin" being left intact, I do believe it's possible to make a case for both.
Yes, allowing GIA to determine the origin of color is important, and I have heard that's one reason for leaving the skin intact.
To counter this theory we need to consider how difficult it is to get a grade of "Natural Intense Green", and not have the "undetermined" comment.
To achieve this, cutters go through a process of repeated submissions of stones- first submitting the rough, and also submitting along the cutting process to allow GIA to declare a stone natural.
That part would seem to contradict the reasoning that the skin is left to add to the color.
For sure, there are cases I've seen where this rough skin is adding to the green color in the diamond.

In terms of imperfections, and how they may or may not add to other colors, I don;t really think any "pat" answer covers all the possibilities.
I can recall cases of I2 pink diamonds that seemed to have the color amplified by the fact that the imperfection made the diamond somewhat opaque- similar to what you refer to in black diamonds.

Hey there

It's uinfortunate (well not to a diamond vendor!) that you are looking into "vivid" cause I was about to suggest that you
look in the W to Z range to get your hands on amazing yellow diamonds without paying the steep premium for the fancy classification.
I have a W to X colored pear as my ering and it is plenty yellow

Good luck with your search!

+1 to Ame's comment. The difference between a Fancy Light Yellow, and the next adjacent grade, Y-Z is nothing dramatic- yet there is a (mis)conception that the word "fancy" makes the FLY a "Fancy color" and the Y-Z an "off white" diamond.
Many people, upon seeing a Y-Z identify it as a "Canary"- of course W-X is also a subtle shade lighter- and also will be identified by many observers as a Fancy color.

HI LD- thanks for the nice word

 

[clgwli]

Hey there

It's uinfortunate (well not to a diamond vendor!) that you are looking into "vivid" cause I was about to suggest that you
look in the W to Z range to get your hands on amazing yellow diamonds without paying the steep premium for the fancy classification.
I have a W to X colored pear as my ering and it is plenty yellow

Good luck with your search!

I have to agree with this. I have a Y-Z (avatar) that gets confused as a Fancy Color quite often. Even a lady at Tiffany thought it was a Fancy Light Yellow at minimum (and held its own next to the FY that they had). But I like the slightly lighter yellow shades as it is!

Good luck with your search though. Lots of great information has been posted but I had to just second the idea of what Amethyste here had said If you want another vendor to look at online, check out Diamonds By Lauren. I saw some FIY stones there in the range you were looking for. Though the clarity wasn't so high. I have an SI1 diamond and I can't see anything at all with the naked eye. Not even a bit and I have an eagle eye. The inclusions are such that they blend very well into the stone so I can't see them. I'll put them out here just to let you see... and a couple radiants too

http://rockdiamond.com/index.php/jewelry/loose-diamond-73ct-cushion-cut-fancy-intense-yellow-si1-gia-vibrant-r3708
http://rockdiamond.com/index.php/jewelry/loose-diamond-72ct-cushion-cut-fancy-intense-yellow-si1-gia-beautiful-stone-r3709
http://rockdiamond.com/index.php/jewelry/loose-diamond-74ct-fancy-intense-yellow-radiant-vs2-gia-vibrant-r3468
http://rockdiamond.com/index.php/jewelry/loose-diamond-74ct-fancy-intense-yellow-radiant-vs2-gia-wow-r3469

David (Rockdiamond here) helped me find my Y-Z beauty. I e-mailed him when I couldn't find what I wanted exactly and he came through in no time at all.

Yellows are so lovely and make for wonderful jewelry IMO

 

[clgwli]

I realized my mistake yesterday... I somehow read FIY not FVY for the stones. So sorry for listing FIY stones....

One serious suggestion is to also look at "strong" colored FIY though. Sometimes those can be nearly vivid in color. The eye can't see the difference but the pocket book can! Obviously if you want vivid IF then go for it! Just thought you could broaden your search if you had a couple more options

 

[shattrstar]

Thanks all for your responses.

clg, I'll take a look into FIY too; I just really love the deeper colored stones. I wish I did like the lighter colors, as I do know those run cheaper, but the deeper yellows that almost have orange tint really speak to me (and I know those run higher too lol owell).

Thanks again =]

 

[clgwli]

I totally understand. I tried on the FIY types and decided I liked more like FLY on me best for some reason. Not that one is better or worse obviously.

Good luck with your search

 

[kenny]

Maybe everyone already knows this but I am amazed at the wide RANGE of Yellows within GIA's Vivid Grade - or within their Intense grade.

Some of the Vivid Yellows are so strongly colored they seem like they almost have brown in them to my eyes. (Yes I'm speaking from seeing them live, not in pics.)

I got used to the very narrow range within one color grade of white diamonds.
I even had difficulty differentiating an E from a G.

So don't just buy a Vivid or Intense and assume it will look like the other Vivid or Intense FCDs you have seen.
(I'm not even talking about modifying hues.)

 

[Rockdiamond]

Thanks all for your responses.

clg, I'll take a look into FIY too; I just really love the deeper colored stones. I wish I did like the lighter colors, as I do know those run cheaper, but the deeper yellows that almost have orange tint really speak to me (and I know those run higher too lol owell).

Thanks again =]

Our pleasure!

