The SomeTimes Bulletin from ULTRA TEC - Product and User News from the World's premier faceting machine manufacturer

June 2006 Edition

“This little Ultra Tec has really taken me places—it’s a hobby out of control…” - Scott Sucher

Scott Sucher has become known as one of the few experts in making exact replicas of famous diamonds (another of this rare breed is John Hatleberg, whom we wrote about last November). Scott explains that he wants his replicas to be exact—flaws and all—showing just what the original cutters did. In getting there, Scott said that he does a 12X (!) drawing of the original on his computer to determine the facet layout, then transfers this to GemCad to determine the angles and settings.

In a planned program that stretched from 1980 to 1988, with Cubic Zirconia as the material, Scott produced 16 historical diamond replicas, including the Tiffany, the Dresden Green, the Hope, the Florentine, the Sancy, the Dudley , the Pascha, and nine Cullinan diamonds.

Scott possesses that “faceting gene” – he was 8 years old when he visited the Lizzadro Museum in Elmhurst, IL (he lived fairly close to it) where he saw historical diamond replicas, those being done in clear quartz. Click! When he was 19 years old, Scott obtained an Ultra Tec faceting machine, and he was on his way into his “hobby out of control”. Scott and his Ultra Tec are still chugging along, just recently completing the Tavernier Blue, French Blue, Nassak, with 7 others waiting for his time. (By the way, he’s looking for someone who has large pieces of the old steel-blue C-Ox CZ for a future project.) Two of his pieces are scheduled to go on permanent display at the Smithsonian at the end of the summer, and his entire collection goes on display for several months at the Lizzadro starting Jan 2007. A hobby “way out of control”.

Scott, now 50, has retired from the US Air Force, and now, from his home in New Mexico, he works as a contractor for the Federal government, traveling through the West, arranging for bits and pieces of old Indian land that have come under the ownership of individuals, to be put back under Tribal control. As you might imagine, it involves traveling to very interesting places, and it fits right in with Scott’s intense interest in American history.

So, Scott Sucher has led and continues to lead a busy exciting life. And not the least of it—he recently became a Grandpa to twin boys! (Now, I was only a little envious of his job, but I’m really envious of this).

Read more about him—get onto the Internet and Google in “Scott Sucher diamond”. Interesting and informative information will be your reward.

And, he’s the nice sort of person who is willing to share his knowledge. Scott said, “ … Without help from the Smithsonian, Coster Diamonds in Amsterdam, and countless individuals, my collection wouldn't be where it's at today. What goes around comes around”. So, if you have any diamond replica questions – perhaps you have an interest but are unsure about how to get started, or you are stumped on a problem -- Scott invites you to contact him at kns1313@aol.com.

So long for now...

Joe Rubin

joe@ultratec-facet.com

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