Before and after photos of recut stones that changed color

[colorluvr]

LD suggested that we start a thread with photos of stones that changed color after a recut. This is a vendor photo of my "yellow tourmaline" (which came with a Thai cert that called it yellow) prior to it being cut and my photo of the same stone after recut. As you can see from the photo, the stone shows way more green than it did before the recut. I have since sold the stone because I'm trying to downsize, but I think this gives you a bit of a comparison. I don't think I took a photo of the stone before it was recut.

The stone was never pure yellow, but it didn't show nearly as much green as it did after the cut and it actually looked less green IRL than the vendor photo before it was recut.

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

Thanks for the post - that is a pretty remarkable change. Perhaps I've been following Kenny around too much reading threads on photography, but did you happen to notice whether the color - very pronounced greenish modifier - shifts to a more yellow in other lighting conditions? Better late than never, but I am having lots of aha moments lately about the effects of the type of light on the colors represented in photos.

 

[OTL]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

I love this thread! I am so excited to see other examples! This is very educational!

 

[LD]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

Thank you SO much for posting this Colorluvr. Your stone is definitely NOT the one that I was thinking of. I wonder if that thread disappeared with the PS upgrade? It's a shame because it was a green stone that literally ended up grey looking and the poster absolutely hated it. It was a great warning and reminder that not all recuts work out well.

I wonder if I could ask people to post similar photos of when they've had a recut they haven't been happy with (maybe because it's changed colour). I don't want to see photos of where it's gone well because of course they do but I think there is a tendancy for people to think that recuts are always successful and they're not.

I dont have anything to share other than I have a 4ct Paraiba Tourmaline with a huge window caused by being shallow. I was told that if it was recut, it would lose at least half of the carat weight - ie reduce to 2ct or under! Not something I did, obviously!

 

[colorluvr]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

This stone was WAY prettier after the recut because it had such a window before and was quite sparkly after the recut, BUT, I was surprised that it showed more green after the recut. For some reason, I guess I expected it to just be a bit lighter yellow because of less material... just goes to show how little I know

Minoux - The first photo is right under a bright fluorescent ring lamp, but it's not very indicative of how it usually looked. The next photo is outdoors sitting on my patio table in the sun, but it's showing some black reflection from my camera.

 

[LD]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

To be fair it does look nicer after the recut BUT if it was a yellow tourmaline, it certainly wasn't afterwards because it does look quite green.

 

[jstarfireb]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

I'd love to see more too...whether people liked the post-recut color or not. Maybe we should have a general recut before/after thread for ones that may not have changed color. Very interesting.

 

[corundum_conundrum]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

by jstarfireb » 23 Feb 2013 19:29
I'd love to see more too...whether people liked the post-recut color or not. Maybe we should have a general recut before/after thread for ones that may not have changed color. Very interesting.

+1

 

[pregcurious]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

This stone was WAY prettier after the recut because it had such a window before and was quite sparkly after the recut, BUT, I was surprised that it showed more green after the recut. For some reason, I guess I expected it to just be a bit lighter yellow because of less material... just goes to show how little I know

I remember someone (Kenny?) saying that a radiant cut is used in fancy colored diamonds because it allows light to bounce around the inside of the stone before exiting, more so than other cuts; this makes the stone appear more intense in color. Perhaps in both of the cases above, the stone appears darker in color because light is being bounced around and coming out from the front, instead of leaking out the back (through the window)? A window is often obvious because it is lighter in color than the surrounding stone. Just a guess.

 

[corundum_conundrum]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

I hope blithesome71 doesn't mind me linking to this, but its a particularly stark change. The stone also lost 2/3 of its weight, setting it up for the risk of a big color change. Here is the original thread:

https://www.pricescope.com/communit...-this-holiday-suggestions-are-welcome.129101/

I think blithesome was happy to have a better performing stone, but was not happy with the color change.

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

Does anyone remember this one? This is one of the threads from the-fox, showing a recut of what he called his aquamarine sapphire from 19.45 cts down to 7.21. It appears to be consistently light blue in the before pictures, but only light blue from the side in the after pictures. Unfortunately, although he said he would, I guess he forgot to provide an after picture head on, other than the photo it appears was taken by Uli, which definitely shows a considerable change in color.

 

[LD]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

Oh Minou I'd forgotton that one! That's an excellent example of when a recut affects colour drastically.

