ISG: Tiny Diamond Collectibles!

There's more to be found in tiny diamonds than you may know!

Some people collect stamps. Some collect coins. But here at the ISG office we collect something that will surprise a lot of folks... we collect tiny diamonds. Tiny diamond rough crystals, I should add.  And like most collectors I cannot recall exactly where and when we got started, we just realized one day that here and there, at this show and that, we had collected a rather large and very unusual collection of tiny rough diamond crystals in various shapes, forms, colors and sizes. In fact, all of the diamonds you are going to see on this page, including the image at left, are from the ISG collection and we have not yet scratched the surface of how many we have. But we thought that today we would just have some fun and share this world of Tiny Diamond Collectibles from the ISG office.

One can find parcels of these tiny diamonds in many places now days due to the growing popularity of rough diamonds in jewelry designs. These parcels can be obtained in any where from 3ctw to 10ctw and higher, and in any size, shape or color combination that you can imagine. The images above are simply two of our many parcels that we have obtained over the last couple of years, and many of the strange diamonds you are about to see came to us through some of these parcels.

Of course, with parcels you have to go through a lot of diamonds to find the very unique specimens, so sometimes one can find unique and unusual tiny diamonds in other places. One of those is India and the strands of drilled diamond crystal beads as seen at right. These are unique and becoming very popular as diamond crystals that would before now be used as industrial bort, are now becoming all the rage for fashion. The diamond beads you see above are from four strands that we imported direct from India to the ISG office… by way of eBay!

Above you see what must be considered our first Tiny Diamond Collectible. This is Diamond #81, a .26ct diamond crystal that happens to be 81st gem quality synthetic diamond produced, and was provided to the ISG by our good friend Thomas Chatham back in the 1990’s. This diamond was among the first produced that was both gem quality in clarity and white or colorless, and is the great-granddaddy of the synthetic diamonds you see on the market today.

Tiny Fancy Colors

Perhaps the most fun part of Tiny Diamond Collectibles is that you can own very rare tiny colored diamonds for very little money that with a good microscope like the Meiji Techno you can display through digital microscopy. No microscope is no problem for photography, however, as there is an easy and affordable alternative if you contact our ISG favorite photo expert Wayne Emery, the  Gem Cutter. Above left you see a fancy yellow diamond octahedral crystal that weighs .25 carat. And above center is a beautiful natural purple diamond crystal weighing at .30 carat that demonstrates just how unique each diamond crystal can be.

Speaking of fancy colors, virtually all of the colors of the rainbow can be found in tiny diamonds if you search. Above right you see yellow, champagne, green, brownish pink, and even an orange diamond. Very expensive in larger finished goods, but with tiny diamonds you can own just about any color you choose.

Tiny Fancy Shapes

It gets even more fun with tiny diamond shapes. Most people don’t realize that diamonds form in other shapes than octahedral. Forming in the cubic crystal system they also can form as beautiful cubes as seen below left where two diamond cubes grew in the same dimensional space creating this wonderful twinned diamond crystal. If just two diamonds growing the in same space seems sort of strange, wait until you see a whole bunch of diamonds growing in the same dimensional space. Below center and right is a twinned diamond crystal in which we were able to count 15 diamond cubes, all growing in the same dimensional space. Think about that....15 diamonds all growing one inside the other.

But here is where it starting getting really weird, to the point that we had to fire up our Enwave Optronics Raman Microscope in order to confirm that we did, in fact, have diamonds here. Why? Because these tiny diamonds give us formations that just defy anything we have ever seen before. Below is another example of a twinned diamond cube, but in a formation that is truly unique. Our only comparison is a binary star system where one star is pulling material off of another. Of course that is a cosmic comparison to a tiny diamond crystal that weighs less than .30 carat, but it looks like one diamond is trying to pull diamond stuff off of the other. A very strange formation, but not the strangest so far.

Below are two crystals of very strange appearance, indeed. These are two in particular that we tested because they are unlike anything we have seen to date in tiny diamonds. The crystal below left appears to be a cube that has perhaps had the corners cleaved off and then worn down by various methods. But our most recently acquired tiny diamond below right defies explanation by all accounts we can find thus far. Perhaps there are diamantaires out there who can share with us how a diamond crystal could attain a shape of this unusual formation, we welcome feedback on this. Bill Bray (our favorite ISG diamond expert) any ideas on this? As this is the first we have found like this we don’t know if there are many others, or perhaps even just a few others like it. But one thing is certain, when it comes to Tiny Diamond Collectibles this is one of our favorites.

And finally, below we have an unusual transparent cube diamond of wonderful cognac color. While we have literally hundreds of tiny cube diamond crystals, this is the only one of size (.50 carat) that is completely transparent and of gem quality and fancy color. The formation of the crystal is beautiful making it one of our most prized Tiny Diamond Collectibles in the ISG Reference Collection of gemstones.

The point to all of this is simply this: one does not have to spend a lot of money on jewelry to enjoy the world of gemology and the study of gemstones. Just as you see with our ISG Tiny Diamond Collectibles, we have a whole world of diamond crystals that few of you have probably seen before, and we obtained all of these for not a lot of money by surfing the internet, perusing eBay, and always keeping a sharp eye out at the gem shows. Whether its diamonds or sapphires, quartz or feldspars, collecting gem specimens as tiny collectibles can be a cost effective and very fun way of enjoying the wonderful world of gemstones.

We hope you enjoyed this. This is the first time we have taken our collection out and laid it on the table to photograph. You have seen perhaps 10% of what we have here now. Not even I realized how many we have collected.

But then again….that is the mark of a true collector from what I am told.

Robert James FGA, GG
President, International School of Gemology

Photos: All images taken using a Meiji Techno GEMT-2, Canon Rebel XTi with eye tube attachment, Canon Powershot A-520 (no attachment, just hold it to the eye piece), Meiji Techno fiber optic, and a lot of care not to drop the darned little things on the floor where they would be lost forever. Banner: A row of 1.25 carat each average weight diamond octahedral crystals from the ISG collection.

With Appreciation: To Jeff Chambers of Emerald Imports Polygon #147150, and the good folks at Rough Diamond World for you contributions and assistance with the ISG Tiny Diamond Collectibles section of the ISG Student Reference Collection.

©2009 International School of Gemology. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED   All images are taken using the ISG Student Reference Collection of gemstones in the ISG office.  This article and the images herein have been reprinted in entirety by written permission of the ISG for publication on Nice Ice.  The statements and opinions made herein are that of the ISG and are not necessarily the opinion of Nice Ice, Inc.