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I have a question about jade. How can you tell the cheap stuff from the nicer ones? I've heard about injecting color, but I still can't tell the difference unless it looks like bakelite. Does the color of jade improve if you wear it next to skin, or is my grandmother feeding me a line of hokum?
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Aug 9, 2011 02:13
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SlaveToTheGrinds posted:diamonds in it were extremely small and losing them was a concern. Small diamonds aren't necessarily a problem provided they are set securely. With a chain store you may or may not be looking at a poorly built piece. It's hard to say without seeing it. Anything you find in yellow or white gold can typically be special ordered in rose gold. And if you find a plain band that you like any jeweler would be able to burnish set a solitaire stone in the top of it. If you want to shoot me a PM of what you're thinking of I'll take a look around and see if I can at least find you a brand name. That would make your search easier. squigadoo posted:I have a question about jade. How can you tell the cheap stuff from the nicer ones? In a word: With an expensive machine. Jade identification is one of the trickiest things in the gemology world. If you're buying fine Jade always ask to see a report from a gemological laboratory. I have all my Jade tested by a lab and include reports with everything. There are three treatments typically used with Jade. 1) Bleach - Leeching out the natural color (To make white Jade or prepare Jade for dye) 2) Dye - Changing the color of Jade. 3) Polymer - Filling cracks and fissures with epoxy to hide them. Untreated natural Jade is known as "A-Jade." Dyed is B-Jade, Polymer is C-Jade. A-Jade is the good stuff and it's very expensive in fine qualities. As for your grandmother: She's right. I don't understand the mechanic behind it, but I have seen this in action. Coloration in a nice piece of Jade will become more vivid as it is worn. I believe it has to do with the constant gentle heat coming off the human body. Heating Jade enhances its color, and a warm gentle heat could be enough to start the process which would fade as the material cools. I've never seen a scientific study of this, but I have seen it with my own eyes. Pearls also share this trait, but they become more lustrous. In the olden days it wasn't uncommon to see a servant wearing a fabulous string of pearls while she cleaned the house. If the lady was going out in the evening she would have her servants wear her pearls all day to bring them to maximum beauty.
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Aug 9, 2011 16:25
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Tell me about argyle diamonds. Is there a way to artificially colour a white diamond pink? If there was, would argyle diamonds plummet in price? If an argyle was too expensive for me, what would be the closest stone for a ring, in your opinion? Pink sapphire?
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Aug 9, 2011 17:46
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Yes, you can artificially color a diamond pink, and the color is permanent. It's been possible for a decade or more. Process is HPHT, and it is possible to coat them with a pink film but the coatings can be scratched off. Argyle is the mine where the majority of pinks are coming from these days. The Argyle diamonds are 100% natural and very rare. They have a special sale once a year to sell the mine's output. The Argyle stones are of great quality and will likely hold their value very well. Once the mine runs out of pinks (eventually) there will be almost none in the market. No other mine in the world produces them with the same regularity. I would recommend a pink sapphire. The finest quality pieces are very rare, but do rival diamond in their beauty. Make sure that any pink sapphires you buy come with a gem lab report as the color can be enhanced with Beryllium. I'm on my way out the door now, but I'll try to find a photo of a top quality pink sapphire for you later tonight.
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Aug 9, 2011 22:36
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My gf is looking for a low profile ring w/ a split shank. I really like this design: http://www.emmaparkerdiamonds.com/engagement-rings/Stardust-Split-Shank-Pave-Diamond-Engagement-Ring/1229085 but she wants a cushion cut diamond. Any idea where I can find a design similar to this that would take a cushion cut? Also not really interested in paying that huge markup. This might have been said already, but is there a good site to go to for JUST rings w/o the huge markup. At least from my research it always seems cheaper to have someone put it together. Sites either have good ring prices or good diamond prices, but I can't seem to find sites that have both. James Allen and Blue Nile seem good for diamonds but their ring prices are hugely marked up. deltat fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Aug 9, 2011 |
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Aug 9, 2011 22:40
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They should easily be able to substitute a square cushion cut diamond into that mounting. Get their price on the finished piece (and try to get a copy of the paperwork on the diamond they're offering) and I'll let you know if it's worthwhile or overpriced.
