[HN Gopher] Cutting a 700 carat rare valuable gemstone [video]
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Cutting a 700 carat rare valuable gemstone [video]
Author : nickburns
Score : 67 points
Date : 2024-03-31 02:38 UTC (20 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
| Quinzel wrote:
| Well that was cool!
| nickburns wrote:
| on sale now! for the low, low price of ~$80k USD.
|
| https://www.moregems.com/collections/morganite/products/294c...
| hnbad wrote:
| It was appraised at $2150 USD. I'm not sure how that translates
| to the listing price but a 40x markup seems a bit extreme.
| davekeck wrote:
| The video (very end) and the website both say 192k. Where did
| you see 2150?
| hnbad wrote:
| The appraisal at the end of the video says "$2,375"
| according to the transcript (was watching without audio)
| and the sample appraisal (which I guess as your sibling
| pointed out was just meant as a sample of what an appraisal
| would look like, in which case I think it would have been
| better form not to include actual numbers) lists $2150
| which is close to that value so I assumed that's the actual
| appraisal.
|
| Given that the sample actually shows a ring and refers to
| it in the full text, that's obviously not referring to the
| object but now I'm wondering about the $2,375 figure in the
| transcript. Is that just a really bad auto-transcription
| error?
| nickburns wrote:
| cut morganite retails for ~$300 USD/ct. this finished gem
| is a smidge over 297 carats.
| hnbad wrote:
| That explains the listed price, it doesn't explain the
| disparity to the transcript. Given the comments, I
| presume he said a different figure in the audio track
| than the transcript (and therefore subtitles) says?
| Karliss wrote:
| Yes seems like audio transcript error. The audio says
| 192375 instead of 2375 . Same number just the first few
| digits got cut off.
| andy_ppp wrote:
| Trusting AI to get anything right is still a huge
| problem.
| ggruschow wrote:
| I think you're reading the "SAMPLE LEGAL APPRAISAL" which is
| an appraisal for a different item. I think it's just to give
| you an idea of the form of appraisal they'd provide for
| insurance purposes.
| nickburns wrote:
| this is correct. i found it odd to include that sample
| appraisal form with the listing at first glance, too.
|
| Wikipedia article on morganite says something like
| ~$300/carat depending on overall quality.
| yinser wrote:
| Tremendous weekend post. We need more of this
| MeteorMarc wrote:
| Seeing how he handles a scalpel for removing some glue, is
| frightening though.
| brikelly wrote:
| It makes sense now, but I guess I spent my life thinking this
| kind of process was actually cutting and not grinding. Well TIL.
| Retric wrote:
| The stage before what was shown may involve actual
| cutting/sawing and or cleavage.
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleavage_(crystal)
|
| This allows you to preserve material for making multiple gems
| where grinding can only result in a single piece.
| farooqib wrote:
| It's awesome to see how happy he is at the end with his work. I
| love seeing people really into their own craft
| Hnrobert42 wrote:
| Indeed. I watched the video on 1.5x until the end. When I saw
| him smiling, I slowed it to 1x just to enjoy the moment with
| him.
| jvandonsel wrote:
| He seems to be doing everything by "feel". I would imagine that
| if the stone were 3D scanned it wouldn't be difficult to use some
| software to determine the optimal orientation to achieve the
| largest cut stone, for a given cut style.
| mitthrowaway2 wrote:
| My guess is a skilled craftsman could get within 3% of the
| optimum solution.
| MichaelZuo wrote:
| I would agree for all the common shapes, maybe not for some
| very odd asymmetrical shape.
| nickburns wrote:
| great point... but in thinking about your comment, it occurs to
| me that then it could no longer be considered "hand cut."
|
| i found it very interesting that he shared he was hoping for
| 300+ cts., but had resolved to be satisfied with at least 250.
| so he did alright after all.
| jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
| He's making decisions based on a lifetime of experience. I
| wouldn't be so quick to assume that can be replaced by a simple
| optimizer. Additionally, maximizing size is just one goal among
| many.
| anfractuosity wrote:
| Does anyone happen to know if gemstones such as diamonds are
| mostly hand cut, or are CNC faceting machines possibly used.
|
| There seems relatively few videos of such machines on youtube,
| such as - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnKcl2rw-qg maybe I'm
| not using the right keywords though.
|
| Also - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyNDtjpV2A8
| mattficke wrote:
| Automated cutting is used for less valuable stones, or when you
| need to have multiple stones of the exact same size and shape.
| Hand cutting is used when you want to maximize the yield, so
| you use the raw stone to guide the final size and shape.
| anfractuosity wrote:
| Thanks, that makes sense, when you say 'you use the raw stone
| to guide the final size and shape' does that mean you might
| look for things like imperfections in the stone and try to
| remove those
| mattficke wrote:
| Like if the raw stone is elongated you probably don't want
| to cut it into a square finished gem, something like an
| oval cut would have less waste. And instead of trying to
| decide on an exact size in advance (like, exactly 1 ct),
| the final gem is whatever it is when the cutting is
| finished, so if it's a smidge over you don't shave it down.
| aledujke wrote:
| I understand that this is how it is, but why? How is not
| using computerized process giving better yields?
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