Elaine,
That's what a GG appraiser is for!
I’m a GG and an appraiser, but if I didn’t see the stone to begin
with and all of the filler has been burned out, I’m not sure how I
could come to the conclusion about whether or not it had been
fracture filled. When filled, there is a noticeable color flash
(something purposefully put there by the companies who are doing the
filling), but once the filler has been removed, that disappears. So
without some kind of fairly sophisticated lab equipment, not
normally available to a small gem lab/appraiser, that might detect
trace amounts of filler, I’m not sure how anyone could make a
definitive statement about whether a stone had at one time been
filled.
Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC
1780 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
Hi Daniel,
You are describing a scenario where an already burnt diamond is being
presented to you that you had no observation of in its prior
condition. I’d say unless there is a manufacturer (filler company)
inscription somewhere on the diamond, or remnants of filler that
still have some flash, or some original paper work/ photos of the
diamond showing it with a better clarity grade than what you are
currently viewing…then this leaves you with making educated
guesses and maybe sending it out to a gem lab with higher
magnification imaging abilities. This has then become a similar
situation to other types of jewelry damage assessment. You do as much
detective work as possible but you may not always be able to prove
exactly what happened or the exact prior condition of the item.
As Lauren described in a previous post, there is often visible
residue left after the damage has occurred. So there is a good
chance that there will be some evidence to help you make your
determination.
I burned one once years ago when they were first becoming
available, and I've seen a few since that other people have burned,
and customers have been unaware of. Most of the time it happens in
retipping, and the filling doesn't entirely burn out - it turns a
brown color. It's pretty obvious. If you loupe it, you can usually
see bits of the flash effect still in some areas, along with the
brown.
Hope that helps-Carrie Nunes
www.carrienunes.com