Back when “J. Lo” received a pink diamond engagement ring many consumers were jolted into an awareness that diamonds are sometimes found in attractive colors other than “white” or colorless. Needless to say, awareness sparked a demand; but as “bubble-gum” pink diamonds are quite rare (the annual production of “pinks” that could be cut into a diamond weighing a couple of carats or more would fit in the palm of your hand), price made demand short lived. Nonetheless, demand encouraged fraud artists, both polished and bumbling.

One of the bumblers offered a large “pink” diamond to a U.S. jeweler at a “too good to be true” price; and he bit on it. After the sale had been concluded and the seller long gone, the jeweler began to fear that he might have been bamboozled; so he sent the diamond to the Gemological Institute of America’s Gem Lab. It took but a few minutes in the lab to establish that the back of the diamond had been carefully painted with pink nail polish. To the jeweler’s dismay, he was compelled to recognize that his greed had triumphed over good sense. Of course, more sophisticated jewelers have received the attention of more polished con artists.

A few years back an American gem dealer was offered a parcel of fancy yellow diamonds at so low a price that it put him immediately on guard. He insisted that he would only purchase the parcel if the GIA’s lab identified their color as natural. The over-confident seller agreed and off to the GIA they went. On first examination there was nothing unusual about them; but careful microscopic inspection revealed some pitted and frosted surfaces at the junctions of their crown facets (the ones on top). This is a phenomenon usually associated with a cut diamond’s exposure to high heat; and it is technically possible to heat treat inexpensive brown diamonds in such as fashion as to change their color to a desirable yellow. Spectroscopic analysis would establish the truth. If the diamonds had been heat treated, there would be an anomalous component to the diamonds’ color – a line at 985 nanometers that has never appeared in any natural colored diamond. The line was there and the deal did not go through. As the fraud was “high tech” in character, however, it did raise the question of the origin of the diamonds; and the finger pointed east.

In the last years of the Soviet Union, there had been intensive research into the manufacture of synthetic diamonds (to be used as the base for military grade microcircutry). After its collapse, some of the laboratories that had been involved in the work continued it in the hope that they might successfully produce gem quality diamonds; and they have enjoyed some success. Most of their diamonds are small and in varying degrees, included, off color and somewhat magnetic; but they can be treated using heat, pressure, controlled atmosphere and sometimes radiation to produce a whole array of colors. Almost ironically, market prices seem to indicate (to me, anyway) that it is less costly to “treat” (and thus tint) inexpensive natural diamonds using the same technology. As a result, if you want small colored diamonds as accents to a design, and aren’t picky about their origins, they can easily be found in the market. Larger laboratory “colored” diamonds up to one carat in weight are also regularly on the market, but their acceptance in the market has been relatively poor. Larger laboratory enhanced “colorless” diamonds are another matter.

When a diamond is brown, its color is usually the result of a “twisted” crystalline structure; and it is possible to “straighten” the crystal using heat and pressure. The process is not inexpensive and diamonds so treated are a bit more brittle than untreated diamonds; so it is most commonly used to treat larger (more than 1 carat) diamonds that are also quite free of internal inclusions. When successfully undertaken, however, brown diamonds become “cinderella” colorless diamonds – beautiful gems that usually sell for considerably less than comparable untreated diamonds. Of course con artists have taken note of all of the technology that has recently gone into diamonds; so, “Caveat emptor.” Unless you have a high tech gem lab at your disposal, it is more important than ever to know your jeweler.

We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers, and we offer you Hearts On Fire diamonds. The only thing “unnatural” about them is their rare beauty. Each is cut to standards of proportion, symmetry and polish that far exceed even the pickiest gem lab’s standards for perfection. The result is blazing beauty that will set the woman who owns one (or many!) apart from all her friends. Check out our Hearts On Fire collection on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com; then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment to select the perfect gift – the brilliant stuff of her dreams.