How common is a green undertone?

monipod · Apr 11, 2022

On the topic of J-Lo's bling lol (long story sorry!).

Pre-pandemic, I bought a 'bluffy' 2ct oval stone from Alex Park. He said it looked better than it should so I jumped on it at the price offered. It's an M I1 which I know most people would give a wide berth but the selling point to me is that it contained a small orange garnet inside (I think Spessartite 'Fanta' garnet). I'm a science nerd so in spite of it not being perfect, I fell in love. It sparkles nicely and I had it swiftly set into a semi-bezel ring in yellow gold without really looking at it.

Anyway, fast forward to this week and I just picked my stone up after resetting it in a classic 6-prong (white gold prongs) ring with a yellow band. I decided that the semi-bezel wasn't flattering its size lol

I love it but while at a Swarovski store with its dazzling lights, my daughter asked me why my diamond was green. And indeed, it was quite neon green! I then looked at it in overcast natural light and now I can't not see some green undertone. Very very slight but it's there!

Anyone else with a similar stone? Low colour but with green? Please show me!

Karl_K · Apr 11, 2022

kewl I would love a stone with a garnet in it.
What is the report florescence grade?

Ibrakeforpossums · Apr 11, 2022

monipod said:
On the topic of J-Lo's bling lol (long story sorry!).

Pre-pandemic, I bought a 'bluffy' 2ct oval stone from Alex Park. He said it looked better than it should so I jumped on it at the price offered. It's an M I1 which I know most people would give a wide berth but the selling point to me is that it contained a small orange garnet inside (I think Spessartite 'Fanta' garnet). I'm a science nerd so in spite of it not being perfect, I fell in love. It sparkles nicely and I had it swiftly set into a semi-bezel ring in yellow gold without really looking at it.

Anyway, fast forward to this week and I just picked my stone up after resetting it in a classic 6-prong (white gold prongs) ring with a yellow band. I decided that the semi-bezel wasn't flattering its size lol

I love it but while at a Swarovski store with its dazzling lights, my daughter asked me why my diamond was green. And indeed, it was quite neon green! I then looked at it in overcast natural light and now I can't not see some green undertone. Very very slight but it's there!

Anyone else with a similar stone? Low colour but with green? Please show me!

Please show us this ring! It sounds like the coolest diamond. A Fanta garnet and green undertone, WAY cool.

monipod · Apr 11, 2022

Ibrakeforpossums said:
Please show us this ring! It sounds like the coolest diamond. A Fanta garnet and green undertone, WAY cool.

Thank you. I'm going to take some shots of it on white paper in various lighting to try and catch the green. It may show up more like yellow with green undertone on screen but I'll give it a go!

monipod · Apr 11, 2022

Karl_K said:
kewl I would love a stone with a garnet in it.
What is the report florescence grade?

Sadly it didn't get a report but I'm tempted to send it off to to a lab now. No fluorescence that I can detect but I'm going to throw it under UV for further amateur observation!

Karl_K · Apr 11, 2022

What it does under a cheap led uv light would be interesting to know.

Ionysis · Apr 12, 2022

Given the circumstances in which you noticed this it might be that your diamond doesn’t have a green undertone as such, but it actually exhibiting green fluorescence. It’s unusual in colourless or alphabet diamonds but it does happen occasionally.

Halogen lighting which is used in many stores gives off a substantial amount of UV. That’s what may have caused the neon green glow if your diamond has green fluorescence.

monipod · Apr 13, 2022

Karl_K said:
What it does under a cheap led uv light would be interesting to know.

Ionysis said:
Halogen lighting which is used in many stores gives off a substantial amount of UV. That’s what may have caused the neon green glow if your diamond has green fluorescence.

I have a cheap UV light (somewhere...). I'll play around it with over Easter and see what I discover. From memory it had no apparent fluorescence (and not noted by vendor) but I was looking for blue. The store light was definitely doing something!

monipod · Apr 17, 2022

Just adding some pics. I only had a nail UV light which isn't that strong but enough for the experiment. I included my rings that I know for sure have strong blue fluor. I'm thinking @Ionysis is right in that the stone has faint green fluorescence after all. Because I got told it had no fluor, I never scrutinised the stone before setting. Now that it's in a setting with more light getting in, it's really apparent (which I love!). So this beauty just keeps on giving with nature's wonder. I've pointed out where the baby garnet is but it's best seen with loupe.