Anyone ever dropped a coloured diamond?

[periwinklegirl]

Or any tiny but valuable stone?

Please tell me I'm not the only one?

After I dropped not one, but two pink diamonds in the bathroom (only 2 pointers, but still!!!), I made a firm rule with myself that I only look at the loose stones in the gem jar with the lid on!

So one day I'm carrying the whole gem jar into the living room and the lid comes off (I guess it was loose). I frantically clutched at it and caught everything - except another two pointer - a green one this time.
So I get down on my hands and knees, no luck. Move the furniture and wait for the sun to come around to help me locate it by sparkle, still no luck.

Three hours later, just before my company came over, I had a brain wave. Vacuum!
So I vacuumed. Emptied the vacuum into a plastic tub, looked through the dust. Nothing.
Decide to drop the subject for the moment because I'm feeling pretty discouraged by this point.

Next day it's sunny again. Remove quantities of dog hair from plastic tub and stir though it again, in the sunshine this time. Guess what sparkles up at me!

So, yes I found my green diamond.

Never did find the two pinks though. If I ever rip the flooring out of the bathroom I'll probably start looking for them again.

I admit, not as scary as dropping your 4 carat diamond in the car and losing it under the seat. But at least a car is a more self-contained environment. And she got it back in the end.

 

[kenny]

No, you're not the only one.
Glad you found the green and good luck on the pinkies.

I've dropped some tiny colored diamonds but never on a hard floor, just on my rug.
The rug is a hand-knotted dense Persian with very detailed patterns of many colors of wool with little tiny areas of silk thread which shines so the rug seems like it was made to hide tiny colored diamonds.
It is also a rug that would eat the diamond if you stepped on it.
The little rock would just sink into the pile.
I was very worried this would happen so I just left the room till the sun went down.

I turned the room lights off and used a flashlight with a tiny LED bulb and just looked for sparkles.
It worked.

 

[JaneSmith]

Oh my goodness you two are giving me palpitations.
I once dropped one of my tiny (8 point) grayish blues in my jewelry box. I was just picking it up with my fingers to look at it in the sunshine, and ping! Off it went. I was scared that I had damaged it, and hugely relieved it fell into the box and not the cut pile carpet.

 

[hawaiianorangetree]

My dad lost a half carat pink that he purchased from Linneys in the washing machine. It was in the pocket of his pants that he left on the floor and my sister washed them...

He pulled the machine to bits but never did find it. What a waste!

 

[justginger]

It appears that we've all done it!

Mine was a coworker - she wanted to see my stones and stupidly ripped off the lid of the gem jar in my work office. Luckily only one fell, my pink, and we located it after about 10 minutes of searching. It was tense there for a while. Now my gem jars are taped closed!

 

[pearlsngems]

The pinks may not have ended up on the floor at all! I once dropped an earring and could not find it on the floor-- I finally found it between the toilet seat and the porcelain bowl. How it went sideways like that I'll never know. Maybe it bounced?

So check all other surfaces as well.

 

[airplay355]

You could try looking with a UV light just in case they are fluorescent

 

[LD]

I had a natural pink diamond blow away in the wind! I found it BUT then put it somewhere safe and have never found it again! One day it'll turn up!

 

[kenny]

This thread gave me a dream.

I was looking through my collection and found new FCDs that I never bought.
Then I dropped a little pink, maybe 0.05 ct., on on the floor.
I looked and looked and just kept finding more FCDs that I'd never seen before, some of them quite large.

I finally found the little pink one I had promised to give to my niece.
She was happy.

Then I kept looking and found more and more new FCDs.
One pink was a long emerald cut around an inch and a half long with fantastic Intense or Vivid color but included.
Some of the ones I found were only partially polished, and some had hideous inclusions.

Weird.

 

[periwinklegirl]

This thread gave me a dream.
I was looking through my collection and found other FCDs that I never bought.

Weird.

Kenny - Maybe your dream self is finding all the ones we dropped!

Thanks everyone! Nice to know I'm not alone.

hawaianorangetree - That's terrible!! Half a carat of pink diamond down the drain! At least mine are only 4 points under the linoleum somewhere!

Taped jars! Good idea Justginger! I've been thinking about a case that holds the gems jars.

Hope I don't give anyone else nightmares.

 

[minousbijoux]

I love your dream Kenny. Someone here coined a term that I had never heard of for dreams that are so good that when you wake up you believe it happened and then realize later it didn't. Do you remember what they're called? Anyway, it sounds like you had one of those in spades. Sorry you didn't get to keep all those diamonds you found.

 

[kenny]

Yeah, it's just not fair that I don't get to keep them.

But then ... I look forward to falling to sleep tonight.

 

[T L]

I've dropped small gems before. I lost one in my car, and I did find it. It fell out of my ring.

Here's a tip before you vaccum or do anything.

Turn off all the lights, preferably at night, and make sure the room is as dark as possible. Take a small bright flashlight and shine it on the floor. If you see something on the floor sparkle, get close to it with the flashlight and see if it's the stone.

I did this with my car in a completely dark garage and managed to find the stone that fell out of my ring. IT was under the front driver's seat. It also works with tiny diamonds.

