A Banjarmasin keris

A. G. Maisey · 14th December 2008, 02:43 AM

Yakut are rose cut rock crystal.

Many dealers will try to pass off yakut as intan, and really, the only way I know to tell the difference in a buying situation is by having seen and handled a lot of both stones.

Intan throw a very hard, often blue light. Its a hard, cutting light---if that makes any sense. They have a good brilliance, most yakut have very low brilliance, and they throw a softer, whitish light.

If you examine under, say, a 3X loupe, the edges of the facets in intan will be hard, sharp and clean and the facets will be clean and level; in yakut the edges of the facets will often be bruised, a bit rounded, showing wear.

There is a very, very big difference in value between intan and yakut. Intan are not always low grade diamonds. Intan is the old fashioned rose cut, berlian is the modern brilliant cut. Its the cut that makes the difference in name, not the quality. My wife has some very good 19th century rings set with intan, and the stones are large and without inclusions, of good brilliance, and good colour---but they are still intan, because they are rose cut.

14th December 2008, 02:43 AM	#4
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,892	Yakut are rose cut rock crystal. Many dealers will try to pass off yakut as intan, and really, the only way I know to tell the difference in a buying situation is by having seen and handled a lot of both stones. Intan throw a very hard, often blue light. Its a hard, cutting light---if that makes any sense. They have a good brilliance, most yakut have very low brilliance, and they throw a softer, whitish light. If you examine under, say, a 3X loupe, the edges of the facets in intan will be hard, sharp and clean and the facets will be clean and level; in yakut the edges of the facets will often be bruised, a bit rounded, showing wear. There is a very, very big difference in value between intan and yakut. Intan are not always low grade diamonds. Intan is the old fashioned rose cut, berlian is the modern brilliant cut. Its the cut that makes the difference in name, not the quality. My wife has some very good 19th century rings set with intan, and the stones are large and without inclusions, of good brilliance, and good colour---but they are still intan, because they are rose cut.