The Diamond Source of La Jolla.(The Diamond Industry)

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It is difficult to leave Marco Levy's Diamond Source in La Jolla without being struck by the items of jewelry at this four-month old store, Levy's second in the San Diego area. Ideal cut, triple zero, excellent, top color, top quality, top make--the terms used to describe a diamond's essential parameters in industry terms give an indication of the quality on sale at the store.

The jewel box of a store on La Jolla's prestigious Girard Avenue is filled with Levy's diamond designs, as well as others encompassing the highest quality colored gemstones. They are intended to enhance the already high quality of the gemstones. "They have a way of seeming inevitable--when you see the way he pairs up stones, or combines fancy colored diamonds with complementary colors of gold--you feel they just had to look that way and no other. The stones speak to me. The designs just come to me when I look at the diamonds. I can see the finished jewelry," Levy says. Coming from a diamond cutting background, Levy knows the difference between a diamond and the description of a diamond on a certificate. A diamond with a lower section that …