Actually, when Vivid Yellow diamonds have modifiers- and they're not stated in the GIA grade, they can lower the price/value of the diamond.
Kenny makes a good point- there's a wide range of stone colors that GIA grants the grade "Vivid Yellow"
Oddly enough, if it's called "Fancy Vivid Orange yellow", the price can be similar to a very nice vivid.
However if a stone graded Fancy Vivid Yellow seems a bit orange- which can be related to brown, it can take 25-50% off the price of a very pure vivid.
Or, if it's in incredibly pure vivid yellow, the price can be 50% more than an "average" vivid yellow.

There's an African mine ( which I blieve is long closed) called "Zimi" which is the stuff of diamond dealer legend.
A "Zimi Vivid" can be four times the price of a "regular vivid"

 

[yssie]

Thanks RD, Tom, Kenny, and everyone else for addressing my question - this has turned into an interesting discussion! And OP hope you didn't mind the discussion.


Kenny - I've also seen charts describing impurities as they correspond to colour - though they are always prefaced with disclaimers of incompleteness, so I guess there is still study and debate to be had

RD & Tom - as always, your insight is appreciated! It does make sense that an inclusion that could visibly affect colour may well also have visible effect on transparency/eye-clean-ness of the stone - like everything else it's a tradeoff. I was unaware that the 'skin' on a green had a purpose other than for colour origin identification - or that there is a lengthy multi-part submissions process.. Tom, you mentioned a paper on the effects of feathers in particular, could you point me to this article?

 

[Tom Gelb]

Thanks RD, Tom, Kenny, and everyone else for addressing my question - this has turned into an interesting discussion! And OP hope you didn't mind the discussion.


Kenny - I've also seen charts describing impurities as they correspond to colour - though they are always prefaced with disclaimers of incompleteness, so I guess there is still study and debate to be had

RD & Tom - as always, your insight is appreciated! It does make sense that an inclusion that could visibly affect colour may well also have visible effect on transparency/eye-clean-ness of the stone - like everything else it's a tradeoff. I was unaware that the 'skin' on a green had a purpose other than for colour origin identification - or that there is a lengthy multi-part submissions process.. Tom, you mentioned a paper on the effects of feathers in particular, could you point me to this article?

Hi Yssie,

Thank you for the kind words. The article I mentioned was a Lab Note that I wrote for Gems and Gemology in the mid to late 1990's I may be able to dig it out, but please give me some time.

Thanks again.

 

[yssie]

Hi Yssie,

Thank you for the kind words. The article I mentioned was a Lab Note that I wrote for Gems and Gemology in the mid to late 1990's I may be able to dig it out, but please give me some time.

Thanks again.

Of course, I hope you can dig it up - I think I am not the only one who would enjoy it.

 

[shattrstar]

Thanks RD, Tom, Kenny, and everyone else for addressing my question - this has turned into an interesting discussion! And OP hope you didn't mind the discussion.


Kenny - I've also seen charts describing impurities as they correspond to colour - though they are always prefaced with disclaimers of incompleteness, so I guess there is still study and debate to be had

RD & Tom - as always, your insight is appreciated! It does make sense that an inclusion that could visibly affect colour may well also have visible effect on transparency/eye-clean-ness of the stone - like everything else it's a tradeoff. I was unaware that the 'skin' on a green had a purpose other than for colour origin identification - or that there is a lengthy multi-part submissions process.. Tom, you mentioned a paper on the effects of feathers in particular, could you point me to this article?

no worries Yssie, it made for an interesting discussion! =]

 

[Tom Gelb]

Thanks RD, Tom, Kenny, and everyone else for addressing my question - this has turned into an interesting discussion! And OP hope you didn't mind the discussion.


Kenny - I've also seen charts describing impurities as they correspond to colour - though they are always prefaced with disclaimers of incompleteness, so I guess there is still study and debate to be had

RD & Tom - as always, your insight is appreciated! It does make sense that an inclusion that could visibly affect colour may well also have visible effect on transparency/eye-clean-ness of the stone - like everything else it's a tradeoff. I was unaware that the 'skin' on a green had a purpose other than for colour origin identification - or that there is a lengthy multi-part submissions process.. Tom, you mentioned a paper on the effects of feathers in particular, could you point me to this article?

Hello Yssie,

Sorry for the delay in responding to you query, but I had to search through the attic for my old copies of Gems&Gemology. The Lab Note I was referring to was in the Winter 1996 edition pp. 277-278. It shows and imperfect yellow diamond that has a feather which enhances the color grade due to it's size and angle. While I was searching I found a few more interesting notes about inclusions in diamonds. In the Spring 1994 G&G Bob Crowningshield (perhaps the best gemologist ever) wrote a note about particular inclusions being found in specific types of yellow diamonds. Summer 1997 has a note by John King (the primary figure in creating the GIA colored diamond grading system) showing a feather that has an orange stain which effects the color of an otherwise yellow diamond. In the Spring of 2003 and again in the Summer of 2004 I co-authored two lab notes that dealt with diamonds having their fractures filled with a pink filler to affect color.

I really enjoyed gong through those old G&G's thanks for giving me the push.

I'd be happy to answer any more questions.

Tom