DesignsOnDiamonds
Tuesday 14th February 2017 – Valentines Day – the most romantic day of the year and a day when many a proposal of marriage is made.
“Valentine’s Day” gets the name from a former famous priest of Rome in the 3rd Century AD. Marriages had been banned by Claudius II as he thought it bad for his soldiers but Valentine disagreed and carried on arranging marriages in secret.
The story goes that when Claudius II found out, Valentine was sentenced to death and while in prison, Valentine fell in love with the jailer’s daughter. When Valentine was taken to be killed on 14th February he sent her a note of love signed “from your Valentine”.
A Diamond is still the stone of romance and is traditionally given as an engagement ring. Diamonds come in all shapes and sizes and a huge range of prices. You could take 5 diamonds all of the same shape and size and have 5 different prices – ranging from hundreds of pounds to tens of thousands of pounds. Why is this?
It comes down to the quality of the stone. A diamond with a very good cut, colour and clarity will cost a lot more than a diamond with poor cut, colour and clarity. Unless a diamond is graded Flawless or Internally Flawless, there will be some type of inclusion within the stone. These inclusions are natural and make a diamond unique meaning no two diamonds will be exactly the same. Inclusions do not necessarily affect how bright and scintillating a diamond looks. An experienced cutter will try to cut the diamond so that the inclusions do not affect the stone’s beauty.
The assessment of each diamond is usually carried out in line with the GIA’s (Gemmological Institute of America) grading system.
Back in the 1940’s the GIA devised a grading system to bring some regularity to diamond grading. The GIA grading system is recognised and used worldwide today and is known as the Four C’s, which stand for Cut, Colour, Clarity and Carat.
Cut:
Refers to the symmetry, proportioning and polish of a diamond. The better the cut, the better the diamond looks overall.
Colour:
Diamonds occur in a variety of colors – steel gray, white, blue, yellow, orange, red, green, pink to purple, brown, and black.
The chemical composition along with defects in the crystal structure are two common causes of coloured diamonds. The presence of Nitrogen will cause yellow/brown diamonds and Boron will make a diamond blue.
The colour of a diamond is graded from D through to Z. D is the absolute best being colourless. Z would be a strong yellow to brown colour.
Clarity:
From Flawless to I3. I3 being heavily included and dull to look at.
Carat:
The word “carat” comes from the “carob” seed, the original unit of measure for traders to measure the weight of a diamond. Today, a carat is equal to exactly 0.2 grams (about the weight of a paper clip).
It is so very important to work out what is important to you, beside budget of course, when looking to buy. Size of the diamond or the quality? It is very satisfying to be able to give a sizeable ‘rock’ as a token of love, but if the diamond doesn’t come alive with a rainbow colours, it could be a huge disappointment to all.
DesignsOnDiamonds is an Online Jewellery Store that aims to deliver high quality certified diamond jewellery at affordable prices. We want you to shop with us, confident that the piece you are buying is genuine and of exceptional quality. We believe it is important, wherever possible, to sell diamonds with certification or some form of certificate of authenticity. This will give you, the customer, piece of mind and a guarantee that you are buying exactly what is described to you.
We buy and source our diamonds and gemstones purely for their quality. Some of our jewellery pieces are pre-owned, but have been inspected to make sure they are presented to the highest standard.
We offer a bespoke service where we will source that special diamond, gemstone or piece of jewellery for you, whatever your budget, just let us know. We have contact with Diamond Traders in Hatton Garden, so we are confident that we will be able to offer the best possible price.
Contact: Jacqui@DesignsOnDiamonds.co.uk
Website: DesignsOnDiamonds.co.uk
Instagram: /DesignsOnDiamonds