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Aug 9, 2011 22:42
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JohnnyRnR posted:They should easily be able to substitute a square cushion cut diamond into that mounting. Get their price on the finished piece (and try to get a copy of the paperwork on the diamond they're offering) and I'll let you know if it's worthwhile or overpriced. Thanks I just edited my post w/ another question. Appreciate the quick response.
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Aug 9, 2011 22:43
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Well, that's how they make money. Places like BN & JA are selling diamonds that they don't own and paying for them 60 days after they sell. Because of that they pay much higher prices than if they were to just buy the diamond directly. The markup on their mass produced rings is essentially their profit margin. Most of the specialty ring manufacturers are going to be more designer-y and sell great rings in the $2,000 to 5,000 range. They're generally much better designed and constructed, but definitely not a bargain price.
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Aug 9, 2011 22:52
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This thread has really inspired me to look into some neat custom alternatives on jewelry, so thanks! It's a long story to explain my new need for custom work, but here it goes. My husband's grandfather was a nuclear physicist. When he was not purifying various base metals at work he collected old gold dental fillings and other scrap and purified it into little nuggets of 24k gold in his mad scientist lab in the bomb shelter in his backyard. No, I'm not kidding. At our rehearsal dinner 11 years ago he gave a 0.81 ounce nugget of 24k gold as a wedding present. I've kept it in my jewelry chest all these years, not being very sure what to do with it. About a month ago my husband was swimming in a lake and his already too loose wedding ring slid off and was lost in the muddy bottom. After recalling all the talk of custom work in this thread I decide to find out if we can get his new ring made from of the gold nugget his grandfather gave us. Turns out we can, but it took some digging. The biggest issue most of the jewelers we talked to had was that they would have to send the nugget off to be refined/alloyed into a more workable 18k gold. They were afraid the refiner would just send back random gold, not the piece from the nugget, thus nullifying the sentimental aspect. This was hugely nice of them all to be so forthcoming about it. After some looking we found a jeweler who does design and custom work and who does all his refinery/alloy work in-house. He was pretty geeked out about working with our crazy scientist gold and loved the sentimental aspect. He's going to make just what my husband wants with the gold his grandfather gave him. Plus, we'll have quite a bit extra, so I'm looking into something for myself too. Right now I'm pretty sold on a gold acorn pendant with a top molded from an actual acorn and a hand sculpted bottom. I'm so glad I read this thread and realized that nugget could be something really special.
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Aug 10, 2011 17:07
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A guy on another forum I frequent is looking to sell an engagement ring and while I'm already out of the market for something like that I was wondering if any of you jeweler guys in this thread would like to take a look. It's size 7, center stone is Princess cut, .51 carat and graded (G-H) and (SI) in clarity. Smaller diamonds are round, add up to .18 carats and are (SI) in clarity. I can post (or PM) a link to the photobucket he's got the pictures posted if you're interested.
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Aug 16, 2011 05:31
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A lot of Asians like their rings in 24kt gold. There's something really pimping about a bright yellow ring. Try an Asian jeweler I guess?
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Aug 16, 2011 05:41
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Sangori posted:This thread has really inspired me to look into some neat custom alternatives on jewelry, so thanks! That's a great story. Thank you for sharing it. I'd love to see photos of your jewelry when it's finished. The Mandingo posted:A guy on another forum I frequent is looking to sell an engagement ring I tried to send you a PM, but you weren't accepting them. If you could shoot me the details to sa-goons[no!SPAM//]@brookheart[no!SPAM//].com I'd be willing to take a look and possibly make an offer. INTJ Mastermind posted:A lot of Asians like their rings in 24kt gold. There's something really pimping about a bright yellow ring. Try an Asian jeweler I guess? Popular in countries that use wearable gold as a savings account. Indian, Asian, and Arab specialty jewelers will generally carry pieces like this or specialize in making them. They're generally made in 22kt gold for durability.
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Aug 16, 2011 17:25
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Thank you for the information! This is a great thread. I was wondering, can you explain pearls a bit? Such as comparing pink, white, black (I do not know if there are more colors) pearls and their values? Does size matter? Also, appropriate settings for them? Do the prongs in ring settings scratch them? Also, I've seen pearls that are oblong and uneven in shape (I was told they were freshwater), and another kind my mom told me were "ma bi" pearls: flat on one side and round on the other. Are those man-made?
