TIDBITS 10/16/05

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Of all the Fancy Colored Diamonds ....

Which is the rarest ... and therefore the most expensive? Is it the
yellow ... the blue ... the green ... the red ...? For thems of you
which chose red ... you are the winners by far.

I shall give you some insight. There is a diamond called The Hancock
Red. It is considered by some to be the most famous red diamond to
have ever appeared at auction. It is a brilliant cut stone and weighs
0.95 carats. It was sold in 1987 for $926,000 per carat. This--dear
souls--ain't hay in any language.

For you technophiles ... a group to which I have long been an avid
member dating back to my ham-radio days ... I will give you some
details as to the causes that create this rare red species of diamond.
Cause number one (according to my source here): They do not yet fully
understand just what it is that creates this color. Technology--my
friends--lives on a very precarious ledge and can clearly be as
disappointing as it can be exhilarating. "They" think the red is a
result of structural features in the diamonds' crystal lattice
combined with minute quantities of nitrogen. When "they" give out
information they often have the singular ability of elevating
abstruseness to an art form.

Red diamonds are rarely a pure red ... but rather come in modifying
hues ranging from browns to oranges to pinks and purples. However ...
the stone I am going to show you has a GIA certificate stating it to
be a pure red color with no modifying hue. It is a rectangular stone
with cut corners and weighs in at 1.92 carats. It's value is not
given ... I suspect it to be more expensive even than a gallon of gas
in today's market.

For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits...may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where
you will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that
says Tidbits Graphics ... and then click on the link that says: Red
.... in order to view a diamond such as most of us will never see in
real life..

And there ya have it.
That's it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark

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