Seng Jewelers Blog

Seng Jewelers Acquires EightStar™ Diamond Company

2011-05-13T12:55:00.000-07:00

Press Release

For immediate release

Louisville-based luxury jeweler, Seng Jewelers has announced the acquisition of the trademark and cutting technique of Eightstar Diamond Company. Seng originally partnered with the Eightstar Diamond Company, formerly of California, to cut the exclusive Seng Firey Diamond™. Presented with the opportunity to purchase the trademark, Seng has decided to cut diamonds in-house and move the Eightstar Diamond Company™ to its local manufacturing facility, likely the first of its kind in the city. Seng Jewelers has been manufacturing its finer special jewelry for over 40 years.

For over a century, Seng Jewelers has offered the finest quality jewelry in a warm and friendly setting. Founded in 1889 by the Seng family, the establishment was purchased by Benn B. Davis in 1938. It remains in the family, now in its third generation, currently owned by Scott and Lee Davis. Seng offers customers exclusive designs handmade in 18K gold and platinum. Jewelry is designed and created on site. We specialize in Seng Firey Diamonds ™, Seng Firey Princess ™ and Seng Firey Cushion™ diamonds and beautiful colored gemstones from around the world. Seng is also a prominent dealer in period and antique jewelry and has purchased estate and antique collections from North America, Europe and Asia. Seng has had some very unusual and rare finds recently purchasing one of the most important aquamarine necklaces in existence today.

Besides offering customers fine jewelry, we professionally counsel and educate each buyer about our products before a purchase is made so clients can appreciate the beauty, durability and value of their selection.

The Seng Firey Diamond™
Cut from the heart by EightStar™
A step beyond ideal

The diamond above is an actual photograph of a
Seng Firey Diamond™

What you are seeing in this photograph is what you see in every Seng Firey Diamond™; perfect optical symmetry.

The proper proportions in which to cut a diamond were determined in 1917, however it wasn’t until the invention of the SymmetriScope™ in 1984, that light return and symmetry could be objectively determined.

The SymmetriScope™ showed that most ideal cut diamonds, were far from ideal. Why? Because they failed to return light properly.

The image below left is a typical ideally proportioned diamond. The white areas in the photograph show light escaping through the pavilion of the diamond. This is light not being returned to the eye. These areas will appear dark when viewed under normal conditions, making the stone appear smaller.

Photos above were taken through the SymmetriScope™.

The image above right shows how every Seng Firey Diamond™ appears through the SymmetriScope™ with no white areas and a perfect eight star pattern. At least 200 times during the 30 hour cutting process, the cutter scrutinizes the diamond with the SymmetriScope™ to insure its flow of light is perfectly controlled, creating the perfect house of mirrors.

The degree to which a diamond glows with white light is called brilliance. The degree to which it bursts with broad flashes of rainbow color is called fire. The Seng Firey Diamond™ is cut for maximum brilliancy, maximum fire, perfect optical symmetry and light return from one edge to the other.

Japanese Beginnings

The story of the EightStar Diamond Company begins in Japan, with a visionary businessman named Mr. Takanori Tamura

For two decades until the early 1980s, Mr. Tamura owned the largest distributorship of Sony products in Japan. He had a small army of sales people and did hundreds of millions in business. He was a gentleman in Japanese business society, a university graduate who propelled himself to the top.

On his 43rd birthday in 1984, Mr. Tamura sent a shock wave through his company when he announced he was retiring and turning the operation over to his employees. For this, he was headline news all over Asia.

A prophetic meeting several years earlier, however, would bring Mr. Tamura to his next career. A diamond dealer, Mr. Yasuhito Shigetomi, had visited Mr. Tamura to interest him in buying a diamond.

Mr. Shigetomi was known for his beautifully cut stones. He introduced Mr. Tamura to the more scientific aspects of diamond cutting, explaining Tolkowsky and the concept of Ideal proportions.

When Mr. Tamura asked the gentleman what type of instrument or scope he used to demonstrate Tolkowsky's theories of light entering and exiting the crown of the diamond, Mr. Shigetomi was dumbfounded. He had never been asked such a question.

