Six Actions You Can Take With Your Chipped Diamonds

 

 

To break a nail, ladies, is never good. To break a diamond…even less so. Nails grow back relatively quickly. Diamonds…not so fast.

Hmmm, actually not at all. Believe me, I’ve seen plenty of chipped diamonds. In this post I am going to suggest six actions you can take with your chipped diamonds.
Even though they’re the hardest natural material this side of Jupiter, diamonds do chip and crack.

“Why do Diamonds Chip?”

White Round Brilliant Diamond, Chipped. Chipped diamonds

Chipped in multiple places. Not a candidate for re-cutting

Why? Without getting technical, diamonds can fracture and break along crystalline matrixes within the stone—especially when smacked on granite counter tops, rocks in the garden, and random well placed hard surfaces.

In other words if it hits a hard surface at just the right angle that little or big chunk will leap away leaving a sad emptiness where symmetry once  lived.

Five Things to Consider First About Your Chipped Diamond Before You Take Action

Broken Diamond before and after repair

This Diamond Had to be Replaced

1. The size of your diamond

2. The size of your chip

3. The quality of your diamond

4. The age and cut of your diamond

5. The sentimental value of the diamond

What About Sentimental Value?

Chipped diamonds

Be sure to factor in the sentimental value and history of your diamond.

The member of your family this diamond came from may have left little to be remembered by. This small symbol of family love could have great meaning to you or members of your family.

Old or antique chipped diamonds may look like nothing much to your Jeweler, but if it’s the only diamond from your Grandmother Hattie’s ring from the old country, it’s a priceless symbol to the family and worth fixing.

Talk it over with your Jeweler. Once you have the facts you need about your diamond’s value and the cost of the work,  it’ll be easier to come to a decision.

Six Actions You Can Take With Your Chipped Diamonds

Diamond in decorated bezel setting

This inherited chipped diamond got a new home in a full bezel setting.

1. Re-cut your diamond. Usually, small diamonds—those under .20cts, (1/5th of a carat,) or so—aren’t worth re-cutting. Larger diamonds—especially antique diamonds with sentimental value—can often be re-cut without loosing too much of the original stone. Ask your jeweler.

2. Replace the chipped diamond for another. Smaller diamonds normally are replaced. A larger diamond with a very big chip may need to be replaced, as well.

3. Trade up. If you’ve always wanted a bigger, cleaner, or brighter diamond… Now is the time to exchange your old 1/2 ct. chipped center stone with a full one carat sparkly one.

4. Cover the chip with a design element. Oftentimes, small chips can be covered over by one of the prongs holding it in its setting. Ask your jeweler if your setting will accommodate and hide your chipped diamond.

5. Put the diamond in another piece of jewelry. Rings take more abuse than pendants and earrings. You might pair up the chipped diamond in your ring with a matching gem (non-chipped!) to make a pair of earrings. What do you do with the subsequent hole in your ring? See #3, above.

6. Give the piece of jewelry with the chipped diamond to your niece or daughter.

The Danger of Hiding That Chip Under a Prong

We Bezel Set the Chipped Diamond in the Before and After Picture up Above

This wouldn’t be complete without mentioning what a chip in your diamond means.

A chip means that your diamond is no longer whole and has a weakness. That chip can grow into a crack. That crack impedes the sparkle of your diamond and leads to a full on broken diamond.

If you hide a chip under a prong on a ring and that prong gets hit, it’ll pass that stress onto the chip.

Ways to keep that from happening if you chose not to have a diamond cutter re-polish or re-facet your diamond include, using it in earrings or a pendant where the chips won’t be stressed or noticed for that matter.

Another solution is to bezel set it to protect it from hits on the edge if you choose to use it in a ring.

Now you know what to do with chipped diamonds. 

