EVERYONE SKIPS FLUORESCENCE
DIAMOND FLUORESCENCE, WHAT, WHO?
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It’s Amazing to me that most Stores, Websites, Sales Representatives, and Customers Skip such an Important Topic as Fluorescence.
What? WHO?
Exactly!
Diamond Fluorescence is a Term that people hear of, but usually Ignore…
It’s not a Big Deal, right?
Fluorescence can’t really affect how a Diamond Looks, let alone the Price…
Bull Crap!
Fluorescence can often make a Diamond look Foggy. Cloudy like a Low-Clarity Diamond. It can CHANGE the Look of a Genuine Diamond in Natural Light, and make it Glow-In-The-Dark under UV Light.
(Buy yourself a Black Light and see if your Diamond Glows)
And that’s because Fluorescence is a Real Conversation that should never be Passed Over…
It’s Important to the Overall Beauty of the Stone.
Because if you Bought yourself a VVS1 Diamond, with E Color (Top Notch Quality like These Diamonds HERE!), and that Diamond Face up BAD…
Then that’s a lot of Money to Blow!
You could have gotten a Low Grade Stone instead and Saved yourself Thousands of Dollars.
REALLY!
So What is Fluorescence?
Fluorescence is a Natural Phenomenon that can occur in Diamonds due to Radiation when the Diamonds were Created.
33% of all Diamonds have Fluorescence to some Degree. This “Glowing” Effect (Fluorescence) is usually Blue, but it can Glow other Colors like White or Yellow as well. The UV Light will make it Glow, but this Glow will slowly Fade away until it’s submitted to UV Light again.
Fluorescence can be Harmless, it may NOT affect the Look of a Diamond in the Least…
But then again…
It could make it look like a Hazy, Blurry, White, Foggy Chunk of Salt.
Not Very Pretty!
And, it could also make a Low Colored Diamond (Like J-K-L-M) look BETTER than it really is, giving False Readings! (And Misrepresented Color Grades can Affect Price Greatly!)
Fluorescence has 5 Different GIA Grades:
- None
- Faint
- Medium
- Strong
- Very Strong
See the Fluorescence Chert below for a More Accurate View of this Crazy Diamond Characteristic…
And like I said, it could make the Diamond look BAD (Regardless of the Cut, Color or Clarity).
Compare these Diamonds Below…
See how Blurry it Looks?
OR…
It may look like every other Diamond that doesn’t have Fluorescence. You just never know…
So to find out if a Diamond has Fluorescence, Check the Certificate…
Or Buy yourself a Black Light.
It’s a Cool thing to see if it Glows, but if the Diamond looks Milky or Cloudy, then WHY BOTHER?
If you don’t see Fluorescence listed on a Website, INQUIRE!
If the Sales Person doesn’t mention it, INQUIRE!
Ask if it has Fluorescence!
(Especially if the Price of the Diamond is LOW… This could be the reason why!)
For Fluorescence can be a Beautiful Diamond Sparkle KILLER!
You just won’t know until you see it with your very own eyes.
That’s why I usually advise folks to just Buy Diamonds WITHOUT Fluorescence…
Just to be Safe!
(Like these Diamonds HERE at James Allen)
Because Beauty is a Sad thing to Waste.
Cheers! :)
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My knowledge of fluorescence has increased exponentially since I began reading your blog! Since I knew a little about it before and having learned even more about it lately, it’s become the first thing I look for when I check out the characteristics of a diamond. If it lists any fluorescence at all, I move on regardless of the rest, because that is the one characteristic you can’t “polish off” or remove by recutting, or alter by “retouching” the stone in some way.
My friend, who is the granddaughter of the man who started our local jewelry store, and has been managing the store for several years, had a very large diamond solitaire ring in their case for years, even before she started running the store. It had been added to stock when her parents were running it, and it just never sold. Every time I went into the store, if I had to wait to talk to her about my business, I would admire the latest stock in the bridal case. That ring was always there, but it was noticeable only because of some very faint, odd glow it emitted. We joked about it each time, nicknaming it “The Headlight” because it had the look of an older, unmaintained headlight that had begun to get that cloudiness to it so many of them do that don’t have the old fashioned glass type lens on it. We would take it out, and play with it, and joke about the price her parents would likely never get for it.
It was just recently that I noticed the ring was missing. She said they finally sold it, a 1.20ct G color VVS1 stone in an 18kt white gold 6 prong Tiffany mount. There had been a couple come in who wanted a “BIG” solitaire, and didn’t care much about the rest. She wanted a whopper to wave under her friends’ noses, and apparently this was her general style in everything. The store (actually my friend) had cut the price 20%, to try and get some money back out of that ancient stock that was taking up valuable space in their case!
The young lady had waltzed out of the store, waving that big, ugly diamond around on her hand, and she was ecstatic to have it! All those other good points – the clarity, the good color, and the size – lost out completely in my eyes to that odd, cloudy glow, but then like my favorite saying goes, “Not my circus, not my monkey!”
I’ve always wondered since then if she’s ever noticed that it just doesn’t have a lot of “POW!” to it like other stones have of similar size, especially since she got out of the good store lighting and into the outside world?
Well, that’s my story for today! Great post from you, as usual!
It is Amazing how one Characteristic can totally Dominate all others… No other Diamond Aspect can do this. It’s so Important to look for it, and Sadly, it’s the one area most Places fail to even bring up. Scary Stuff. :)
It’s never been a part of that ever-important “4C’s” that every diamond advertising program has so totally focused on. Not once have I ever seen anyone bring it up as anything you MUST focus on when comparing stones. Its always been all about “Color, Carat (weight), Cut and Clarity” right down the line. Where in the “4 C’s” do you stick that one “F” for Fluorescence? That’s always been another “teachable moment” for me, when friends or relatives come to me with questions about buying diamonds. But, for the rest – the whole diamond industry – that lack of focus does quite a disservice to their customers!
Back in the day, so to speak, before GIA developed those categories of valuation, and when diamonds were only referred to as “Fancy blue-white Wessletons” or “white” or not so white; and “flawless” or not, nobody knew about fluorescence, but it affected the appearance of the stones nonetheless. I wonder if they wondered about that mystical characteristic that seemed to cloud the issue?
Wondered about it? HA! I’m sure they Banked on it! Thanks to Modern Day Technology and 20/20 for Opening the Eyes of Customers and Certification. :) -Richard