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 Post subject: Saudi Diamonds/ Desert Diamonds / Al Qaysumah Diamonds
PostPosted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 6:19 am 
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Hi All,
Wondering if any knowledgeable soul can help me here :) Very little info online and only word of mouth is available and I need any help I can get :)
I am living in Saudi Arabia (so in the middle east) as an expat as my husband works here.
I am not sure if anyone has ever heard of Desert Diamond (also called Saudi or Al Qaysumah Diamonds) which are actually quartz that is found almost uniquely in the Saudi Desert and is quite close in looks (once cut and polished) and in hardness / density to real carbon diamonds.
The already cut and polished versions are available in souks and and as they are unofficially classed as semi precious, are very cheap to buy. As in the carat is like less than 5 british pounds sterling, which makes them very popular. The souks also offer rough stones for purchase.
We tried to go and pick them up in the desert (they are laying on the sand, as Saudi was previously filled with oceans and rivers and would have left minerals behind, when it all dried out) and we did find some. It is common practice for expats to go " diamond hunting". lol ! So I took my stones (which look like cotton balls) to 2 different places, an official jeweller and also to the souk (some friends got theirs cut and polished in the souk and I wanted to make sure that an official jeweler would have the same feedback). Well obviously, I got two completely different stories. The jeweler says they are not clear enough to be cut. They tried on 2 of my little ones, and they broke. He says that if they had spent time in the ground like carbon diamonds they'd have been stronger as they'd have had to resist to the earth 's pressure. The souk took 3 of my stones and as we insisted to have these very stones cut, they said they'd be fine. Bearing in mind that I dont speak arabic, and their english is poor or broken at the very best. Now a friend gave me one of her stones, that she said she picked up and that she had cut in beautiful "diamonds". I have attached below a picture of the quartz I picked up (I have 3 tubs of them) and one of hers on the left of the picture (hers are all round like pebbles and pinkish/peach coloured).
Now my question is : Why is there several kinds of looks shapes and colours for the same stone? What would have happened so that they are different?
Apparently after speaking to another friend who also found some and had them cut and polished, you can also find yet a different look to them, a more ice cube-ish look, which the official jeweler says is the right kind of quality to submitt.
I have not seen any of the ice cube ones yet, either in the flesh or in the desert. It is not a simple affair to go out there as one can imagine, there is no sign that says " saudi diamond field, that way". lol So it is very much word of mouth, hence the confusing pieces of information I seem to get. We are picking up our stones in the souk tomorrow, let's hope they cut our stones and not given us some new ones, which would be a shame.
Any info on those mysterious indiana-jones-like-findings would be wonderful.
Thank you!


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Desert Diamonds.jpg
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 Post subject: Re: Saudi Diamonds/ Desert Diamonds / Al Qaysumah Diamonds
PostPosted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 4:06 pm 
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Desertstones wrote:
Hi All,
I am not sure if anyone has ever heard of Desert Diamond (also called Saudi or Al Qaysumah Diamonds) which are actually quartz

Yes, I have. They're naturally tumbled quartz pebbles and some are clean enough to facet, similar to Cape May "diamonds" or a variety of other locations where a host rock with clean quartz gets weathered.

Desertstones wrote:
is quite close in looks (once cut and polished) and in hardness / density to real carbon diamonds.

Here's where the sales pitch tends to go off the rails, and again this is typical for a variety of locations. It's just clear quartz like any other--same moderate hardness, low density, moderate brilliance. No more like a diamond than any other colorless quartz. The only premium a Saudi quartz can claim is the sentimental value of having come from that location--which isn't nothing, but isn't an awful lot either.


Desertstones wrote:
He says that if they had spent time in the ground like carbon diamonds they'd have been stronger as they'd have had to resist to the earth 's pressure.

This is the sort of geology/gemology that you'd read in Pliny or any of the ancient classical texts--it sounds sort of right but isn't at all.
There are a few reasons they might not be cuttable. They could have too many internal fractures that would either separate during cutting or, more likely, just not look good inside the stone. They might also have more diffuse inclusions that affect the clarity in a more general way.
I think a third issue might have come up: your stone on the right might not be a weathered quartz crystal but instead an agate. Agate is also largely made of quartz but it is composed of small microscopic intergrown crystals rather than a single crystal. It could also be another mineral altogether, it's not possible to say for sure from a picture, but it doesn't look much like a weathered quartz crystal. So, to answer this question:
Desertstones wrote:
Now my question is : Why is there several kinds of looks shapes and colours for the same stone? What would have happened so that they are different?

