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FIRE IN THE EARTH
tion
that the perfect stone—of any color—is the one known as Collection Blue
Perfect (which again, to bring on that dizzy spell, is actually a pure
white diamond). So the question arises: If Collection Blue Perfect is
the most perfect color of a diamond, does it mean there is some atomic
or chemical imperfection in the solid-color—or "fancy"— stones? Is the
Hope Blue diamond a perfect stone because it is pure blue, or is it
imperfect because Nature went astray and failed to make it white? Is
the delicate Dresden Green diamond imperfect because it is green and
not white?
If
the layman thinks these are academic questions, the man in the trade
does not. It long has been one of the oldest of riddles, upon which it
is difficult to get a majority in any group to agree. And it is no
sillier a question than to ask whether a man is perfect because he is
pure black or yellow or brown, or is imperfect because Nature failed to
make him white.
The
writer first became aware that the people who dabble in diamonds could
become stirred by this subject more than a year ago when he wrote an
article, published in Esquire, which said in part:
Diamond
values, it seems, depend on several things: size, color, freedom from
flaws and cutting. Larger diamonds, being scarcer than the smaller
stones, are more in demand [yes, that was written before the second
World War!] But a small "blue white" stone may be more valuable than
its larger brother. A blue white diamond, by the way, really isn't blue
white; perfect diamonds are without any color at all, but take on a
blueness just as pure water and deep space take on the color of blue.
That is why the term "first water" is often used by jewelers to
describe the finest gems.
The
"blue white" of a diamond comes from its reflection of light. A ray of
light entering a diamond is reflected from the sides and out of the
gem, through its facets, and transformed into a myriad of glittering
hues. As the facets are turned toward the eye,
(214)
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