Can the find the other one I keep referencing? It had some really clear pictures and the end stone ended up a sort of puke colour. The poor OP hated it and posted it as a warning for when good gems go bad.

 

[LD]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

I'd love to see more too...whether people liked the post-recut color or not. Maybe we should have a general recut before/after thread for ones that may not have changed color. Very interesting.

Jstar I agree but I thought this thread would be good to link to to show "what can go wrong". It might be a good idea to have a separate thread for when things go right? It's just easier to link to for when people want to see examples. I suspect there are far more ones that have gone well so it would make it difficult to wade through to find the ones that haven't. Just a thought!

 

[ChrisA222]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

I love recuts....I've had almost all of my stones recut. I'll do this because either I buy a native-cut stone and I want it recut to precision-standards, or, I'll buy a step-cut stone, that is otherwise OK, and have the pavillion re-cut into something I prefer such as a brilliant or barion style pavillion. So I have a lot of experience with recuts. I am generally thrilled with the results...however...there was one that broke my heart...and I'll never forgive myself for it. I don't blame the cutter, as they don't always know what the outcome will be.

This was a beautiful bluish-green Mint Tourmaline from Afganistan. It wasn't very saturated, and I didn't know that the step-cutting was holding the color together (along with the deep pavillion). When it was recut, per my request into a brilliant-style pavillion...well..the pictures speak for themself.

My pre-recut photos show the stone more blue than it actually was, it was a bluish-green. But look at what happened to the stone after, you can actually see it looks more like a bi-color now, and the green is way more muted. Horrible. I almost cried....

 

[ChrisA222]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

and another after recut

 

[jstarfireb]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

I'd love to see more too...whether people liked the post-recut color or not. Maybe we should have a general recut before/after thread for ones that may not have changed color. Very interesting.

Jstar I agree but I thought this thread would be good to link to to show "what can go wrong". It might be a good idea to have a separate thread for when things go right? It's just easier to link to for when people want to see examples. I suspect there are far more ones that have gone well so it would make it difficult to wade through to find the ones that haven't. Just a thought!

Definitely! Sounds like ChrisA would have a lot to contribute, so maybe he'll see this and start the thread!

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

LD, I'd be happy to oblige and look for threads but I need some clues. For example, in this case, I remembered the guy was from Switzerland so I looked through all threads about Switzerland. I think searching by the word "recut" would yield way to many threads to sort through, so do you remember anything else? Stone material? Name of OP? Shape of stone?

 

[0-0-0]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

Ouch ChrisA222 that's terrible!

 

[jstarfireb]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

Does anyone remember this one? This is one of the threads from the-fox, showing a recut of what he called his aquamarine sapphire from 19.45 cts down to 7.21. It appears to be consistently light blue in the before pictures, but only light blue from the side in the after pictures. Unfortunately, although he said he would, I guess he forgot to provide an after picture head on, other than the photo it appears was taken by Uli, which definitely shows a considerable change in color.

I definitely see a change in the face-up color, but I'd argue that it's not detrimental at all. I think that regardless of the color, the recut improved this stone tremendously. I could barely even look at the before pics with that awful window. Looked like a total waste of sapphire rough. The recut looks to be the same color from the side view, Also, while it's true that the "after" stone is nearly colorless face-up, the "before" stone was functionally almost colorless face-up due to that window. I really only see color around the periphery. I think it was a great way to salvage an otherwise lifeless stone and would happily wear it in a pendant.

The others are pretty unfortunate!

 

[0-0-0]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

I don't really know what to make of the sapphire story. I don't think the OP ever posted his own pictures of the stone face up either before or after the re-cut. In my experience stones show more color when face down, so given that the color of the stone when face down was already pretty light prior to the re-cut, I don't expect that the face up color was much better.

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

Jstar, I don't think you'd get any disagreement regarding the positive impacts of the cut on that sapphire, but this thread is to show color change and that stone unfortunately accomplishes that pretty dramatically in effectively knocking out almost all color from the face down (or so it appears).

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

I don't really know what to make of the sapphire story. I don't think the OP ever posted his own pictures of the stone face up either before or after the re-cut. In my experience stones show more color when face down, so given that the color of the stone when face down was already pretty light prior to the re-cut, I don't expect that the face up color was much better.

Yes, the befores were his photos.