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Aug 18, 2011 19:01
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I was hoping to find some information on sapphires and rubies, price wise and how they are graded as well. I really want a wedding ring with an equal size sapphire and ruby, with a tiny (like .10ct) diamond inbetween, and I kind of want to know what to expect for loose stones.
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Sep 8, 2011 01:24
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Oh no what happened to JohnnyRnR  squigadoo posted:I was wondering, can you explain pearls a bit? Such as comparing pink, white, black Pearls come in a million colors (feel free to google), but as far as I know, they're generally dyed, bleached, or irradiated. Size and shape make much more of a difference to price; obviously, the bigger and more perfectly round, the more expensive they are. Pearls are very delicate, since they're soft and porous. Traditionally you saw settings that would protect them, but now they're used in ways where they won't necessarily last long -- I think because the price has dropped so much. Assuming you don't want to keep replacing the piece, though, they do a lot better if you care for them. The oblong/uneven pearls were probably rice pearls or potato pearls. Yes, mabi/mabe pearls have flat backs. Pearls come in a million awesome shapes -- look up keshi pearls, coin pearls, nuggets, buttons, aaaaaa they're amazing. Man-made pearls would be like paste -- very low-quality costume jewelry stuff. I think you mostly see cultured pearls. In that case, a pearl farmer puts the nucleus in an oyster, but the oyster still builds the pearl around the nucleus by itself, exactly like a natural pearl. This brought the price of pearls way down, since suddenly you could get identical, consistently perfect pearls from known oysters. I think you need X-rays even to try to tell them apart. Anne Whateley fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Sep 8, 2011 |
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Sep 8, 2011 03:39
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i like nice words
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Anne Whateley posted:Oh no what happened to JohnnyRnR Sorry, I missed this question. Anne Whateley did an excellent job and I'll only add two things: 1) Imitation pearls can be a problem. These are plastic with a semi-refractive coating that is a pretty good simulant. Easily identified by a gemologist with the proper skills. 2) The newest thing in cultured pearls is the Non-beaded cultured pearl. By using a small amount of oyster tissue it is possible for the pearler to add a culture point that slowly dissolves. These are very difficult to identify and can even fool an X-ray occasionally. The best pearls are grown slowly and have a very thick layer of nacre. A fine fine pearl should have a "visual depth." Stare into one and you feel like you can almost see through it. It's an unusual optical illusion. Masey posted:I was hoping to find some information on sapphires and rubies, price wise and how they are graded as well. The #1 rule of Sapphire and Ruby: Color! You want a vibrant red ruby and a bright royal blue sapphire. The crystal should be: "Crisp and bright and clean and beautiful and lively." This is an example of a fine Burmese Ruby. This is the top color (Pigeon Blood Red), and the material was heated to bring the vibrant color out. As an example this gem is 1.36 carats and sells for $3,500.  But if you don't need Burmese material you can find fantastic pieces in the $1,000 range that are beautiful. The color will be a touch pinkish, but the crystal is lovely. The same goes for sapphire. Shop for clean crystal and beautiful colors. If you're open to lovely pastel colors of blue you can find some great deals on sapphire.
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Sep 8, 2011 05:18
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While on the topic of corundums. My fiancee and I went sapphire prospecting in Montana a few weeks ago at a place called Gem mountain. I didn't know what to expect but it was actually quite a bit of fun! We found quite a few sapphires, 4 of which were cuttables, the largest of the 4 was a 2.82 ct stone, the largest stone of the day at the site! We sent all of them to be heat treated and cut. This was the largest one: They told us that almost all sapphires need to be heat treated to get their deep color. I didn't know that. Also, when we were in the town, we came across a jewelry studio that had a pendant my fiancee liked. (http://www.studiopandora.com/) They told us about this type of sapphire called a Yogo sapphire that isn't heat treated. They were a bit more $ than the heat treated Montana sapphires they had, but they also looked a lot richer in color. I was wondering if there is any merit to this Yogo shpeal, or if the difference in appearance was just stone to stone variation or something. Here is the pendant she liked: 
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Sep 8, 2011 06:50
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Also popping in to compliment Johnny on his service - I wasn't able to go ahead with the purchase (what do you mean, we need new couches??!!) but he answered all my stupid questions and worked out a fantastic cost effective plan for me. In the meantime, I'm mooning over what could have been but I know that when I get set up to buy more jewellery, I'll do it this way.
