You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Brands do not appear from nothing,<br />
especially when appearing in different<br />
parts of the world simultaneously, and their<br />
appearance reflects market tendencies.<br />
In this case, we can speak about the<br />
much higher growth of prices for wellpolished<br />
gemstones in comparison with<br />
commercially-faceted gemstones. When<br />
this price difference exceeds the cost of<br />
rough losses as a result of high-quality<br />
polishing then faceting becomes profitable.<br />
All gemstone market participants know<br />
that it is becoming more difficult to sell<br />
commercially-faceted gemstones – badly<br />
polished, to put it bluntly – and often it is<br />
becoming necessary to recut ‘barrel-shaped’<br />
gemstones that have a bulgy pavilion.<br />
You may hear the following opinion: if a<br />
gemstone is precise, symmetrical, perfect,<br />
it becomes faceless and that some small<br />
defects are necessary to bring the charm of<br />
peculiarity to a gemstone. I consider that<br />
the originality of a gemstone is a<br />
combination of material, colour, clarity,<br />
size, polishing and optical characteristics…<br />
but defects? No way. It is hard to consider<br />
a face with a squinting eye or a droopy<br />
nose charming. These are excuses for those<br />
who don’t want or cannot make highquality<br />
gemstones and those for whom it is<br />
convenient to use what the market offers.<br />
ADVANTAGES OF FACETING PROPERLY<br />
No matter how convenient it is for dealers<br />
and jewellery manufacturers to use outdated<br />
standards to justify low-quality faceting,<br />
higher prices are demanded for the bestquality<br />
faceting and there are always buyers<br />
who are ready to pay more.<br />
So what is the value of high-quality cutting?<br />
First of all, high-quality gem cutting ensures<br />
the perfect flatness of facet surfaces that<br />
increase a gemstone’s ‘fire’ due to virtual<br />
prisms formed by the facets. I have actually<br />
observed good fire even in pieces of quartz<br />
if they are faceted with high quality.<br />
Fire produces inimitable sparkle – light<br />
patches of colour different from the<br />
main colour of a gemstone – and is one<br />
of the most considerable advantages of a<br />
faceted gemstone.<br />
The second advantage that is directly bound<br />
with the first one is sharp edges between<br />
facets. When edges such as a knife blade<br />
don’t reflect light, the gemstone looks ‘wet’<br />
– each facet reflects light in its own way and<br />
the shining edges don’t attract attention.<br />
Thirdly, strict symmetry makes a gemstone<br />
more harmonious and pleasant to view.<br />
One gemstone amateur expressed it thusly,<br />
“I buy beautiful gemstones to admire and<br />
enjoy them but when I notice inaccuracy<br />
instead of happy contact with the gem,<br />
I think to myself, ‘How could a negligent<br />
gem-cutter spoil such beauty?’”<br />
Fourthly, the main colour of the gemstone<br />
is better seen when there is no window in<br />
it as the background doesn’t interfere with<br />
the perception. Finally, the fifth advantage,<br />
which may influence gemmological<br />
characteristics together with the fourth one,<br />
is the absence of a grey compound of colour<br />
appearing when light diffracts on surface<br />
defects. This factor may increase visible<br />
colour saturation up to one grade on the<br />
Gemological Institute of America (GIA) scale.<br />
IMAGE COURTESY: DMITRY STOLYAREVICH<br />
IMAGE COURTESY: SERGEY PRYANECHNIKOV
Change language