Proper steps in taking care of your 'tears of the gods'

By Roland M. Sutrisno

JAKARTA (JP): Many expressions have been attributed to the diamond: tears of the gods, king of gems, or the falling star. The gem has spurred people to buy, sell and even steal them.

More than 4.6 million years ago, diamonds were formed from charcoal buried in the earth and heated through by magma. Two hundred kilometers down in the earth, a distance from Jakarta to Ciamis, magma heats carbon at 1400 Celsius, or 14 times water's boiling point. Over time, diamonds surfaced more towards the ground level and became more accessible to man, though they still have to be mined.

Diamonds belong to the hardest of precious stones. Friedrich Mohs, a mining expert (1772-1839), assessed the diamond's hardness at 10, compared to talcum 1, gypsum 2, calcite 3, fluorite 4, window glass (Apetit) 5, Orthoclase 6, quartz (amethyst, etc.) 7, topaz 8, corundum (ruby, sapphire) 9 and diamond 10.

The Four Cs

Diamonds are usually evaluated and valued by the so-called "Four Cs", or Carat, Cutting, Clarity and Color. Confidence is also important.

Carat is a weight measure for diamonds determined by the stone's size. (Note: 1 carat = 1/5 gram or 0.20 grams, which is equivalent to the weight of a feather.)

Cutting is how the diamond has been polished and how light rays will be reflected by the gem. The right cutting will reflect rays in a perfect way, bringing the diamond to "life".

Clarity of a diamond determines the gem's degree of perfection, which is often diminished by scratches or cloudiness. "Moles" are tiny black dots that are typically found in the stone. They may be observed through a 10-to-20-times magnifying glass. The clarity of a stone is decisive in the price evaluation.

The color of a diamond also cannot be ignored. A good diamond should be free of icy colorations. Classification D is given to the best diamonds, followed by E, F, G, H, I, J, and so on until Z. There are also rare diamonds colored canary yellow, red, brown, champagne, pink, light blue, and green.

The other "C" stands for confidence, i.e. the sense of being convinced that one has made the right choice. The buyer can be assured that he or she has a beautiful stone, with the price of the diamond being secondary.

Caretaking

There are several tricks when taking care of diamonds. First, keep your diamond away from bleaching agents like chlorine. If your diamond gets dipped in this fluid, the color of your diamond may be affected. It may result in a dull-colored diamond.

Secondly, take care that hard objects do not scratch your diamond, like metals or other precious stones. It sounds strange that a diamond might "lose out" against another gemstone since it is the hardest of all precious stones. But if a diamond gets rubbed time and time again, it will become chafed and flawed.

In a jewelry box diamonds are usually kept with other gems. Diamonds become quickly scratched in this way, affecting the brilliance of the gem's rays. Therefore, keep your diamonds in a soft jewelry box lined with tissues.

Thirdly, clean your diamonds every month in the following way:

1. Use liquid soap. Soak the diamond in lukewarm water and pour some soap in the cup. Mix both fluids and brush the diamond carefully with a toothbrush. Then lift the diamond out of cup and rinse it under flowing lukewarm water. Dry the diamond with a soft cloth or tissue.

2. Use Fluid Gem Cleaner, which is available at jewelers or diamond shops.

3. Use ultrasonic cleaning equipment, which cleans with powerful ultrasonic waves. The diamond is immersed in a cup filled with fluid soap or a mild detergent and is cleansed ultrasonically at the touch of a switch for a few minutes.

4. Soak the diamond in ammonia for 30 minutes. Lift up the diamond after that and brush its lower and upper parts carefully with a soft brush.

Buy your diamond from someone you trust. Trust and certainty never fail. Large and small shops or door-to-door diamond sellers cannot cheat us forever. When you are sure go ahead and buy, though believing and trusting can indeed be quite expensive!

The writer is a collector of precious stones living in Bekasi.