Gallery Mint Museum

Fancy tinted diamonds are all the rage
these days.  Gemologists have developed
new ways to create versions that are
affordable for the average person – by
treating less desirable diamonds. These
less desirable diamonds are treated with
irradiation followed by intense heat.  This
turns brown and yellowish diamonds into
beautifully colored diamonds that you can
afford.  This produces stunning greens,
blues, yellows, reds, purples and other
colors.  These colors are considered
permanent, but there is a possibility
they could change during repairs if a high
heat is used.

Treatments like irradiation make it possible
for more people to own these vividly colored
diamonds. Most natural colored diamonds
are rare and also extremely expensive. When
shopping for colored diamonds you need to
assume that any affordable fancy color
diamond has been treated.  Ask about the
stones origin and request to view a lab
certificate to verify authenticity.

Synthetic tinted diamonds are another
option if owning a colored diamond is
something you desire but cannot quite afford.
They are real diamonds, but they are created
in a lab.

Natural fancy color diamonds get their
coloring from different trace elements present
in the stones, such as nitrogen, which
produces a yellow diamond.  Diamonds can
be tinted by exposure to radiation during its
creation.  An example of a diamond affected
by radiation is a Green diamond.

Another way that a natural tinted diamond
gets color is by its inclusions.  Regarded as
flaws and undesirable in a colorless diamond,
inclusions give unique tones and brilliant
flashes of color in a fancy color diamond.  
Remember that Natural fancy colored
diamonds are very expensive, any colored
diamond labeled to be sold as natural should
be accompanied by a certificate from a
respected grading lab.

A “fancy” diamond is a natural diamond that
has color.  These colors vary from red, green,
purple, violet, orange, blue and pink – and
most shades between.  Fancy color shades
vary from faint to intense.

The most famous diamonds in the world are
Color diamonds.  The Tiffany Diamond,
which is yellow and the Hope Diamond which
is blue are tinted diamonds.    Color
diamonds have an amazing financial track
record.  The value has never decreased on
wholesale level in more than 30 years.  Blue
and pink diamonds have doubled every 5
years of a strong economy.   In the 1970’s
you could have bought a very high quality
blue diamond for about 50K and today the
very same stone would be worth between
2 and 3 million.

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A diamond certificate is also known as a
Diamond Grading Report. This report comes
from the Gemological Institute of America
(GIA), and you should require this report
when you are purchasing a diamond.

With a diamond certificate, you can verify
the color, cut, carat, weight, and clarity of the
diamond. You don’t have to worry about a
diamond dealer telling you anything less than
the truth, because the certificate comes
from the GIA – not the dealer. You may be
required to pay for the certificate, but the
cost is usually low, and in many cases, it
will help you negotiate a better price on the
diamond – or keep you from purchasing a
lower quality diamond altogether.

If you buy a high quality diamond, and then
later decide to sell the diamond, you will
need to have the certificate, or you will have
a hard time selling it to someone else.
Furthermore, you can use the Diamond
Grading Report to look up the wholesale
value of the diamond in question. Use the
guide that is used by the diamond cutting
industry.

With the Certificate, or Diamond Grading
Report, there won’t be any doubts when you
are trying to purchase a diamond. You can
easily find out what the diamond is worth.
This will prevent you from overpaying, and it
can prevent a seller from under-charging as
well.

A copy of the Diamond Grading Report
should be given to your insurance company
as well, when you insure the diamond. This
provides absolute, unquestionable proof of
the value of the diamond should it be stolen
in the future. Insurance companies cannot
argue with the report.

Avoid diamond dealers who seem reluctant
to provide a certificate! Also avoid sellers
who tell you that a certificate diamond will
cost you more – the only additional cost
should be the cost of the certificate, which
is low. If the dealer doesn’t want to provide
a certificate, then you don’t want to do
business with that dealer.

Don’t accept certificates from Gemological
Laboratories other than GIA. There are many
fly-by-night Gemological labs these days, but
in the end, GIA has been established as the
most respectable and trustworthy – not to
mention oldest – of the lot. So avoid dealers
who don’t want to use GIA for certification
purposes as well.

Don’t buy an expensive diamond without
paying the extra cost of the certificate. If a
dealer tries to convince you to make the
purchase without the certificate, or if they
want to use a company other than GIA, you
can be sure that the dealer has probably
greatly inflated the price of the diamond –
they have something that they are hiding
from you.

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When it comes to diamonds, there are
numerous scams to avoid. Most scams are
minor, but there are some major ones that
come up from time to time concerning the
buying and selling of diamonds. Scams
occur simply because most people who buy
diamonds – for whatever reasons – don’t
know that much about diamonds. Therefore,
they are easily fooled.

A common scam that most jewelry stores
participate in is the Carat Total Weight scam.
The tag on the piece of jewelry, usually a ring,
only states the total carat weight of all
diamonds in the piece, instead of listing the
total weights separately for each diamond.
This leads consumers to believe that the main
diamond in the piece is actually bigger than it
is. Ask what the total carat weight of the center
stone is. Also beware of fractions. Jewelry
stores are allowed to round off diamond
weights. This means that if the jeweler tells
you that it is a ¾ carat diamond, it is
probably between ½ and ¾ carat – but
closer to ¾.

Jewelry stores often run ‘fluorescence’
scams to varying degrees. Referring to a
diamond as a blue-white diamond is such a
scam. A blue-white diamond sounds very
unique and special, but in fact, this type of
diamond is of lesser quality – even though
the jeweler will try to make you think you are
getting something special. Jewelry stores
also like to show their diamonds in bright
lights. Lights make diamonds shine. Ask
to see the diamond in a different, darker
type of lighting as well.

Some truly unscrupulous jewelers target
those who want appraisals on diamonds
that were given to them as gifts or that were
purchased elsewhere. They will try to tell you
that the diamond is worthless, or worth less
than it actually is worth – and offer to take it
off your hands or trade it for a much better
diamond, along with the cash to make up
the difference. This is called low balling.
Get a second, third, and even a forth opinion
before taking any action.

Another common dirty trick is to switch the
diamond you have chosen and paid for with
one of lesser quality and value when you
leave it to be set in a piece of jewelry, or
leave a diamond ring to be sized. The only
way to avoid this is to do business with one
trustworthy jeweler. Avoid jewelers that you
have not done business with in the past.

There are many more scams that jewelry
stores commonly pull on unsuspecting
consumers. Just use your best judgment,
and purchase your diamonds with the
utmost care and consideration.

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