All About Buying Diamond Engagement Rings

There is much to consider when purchasing  a diamond – especially diamond  engagement rings! The tradition of presenting a woman with a diamond  engagement ring when proposing began in  1477 when Archduke Maximilian presented  a diamond ring to Mary of Burgundy – and  in most cases, the woman you plan to propose to will expect a ring to accompany  that proposal!  First, determine how much ring you can  afford. Most people use the ‘two months  salary’ rule. This means that the ring should  cost the equivalent of two months of your  current salary. Because you have other bills  to pay, saving up this amount of money may  take quite a bit of time. You should consider  financing. Simply go to the jeweler of your  choice and tell them that you plan to buy an  engagement ring, and that financing will be  necessary. Go ahead and get the credit  check out of the way, find out what your  payments will be, and how much of a down  payment is required.  Now, have your mother, sister, or your  girlfriends best friend take your girlfriend  shopping, and make sure that they gaze at  the engagement rings to get an idea of what  she might like. Make sure that the jewelry  store you buy the ring from will allow you to  return the ring, if that is required, or allow  your girlfriend to exchange it for another if  she isn’t happy with it!

All About Diamond Prices

Pricing most products is quite easy.  Determine how much it costs to make the  item, how much it costs to market that item,  and then mark it up by 15 – 30% or more.  Simple, right? Well, pricing diamonds isn’t  quite that simple. There are many factors  that are considered when diamonds are  priced.  Diamond prices are determined first by  adding the cost of the rough diamond, the  cost of cutting the diamond, and all other  costs necessary to turn the rough diamond  into a marketable diamond. Depending on  the importance of the diamond, an  independent company may be called in to  certify the grade of the diamond based on  color, cut, clarity, and weight.  At this point, the diamond becomes more  expensive each time it changes hands, until  it finally reaches a retailer, where the price is  raised a bit more. Before reaching the  retailer, however, the diamond must travel  from the mine, to the cutter and polisher, to  the independent grading company, and  then to the Primary market. Once it has  reached the primary market, it will be  purchased by diamond dealers and  wholesalers, and from there it will be sold  to retailers.  As you can see, the earlier you can purchase  a diamond in the process, the lower the cost  of the diamond will be – but not the value.  The value is based on what the diamond will  sell for in the market place – through a retailer.  If you own a diamond, and you have no idea  how much it is worth, you can have it  appraised, but the appraisal may not be  accurate. You will be better off obtaining a  certificate through GIA – Gemological Institute  of America. With the information on this  certificate, you can use a cutter’s guide to  accurately determine what your diamond is  worth.   There are also many diamond price  calculators available. These can be found  on the Internet, and many diamond dealers  use these as well. You must realize, however,  that before you can accurately price a  diamond, without a Diamond Grade Report,  you need to know quite a bit about diamonds,  such as different cuts, clarity, color, and weight  – and how each of those aspects adds to the  value of a diamond, or decreases the value of  the diamond as the case may be.   Again, you will be better off if you get a  Diamond Grading Report on the diamond,  and use that information to look up the price  in one of the guides that the diamond cutting  industry uses. This will give you the most  accurate value of the diamond in your  possession, or of the diamond you are  considering purchasing.

All About Mining Diamonds

We seldom think about how the diamonds  we wear came to us. Natural diamonds, as  opposed to synthetic diamonds or fake  diamonds, are mined from the earth. There  are currently two methods of mining  diamonds: Pipe Mining and Alluvial Mining.   

When pipe mining is used, the diamonds  are extracted from the earth through volcanic  pipes. These are not man-made pipes. These  are natural pipes in the ground. Shanks are  put into the ground next to the pipes, and tunnels are driven into the deepest parts of the pipe. The diamonds are not sorted out at  the mine. Instead, huge rocks that are full of  diamonds are brought out of the mine and  moved to a screening plant for separation.    

The Alluvial mining method is done in  riverbeds and on beaches. Walls are built to  hold back the water and the sand on the bank  or beach is moved with a bulldozer until the  level of earth that diamonds can be found in  is reached. Again, the diamonds are not  sorted here. Instead, the sand that contains  the diamonds is bulldozed into trucks, and  taken to screening plants.    

All About Cutting Diamonds

In their most natural form, diamonds are –  well – quite ugly. They have no luster or shine,  and in fact, look like nothing more than  broken glass. A diamond must be cut, and  then polished before it actually becomes a thing of beauty.  

 

Diamonds are cut with saws, into round  shapes. From the rounded shape, other shapes may be cut, such as heart shapes – but the shape is less important than the  quality of the cutting that is being done. If  the diamond is poorly cut, it will lose light,  and it will not sparkle and shine very well.  Each facet of the diamond must be carefully cut into the geometrical shapes  that allow the diamond to sparkle and  shine, then the entire diamond is cut into  a specific shape, such as an emerald cut  or a princess cut diamond.  

Once the cut is done, the diamond is put into  a dop, which resembles a cup with another  diamond – only a diamond is strong enough  to smooth the edges of another diamond.  Once the diamond has been cut and shaped,  and had the edges smoothed in the dop, it is  polished on a scaif or a diamond polishing wheel.

