Diamond Blog

Women love jewelry. Their attention are held and captured by the simplest pieces of jewelry to the most elegant and sophisticated ones. However, for excited brides-to-be, the selection of the right jewelry for her wedding day is frightening and sometimes even discouraging.

A bride is faced with the challenge of picking the perfect and decent-looking jewelry pieces. With the broad range of selections, she can possibly choose from, the bride’s search for her gems is an exhilarating task. After all, the bride deserves the best jewelry pieces in the world.

Gold pieces have been the trademark of most women worldwide for centuries. But nowadays in America, more brides prefer diamonds and pearl jewelry pieces to the traditional gold ones. In India, it is customary to purchase gold jewelry pieces for marriages. Indian gold pieces are known for their lavish eye-catching designs; making them a good investment as well. In some parts of the world, palladium and platinum jewelry pieces are getting more popular choices for weddings too.

Pearl jewelry is another bridal option. Pearls are pure natural splendor of gems. Pearls still fascinate women. Famous celebrities, top models, and even notable royalty figures are spotted wearing lustrous pearls on special events and galas. The most popular pearl jewelry is the pearl necklace. It is still a classic piece that gives elegance and style to almost any fashion wardrobe of contemporary women. White pearl necklace is deemed as a timeless classic jewelry piece. Pearls are one of the sought-after wedding gems. They have alluring luster and timeless beauty in them. It was a tradition in ancient Greece to present pearls as wedding gifts. It was believed then that possessing pearl jewelry pieces was a sign of a blissful marriage and sanctified love among Greek couples.

They say nothing lasts forever. Well, have not they heard about diamonds? Diamonds are forever, claims the diamond industry. And what else could be stronger than the bond between women and their diamonds? There is an air of elegance and sophistication, coalesced with beauty and feminine allure in every woman who wears diamonds. Thus, a diamond is a woman’s best friend.

Diamond jewelry comes in different designs and in different prices too. Diamonds can be good investments. Moreover, for some people practicality and affordability are still important aspects to consider when purchasing diamond jewelry pieces for a bride’s wedding day.

Before Investing in Diamonds
A diamond is more than just a woman’s best friend. Diamonds can be huge investments too. Yet, you have to be wise enough to know the right information and techniques in investing in diamonds before taking the plunge.

Imagine a typical Valentine’s Day atmosphere. People beaming with happy smiles on their faces while waltzing their way to a high street jeweler. Inside the shop, these happy lovers splurge more than they can truly manage to pay on a diamond engagement ring. And as these couples leave, something phenomenal transpires within the sealed small boxes they purchased from the shop. The value of the diamond engagement ring in the box drastically plummets to about one-third of the price they paid.

Well, that is how things are with high street retailing. If misfortunes such as divorce, death or debt cuts your marriage shorter than forever, who is going to pay a third of your diamond engagement ring’s high street value?

Practically, it is wise to purchase diamond engagement rings at auctions. According to a report published in London, fifty-percent of jewelry auction bidders are private buyers. These private buyers even outnumber diamond engagement ring dealers around Valentine’s Day and holidays like Christmas. These auction bidders spend twice or thrice the value of their monthly salaries on expensive diamond engagement rings since they are well-informed buyers.

Bidders at jewelry auctions have spent ample time in comparing diamond engagement rings at jeweler’s shops. They have spent great time in surfing the internet, browsing from one jewelry site to another. Consequently, when they end up at jewelry auctions, these bidders know what they want and are confident enough to bid for the best diamond engagement rings their pockets can allow.

A diamond’s value is a balance of profession tastes and expert grading. The four C’s are the standards in determining the true worth of a diamonds – color, carat, clarity and cut.

Say for example, you are torn between purchasing a huge 5-carat diamond and a one-carat diamond (one carat is usually preferred for engagement rings.) The 5-carat diamond is stained yellow with black specks on it. On the other hand, the one-carat diamond stone is pure and clear. If you opt for the 5-carat rock, just make sure that the recipient of the diamond does not have an eye for determining a diamond’s purity of clarity and color.

Moreover, a two-carat diamond of unblemished clarity and color will be valued more than twice the worth of a one-carat of identical quality and shape.

Before taking the plunge in investing in diamonds, you have to learn how to appreciate and determine the good diamonds. A diamond’s worth is increasing somewhat quicker than inflation. A 15 per cent ascend in rough diamond prices in the last six months have yet to affect the prices offered to jewelry buyers. And according to survey, more and more notable celebrities –especially women – have been spotted purchasing diamonds. Several women celebrities have popularized the “right-hand diamonds”.

Color and Clarity Grades
Diamonds have color and clarity grades. Color grades are from letters D to Z. E and F are white or colorless diamonds; G,H, I and J are almost colorless; K, L,M are slightly yellow; and N to Z are light yellow in color. Vivid and fancy Z+ shades have fancy prices.

Clarity grades are from flawless (Fl) ones – these diamonds are too first-rate to be worn – to internally flawless ones (IF). There are VVS1 and VVS2 (with tiny ‘inclusions’), and VS1, VS2, SI1 and SI2.

Lastly, there are I1 (the diamond inclusions are not noticeable without a jeweler’s magnifying glass) to I2 (where inclusions are obvious to the naked eye), and I3 (the diamonds are whitish or grey in color). I3 looks like as if they have experienced a blow, and are judged as unattractive diamonds.

Those are the clarity grades of the Gemological Institute of America – the most respected diamond grading institution. Diamond auctioneers and dealers can estimate clarity and color grades. However, a GIA certificate is holy writ.