Local jeweler teams with Canadian diamond cutter
Diamond cuts seek to exploit the ambient light in the room with no artificial enhancements of that light.
This, according to local jeweler Joe Bacher of Harrisburg, is why jewelers display their wares under bright light. Everything looks sparkly under spotlights.
But the true test of a diamond cut is at home under your less bright ambient light.
A well-cut diamond will look great even then - without enhancing spotlights.
This fact of the diamond business is what led Master Diamond Cutter Mike Botha of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada, to keep innovating over the years in learning the diamond cutting art.
He found his master cut, Sirius Star and his son encouraged him to take it on the road and market it like Colonel Sanders did his fried chicken recipe. The father and son duo sell their product one store at a time, eyeball to eyeball.
They do not sell online and they do not sell to chains. They and their customers are convinced they have the best diamond cut ever patented.
Yes, diamond cuts are patented. They are intellectual property and deserve that protection.
"The cut is the only thing that man can add to a diamond. The size, the color and quality are set by natural causes. The cut, of course, is not. There are varying qualities of cut and the goal is always to make maximum use of available light to deliver the sparkling effects associated with diamonds," Botha said.
"The Sirius Star cut looks brighter in room light than other cuts do," said Bacher.
To prove his point, Bacher held up two diamonds and asked this reporter which looked brighter. The reporter picked the smaller, but brighter diamond. It was the Sirius Star.
Bacher opened his Harrisburg shop in November 2004. He met Botha at a trade show in Chicago in 2011. They have been working together ever since. Botha and his son were present in the shop Thursday doing demonstrations for the public.
Botha's son Evert has a background in media and marketing and accompanies his father on the road.
They market the Sirius Star cut under the descriptive phrase, "The World's Brightest Diamond."
Prince Albert, where Botha lives, is also the site of the world's largest diamond find. The field is 20 times bigger than the current world champion diamond field in Botswana. That African field is 180.4 acres while the field near Prince Albert is 4,600 acres. It has yet to be developed since the development requires $1.6 billion to begin, Botha said. It will open soon enough he believes. He chose to move there for obvious reasons.