All About Famous Diamonds

Among the most well - known diamonds is the Hope. This 45. 52 carat steel blue diamond is currently on display at the Smithsonian. The legends of the ill - fortune and curse bestowed on the possessor of the Hope Diamond are many. This diamond was donated to the Smithsonian in 1958. The Hope was originally a rather flat, blocky 110 - carat rough.

The Dresden Green stands out among the natural colored diamonds. It is the largest green diamond in the world weighing 40. 70 carats. This diamond is historic, large and has a natural green color with a slight blue overtone. These facts make it virtually priceless. 

The Coned Pink is a pear shaped and weighs 9. 01 - carats. This pink diamond was once owned by Louis XIII. The Tiffany Yellow diamond a beautiful canary - yellow octahedron weighing 287. 42 in the rough ( metric ) carats discovered in either 1877 or 1878 in South Africa. The gem after cutting boasts the extraordinary weight of 128. 54 carats. And until recently, was the largest golden - yellow in the world. 

The Koh - I - Noor ( Mountain of Light ) is now among the British Crown Jewels. This diamond weighs 105. 60 carats. First mentioned in 1304, it is believed to have been once set in Shah Jehan ‘ s famous peacock throne as one of the peacocks eyes. 

The Agra is graded as a naturally colored Fancy Light Pink and weighs 32. 34 carats. It was sold for about 6. 9 million in 1990. Since this sale, it has been modified to a cushion shape weighing about 28. 15 carats. The Transvaal Blue is pear cut. This blue diamond weighs 25 carats. It was found in the Premier Diamond Mine in Transvaal, South Africa. 

The Great Chrysanthemum was discovered in the summer of 1963, in a South African diamond field. This 198. 28 - carat fancy brown diamond appeared to be a light honey color in its rough state. However, after cutting, it proved to be a rich golden brown, with overtones of sienna and burnt orange. 

The Taylor - Burton Diamond is a pear - shaped 69. 42 carat diamond. Cartier of New York purchased this diamond at an auction in 1969 and christened it " Cartier ." The next day Richard Burton bought the diamond for Elizabeth Taylor. He renamed it the „ Taylor - Burton ”. In 1978, Elizabeth Taylor put the diamond up for sale. Prospective buyers had to pay $ 2, 500 each to view the diamond to cover the costs of showing it. Finally, in June of 1979, the diamond was sold for nearly $ 3 million dollars.

All About Diamond Scams

When it comes to diamonds, there are numerous scams to avoid. Most scams are minor, but there are some major ones that come up from time to time concerning the buying and selling of diamonds. Scams occur simply because most people who buy diamonds – for whatever reasons – don’t know that much about diamonds. Therefore, they are easily fooled. 

A common scam that most jewelry stores participate in is the Carat Total Weight scam. The tag on the piece of jewelry, usually a ring, only states the total carat weight of all diamonds in the piece, instead of listing the total weights separately for each diamond. This leads consumers to believe that the main diamond in the piece is actually bigger than it is. Ask what the total carat weight of the center stone is. Also beware of fractions. Jewelry stores are allowed to round off diamond weights. This means that if the jeweler tells you that it is a ľ carat diamond, it is probably between ˝ and ľ carat – but closer to ľ.

Jewelry stores often run ‘fluorescence’ scams to varying degrees. Referring to a diamond as a blue-white diamond is such a scam. A blue-white diamond sounds very unique and special, but in fact, this type of diamond is of lesser quality – even though the jeweler will try to make you think you are getting something special. Jewelry stores also like to show their diamonds in bright lights. Lights make diamonds shine. Ask
to see the diamond in a different, darker type of lighting as well.

Some truly unscrupulous jewelers target those who want appraisals on diamonds that were given to them as gifts or that were purchased elsewhere. They will try to tell you that the diamond is worthless, or worth less than it actually is worth – and offer to take it off your hands or trade it for a much better diamond, along with the cash to make up the difference. This is called low balling. Get a second, third, and even a forth opinion
before taking any action.

Another common dirty trick is to switch the diamond you have chosen and paid for with one of lesser quality and value when you leave it to be set in a piece of jewelry, or leave a diamond ring to be sized. The only way to avoid this is to do business with one trustworthy jeweler. Avoid jewelers that you have not done business with in the past.

There are many more scams that jewelry stores commonly pull on unsuspecting consumers. Just use your best judgment, and purchase your diamonds with the utmost care and consideration.

All About Diamond Grading Reports

You’ve been told that having a certificate or a diamond grading report is important, and as a responsible consumer, you get one – unfortunately, you probably won’t understand a word of what is on that diamond grading report, unless you are a jeweler.On the color grading scale, D, E, and F mean that the diamond has no color. G, H, and I means that it has very little color. J, K, and L means that the diamond has a slight yellow color. P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, and X means that the diamond is a darker shade of yellow. Z means that the diamond has afancy color – other than white or yellow.  On the color grading scale, D is the most valuable, and X is the least valuable – however diamonds that get a Z rating arethe rarest and most expensive diamonds in the world.There are many aspects to a grading report. Figuring it all out can be very confusing. You should talk to a jeweler you trust, and have them explain everything on the diamond grading report to you.