 | Jerry Burnell has been a driving force in the jewelry industry of Kansas for the past 30 years. Jerry is a native of Wichita and a graduate of Wichita State University. He jokingly says that he had a degree in business, almost a masters in business, almost a degree in chemistry, with heavy studies in physics, math, and biology and he just quit college, that he figured that with 239 credit hours he should be able to make a living somewhere. Actually he was already deep into the motions of starting the most respected jewelry design team in this part of the country. Jerry is highly regarded and considered an expert in many fields, three of which are Precious gemstones, jewelry manufacture, and jewelry design. Jerry is presently president of The Kansas Jewelers Association and holds a position on the advisory board of Jewelers of America. You may contact Jerry at Burnell’s Jewelers, (316) 634-2822, or find Burnell’s Jewelers on the web at www.burnells.com |
Gold, Silver, Diamonds & Jewelry
2004-03-01 14:01:00
Diamonds... two things matter
Jerry Burnell
Question: What do I look for in a diamond and what is the best buy?
ANSWER: We will try to make this as simple as possible. There are only two things that you look for in a diamond. How bright is it and how big is it? If you were on a limited budget, (in the area of diamonds absolutely every one is) then I would choose a brighter diamond instead of a larger one. The question arises, "Should you simply buy the highest quality diamond on the chart to get the best buy?" Definitely not, if you are looking for the best price vs. the balance of brilliance. There are Dozens of grading systems in the world, but we are only going to refer to the most excepted scale. That is the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) grading system. Just a little aside, the GIA was started by Robert Shipley who originally had a jewelry store (Vales) on North Broadway in Wichita many years ago. Some of the grades, on the Gemological Institute of America grading chart denote differences in brightness and some of them simply reflect rarity. Cut or Make: How well a diamond is cut is the most important aspect in how brilliant a diamond will be. It is also the largest factor that affects the price of a diamond. The accuracy in the cutting of a diamond can affect the price up to forty percent. Accuracy in diamond cutting is the most misunderstood factor in diamond pricing and is the factor that many Jewelers do not even mention to their customers. A correctly cut diamond is fashioned to reflect the maximum amount of light coming into the diamond, out the top of the diamond. If the diamond is cut too deep, too shallow, disproportioned or asymmetrical it will not perform as well. The round diamond is the brightest, with all the other shapes (princess, oval, Radiant, marquise, pear shaped, etc.) being compromises. An ideal cut round brilliant diamond below one half caret and a Star 129 diamond above one half caret are the brightest diamonds available today. There are others claiming their cuts are brighter but to the naked eye and machines that are designed to read these factors these claims do not hold up. Stones like Hears and Arrows and Hearts on Fire are simply ideal cut diamonds.Color: Color is the second factor that will determine how bright the diamond will be. When diamonds form 75 to 225 miles deep in the earth there is Nitrogen present. Unfortunately Nitrogen is in the same family as Carbon, which makes up a diamond. Most of the time a small amount of Nitrogen is trapped in the diamond latticework. When light passes through the Carbon portion of a diamond virtually all the light passes through. But when light hits a Nitrogen atom, it absorbs all the wave links of light except yellow, which is passed on through. One can see from this fact that the yellow in a diamond is not the culprit that causes a diamond to not be as bright, it is simply an indicator as to how much light the Nitrogen atoms are absorbing. If the diamond is absorbing light it will not be as bright. The GIA scale has 26 color grades; they range from 'D' (perfectly white to 'Z' (a light yellow but not vivid yellow). 'D', 'E', and 'F', are much like the top clarity grades and are mostly rarity grades. With the 'G' and 'H' grades you need to have a grading set to see the color. That does not mean that an 'H' color stone will be as bright as an 'H', it simply means that the yellow indicator is not strong enough to see with the unaided eye. Next there is 'I' and 'J' and in these stones most people can see a definite difference in brilliance. 'J' is the average stone sold in the U.S. In stones 'K' and below the diamond will look yellowish to the naked eye. The lower grades simply look much darker and not nearly as brilliant.Clarity: If there are inclusions trapped in the diamond it will block light, and the diamond will not be as bright. There are ten grades in the clarity chart. The first three are rarity grades. They are 'F', 'VVS1', 'VVS2', 'VS1', 'VS2', 'SI1', 'SI2', 'I1', 'I2', 'I3', flawless, (absolutely no visible flaws with ten power magnification), 'VVS1', 'VVS2'; very, very slight inclusions in the first and second degree are extremely difficulty to see with 10 power magnification and do not for all reasonable visible purposes change the way the stone looks). They are rarity grades. 'VS1' and 'VS2' stones still have very small inclusions and do not diminish the brilliance in a major way. 'SI '(slightly included) is the average clarity sold in the United States. In the 'SI2' rated diamonds, if you look very diligently you can see the inclusions when the diamond is placed face down on a piece of white paper. The 'I1', 'I2', 'I3' grades are huge changes in the way a diamond looks. In 'I1' the inclusions are barely visible with the naked eye face up. In a 'I3' diamond the stone is badly broken up, with cracks, cleavages, inclusions, surgery areas and or structural problems. We often refer to them as drill bits but there are places that actually sell them for jewelry. Now that we have laid some groundwork we can talk about what is the best value in a diamond. There are those who aspire to having a car that will do 250 mph to drive every day and to those, I say go for a 'D', flawless diamond. But if you were looking for the best diamond value, then it would be the brightest diamond for the money. In my opinion that would be an ideal cut (up to one half caret) or Star 129 diamond in the 'G-H' color range with a clarity grade of 'VS1', or 'VS2'. Even a slight change in how a diamond is cut will make a difference in it's brilliance, but coming down this slight bit on the color and clarity scales will end up saving you considerable money without changing the way the diamond really looks. With price concerns you can even shift to lower grades.Size is determined by the amount you want to spend. It is not a linier progression. As size increases the price per caret increases drastically. Do not be misled in thinking that all diamonds are graded with the same accuracy or intent. We have seen diamonds brought in for appraisals, and sometimes with certificates, that are as much as five grades off. Remember that paper is cheep and does not actually have any value as to a certificate unless it is accurate. Appraisers do not believe any certificate until the diamond is seen. Even the best diamond appraisers make mistakes, and others make an extremely fine living making mistakes on certificates. The best advice is to find a jeweler that is knowledgeable, that you can truly trust, and that will help you. You will find it much less expensive in the long run.