 

[0-0-0]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

Yea I just don't know what to make of the sapphire story as the only photos provided by the OP prior to the re-cut were a profile shot and what looks like a face down shot. After the re-cut the only photo provided by the OP was a profile shot at a different angle. The OP was pretty cryptic in his descriptions too. I simply don't have a reliable gauge as to whether the difference in color is due to the re-cut, or due to the difference in photography.

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

No, he had a face down shot at the outset too - I just didn't bother to use it, since I could only attach 4 on one post.

ETA: But I agree, he wasn't exactly an open book!

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

Another one to add is Petit Bijou's grape spinel. By no means would I say that this was a failure (I think we all thought this worked out very well in fact), but it did change color and become lighter with significantly more brilliance.

 

[LD]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

LD, I'd be happy to oblige and look for threads but I need some clues. For example, in this case, I remembered the guy was from Switzerland so I looked through all threads about Switzerland. I think searching by the word "recut" would yield way to many threads to sort through, so do you remember anything else? Stone material? Name of OP? Shape of stone?

Honestly I don't remember anything other than the poster was a man and I think literally only posted about this stone (maybe a few other times but definitely not a prolific poster). Email me how to search hun will you and I'll have a go - every time I try to use the search function on here I draw a blank!

 

[LD]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

I love recuts....I've had almost all of my stones recut. I'll do this because either I buy a native-cut stone and I want it recut to precision-standards, or, I'll buy a step-cut stone, that is otherwise OK, and have the pavillion re-cut into something I prefer such as a brilliant or barion style pavillion. So I have a lot of experience with recuts. I am generally thrilled with the results...however...there was one that broke my heart...and I'll never forgive myself for it. I don't blame the cutter, as they don't always know what the outcome will be.

This was a beautiful bluish-green Mint Tourmaline from Afganistan. It wasn't very saturated, and I didn't know that the step-cutting was holding the color together (along with the deep pavillion). When it was recut, per my request into a brilliant-style pavillion...well..the pictures speak for themself.

My pre-recut photos show the stone more blue than it actually was, it was a bluish-green. But look at what happened to the stone after, you can actually see it looks more like a bi-color now, and the green is way more muted. Horrible. I almost cried....

OMG Chris you'd never believe that that was the same stone. I'm sorry how this turned out for you. I'm sorry to say that I agree that the recut looks awful. Why did you recut it? The colour in your first two shots (if accurate to how it was in real life) show a beautiful colour stone. I would have cried as well.

Has it put you off recuts or made you stop and think before you do it?

 

[smitcompton]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

Hi,

Sorry, i don't do pictures, but I have recut two stones. One was very successful, closed window, no color change-demantoid garnet.

The second was a nice peachy-pink spinel--much like those that you see others have on here. It was a round-off center cut, and showed what i deemed to be extinction. The stone was large enough that I thought I might improve it,(due to the sucess of the first one) so I sent it in. It came back with more brown and extinction then it had before. So the stone was not as nice looking colorwise as it had been. It looks Ok in some light, but sort of browns out in the rest. Sorry I did that one.


Annette

 

[ChrisA222]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

Ld,

It was a step cut stone...not a terrible one, but I detest step-cut stones. It did have some nice color, and was a good size at 2.96ct, but I wanted it cut to a brilliant pavillion to make it sparkle. I didnt know that the step cutting was amping the saturation (which it just barely had enough of to hold the color. When it lost its little belly and step facetting...well...you saw the results LOL.

No..it hasn't steered me away from recuts, as it was one bad experience out of about 50 good ones. It did sting quite a bit though when I saw what happened to that particular stone. I had one other incident where....I wouldn't say I was unhappy...but when I had the step-cut stone recut, some inclusions popped out that I didn't see before. The step-cuts were doing a better job disguising them than the new brilliant cut does. When I get a chance, I will post those pictures too.

But..don't get the wrong idea....the number of improvements way outnumber the number of negatives with the recuts.

 

[corundum_conundrum]

Re: Before and after photos of recut stones that changed col

Chris, this was a pavilion-only recut?! It was such a killer color beforehand. Its a really helpful example in that, in the ones minou and i posted, so much weight was lost that it would be hard not to expect a color change. I think its good to be aware that even with a pavilion recut (though far less risky) can change the color. I'm sorry it didn't go well with this stone.

Definitely a good scared-straight for people who think recuts will invariably go well (although in your experience it goes well the vast majority of the time).