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- Aug 14, 2009
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Up for your esteemed consideration is a Very Ugly Diamond. I acquired this Very Ugly Diamond as part of a pair - I fell hard for the other. Now that I've broken the partnership and her mate is far, far away, I'm recognising that it's high time I sent her off on her own journey.
Now, she knows she's got nothing on Lopsy Fugs, but... some of us must settle for tertiary notoriety; that's just the way of things. And she knows she's actually quite a spectacular specimen, if one is sufficiently open-minded to appreciate her uniqueness. Let's start on the outside and work our way in...
She's white to the eye - I'd call her a G/H in comparison to my other GIA stones. In terms of polish she's unremarkable - no noteworthy external polish characteristics, facet-meets are clean and un-worn, culet is intact. She has a sizable table and an unfinished girdle, and optical symmetry is neither poor nor excellent. She delights in showing off her 'strong' blue fluorescence ('strong' might mean Strong or Very Strong, I couldn't say with any certainty since I've never had her appraised). In fact, for those who might have been searching for the very rare "over-blue" - it's your lucky day!! Her inclusions combined with her fluorescence are guaranteed to turn her slightly milky in sunlight. She sparkles and twinkles in the sun, but the flashes of light seem to emanate from a backdrop of misty blue haze.
Speaking of inclusions - this is where we really start peeling the onion! Take this first photo that focuses deep inside the stone, near the pavilion facets. We've got a veritable alphabet soup of crystals, feathering, clouds, and other internal characteristics:
These are essential in creating her "over-blue" complexion, and can provide hours of entertainment with a loupe - it's like finding shapes in the clouds, only unlike clouds (dastardly fickle things that they are) her patterns will be forever unchanged. No matter how she's set, no matter how she's oriented, her inclusions will always be reassuringly visible. I present, for example, an anteater in a bowtie:
Pull the focus back slightly, into the middle of the stone, and find a much sharper view of the crystals (perhaps some cavities as well?):
And now retract depth-of-field even further, to right under the table, to reveal... Wisps? Aggregates of pinpoints? Shadowed internal deformations?
You see, this Very Ugly Diamond not only exhibits an exhaustive variety of inclusions, she's got layers of inclusions!!
She's the perfect candidate for one-of-a-kind projects. Is, say, the proposition of a diamond keychain not marvellously luxe? Yet what well-minded PSer would willingly submit any other type of diamond to that sort of banging and clanging and scratching and scraping? In hair ribbons. As a wine-glass charm. In a brooch, or a tie for a purse. Decorate your feline or canine partner's collar. The possibilities are endless...
I'm listing her at $235 for 0.532ct by my gem scale - the palindrome pleases me. It's a lot of stone for not a lot of money: tertiary notoriety merits a minimalist price-tag. (And alliteration also pleases me). So...
Now, she knows she's got nothing on Lopsy Fugs, but... some of us must settle for tertiary notoriety; that's just the way of things. And she knows she's actually quite a spectacular specimen, if one is sufficiently open-minded to appreciate her uniqueness. Let's start on the outside and work our way in...
She's white to the eye - I'd call her a G/H in comparison to my other GIA stones. In terms of polish she's unremarkable - no noteworthy external polish characteristics, facet-meets are clean and un-worn, culet is intact. She has a sizable table and an unfinished girdle, and optical symmetry is neither poor nor excellent. She delights in showing off her 'strong' blue fluorescence ('strong' might mean Strong or Very Strong, I couldn't say with any certainty since I've never had her appraised). In fact, for those who might have been searching for the very rare "over-blue" - it's your lucky day!! Her inclusions combined with her fluorescence are guaranteed to turn her slightly milky in sunlight. She sparkles and twinkles in the sun, but the flashes of light seem to emanate from a backdrop of misty blue haze.
Speaking of inclusions - this is where we really start peeling the onion! Take this first photo that focuses deep inside the stone, near the pavilion facets. We've got a veritable alphabet soup of crystals, feathering, clouds, and other internal characteristics:
These are essential in creating her "over-blue" complexion, and can provide hours of entertainment with a loupe - it's like finding shapes in the clouds, only unlike clouds (dastardly fickle things that they are) her patterns will be forever unchanged. No matter how she's set, no matter how she's oriented, her inclusions will always be reassuringly visible. I present, for example, an anteater in a bowtie:
Pull the focus back slightly, into the middle of the stone, and find a much sharper view of the crystals (perhaps some cavities as well?):
And now retract depth-of-field even further, to right under the table, to reveal... Wisps? Aggregates of pinpoints? Shadowed internal deformations?
You see, this Very Ugly Diamond not only exhibits an exhaustive variety of inclusions, she's got layers of inclusions!!
She's the perfect candidate for one-of-a-kind projects. Is, say, the proposition of a diamond keychain not marvellously luxe? Yet what well-minded PSer would willingly submit any other type of diamond to that sort of banging and clanging and scratching and scraping? In hair ribbons. As a wine-glass charm. In a brooch, or a tie for a purse. Decorate your feline or canine partner's collar. The possibilities are endless...
I'm listing her at $235 for 0.532ct by my gem scale - the palindrome pleases me. It's a lot of stone for not a lot of money: tertiary notoriety merits a minimalist price-tag. (And alliteration also pleases me). So...