[Jewelry making - Article 00208] - Re: [Orchid] Setting customer stones

[Daniel R. Spirer]

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Leonid,

>     Phosphorescence is a rare but important property of diamonds. 

    It may be but it is not listed on any diamond grading report I have
    ever seen so it really doesn't come into play when selling or grading
    a diamond. 

>     Each and every D colour should be tested for it. 

    Again, no diamond report produced mentions phosphorescence anywhere
    so it's quite obvious that even if they are testing for it, it just
    doesn't matter. 

>     By the same token, if diamond in question possess fluorescence, I
>     would again question the colour grade. 

    You can question it all you like, but the major labs have now all
    moved away from saying that any stone has NO fluorescence at all and
    are stating that it is negligible instead. This means that all
    diamonds graded by any major gem lab in the world, no matter what
    color the grade is (including D colors), may exhibit at least a tiny
    amount of fluorescence. 

>     If original post was about such stone, no wonder that the deal fell
>     through. 

    No, if you read the post carefully, you would know that the customer
    had simply requested a stone that had no fluorescence (although with
    the new grading standards the best he could get is a negligible), not
    that they were showing a stone with a lot of fluorescence. 

    This is the problem with taking gemological knowledge beyond what is
    really necessary to sell a customer or to buy goods effectively from
    a supplier. There are certain factors that matter a lot. There are
    other factors that don't matter at all. Let's face it, most customers
    don't really need to know what makes a certain colored gem a
    particular color. A few of the more scientific based ones (and
    believe me I deal with them all the time since I'm near MIT) have an
    interest and it helps to have a modicum of knowledge for them. And in
    today's marketplace it helps to have a working knowledge of gemstone
    treatments, disclosure issues, and sources. It also helps to have the
    knowledge yourself for your own edification (as it does to have
    knowledge about any topic--and mind you I AM a GG), but when it
    comes to the purchase and sale of most of our product, too much of it
    just ends up meaning nothing to the consumer. As a matter of fact,
    most of the time, when I go into a too scientific rap about whatever
    the heck the people are looking at, I can see their eyes glaze over. 

    What really matters is: Is it a beautiful stone in the eye of the
    beholder? Does it set her heart on fire when she looks at it because
    she knows what it represents to her? Is the setting something she
    likes, will enjoy for a long time and helps to make her feel
    beautiful? My true job as a retailer of fine jewelry, as I like to
    tell people, is to make people happy. I enjoy doing that. The science
    helps me to help them be happy, but it isn't the be all and end all
    of the process, and certainly it isn't ultimately what the customer
    needs to make them feel happy, nor should it play a major role in
    that process. 

Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC
1780 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
www.spirerjewelers.com
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