Improving on Mother Nature

Gary Roskin, G.G., FGA -- JCK Online, 10/1/2000 2:00:00 AM

Grab your shovel and start digging. If you dig deep enough (90 miles) you'll reach the mythical diamond spawning ground, where all type IIa diamonds are colorless-as nature intended. That's according to Charles A. Meyer, managing director for General Electric/Lazare Kaplan's trademarked, color-enhanced Bellataire diamonds. Meyer says it's that 90-mile journey to the surface-the result of stressful volcanic action-that makes naturally white IIa diamonds appear brown.

Here's how Bellataire's promotional material describes the phenomenon: "Many millions of years ago, hundreds of miles beneath the surface of the earth, nature created a tiny number of colorless diamond crystals. During their turbulent journey through the earth's crust, these diamonds were subjected to volcanic forces that disguised their essential beauty by obscuring their intrinsic colorless nature. By utilizing a proprietary process developed by General Electric Company (GE), these diamonds spontaneously revert to their original colorless state. Thanks to its unique partnership with GE, Bellataire is a worldwide source of these state-of-the-art diamonds." ("Bellataire" is a trademark of General Electric, USA.)

"Virtually all Bellataire diamonds are colorless (the best 'white' colors), flawless, or near flawless in perfection," says Bellataire's literature. Meyer says this translates to H color or better, and VS₂ clarity or better. "Seventy-five percent are of E color or better, VVS₂ clarity or better," Meyer says. The remaining 25% are of the lower colors and clarities. A stone number and the Bellataire logo will be laser-inscribed on each diamond, and a diamond grading report from the Gemological Institute of America's Gem Trade Laboratory will accompany each stone.

Diamonds that undergo the GE process and either don't change or don't change enough (i.e., colors lower than H, and clarities lower than VS₂) are inscribed with "GE POL" (for General Electric/Pegasus Overseas Limited) instead of the Bellataire mark.

The slogan for the color-enhanced product, which Lazare Kaplan and GE will supply only to select retail jewelers, is "The Bellataire Diamond: The Diamond Nature Intended."

Mother Nature was unavailable for comment.