Estate Diamonds

A stroll through the minefield of "previously owned

One of the things that made me stop offering gemstones to individuals was a customer who asked .. in all sincerity .. if the gemstone she was admiring was new

I paused for a moment to consider the process that mother earth used to produce the gem before man dug it from the ground.

Thousands .. possibly millions of years ago .. some volcanic upheaval found the perfect mixture of elements and used intense heat and pressure to fire them into the form we know today as diamond. Incubated by the lava and nourished by the elements around it, the gem grew into a fine crystalline shape. Perhaps it was pushed nearer the surface through pipes .. by flows of blue ground or yellow ground. Maybe it traveled hundreds of miles down swollen rivers, twisting and turning, to finally settle deep in a calm pool.

The gemstone lay trapped for countless centuries until some lucky soul stumbled upon it.

"Yes," I told her. "I watched that eruption last week, dug this little fellow out and Fedexed to the cutter the next day."

She didn't appreciate satire.

Estate diamonds must first pass the "is it really my diamond" test. It you believe it will .. or more accurately .. the recipient will accept it .. then proceed ever so cautiously down the twisted path of buying estate diamonds.