Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| 117 Karat Diamond |
One thing more valuable than gold that you can find is diamonds.
I posted a story not long ago about a 12 year-old who recently found a nice 5.15 carat diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park where you can go and hunt for a small fee.
Of course diamonds are also found in modern jewelry all along the coast, some places more than others.
The most flashy diamonds aren't always the best. Sometimes a bunch of little chips or smaller diamonds look impressive, but they aren't worth nearly what a larger diamond might be worth.
You'll remember Michael E.s diamond ring find that was evaluated to be worth around $4000.
As you probably know, there are a lot of factors to consider when valuing diamonds. Size isn't everything.
It is hard enough to evaluate a diamond, but it can be very difficult to tell the difference between a real diamond and a fake. Some of the fakes these days look like high quality diamonds.
If you have a loop and can look into the suspected diamond and you see little black spots called inclusions in the diamond, it isn't a cubic zircon. Zircons won't have those carbon inclusions. That news is mixed. If you see inclusions, it isn't a zircon, but it also isn't the highest quality of diamond.
Unless you really know what you are doing, I advise taking any found diamond to a jeweler where they can test it and tell you if it is real and if it is good.
Or, you can purchase a diamond tester if you want to have your own.
I find it useful to have a jewelers loop in any case.
Many rings will be marked with the weight of the diamond as well as the carat of gold inside the band.
This web site has a good list of marks that you might find inside a ring's band.
http://www.jewelry-secrets.com/Jewelry/Marks-Stamped-Inside-Rings/What-Do-The-Marks-Stamped-Inside-Your-Ring-Mean.html
The marks listed include those for platinum, palladium, and stainless steel, as well as marks that you might find on gold and silver rings.
One mark that confused me years ago is KP. I thought it meant plated. It doesn't. It means karat plumb. I've explained what that means before. It is a good sign. GP would mean gold plated. Take a look at the list.
This is a very good web site for interpreting the marks you might find in rings.
Back to diamonds. I think everybody knows the four C's that determine the value of a diamond. They are cut, clarity, color, and carat weight.
Here is a good web site on diamonds.
http://www.4diamond.com/4Cs/
One thing that you might learn to recognize about diamonds is the different cuts. The cut of a diamond can tell you something about the probable date of the ring. Styles change and come into and out of fashion at different times.
Here is a nice diamond find from back a few years. Over nine carats total weight. And good quality diamonds too. That makes a huge difference.
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| Over Nine Carats of Quality Diamonds Found by Metal Detector in Shallow Water. |
The particular ring shown above was found on a hunt that only lasted about 20 minutes. That is all the time that was available. It was found on one of those dips that I often talk about in shallow water.
This style of ring is very common. You are likely to find more than one of these if you detect a lot. They will vary in size and number and quality of the diamonds.
The cut of a diamond is evaluated on a scale running from poor to excellent. A well cut diamond will show more light through the crown.
Very small and infrequent inclusions are seen in these stones with a jeweler's loop. The carat weight of the diamonds is marked on the band along with the karat of gold (14 K).
I'll have a little more about diamonds tomorrow.
On the Treasure Coast the surf tomorrow is predicted to be around two feet. It will increase through the day.
Low tide will be close to 5:30 PM.
The remnant of Gabrielle is still hanging around. The system that just came off of the coast of Africa is now topical depression Nine. It is still very far away.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
