Tomorrow is our big watch event. The watches are here, although they won’t be in our showroom until tomorrow; and we have a selection of exquisite timepieces we have never been able to show in our store before now. Come in to see some of the most beautiful and technically advanced watches around. Arrangements have been made for some beautiful automobiles to be on hand as well. Be sure and join us Friday night for our spectacular event with refreshments or come in on Saturday to enjoy the cars and timepieces.

50 years ago you were given a diamond.  What?  You dont’ remember.  Let me give you some clues:  It’s a 45.52 Carat deep blue diamond.  It was discovered in the 17th Century at a mine in Golconda, India.  It was owned by Louis XIV of France and King George IV of England.  It is set in a mounting with 16 colorless diamonds and hung on a chain of 45 more diamonds.  It was a gift from Harry Winston.  It’s believed to be cursed and nicknamed America’s Crown Jewel.  Give up?  It’s the Hope Diamond, and it is yours.

Photo courtesy of The Smithsonian

Technically it was donated to the Smithsonian Institution which is owned by the people of the United States of America.  That’s right, the Hope Diamond belongs to you, and me, and about 300 million other people.  To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Hope Diamond donation to the Smithsonian Institution it is being reset – and you (the owner) have a say.  You can vote on how you think it should be set.  Visit the Smithsonian Channel website to vote on how you think the diamond should be set.  Legendary designer, Harry Winston, has designed 3 beautiful settings.  One of these will be used to display the Hope Diaimond during 2010 in honor of its 50th year on display.

Now, if only they would let me wear it for a night . . . .

When I go to parties and someone asks what I do for a living, I say, “I’m a gemologist”. Often the response is “You are a Gymnast?” or “You are a Geologist?” I tell them “No, I play with diamonds and rubies for a living. It is a tough job, but someone has to do it. It beats digging ditches for a living.

Just about the time I was ready to graduate high school, my parents opened a jewelry store in Northridge, CA. They hired me to clean jewelry and do errands. After being exposed to all these sparkling gems, I had many questions. And so began my quest for gem knowledge. I began my gemology studies at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in Santa Monica in September of 1979. I was hooked! I excelled quickly and became top of my class. I graduated in February of 1980 and thought I knew everything about gems. I enjoyed my studies so much that I applied for a job at the Gem Trade Laboratory, which is a subsidiary of the GIA. The GIA’s Gem Trade Laboratory is known as the world’s authority for diamond analysis and gem identification. After being hired by Gem Trade Lab, I was retrained in diamond grading and analysis and found out just how much I didn’t know.

Twenty-eight years later, I thought I could share my years of being a gemologist with people who love gems like I do. I don’t claim to be perfect or know it all but I do have many years in the jewelry & gem industry and would be happy to answer questions that readers might have.

As a gemologist at Beauchamp jewelers I’m here to serve you by ensuring Beauchamp Jewelers has the highest quality and most beautiful diamonds in Albuquerque, as well as provide you with accurate insurance appraisals for your precious jewelry.

So where do I start? I thought that I would go over diamond basics and share some pictures with you.

The Four C’s

You may have already heard about the four C’s: Color, Clarity, Cut and Carat. Today’s topic is Color.

Color actually measures the lack of color. That lack of color makes a diamond more valuable. There are a number of scales available from different organizations that help to label or identify the color of a diamond. Many of you may be familiar with the Gemological Institute of America’s color scale. The best color is D. There is no A, B or C in this scale. Why you ask? I was told that diamonds weren’t so pure as to be an A, B or C. But the main reason is so not to confuse the GIA scale with another scale that might have an A+ or a triple A (AAA) as their best quality. (Some independent jewelry chains have their own scales, to sell more diamonds. The only problem is that an A+ or AAA might only be a G on the GIA color scale.) So… D, E and F are colorless which means no visible yellow or gray or brown to the unaided eye. G, H, I, J, K are near colorless which means that the diamond would “face up” white to the unaided eye. L through Z colors continue to show progressive levels of color which should become obvious to the unaided eye. When you get as low as Z color the diamond will appear yellow but not so much yellow as to appear attractive and become a fancy yellow diamond. Fancy color diamonds are not on the D through Z scale and will be covered in the future.

A color grade is assigned to a diamond when it is clean and loose. It is very difficult to assign an accurate color grade to a diamond if it is in a jewelry setting because shadows and the color of the metal used for the jewelry may cast color into the diamond.

The proper way to color grade a diamond is to compare the unknown diamond to a group of diamonds that have already been graded for color. This group of diamonds is known as a Master Color Set of diamonds or Master Stones.

Master stones must be graded by a laboratory such as GIA or AGS (American Gem Society) for color accuracy. A master stone must be in the middle of the indicated color and not too far to one side or the other. It does not have to be flawless but must be free from inclusions that may impart color into the diamond or make it difficult to compare to another diamond. A master stone cannot be fluorescent. Fluorescence is a unique characteristic that only some diamonds possess. It may change a diamond’s color appearance in different light. Strong blue fluorescence may mask yellow in a diamond when viewed in daylight, however strong blue fluorescence may cause a colorless diamond to appear milky in daylight.

In any case, fluorescence may influence color.

If you love Antique jewelery (Jewelry that is at least 100 years old) You may have been lucky enough to come across a quintessential  piece of Victorian jewelery known as Micro Mosaic jewelery. (see figure 1 ) Pieces such as this lovely locket were all the rage, especially  for those that traveled abroad.  Italian artisans created these mosaics and they were purchased by tourists as souvenirs of their tours.  The images were created using small pieces of  cut glass known as tesserae.  The tiny sections of glass were painstakingly assembled to create beautiful images.  Jewelers would than  set these small mosaics into  jewelery.

Earlier examples of mosaic jewelry often depict images of Roman ruins and architectural motifs.  Later 19th Centuary mosaics tend toward  more  romatic images such as flowers.

The quality of workmanship in creating the mosaics as well as setting them in jewelry varies. Artist such Castellani were masters of this type of work. His creations were sought after in his day. Today a signed Castellani piece can fetch a handsome price. Compare the Mosaic work on figures 1 and 2 to that of  number 3.

Notice how much smaller the tesserae is cut in figures 1 and 2. Although the locket ( figure 3 ) is lovely, it is not nearly as fine as in the previous examples.

Fine quality Micro Mosaic work in is not commonly found.  It is always such a pleasure to find quality pieces in really good condition, especially when you think that this work was created by artists well over one hundred years ago. For those of you that are addicted to collecting, Micro Mosaic jewelry is not only beautiful but wearable art and it speaks so eloquently of a gentler time. Happy Collecting to you!

All three items pictured above are available at Beauchamp Jewelers along with many other pieces of antique jewelry from the Victorian Period, and other Eras as well.