Colour of tiny blue diamonds ?

[HamsterWheel]

Fiancee wants to have a tiny blue diamond put in her wedding ring. She really wants a natural blue diamond rather than a treated stone though. The jeweller is telling me that a tiny natural blue stone will be too weak in colour and will just look grey.
Is this correct ?
Cheers

 

[valeria101]

Most of the times, yes. Not that small blue diamonds with enough color to show do not exist, but it is not very likely to encounter enough of them for most usual jewelry applications (pave?, eternity band?). Also, it depends alot on what "small" means: at 0.01 or 0.1 cts. I guess pink or, of course, yellow ones would be much more likely to find, if this helps.

Some jewelery makers have somehow tackled this issue, here are two examples: WWW1 and WWW2 .

 

[HamsterWheel]

The stone would be inset in a narrow platinum band.
So, does anyone reckon I'll get a tiny REAL blue stone that will be OK ?

 

[Rank Amateur]

One would think that smaller stones wouldn't show their color as well. Sounds like you need to see before you buy!

 

[Griffin]

You could try sapphire, as a good blue won't wash out in sapphire melee. I have used Montana Sapphire with amazing color saturation in some very small stones.

If she has to have diamond, a treated diamond is about the only way to get the color you need.

Just remember that all blue diamonds must be hand set, whether natural or treated - they can't be cast in place like other colored diamonds. This can affect the type of mounting/setting style you are looking at.

 

[valeria101]

----------------
On 1/22/2004 11:43:32 AM HamsterWheel wrote:

The stone would be inset in a narrow platinum band.
So, does anyone reckon I'll get a tiny REAL blue stone that will be OK ?----------------

One stone? That is easy to find... Getting more for a band or whatever set is hard 'cause they are rare and the colors had to match. No, I could not possibly agree with that jeweler. Is THIS what you are after? There are more at the same source. BTW: great idea! Is your project anythign like THESE ?

 

[shrubbie]

just read this post. don't quite understand something.

why must blue diamonds be hand-set? any particular reasons?

thanks!

 

[valeria101]

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On 2/4/2004 2:33:50 AM shrubbie wrote:

just read this post. don't quite understand something.

why must blue diamonds be hand-set? any particular reasons?

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

I am not familiar with the color treated ones, but the rest are rather badly cut and could also be included (at least this is more acceptable than in whites) so these would be two reasons why their durability would require special treatment. I have yet to find any mention of these being heat sensitive or anything.
Besides, if I'm paying at least 1k/diamond dot, special treatment seems a straight forward requirement. I guess the treated ones are more disposable...

 

[Griffin]

All blue diamonds, no matter flawless, treated or not, will pale out in color or change color entirely when exposed to great heat. I have lost a few stones learning this the hard way, but know of one company that lost over 100 stones at one shot due to not knowing that they were heat sensitive! Other colors of diamonds don't tend to have this problem and can be cast in place or soldered near.

I acquired a small lot of natural blues a couple of years ago, with the same idea you have. I have included a picture of one of the deeper colored of these rings. They just never had the color saturation to get people excited about them. I think I probably still have some of the stones if you really want them, though.