 

[periwinklegirl]

Thanks TL (and Kenny)! I will remember this for next time.

Meanwhile, here's hoping my two pinks are skulking under the edges of the linoleum in the bathroom somewhere!

I didn't mention the one I dropped on my friend's couch opening the package! So that's actually three gone.

Here's a little eye candy as a thank you - the rest of the pinks and the retrieved green.

 

[chrono]

So far, I have not dropped any FCD (touch wood). I handle it very carefully and slowly, never bring them outside and always only open it once seated at the table. I also open the case upside down to avoid the stone dropping or flinging syndrome.

 

[periwinklegirl]

I also open the case upside down to avoid the stone dropping or flinging syndrome.

My jeweler just taught me that trick last week!

 

[Rockdiamond]

I've spent......cumulative.... about 6 hours in 2012 on my knees searching for diamonds.
We have found every one ( so far)
In one case we gave up for a few weeks when DW dropped a half carat round brown diamond. It's much harder to find stones with dark colors- and that as was deep brown.
Then the little sucker turned up in little box containing other diamonds.

The worst was when we had about 2 cts of small, intense pink fancy shaped diamonds sitting in a scoop- which was not flat on the pad.
I dropped a pencil, which hit the scoop, causing it to turn into a lever ( like a little see-saw), spraying the little intense pinks all over the desk/floor.
that day accounted for about 3 hours of last year's six
But we found each and every one!!

I''m glad to know at least I'm not alone

 

[katharath]

I haven't dropped any diamonds, but I did drop a 5 carat Lightning Ridge opal - that didn't belong to me. It did what opals do - it broke. It was on loan to me from my jeweler friend, she was letting me decide if I wanted to buy it. Guess what? I'm now the proud owner of a broken opal. The good news is that it broke in half, so I'm probably going to have it channel set into either earrings or two small pendants. It fell on my tile kitchen floor, just slipped right out of my hands. It was an expensive little sucker, too.

(I hope it's ok to be replying in here, since I don't have a diamond story).

Here's a pic right after I dropped it:

 

[chrono]

Goodness gracious! At least since they are 2 equal halves, you can have them set as earrings or "put back together" as a pendant.

 

[katharath]

Goodness gracious! At least since they are 2 equal halves, you can have them set as earrings or "put back together" as a pendant.

Yes, I guess if it had to break, at least it was right in half. I was pretty horrified when it happened, this was only a few weeks ago. I knew as soon as it fell that it was toast; I heard two bounces and then I knew what I would find...two pieces, ack!!

 

[PinkyPie]

This thread is scary!

For me it was the teensy weensiest bit of turquiose from a pair of Zuni earrings (only value was sentimental). I was at a Grateful Dead concert with a friend of mine & wouldnt you know it -- she found the little bugger in all that chaos!

 

[VapidLapid]

I believe there is a sapphire under my filing cabinet.
There is another sapphire somewhere. That is all I know.

If you are going to be dropping colored diamonds, please come over here to do it.

 

[pregcurious]

I barely have the stomach to hear these stories. I once dropped my a stone on a concrete patio. I louped it and it was fine. Now I always have my stones in a stone holder, or carefully transfer it to my hand inches from a flat, monochrome surface.

 

[Rockdiamond]

This thread is scary!

For me it was the teensy weensiest bit of turquiose from a pair of Zuni earrings (only value was sentimental). I was at a Grateful Dead concert with a friend of mine & wouldnt you know it -- she found the little bugger in all that chaos!

That's amazing karma!!

Kudos if you can remember what song they were playing.....

 

[susiegrneyes]

Yes, I've dropped one too. I dropped my little orange diamond on the carpet. I had to resort to waiting until it was dark and shining a flashlight over the area. Luckily I saw the sparkle right away.

 

[minousbijoux]

I dropped a very good quality Mahenge Spinel when I was trying to photograph it. I don't know what I was thinking...standing up in my kitchen, I dropped it on the tile floor and cracked one end. I now have a gorgeous reminder of what not to do...

 

[acebruin]

so i had just gotten a 1 carat brown pink diamond from david (DBL), gorgeous stone... then i decided to take a photo in my car, since it was a surprise for my wife... held a tweezer with the pink in it with my right hand, and the camera on my left hand... after one or shots, what do you know... the pink decided to pop out of my tweezer!!! my heart started racing right at that moment... i searched and searched... after about 15-30 minutes i remember hearing something... so i thought the diamond went into my cup holder near the gears... it's a jungle of napkins and what not in there... so i turned it upside down and what do you know... the pink was in there!

i have another horrifying story... this time it wasn't me, but a close friend of mine... i had helped him to find a yellow radiant for an engagement ring he was about to propose with... so i was driving with my wife to go shopping when i got a text from him... he was excited to get the diamond... he was in the office... as he was texting with my wife, he told us he was admiring his diamond in the sunlight outside... and suddenly my wife received a reply that says "OMG i dropped the diamond"! i was like whatttttt?????????????? after search and search and digging soils outside and shrubs, he finally found it sparkling in the sun! LOLOL he almost gave me a heart attack!