GIA Certified Diamonds Blog

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Have you ever thought why diamonds are related to engagement? Why does the classic engagement ring have a huge diamond on it?

The answer goes back thousands of years to the Roman era.

At those times, the Romans thought the diamond had magical powers including dispelling fears, warding off craziness and purifying poison. The wearing of the diamond ring protected the loved one from these fates. The diamond ring was also worn in medieval Italy where the countrymen believed that the stone ensured a friendly and amorous marriage. Only small stones were used in these rings and they did not necessarily have to be polished or that beautiful. In France it became fashionable to wear engagement diamonds after a psychic known as the Baron d’Orchamps claimed that they warded off evil influences and attracted prosperity.

The first written accounts of wearing these rings seem to appear around the fourteenth century when an Archduke in Austria married a French member of royalty in 1477. Sometimes the fashion was for the bride to wear her engagement diamonds in a bridal tiara or in a brooch.

In the Renaissance, the Victorian era and even up to the 1920s it just was not that common to see a diamond wedding ring. Stacked rings of precious gems were more common. The first rings that appeared were actually ruby and diamond rings. Rings with multiple precious stones were common as well. Engagement diamond rings are largely the result of a huge advertising campaign launched by the African/Dutch mining company called De Beers. This is where the slogan “A Diamond is Forever” comes from. Also large stores of diamonds were found in Africa at that time which made them more affordable for the every day man and woman.

Next time you see a diamond ring given as engagement, keep in mind that the real target of this ring is to protection. The rest is just show off J

I was recently asked by a customer what would I consider to be the Ideal Cut Diamonds.

The ideal cut diamond is a unique entity in the wedding and engagement ring business that describes a diamond that has been cut so that it emits the maximum amount of fire and luster.  An Ideal cut diamond usually demonstrates properties that allow for geometric light plays.  Tbis phenomenon is often described as having arrows of fire from point to point. If you want a flashy bauble than ideal cut is what you need.

As the name ideal cut implies it describes a perfect diamond that has been perfectly cut. Three main variables must be strictly adhered to before the maximum amount of light can flash through the diamond. These include the stone’s polish, symmetry and proportions. Because of that, the stone cannot be cut too tall or too wide.

An ideal diamond can be just a tiny bit off. If it is a bit off it is called a Very Good diamond. Diamonds that are cut ‘Ideal’ must meet the best qualifications in terms of symmetry and polish as well. The symmetry allows the stone to gleam and produce the signature scintillating flashes that are characteristic of ideal cut diamonds.

I will try to have some samples for such diamonds and put some pictures here soon.

Cheers!

Last week I went to look for champagne diamonds for the company, when I met a guy that didn’t know what I was talking about. I was shocked. How can that be?

Isn’t champagne Diamonds a common term that everybody knows?

I have decided to look into it and see what the net has to say about it and found that there are quite a lot of variations in the Champagne Diamonds family.

The name has a few options, sometimes they are called brown or cognac diamonds or “natural diamonds.”

As for the color, there are a few kinds of color gradings anywhere from light champagne color down to a dark rich yellow. It says that the variance in color is due to trace elements that were in the carbon as it compressed in the vein of Kimberly rock over thousands of years.

The diamond champagne is a very earthy, sensual diamond that at the same time has quite a luxurious flair to it. Currently this type of diamond is very chic and many couture ring designers are combining them with white diamonds to make unusual and attractive wedding and engagement ring designs.

There is another great reason to buy this kind of rock: Champagne Diamonds are conflict free. This is due to the fact that they come from a vein of rock in East Kimberly, in Western Australia. Australia is in fact the largest supplier of these champagne diamonds and the largest miner of them down under is Argyle mines.

So if you get to Australia and see some Champagne Diamonds, send me a picture, I’ll put it here in my blog!

I was recently asked by a friend what’s so special in oval cut diamonds. It’s not really the shape that make it special, but the cut. Being curious, I went reading about it when I first heard about the famous diamond cutter Lazare Kaplan that was the first one designing oval cut diamonds in the sixties and they have become more and more popular ever since. Basically it is a modification of the very common round brilliant diamond cut. It is looks like it is difficult to make an oval cut diamond into an ideal diamond with lots of flash and brilliance because certain angles are needed to accomplish this. Still you have a very lustrous gem in the end.

Like a round brilliant cut the oval cut diamond also has 56 facets to catch the light.

The highest quality oval cut diamonds do have an ideal ration and that is a length to width ration 1.5:1. If it is greater than that you might notice an effect in the center of the diamond called the bow-tie.

The thing that people should know is that the ideal oval cut diamond should also look elliptical when viewed and not round or triangular. It should also not taper off like a marquise diamond.

I have read that people think that the next trend is wedding or engagement with a large oval solitaire that is mounted up in a Tiffany setting so it can be shown off.

As you know, trends come and go

I wonder if this one will really become real and how long it will last…

If there is one thing that is worth to be my first blog post is buying loose diamonds.

People say that buying loose diamonds is the best way to get the most value for your money. Is it? These diamonds are simply diamonds that have not been put in a setting. Buying loose diamonds is an art, and can’t be covered in just one post, however I can try…

Even though you do save money by buying loose diamonds rather than buying them on a ring or a necklace this is not always the case. You will usually be saved the mark up that is put on most diamond rings. The thing is when you buy them loose there is much higher chance that you make mistakes.

The thing about it is buying the diamonds loose is the best recommended way if you want to design your own ring from scratch. This way you do not spend too much money on a stone that will be cut down drastically in any way. The most popular reason for getting loose gems is when brides want to pick their rock before it’s being placed on a ring so that they can see how much it is worth…

When buying loose diamonds you need to make sure that your jeweler hands them to you in some kind of presentation box. At the very least the stone should be set in some kind of temporary setting. This is to prevent it from being stolen or traded for an inferior stone at the last minute. The stone should also come with a genuine GIC certificate that says the stone is worth what the jeweler says it is. This way the stone will only appreciate in value.

I will write more about this issue as soon as possible, come visit us soon again!