AGTA GTC's Laboratory Update for July 27, 2006
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AGTA GTC at the JA Show
During the upcoming JA New York Summer Show (July 30 to August 2), members of the AGTA GTC will be present at the AGTA booth (#1182). The AGTA GTC staff will visit clients at their booths to discuss their needs and expectations. From Monday, July 31st to Wednesday, August 2nd, the AGTA GTC will have extended office hours (8:30 AM–4:00 PM) for intake and pick-up of gemstones in our laboratory, so you can submit and receive your gemstones within 24 hours. The AGTA GTC is located at 18 East 48th Street, Suite 502, New York, NY 10017, Telephone: 212-752-1717.
Rough Green Diamond
Recently, the AGTA GTC had the opportunity to examine some green diamond rough ranging from 0.50 to 0.90 ct. (Figure 1). One of the first indications for natural color we were looking for when first examined with a microscope was the presence of brown or green radiation stains (Figure 2).
These stains are indications of radiation damage to the diamond through radioactive rock or soil in the diamond deposit. Most of those pieces of rough had several green spots, sometimes grouped in one area or distributed randomly throughout the surface.
When cut, these pieces of rough will probably no longer be green, since the vast majority of natural–color green diamonds are only green on the surface of the rough, with the color produced by surface stains and coatings.
Maybe the cutter, with some luck, will be skilled enough to get a nice fancy-green stone from the rough and be able to leave some of those green "stains" somewhere (typically on the girdle) as proof of natural color.
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 Figure 2. Green radiation stains visible on the surface of rough green diamond.Specimens courtesy of Betty Sue King (King's Ransom). Photos: Riccardo Befi/AGTA GTC. |
Language Problems?
With the addition of Dorota, the languages spoken among our team rose to eight: English, Italian, French, German, Burmese, Thai, Polish and Russian. In addition, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Chinese can be understood.
So if you speak any of these languages, you should be fine with our staff. If you don’t speak any of these, you may just have to bring an interpreter…