You might be dealing with a different stone entirely. Aside from that to have a stone faceted you need to find pieces that are completely clear. That can be hard to tell sometimes if they have a crust or surface staining (which is what provides the peachy color in your friend's stone--that won't show up when the stone is cut).

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 Post subject: Re: Saudi Diamonds/ Desert Diamonds / Al Qaysumah Diamonds
PostPosted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 4:26 pm 
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Hi, thank you for this! Oh my word, well we had them cut and made into earrings...going to pick them up from the souk on Monday evening....will post the result..I hope it's going to be a good job. And that it's quartz...oh dear. Hum we will go back to the desert and get some better ones with the friend who knows more about it...thank you thank you!!


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 Post subject: Re: Saudi Diamonds/ Desert Diamonds / Al Qaysumah Diamonds
PostPosted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 5:03 pm 
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Here is what it looks like, that 's pictures from when we went to get them, sorry had to crop them a bit to fit the format for upload


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22687991_10154986167286765_8779455843398228116_n.jpg
22687991_10154986167286765_8779455843398228116_n.jpg [ 135.71 KiB | Viewed 10282 times ]
22540153_10154986167336765_1990105728184958807_n.jpg
22540153_10154986167336765_1990105728184958807_n.jpg [ 94.05 KiB | Viewed 10282 times ]
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 Post subject: Re: Saudi Diamonds/ Desert Diamonds / Al Qaysumah Diamonds
PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 3:30 pm 
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Hi everyone,
Ok here we go. We just came back from the souq and after dealing with the seller s colleague, who speaks perfect english (alleluyah) we got the bow back from the stones we picked up and then gave to them. I asked 3times if the result was from the stones that were handed over. The answer was that yes, they sent the stones away to their factory in another Saudi city, and there they d have done the work. They possibly sent them to Thailand to be cut he said, as there they d have the proper machines to "remove the cloudy bits" in the stones. Is that plausible as to why they can cut and polish mine when the official jeweler says he can't? I will keep on showing my stones to various leads, I m not quite done yet ..haha! I ve left them with 3more stones that they sifted for them to cut and polish. They also gave me some of their "display" stones, that they have in the shop, those are clear like icecubes. They also said the best ones would be in the riverbeds as they would have been polished by the
water and tumbled and rolled like in a washing machine...Willl post pics in the next reply as I have to format them..


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 Post subject: Re: Saudi Diamonds/ Desert Diamonds / Al Qaysumah Diamonds
PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 4:05 pm 
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Here are my pictures of the jewelry that one of the sellers in the souq made out of the above stones..
Any feedback welcome! (sorry one of them isnt clear at all and it s all wrapped up for a present now ..
They gave me a few clear ones and I have to take better pictures as the formatting tool for the pictures is rejecting my picture size and it s late over here...
I will upload it tomorrow.


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thumbnail_IMG_20171120_225927.jpg
thumbnail_IMG_20171120_225927.jpg [ 42.29 KiB | Viewed 10223 times ]
thumbnail_IMG_20171120_223526_722.jpg
thumbnail_IMG_20171120_223526_722.jpg [ 38.55 KiB | Viewed 10223 times ]
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 Post subject: Re: Saudi Diamonds/ Desert Diamonds / Al Qaysumah Diamonds
PostPosted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 3:59 pm 
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while I'm no gemology expert....I have bought a lot of faceting rough in the past 10 years. I would doubt the cloudy white stones pictured in your hand would cut a clear stone pictured in the finished jewelry. I have seen a ton of white quartz and its very opaque as in your rough picture. They do cut nice cabs however. YMMV. free advise is worth every penny you pay for it. you be the judge


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 Post subject: Re: Saudi Diamonds/ Desert Diamonds / Al Qaysumah Diamonds
PostPosted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 11:50 pm 
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Hi, thanks for that! The mystery is still whole and well, the souk has now shut down for most of it, as the Saudi government wants slowly to put their own citizens to work, in many domains. So any non Saudi gold seller had to shut their shop. I think it will always remain one of the great arabic mysteries of my life. Lol! It makes fabulous Jewry though. Just fabulous!


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