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Sep 9, 2011 02:47
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How does one go about getting rid of an unwanted engagement ring? It's solid platinum band, with a 1/2 carat diamond. I've got all the paperwork for the diamond, it's a H colour VS2 round cut. I haven't had it valued, but know that the diamond cost $1700 loose before it was set into the ring. If I could sell it for this amount I'd be stoked, but something tells me that I'm not likely to get anywhere near that amount for it. Would I be better off having the diamond re-set into a necklace? I'd really appreciate any advice or comments on what is the best option for me to consider, thanks.
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Sep 12, 2011 08:43
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GrAviTy84 posted:...type of sapphire called a Yogo sapphire that isn't heat treated. They were a bit more $ than the heat treated Montana sapphires they had, but they also looked a lot richer in color. I was wondering if there is any merit to this Yogo shpeal, or if the difference in appearance was just stone to stone variation or something. Exactly. Yogo is a specific designation from sapphires from a certain area in Montana. The colors are richer and the crystal is typically cleaner. Unfortunately they're rarer than the more common Montana sapphires and much more expensive. Especially pricy in larger sizes. bee posted:How does one go about getting rid of an unwanted engagement ring? It's solid platinum band, with a 1/2 carat diamond. I've got all the paperwork for the diamond, it's a H colour VS2 round cut. If you can shoot me a PM with the details of the ring I might be willing to buy it. I'd need to see any diamond paperwork to be exact, but $1,700 isn't a price outside the realm of possibility. And on the pendant.... who ever doesn't need a diamond pendant?
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Sep 14, 2011 01:48
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JohnnyRnR posted:
. bee fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Jul 19, 2017 |
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Sep 14, 2011 07:11
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I have a dumb question, but since this thread is kind of dead and I enjoyed reading it, here we go. Batman The Dark Knight, Alfred is telling Bruce Wayne that goofy story about a bandit, and says that funny rear end line "a ruby the size of a tangerine." So, how many carats would a gemstone the size of a tangerine be? Roughly.
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Oct 6, 2011 12:58
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Great thread! I recently started taking gemmology classes and I am totally loving it. ps. There are 5 carats to a gram so find out the weight of a tangerine and you will have your answer.
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Oct 7, 2011 12:37
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Zratha posted:Great thread! I recently started taking gemmology classes and I am totally loving it. That's assuming corundum and tangerine have the same specific gravity, which they don't. A ruby the size of a tangerine would likely be heavier but since I don't know the specific gravity of tangerine, I couldn't tell you for sure. Edit I actually got curious and looked this up. Your average tangerine, according to some paper I just googled, is going to have a specific gravity of around 0.9 (so it about 90% as dense as water). Corundum, meanwhile, has a specific gravity of 4, give or take, so if you take the weight of an average tangerine, which I'm going to take to be about 85 grams, and apply the specific gravity of corundum, you get a ruby that weighs about 375g for occupying the space. Multiply that by five and you get a carat weight of 1,875cts, which, while not unheard of, would make it one of the world's largest rubies and utterly priceless if the crystal was of any kind of quality. FormerPoster fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Oct 8, 2011 |
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Oct 8, 2011 03:09
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I just dropped an orange into a cup of water to test that data. Well I'll be damned, they float!
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Oct 8, 2011 03:26
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Yeah I'd have thought they'd be denser than water myself but it makes sense that they're pretty close. Guess we all learn something new today.
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Oct 8, 2011 06:19
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RootBeer Baron is a ninja. Let's use this ruby as our valuation ruler. http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/...db-f4c4180c4e30 12.43 carats, and sold for $2,001,000 in 2007. Assume ~10% inflation to get to today's prices. So roughly $180,000 per carat. As a bare minimum baseline we could guess [1,875*$180k = $337,500,000]. But gems get exponentially more expensive as they increase in size. So for something like this I think you could raise the price by a factor of 50. So $16 Billion. In the real world I haven't heard of many top gem rubies larger than 100 carats.
