QuestionThomas,
My wife has a 1.54 carat diamond solitare ring. Recently, it was loose around the prongs, so we had it sent in. Grant it, the ring had a natural birthmark deep inside of it, however, not on the visbile surface.
When we got the ring back, the stone was nice and tight. I gave it back to my wife, she saw with the naked eye two (2) clouded locations opposite eachother on the outside of the ring RIGHT NEXT TO THE PRONGS. So to me, it looked like one of two things. Either that was the original location the prongs sat on the rings, so when the jeweler got the ring, he just rotated the diamond a bit to retighten. Or he tried to retighten on that spot and it produced enough stress to fracture, exactly opposite of eachother where prongs are located.
Is this a common practice where it happens, or could it be that the ring was initally covered by the prongs where the birthmarks were locate? I know both are situations that could occur, but being a jeweler, is it a common issue where stress can cause a fracture? THank you for your time and opinion on this.
Felix
AnswerHello, Felix. Thank you for this question.
First of all, look closely at the stone to be certain both cloudy areas are different and one is not a reflection of the other. A flaw is sometimes seen as multiples depending on location and view.
Now, looking at the ring, if the stone was turned enough to move one cloud toward a prong tip, would the other one also move toward a prong tip? If so, is it possible the stone can be loosened slightly and then turned to at least partially hide the two areas. If locations will not allow this, then perhaps one can be hidden beneath a prong tip.
IS IT SAFE TO PUT A FLAW UNDER A PRONG
Felix, that depends on the flaw. The sort of flaws you describe are generally not dangerous when the stone is set and may be placed under a prong tip. If the flaw is actually a fracture close to the surface and showing on the girdle surface (stone waist) the jeweler will have to make a judgment call as to safety in application of pressure to the diamond. If the area appears safe, the stone may almost always be set tightly even if less pressure is put on one particular prong tip.
You might do this: Take the ring to the place the work was done (oops..did you say the ring was sent out?) and ask if the visible flaws can be placed under adjacent prong tips. If the ring was sent to a trade shop working for jewelers and businesses, you do not have contact there. You could try a local jewelry store with a good reputation and a bench jeweler working on the premises. Have the jeweler take a look and give you a recommendation.
WHAT HAPPENED
I have no way to know with any certainty what happened to cause the change in appearance of your wife's stone as set. I would say that if the flaws can be safely be hidden by prongs there is your answer, meaning the one doing the work hesitated to put the flaws under the prongs and not take any chances of damage..or did not even consider the flaws when tightening the stone.
Generally tightening a stone in the setting is a fairly simple matter and risk of damage to the diamond is so low as to be of little concern.
It is true that a pressure causing fracture on one side can put pressure on the opposite side, depending on the methods used. That can cause another bit of damage but such happening is surely NOT common in my experience. I doubt that happened at all. Stress of stone setting can bring about a fracture if the stone has a knife edge girdle but this is generally a chip right off the surface. If the stone is full of internal flaws and weak areas show evidence of reaching the stone surface, damage is a consideration and extra care is taken. If the stone seat area, the notch appearing place the waist of the stone rests is cut poorly with a tiny but protruding spot of metal, damage is more possible since pressure toward the stone is exerted first on a very small area and essentially magnified against the diamond. These are all "if" scenarios and who knows what might happen in a given situation with a combination of conditions.
Now, Felix, my final word is this: Setting pressure can cause damage to a susceptible stone. However, in most cases (meaning almost ALL) a diamond of decent clarity will not be damaged in setting. It can happen but with even a fairly new bench jeweler I call the chance of damage very uncommon. An exception is a princess cut, a risky stone to set and risky to wear.
Felix, that is my thought. God Bless and Peace. Thomas.