Seven years later, just after Mr. Tamura had changed his life, Mr. Shigetomi returned with the result of his "back-to-the-drawing-board" endeavor. He had created the Firescope. Mr. Tamura looked into this device and agreed that it was amazingly easy to detect the quality of the cutting:
"With a shock, it suddenly occurred to me that what we had here was a device which could clearly and unmistakably show how good or bad a diamond was. All that was needed was the human eye. All that you had to do was look for yourself..."

Mr. Tamura and Mr. Shigetomi went into partnership to market the scope. Because he was so well known in Japan, Mr. Tamura was able to develop associations with important people in the diamond industry. He and his partner were invited to demonstrate the FireScope at important jewelry and gemstone trade shows in New York, Dallas, and Los Angeles.
But for most people in the diamond trade at the time, the invention of the scope was not a significant event. Whenever Mr. Tamura demonstrated it, many jewelers invariably saw things in their stones they might not have noticed otherwise - things they perhaps did not want to see. The device did not find the hoped-for receptive market.

Instead of marketing the Firescope, the partners decided to use their device to market diamonds that were proportioned according to Tolkowsky.

Creation of the EightStar™

To market perfectly cut diamonds would mean first finding them. This became a new and ultimately difficult project for Mr. Tamura.

His search was a series of constant disappointments: each day diamond after diamond did not exhibit the hoped-for qualities when placed in the Firescope. Instead, the scope mercilessly showed every detour from the correct path of light.

This search eventually led Mr. Tamura through the diamond centers in America and Europe. He still did not discover great quantities of diamonds without light leakage, but he did find a few small stones that performed perfectly under the Firescope. These stones all showed a unique eight-rayed pattern.

During this time, many extremely well-qualified cutting professionals tried to produce what Mr. Tamura wanted - but to no avail. The partners changed the business plan once again. This time they decided to begin their own diamond polishing endeavor, to try to cut diamonds that would appear perfect in the punishing FireScope.

Mr. Tamura employed Mr. Kioyishi Higuchi, an experienced cutter of colored gems and diamonds. Higuchi will be remembered forever in the history of diamond cutting as the name of the first cutter to actually realize Tolkowsky's dreams.

Mr. Higuchi was given what appeared to be an impossible task for the diamond industry - to make each diamond not vary from the extremely precise symmetry required to make the pattern of the eight-rayed star.

In the mid 1980s, Mr. Higuchi achieved his breakthrough after an entire year of constant setbacks and defeats - including a huge investment in wasted diamonds. Mr. Higuchi announced during the early months of his research that only one of Tolkowsky's calculations seemed to apply.

He found that using the exact application of Tolkowsky’s recommended antles and proportions in every way except this one seemed to prohibit, rather than allow him to make the diamond that Mr. Tamura wanted.

It then took him the better part of a year following this discovery to finally learn what he needed to know about diamonds to make them do what Mr. Tamura wanted each one to do. When Mr. Higuchi was able to create them at will, then, and only then, did Mr. Tamura name the cut he created the EightStar™.

Now Seng presents The Seng Firey Diamond™ cut from the heart by Eightstar™. Cut at Seng Jewelers in Louisville, KY USA.

What is a Seng Firey Diamond and why is it any different?

2009-05-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

Thoughts expressed by Greg Stanfield
Seng Photographer/Graphic Designer/Gemologist

For years now you have seen in our ads "Do You Have The Fire? The Seng Firey Diamond™", but when it comes right down to it, what does that mean?

To make a long story short, it was proven in 1919 though optical science by a gentleman named Marcel Tolkowsky, that if you cut a diamond to specific proportions, the light that entered the top of the stone, would be internally refracted (bounced) and come back out the top of the stone. Cut to any other angles, the light would escape the stone from the bottom or sides. (Refer to illustrations below)

The proportions shown below, as well as how good the symmetry and polish are on the stone are what the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and the American Gem Society (AGS) use today to determine the cutting grade of a stone. Yet in spite of this knowledge, why is it estimated that only 4% of all diamonds used in jewelry today are cut to ideal proportions.

I feel the reason is, that most (unenlightened) people have a bigger is better mind set which the diamond cutting industry is well aware of.

