Chunky Pale YELLOW Faint Orange .4 Carat Old Mine Cut DIAMOND Solitaire Pendant Dangle Drop Victorian Antique French 18k Gold

ABOUT:

Wonderful chunky cut old mine cut diamond with a pale yellow hue. It's delicious.

This pendant has an awesome cushion shaped old mine cut diamond around .4 carat with a very pretty, warm pale yellow hue and a high crown rising out of the simply elegant pronged setting. It's kind of a unique color changer because in some light it appears quite white but then in sunlight it really seems to glow warmer. The place in France that I purchased it from described it as somewhat pale orange on the color spectrum.

These are scarce and sought after for a few reasons - the first is that all antique hand cut antique diamonds of course have a more limited supply since they are no longer made in this way. There are only so many in existence compared to the millions of carats of modern machine cut diamonds made every year. These have withstood the test of time.

The second is the color - it is believed that only 1 carat in every 10,000 carats mined are yellow hued diamonds. So putting the old hand cut together with the color makes an OMC with hues like this even more scarce.

The subtle warmth seems to depend on the light. In some light it is more noticeably yellow to even peachy pale orange in sunlight. In other light is more of a pale warmth to the stone. I tried to photograph it in all light to show the various hues but please note that the sunlight photos (as in the cover photo) do amplify the hue more than with normal handling / wear.

Please note the measurements as I have small hands and it can be difficult to decipher scale from photos.

No hallmarks remain. Tests at 18k which is the standard in France.
Antique box, props, staircases, bannisters, mice ; ) etc. not included. Chain is also not included but is listed separately in my shop.

MEASUREMENTS:
11.3mm from the top of the jump ring to the bottom. It is 4.5mm wide, it weighs just 0.55 grams. The diamond is about 4.3 x 4.2 with a nice chunky cut. Exact depth and thereby carat weight is unknown but just using online calculators with estimates by mm, it is over .4 carat.

Note that I do not have "Four C's" paperwork on it. My items do well without this and these old diamonds were cut by hand to enhance their best qualities long before the Four C's for modern machine cut stones were ever invented. : )

IMPORTANT CONDITION NOTES:

Typical antique diamond, it has some natural inclusions including a small carbon spot that is eye visible. It also has some smaller carbon specks seen under a loupe and some nibbles to the girdle edge.  This is what we often see on diamonds of this age.  Still a sweet little drop.

Please note that all my pieces are pre-owned and in estate condition. They will have patina, surface wear, a few small nicks. These pieces may also have evidence of a sizing, some build up around the stones and / or inclusions seen under magnification, typical for antique pieces. I have mentioned any noticeable issues above and they are all still wearable and eager to be loved and accepted for many years to come, (the preservation of antique jewelry, even those with signs of their age and history, is important to me. : )
But - Please note due to age, this piece is not in mint condition. Pictures also serve as part of the description and condition report so please utilize the zoom feature which will magnify any wear significantly more than what is visible to the eye while wearing : )

Thanks so much for looking at my items!

SOCIAL:
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A note about antique diamonds:
The whole "4 C's" of cut, color, clarity, carat didn't come about until the 1940s so prior to that and especially on antique pieces, there was not as much emphasis placed on those things. (Sure people probably appreciated a certain look of a certain diamond as it appeared to the eye but it was not a graded scale like we have today.) So it is difficult to judge antique stones against modern day diamonds and their grading system. No two old cuts are the same as they were crafted in times lacking any modern standards. The diamond cutters of the time were experts at hand cutting each stone to enhance it which means that even lower color grades can be cut to appear whiter. (Although it is also worth noting that many antique collectors prefer and seek out antique diamonds with warmer hues.)

It is also interesting that "lower graded" diamonds in today's scale system, were some of the best on the market during this period! So it is less about their grades and more about the unique play of light and color that each one can offer. I read one article that put it nicely: “When searching for the perfect old cut diamond (for you), you need to view them through different eyes as you would for a modern diamond, Laboratory grading reports don’t offer too much information in regards to their individual beauty or sparkle which are based more on their individual character and uniqueness that each one potentially offers.”

Box# Tc.(23