I visited Antwerp four times in 2025. I came back with nineteen stones, and rejected eighty-three. This is a diary of the eight that came closest to being kept, and were not.
Stone one
1.41 carats, F colour, VS1. The table was 57 percent — exactly the number we look for. I held it to the light for a long time. The crown was a fraction too high. I let it go.
“We do not buy stones. We refuse them.”