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Oct 8, 2011 07:09
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Another goon chiming in to recommend Johnny's services, he tracked down a gem quickly for me and got it out to me with no trouble. Thanks, Johnny!
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Oct 8, 2011 23:41
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Could a jewel be artificially grown that large? If so, then what is the upper limit on the size of synthetic gemstones and does anyone know what does their production cost?
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Oct 8, 2011 23:49
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Tea In A Shoe posted:Could a jewel be artificially grown that large? If so, then what is the upper limit on the size of synthetic gemstones and does anyone know what does their production cost? Theoretically, yes. Boules are usually much smaller than that though, and I'm not even sure anyone has actually done it. I'm sure for Quartz it's been done. For reference, here is a place selling ruby boules, the largest they have is 160 carats.
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Oct 8, 2011 23:54
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I've seen boules up to 1,200 carats and larger pieces likely exist. In raw form they aren't the right shape so some alchemy will need to be done. The simplest way to do it would probably be to crush synthetic ruby into a powder and recrystallize the material. Difficult to do with very large stones, but it can be done.
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Oct 9, 2011 04:09
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JohnnyRnR posted:The simplest way to do it would probably be to crush synthetic ruby into a powder and recrystallize the material. Difficult to do with very large stones, but it can be done. Jesus Christ this is possible with gem quality stuff? You're pretty much talking about reconstructive polymorphism of a large quantity of corundum, which means you're going to need to sustain bordering melt temperatures and pressures for quite a while and cool it slowly. The lab I work in could probably do something like that but I can't imagine the jewelry business having access to that kind of equipment.  That's awesome.
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Oct 9, 2011 16:16
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It would probably have to be done in one of the Russian factories for the material, but it could theoretically be possible. It's often done with emerald & some shops fill cracks in natural ruby with synthetic ruby (fracture healing).
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Oct 10, 2011 02:44
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Fracture healing is much different than recrystalization of corundum. At that point you're basically talking about microcrystalline fusion. It wouldn't surprise me if there was the capability to do it in Russia, but you're still talking about maintaining crazy pressures and temperatures for a long long long long time. poo poo like this is why I love gemstones. 
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Oct 10, 2011 03:06
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A friend of mine is looking to get engaged and wants to spend about $2-3k on the nicest diamond and ring he can get. He sent me this link: http://www.kay.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product1%7C10101%7C10001%7C-1%7C990094409%7C15051%7C15051.15059 What should I tell him? Is this alright?
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Oct 10, 2011 19:53
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Those diamonds are at the bottom of the quality scale. To put it in perspective I'd estimate he's paying a 400% markup at best. With a little more legwork (checking independent jewelers) he'll get a much better deal.
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Oct 10, 2011 21:37
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Copernic posted:What should I tell him? That diamonds aren't rare and he's supporting a horrible exploitative cartel at best and literally helping fund war criminals committing genocide at worst in the name of love and he's better off spending a lot less on a really nice stone in the ballpark of hardness 8 which will work just as well without making him a horrible human being by proxy. Alternatively buy Canadian diamonds, it's still a huge cartel-based ripoff but at least De Beers isn't getting the money and none of it is buying weapons in the third world.
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Oct 10, 2011 22:01
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JohnnyRnR posted:Those diamonds are at the bottom of the quality scale. To put it in perspective I'd estimate he's paying a 400% markup at best. I passed on everyone's advice, and the recommendations from this thread, and I even looked up a few independent jewelers in his area, and he said 'thanks' and went to Kay's.
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Oct 13, 2011 15:56
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Copernic posted:I passed on everyone's advice, and the recommendations from this thread, and I even looked up a few independent jewelers in his area, and he said 'thanks' and went to Kay's. A fool and their money are soon funding genocide.
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Oct 13, 2011 16:52
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For a long time now, I've been trying to find something similiar to this. It's sold through a store in SF called Self Edge. I like it and all but it's a little out of my price range, $300. Is there something similar to this ring out there and under $300, possibly in the $250 and under range, or am I going to paying more for it?
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Oct 13, 2011 20:48
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