FCD's 101

[ChrisA222]

Kenny et al,

Ill admit to never having any interest really, in FCDs (even though I own two of them!) I never really had a whole lot of appreciation for them in general, mainly because of the price per ct. Obviously stones such as the Hope Diamond, those are exceptions...vivid color, large size and eye appeal. But, it seems to me that the majority of the FCDs, even stones costing thousands and thousands, are tiny stones with very low saturation. I didn't want to threadjack the other thread about the purple Diamond, which to me looks like a pink Spinel that I could probably buy for under $100. I don't want this to turn into "why would anybody buy..." etc, but I just wanted to give you my mindset.

I do happen to own two FCDs, they are a teal greenish-blue and of course they are irradiated. But, I bought those before I really understood about gemstones. I was going to buy sapphires at the time, but my jeweler told me "why sapphires when you can have diamonds!". He didn't tell me they were nuked mediocre stones, although they are very attractive. I have them sitting in a baggie now that i had the ring scrapped as it wasn't my style anymore.

What I wanted to know is, is color saturation on Diamonds based mostly on mass? Is that why the Hope Diamond has such strong color, compared to, say, that purple stone earlier? Or are there even sub-ct stones out there that do have strong color? Are there certain colors that are found with deeper saturation, as opposed to other colors? Would I be able to find a FCD that I would appreciate, in a smaller size, that wouldn't cost a bizillion dollars? I mean untreated ones, in a certain color like yellow lets say? I mean, a saturated yellow, not a pale "its sort of yellow, in certain lighting, if you squint.." which is how I see most of the FCDs that are the smaller sizes...

 

[chrono]

I am far from being knowledgable in FCDs but I do own a 0.27 ct fancy intense purplish pink diamond. Not super tiny but still small. If I could afford it, who wouldn't want a 1 ct fancy intense purplish pink? I've seen bigger and stronger saturated stones offered on Leibish so I know they exist. I believe that although Kenny's FCDs are smallish, their colour grading is at least fancy intense so his stones are not pale at all. No squinting needed.

 

[minousbijoux]

Chris: I know exactly what you mean, but if you go to Liebish and check out their stones (you probably already have), you'll see some vivid stones that are stunning re color - and price!

 

[soberguy]

I have had the opportunity to play with several multi million dollar fancy colored diamonds. In specimens like that there is no other gem in my opinion that can rival their color. Getting one with a nice saturation, color (dare I even mention clarity) and size is prohibitively expensive. Even small ones are a bit staggering in cost when compared to other gemstones with equal color.

 

[kenny]

What I wanted to know is, is color saturation on Diamonds based mostly on mass? Is that why the Hope Diamond has such strong color, compared to, say, that purple stone earlier? Or are there even sub-ct stones out there that do have strong color? Are there certain colors that are found with deeper saturation, as opposed to other colors? Would I be able to find a FCD that I would appreciate, in a smaller size, that wouldn't cost a bizillion dollars? I mean untreated ones, in a certain color like yellow lets say? I mean, a saturated yellow, not a pale "its sort of yellow, in certain lighting, if you squint.." which is how I see most of the FCDs that are the smaller sizes...

Yes and no.

The color saturation is the result of three things.
1. The color saturation of the rough material itself.
2. The amount of material there is (size).
3. How many times the light bounces back and forth in the diamond before finally exiting out the top, since color is graded only from a top view. This is a function of the cut of the diamond.

Some cuts, like radiant, keep the light bouncing around more times so the light gets more tinted by the colored body material.
Other cuts like round and emerald cut, not so.
That's why there are so many radiant FCDs and why a premium is charged for rounds and step cuts.

Tiny diamonds can have VERY strong color.

Look how strong the color is of this red diamond, even though it is only 0.10 carat.
That Fancy Intense Greenish Blue pear is only 0.08 carat.
Those two diamonds came from some screaming rough.
More pics: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/fancy-colored-diamond-collection.159746/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/fancy-colored-diamond-collection.159746/[/URL]



Yes, you can find Fancy Intense and Fancy Vivid Yellow diamonds.
Your budget will set how large it is.
I've bought mine from Leibish at http://www.fancydiamonds.net/search_diamonds
Use their search function to shop for yellows in your price range.

 

[ChrisA222]

Kenny, thats exactly what I wanted to know, thanks. Your collection is lovely, its just a pity that you have to settle on a .10ct stone to get that red color in a price that is even relatively attainable...and for some, (like me!) probably not attainable, lol.

Sometimes I wish I did start collecting those instead of, well, everything else, because then I wouldn't have 6 trays of gemstones, 4 of which are for sale, LOL!

I like the violet one the most.

 

[acebruin]

small grayish violet diamonds are actually affordable... i got one as well from lebish... keep an eye out, or better, contact them and tell them to keep an eye out for you! the color is incredible!

 

[kenny]

I want to post one more pic to make a point, rather to pose a question.
This is a Blue emerald cut FCD that I used to own, and frankly wish I did not send back.
IIRC it's a 0.12 ct Fancy Deep Blue emerald cut, the first of three blues I've owned.
Clearly it did not need clever cutting into a radiant to amp up the color saturation.

If there was an FCD that was cut from rough with the same color strength per volume but was the weight of the Hope diamond it would probably look solid black; no light could get out.
All the light would all be absorbed by the large volume of ultra-densly-saturated-blue diamond material.

If such rough was found the cutters would have a real dilemma.
Normally FCD cutters want to cut to get the largest diamond that has the strongest color.
Do they leave it as one huge diamond that needs special high-intensity lighting to see any blue, or do they cut it into several small diamonds that let normal light out?

I'm very curious if a large ultra-saturated rough diamond has ever been found that presented this problem.

 

[chrono]

Kenny,
Who knows if there's any such large rough that would pose this dilemma. If such a thing did happen, I think it would be likely that the faceters would cut a shallow stone that
1. Allows light through into the stone as much as possible.
2. Spready stone to preserve carat weight and value.

 

[Rockdiamond]

If a stone is very heavily included, it will become opaque. Some naturally occuring black diamonds are like that.
But what we're talking about here is a stone that's too deep in color. There are such cases where a yellow, blue, green, brown - or other color diamond is so deeply colored that it basically turns black.
I spoke to one of our cutters who mentioned that they had tried cutting some incredibly dark rough that would only show color if a very bright light was shone through it. Such diamonds will look black.
Black diamonds do have value- although it's generally quite low compared to other "gem quality" diamonds.

 

[kenny]

So in theory there could be a 10-carat rough diamond that if polished down to get one large diamond that is as heavy as possible it would get a color grade of Black, but if cut up into half carat stones they all could get Fancy Deep Blue grades and a zillion times more profit.

What a dilema for the cutter and owner.

Which brings up the next question.
Might there be some large diamonds that GIA graded natural Black which, if cut up smaller, may have very valuable color?

 

[Rockdiamond]

The thorough manner in which rough diamonds are examined should be able to detect if there was valuable rough inside larger pieces of lesser quality. Having said that- there are times rough diamonds give us welcome- or unwelcome surprises once we start polishing, or cutting.
When we speak of "cutting rough into smaller pieces" it's sawing.
When most octahedrons are sewn , a 70/30 split is average. In such cases the top piece is generally one shade lighter than the main piece.
If sawed in half, both pieces will generally have the same color.
If the rough is sawed 80/20 the smaller top piece is usually two color shades lighter. This would support the theory of larger stones showing more color.