Pictures of burned diamonds

[Leanne]

Where can I find pictures of diamonds that have been damaged by a jewelers torch? Also, I would like to find pictures of diamonds before & after fracture filling & how they look after being heated. Thanks!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

. . .

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I did an image search on google and there were less than 10 pictures of fracture filled diamonds and NONE, that I could find, of burned diamonds. . .maybe there is a book or two that have photos. One of my diamond books has a few pictures of clarity enhanced diamonds, but I don't have a scanner. Sorry!

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

I could not find any burned stones either?

It looks like a smokey whiteish cloudy film on the stone surface that will not even rub off with the point of tweezers and hard scratching.
It may be on all or only some facets.
It makes the stone look milky dirty

 

[IrishEyes]

I have a GIA book that has a picture of a burned diamond, but I don''t have the ability to scan right now, it''s broken

. But I can describe it for you: it was a diamond that was in a housefire. It turned completely white and opaque and the edges kind of jutted in and out, instead of being smoothly rounded. The diamond was then recut and repolished and restored to a beautiful brilliance, albeit with less weight. It was pretty cool that it was salvageable. If I am able to scan it in the future, I shall!

 

[diamondlil]

I did see a few burned diamonds in an antique ring that belonged to Kaleigh''s sister-in-law. She recently had a new center stone mounted in it, and I''m sure they replaced the burned diamonds at the same time. They looked exactly as Gary describes -- kind of milky and dull. I''ll PM Kaleigh to see if she had taken any pictures of the ring "before."

Kaleigh, are you there?

DiamondLil

 

[Kaleigh]

Yes I''m here, but empty handed. My SIL''S ring did have accent diamonds that were burned by being over heated by a Nantucket jeweler. They were tiny single cuts and my bench jeweler had to replace them. Sorry I can''t be of more help.

 

[Leanne]

Thanks to all of you! What great descriptions! Gary''s sounds just like what my diamond looked like when my husband & I went to pick it up from the jeweler. Now how do I get my jeweler to tell me the truth so I don''t have to spend big $$ for an appraisal to see if it''s a fracture filled diamond?

 

[cflutist]

Here you go, two burnt diamonds for your viewing pleasure.
LOL, must have highlighted in a different color everytime I read that lesson.

 

[Jennifer5973]

EGADS!

Thanks--fascinating.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

These photo''s are far worse than anything i have ever seen - even worse than a ring I saw that went thru a house / forest fire and the moint was completely melted.

 

[Leanne]

Thanks for those great pics! My diamond did not look as opaque as the pear shape but it was certainly white all over. I could see facets & that''s about it. I will copy your post & take it in with me when I talk to my jeweler Friday.

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

A diamond will blur very noticably if any burning has occured on any facet. I can mean that only one facet needs and cutting, though it is always going to have to be the case that sarounding facets will be polished.

In badly burnt diamonds, the polishing laps that the cutters use are very precise and there is little trouble in following the angles that were originaly cut, as far as I can make out.

The amount that comes off is very little. The burn is completely on the surface. Light can''t refract and that is why it is so obvious, like it is magnified.

The burnt diamond is usually either scraped or sent direct to the cutter. I emplore you for such a challenging search.

 

[pyramid]

Nobody has answered your part of the question about getting the jeweller to admit it - if they did burn the diamond. I honestly think this is something that he would have admitted at the beginning if he was going to. I would not expect him to change his opinion now. Perhaps he feels that they did not burn the diamond and so does not have anything to admit.

 

[Leanne]

Very true, sadly he has been my jeweler for 15 years so I hope we can continue our relationship. I''m going to ask him point blank, "Has my diamond been over heated causing it to turn white?". I think he''ll answer honestly. I don''t care that it had been burned as long as it is repaired now. Losing a point or two is not a big deal for me. What does concern me is the fact that he told me it was probably clarity enhanced in some way which caused it to turn white during ring sizing. I think if that is true & Zales sold me a fracture filled diamond without disclosure, they need to be held accountable. I was in the process of purchasing a $2000 diamond semi mount from my jeweler when the "accident" happened. Obviously that won''t go through until I get to the bottom of the mystery. Did it turn white because of fracture filling or did his jeweler torch it?

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

I think we are talking about something that is more rare then you think. I don''t know what amount of jewellery has previously burnt diamonds in it, but when you imagine it must less then 1 in quite a few thousand diamonds that ever get burnt.

Some people new to platinum might burn one, but probably never again. Anything with fracture fillaments could be stamped as such.

 

[Leanne]

My diamond was set in a platinum tiffany setting. In order for the jeweler to remove it to put it in another setting, did he have to heat the prongs?

 

[He Scores]

Several things regarding burnt diamonds. As a cutter, I see perhaps a half dozen burnt ones a year out of the hundreds of stones that I have to cut. The most common occurance is what appears to be a slight film on only a portion of the stone.

More severe occurances will perhaps have a slightly thicker film over the entire stone. This usually happens when torch work is done on a platinum setting.

The pear shape that was pictured is a rare occurance and in 30 years of cutting I have only seen it one time, where the stones was burned so badly that the facets disappeared. That came from a jewelry store fire and the contents of the safe were incinerated.

Lastly, I had kept my vacuum sweeps because I had lost a diamond in the 1/3 ct. range. I knew the diamond was in the sweeps. I burned the sweeps with a propane torch (the hotter one rather than just propane) figuring the residue would contain the diamond. I burned the sweeps so hot in a metal container that the diamond was completely incinerated...I believe they turn to graphite under that much heat. At least that''s what a metalurgist told me who had walked me thru the process.


Bill

"When it comes to diamonds, it pays to know the score"

 

[cflutist]

Date: 6/21/2005 8:06:49 AM
Author: He Scores

I burned the sweeps so hot in a metal container that the diamond was completely incinerated...I believe they turn to graphite under that much heat. At least that's what a metalurgist told me who had walked me thru the process.


Bill

'When it comes to diamonds, it pays to know the score'

According to that same lesson, a diamond will burn in the presence of pure oxygen at 720 C producing Carbon Dioxide (CO2). In air (which is only about 20% pure oxygen), the combustion temperature is about 850 C.

Diamond has been converted to graphite by heating it to temperatures of 1200 - 1900 C (in a vacuum). Since there is no atmospheric oxygen present, no oxidation takes place, and thus no change in chemical composition. Instead, the carbon atoms rearrange themselves completly, from the closely-packed, cubic structure of diamond to the sheet-like, hexagonal structure of graphite.