Your Personal Jeweler,
Calla

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About Calla Gold

Calla Gold is a Personal Jeweler and Author who takes pride in working with clients one-on-one to integrate their personal sense of style and taste into custom designed jewelry and repaired jewelry pieces.   Unlike typical Santa Barbara jewelry businesses, Calla Gold has no brick-and-mortar location. Calla Gold comes to you, bringing you the jewelry collection you want to see and collaborating with you to create unique custom jewelry. Calla also works with at-a-distance clients.

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Lori Cooper
11 years ago

As usual, clear, thoughtful advice, Calla. I am so brash and accident prone ( I have broken nearly every wine glass my husband and I have ever purchased) but have yet to chip my diamond ring. I guess there is always time! Now I know what to do–or rather who to call–if such a disaster occurs.

Lorrie Thomas Ross
11 years ago

Great advice indeed! I can relate to Lori on the wine chipping…maybe I need a helmet for my ring 🙂 Thanks for sharing your expert Santa Barbara jeweler advice Calla!!!

Santa Barbara Coach
11 years ago

Wow, I never knew that diamonds could chip. More excellent expert advice from Calla Gold Personal Jeweler! I personally thought that that was the good thing about diamonds–that they wouldn’t chip. But, I’m not going to stop wearing them all the time now that I know that. Especially since I know where to get it fixed if something does happen! 🙂
Appreciatively,
Lynn
Dr. Lynn K. Jones, Certified Personal and Executive Coach
http://www.lynnkjones.com

Ray
Ray
9 years ago

Hello,

Your aforementioned (Six Actions…) information is very insightful. So I have a small chip on the edge of a 1.55c diamond, next to where a prong is located. I can’t see the chip with my naked eye, but can with a jewelers magnifying loupe. If heat is applied to removed the diamond and have it reset into another setting, is there a (greater) risk that the diamond could crack because it’s chipped?

-Thank you,
Ray

Debbiejo
Debbiejo
9 years ago

A jeweler cracked my diamond while mounting it in a new setting. This diamond belonged to my mother and, therefore, meant a lot to me. It was 1.09 carots and was a VS1 white diamond. I don’t want to “hold them over a barrel” but the corner break is visible to my naked eye. Although I wanted to keep this stone, now I have decided to replace it. Any suggestions about how I should proceed with the jeweler? Unfortunately, he has already suggested that I file a (fraudulent) insurance claim with my own insurance company to get more money. He… Read more »

LoriH
LoriH
8 years ago

The same thing happened to me. I believe the diamond was chipped by the jeweler re-setting my princess cut. When I brought it back to have it cleaned a year later, the jeweler looked at it and immediately said: this diamond has a chip. Well, they were the ones who set it. Yes, I could have possibly chipped it in the year, but I suspect it was chipped by them because I could always feel a tiny chip along the edge once I got it back. Now, why wouldn’t a jeweler tell me that there is a good chance this… Read more »

Tammy
Tammy
8 years ago

I am in a similar situation with my husband’s ring, which we had his mother’s diamond mounted in it over 10 years ago. During a six month check we were told it needed some work so we sent it in. Have now found out it was damaged by the jeweler, but don’t know the details yet. I think I am more sentimental about it than my husband and would like to salvage what we can into a necklace for my daughter whom will never meet her grandmother. If the store replaces my husband’s diamond with a similar one, is it… Read more »

Sarika
Sarika
8 years ago

Hi Calla I think the jeweler my fiance purchased my diamond from damaged it while setting it. My fiance purchased the loose diamond and had it set in a band. It is princess cut. It’s .75ct. Since I have owned the ring I haven’t seen any flawed edges or anything. Then all of sudden I noticed a huge chip across the side girdle of the stone. My fiance is a professional photographer and we used his macro lens to take pictures of the ring in order to examine this all of a sudden fracture. It clearly looks like trauma near… Read more »

robyn wright
robyn wright
8 years ago

Is it possible to crush the chipped diamond and use the chips in a piece of jewlery?

robyn wright
robyn wright
8 years ago

what about crushing the chipped diamond and using the chips in a new piece of jewelry?