In order to cut a diamond to ideal proportions, more of the rough diamond must be cut away (wasted). Let's say you have a 1.25 carat rough diamond crystal. If you could cut this diamond and waste only 20% of a rough diamond, you would get a 1.00 carat cut diamond. It may have a high crown, thick girdle and deep pavilion, which means it will leak light from the bottom and sides of the stone; it will be difficult to set; and be prone to prong loosening, but what the hell, you've got a one carat diamond.

On the other hand, If you cut a diamond to ideal proportions, you may cut away (waste) 40% of the rough diamond, leaving you with only a .75 carat cut stone. Yes, it weighs less and will cost the same as the larger stone, but it may look as large as the poorly cut diamond which has more of it's weight distributed through it's height. Plus, it will have so much fire and brilliancy that you can see it from across the room; it will be easier to set and more secure in the mounting; it won't show the dirt and oils that collect on the bottom as much; and it will hold it's value better.

So what does a Seng Firey Diamond™ have to do with any of this? A few years ago, the owners of Seng discovered a diamond cutter that cut the most optically perfect diamonds they had ever seen. Upon further research, they discovered that during the cutting process, an instrument called a firescope was used to insure that the reflection of each facet was aligned perfectly with it's apposing facet.

You would think this could easily be achieved with computers, however there are conditions in a diamond that prevent light from traveling in a straight line. Things like internal graining, inclusions, or differences in density, so each diamond must be hand cut and continually checked throughout the cutting process. The cutter checks each diamond over 200 times with the Firescope to make sure that each facet perfectly reflects the light from the apposing facet.

What you end up with is a level of efficiency in light refraction and symmetry never before seen in a diamond. Every one of the diamonds has a perfect eight star pattern and zero light leakage when viewed from the top.

Lee Davis (one of Seng's owners) purchased several of the diamonds and did blind tests with the staff, comparing the normal ideal cut diamond with these precision cut diamonds. In every case, the staff picked the precision cut diamond as the more beautiful.

Understanding the beauty and rarity of these diamonds, the owners of Seng developed an exclusive relationship with this diamond cutter to cut what is now referred to as the Seng Firey Diamond™.

The photos below were taken by me of a Seng Firey Diamond™. The one on the left was taken in my light box and the one on the right was takes through the Firescope, which we refer to as the symmetriscope.

The photos below were taken through the symmetriscope. The diamond on the left shows a typical ideally proportioned diamond. Notice the white areas around the girdle (noted by the arrows). The white areas are where you are seeing through the diamond to the white background behind. Notice that the Seng Firey Diamond™ to the right has no white areas and a perfect eight star pattern.

The white areas in the diamond on the left will appear black under normal lighting conditions, which make them look a fraction smaller than a Seng Firey Diamond™ of equal size.

A rough diamond is cool to look at, but it's really not anything you want to wear in jewelry. It's not until a diamond is faceted by man that it's beauty is revealed. The better it's cut, the more beautiful it is.

The Seng Firey Diamond™ is for the person who wants the maximum amount of beauty possible from a diamond. Not the person that just wants to boast of a diamonds size, clarity or color. A bigger diamond does not mean a more beautiful diamond.

When buying a diamond, the "C" that most people easily notice is Color. In a Seng Firey Diamond™, there is so much fire and brilliancy coming from the stone that it masks the body color. We sell many stones in the K,L color range that body color is unnoticed.

Are they more expensive? Yes they are. Why? Because more of the rough stone is lost and It takes approximately 30 hours to cut one Seng Firey Diamond™, as apposed to the 5 to 7 hours it takes to cut the typical stone. But the difference is amazing.

We don't only carry Seng Firey Diamonds™. To be competitive in the jewelry business, we must also sell diamonds with lower cutting grades, but we feel so strongly that cutting is the most important of the 4-C's, that our primary focus is on ideally proportioned diamonds.

Don't make a buying decision until you fully understand the factors that determine a diamonds true value. Let us show you the what to look for and see for yourself the difference that cutting can make.

To learn more about Seng Jewelers, please visit our web site at www.sengjewelers.com.