CAN JEWELERS FIX COLOR & CLARITY?

Can your diamond’s color and clarity be fixed by jewelers?

Can they make it better?

Short answer: NO!

Long answer: YES!

Jewelers can do things to fix your diamond, but it’s not simple, and it’s not pretty.

Let’s cut to the chase…

The diamond you’re trying to “fix” is already a billion years old. Chances are good, that the diamond’s color and clarity are here to stay (mother nature says so). Those imperfections and flaws and hue are frozen forever in time and cannot really be altered, erased or fixed.

Upgrade your stone

The biggest “quick fix” to enhance your color and clarity, is to upgrade.

Trade up to a better quality diamond.

I know, that’s a cop-out, but it’s true.

The color of your diamond will never change. You could put 10,000 degrees of heat to it, in a tightly sealed pressure cooker, and maybe then you’ll burn the yellow color out of it and replace it with a black burnt color instead…

But let’s get real. If there was a genuine way to rid a diamond of the ugly yellowish or brown colors easily, jewelers would do so, and be able to sell all of their diamonds as a much better color and a much better price. It’s not going to happen.

Color is color.

It’s been that color for a billion years, and probably will be for another billion.

Clarity is a different story

There are things that jewelers can do to fix a diamond’s clarity. For example, if you have a big black spot inclusion that falls to the outside of your diamond and looks unsightly, you can always have your diamond recut and repolished into a smaller diamond. That black carbon or pepper spot can be “cut out” and “removed“.

Removing that black spot will help make your diamond a better clarity and up the value.

But, chances are very good, that if cutting out that one inclusion on the side of your stone would make the quality better, then the diamond cutters would have already done so.

If they can make a diamond cleaner by the way they cut it, they probably would.

Cleaner diamonds provide more profit for everyone. And trust me, cutting diamonds is all about maximizing profits and nothing else.

Laser drilling

There’s only one other thing you can do to a diamond to make the inclusions look better (other than covering it with a prong and hiding it)… And that is called laser drilling.

Laser drilling is the process of drilling a tiny, pin-hole tunnel or tube into the bottom or side of your diamond (which is about the size of a human hair).

They laser drill that tunnel through your diamond directly into the black inclusion and vaporize it. This basically melts away that spot leaving an empty hole inside.

The bad thing is, drilling a tunnel into your diamond can be noticeable under a microscope and can also make your diamond’s structure weak and brittle, too.

Fracture filling

Sometimes after they drill this hole in the diamond, they will fill that hole with a foreign clear substance (kind of like epoxy) to make it blend in with the diamond better.

Black spot = Gone!

This method may not be cheap nor quick.

And also note, that by doing so, you may never be able to sell your diamond again.

This is because of legal reasons:

You see, fracture filling is frowned upon in the jewelry industry. Most state laws say that jewelers can’t sell fracture filled diamonds without stating so.

Otherwise it’s deceptive.

That’s because filling can make a diamond look better than it really is.

Jewelers selling “laser filled” diamonds (enhanced diamonds) must disclose whether it’s been filled upon selling. For it’s illegal to enhance clarity this way without warning customers of the treatment.

One more thing to consider

If it’s been laser drilled or fracture filled you may find it hard to resell these diamonds.

Who wants a diamond that’s been fixed?

Even jewelers don’t like to purchase them.

It’s like cosmetic surgery for diamonds, it’s not the real deal.

So you see, the short answer is no.

Nothing simple or easy can be done to help color or clarity.

The long answer is, cutting or drilling is the only real fix.

So my suggestion is:

Trade it towards a better diamond.

That’s the only true way to get a better diamond color or clarity.

And to be honest, that’s the best way to “fix” the situation.

See some incredible diamonds here at James Allen.

Cheers! :)