AdminOn a diamond grading certificate there are all the natural properties of diamonds, like the size ( carat), colour, clarity, cut and fluorescence.
Fluorescence? It’s a little known fact to most outside of the jewellery trade that around a third of diamonds are naturally fluorescent.
Fluorescent in the same way that a glow in the dark body paint may be, and it glows under UV light. Most diamonds that are fluorescent glow blue but some glow red, purple, yellow, orange or green and its fancy colour diamonds that account for most of the other colours of fluorescence.
But does a diamonds fluorescence make a difference to the value of a diamond, and should it worry you when you buy a diamond?
As a bespoke jewellery designer we sell hundreds of diamonds and help our clients to find the most beautiful stones that are the best value. We tell our customers not to worry about fluorescence. It is so far down the list of priorities when it comes to buying a stone because you can’t see it unless there is a UV light around and how often does that happen?
The only instance where it might be sensible is if you are buying the stones with an eye on investment, but that’s only because of market forces, which are of course subject to change. With fluorescent diamonds accounting for just 1 in 3 of the worlds diamonds just imagine what would happen to the price if they suddenly became hugely fashionable and it’s entirely possible.
Tanzanite is the breakthrough gemstone of the 2000’s and that’s in part down to their scarcity. Over 1000 times rarer than diamonds and with only one known location in the world the scramble for jewellers to get there hands of the stone has been heightened by the knowledge that supply is finite.
As it stands fluorescence can have a negative impact on the value of stone of high quality but a positive effect on stones of lesser quality. The price different at the top end is most drastic but till at most just 15%, and we’re talking the very top end.
Stones over 2.00ct, D-E Colour and VVS Clarity is where you see the most striking variations but it’s still very much up to the customer to decide if it’s something that bothers them. Some high end jewellery buyers positively embrace it, they share our opinion that it’s a fascinating natural property of diamonds and they are happy to snap up the 15% discount on offer.
Would you turn your nose up at beautiful stone that glows blue in the rare event it’s exposed to UV light?
The other end of the scale is diamonds of a poorer colour grade. As you go down the colour scale stones appear to have a yellow tint. Strong blue will counteract this although the effect is so negligible it hard to put even a vague figure on how this will affect the value of such stones. diamond painting eigenes foto