How to Tell Original Diamonds from Fakes

December 23rd, 2009 No comments »

If you are soon going shopping for diamond jewellery, you may find yourself getting apprehensive – after hearing tales about people who paid considerable sums of money for pieces of jewellery, only for them to turn out to be cleverly-made fakes. As such, you could find a discussion on how to tell original diamonds from fakes handy.

There are so many ways of telling original diamonds from fakes that an attempt to go through them all would probably call for a huge tome – the size of the entire encyclopaedia Britannica. Yet we can briefly go through some of the easier ones.

One of the easiest ways of telling original diamonds from fakes is by asking for, and checking out their certification. Real diamonds come with certificates of authenticity, issued by ‘expert institutes’ at these matters like the GIA (Gemmological Institute of America). If you are shopping for your diamond jewellery from stores, this is something you should ask for, and look through carefully (as some people have been known to counterfeit even the certificates).

Another easy way of telling original diamonds from fakes is by looking through them –and observing the refractive and reflective patterns on them. Due to its remarkably high refractive index, diamond comes with unique and remarkable reflective and refractive patterns. If what you have on hand are manifesting ‘ordinary’ reflective and refractive patterns, then they are probably not original diamonds.

Yet another way of telling original diamonds from fakes, if you have the tenacity to go this far, is by subjecting them to X-rays. It really doesn’t cost a lot, anyway, – and it could save you from being scammed, as it is truly a fool-proof test. As it turns out, original diamonds don’t show up on X-ray film when X-rayed, whereas the other materials used to ‘fake’ them tend to show up on X-ray film when x-rayed.

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In Emerging Online Jewellery Stores, an Opportunity to Design a Ring You Will Love

December 18th, 2009 No comments »

If you have been shopping for jewellery online in recent days, then you must have come across one of these sites that give you the option to design a ring for yourself, and then have them make it for you(just as you designed it), and deliver it to you.

The emergence of these sites that let you design a ring for yourself is attributable to consumer demand for the same. For a long period of time, people have had to content themselves with the mass-produced rings, which are made with the ‘one size fits all’ mentality. This is something that many people felt didn’t make sense, especially in highly sentimental items like rings, through which people look to ‘feel special.’

In the best of traditional jewellery stores, one could always approach the guys making the jewellery for the store, explain to them what they wanted in terms of rings, and have these guys make exactly that for them. So questions arose as to why the same couldn’t be extended into the online stores, with all the available technology. In response to this sentiment, the guys behind the online jewellery stores engaged ‘geeks’ to make it technologically possible for people to design their rings and then have the stores makes them: which is the point we find ourselves at today.

Most of these online stores that give you an opportunity to design a ring for yourself will typically require a small deposit, for them to start turning your design into reality.

In most cases, there is virtually no limit to what you can have them make for you. Many can even make rings with your name (or your loved ones’ name) and embossed image, if that is what you want. Talk of personalization taken to the extreme!

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Shopping for Wedding Bands Diamonds: What to Look For

December 17th, 2009 No comments »

If you are shopping for diamonds to use in making wedding bands, then you could find a discussion on what to look for in wedding bands diamonds handy.
 As it turns out, the features to look for in wedding bands diamonds are pretty much the same features to look out for when shopping for other types of diamonds. Only that in the case of wedding bands diamonds, you cannot afford to get anything wrong, because doing so would be letting down the groom, and especially the bride, unforgivably.
 One of the most basic things to be on the lookout for when shopping for wedding bands diamonds is genuineness. It is not about being paranoid, but the truth of the matter is that diamond is a rare (yet highly loved) metal. So to ‘bridge’ this gap between demand and supply, some folks have been known to make their own ‘artificial’ diamond (also called fake diamond) from glass and other similar-looking materials. Ensure that you don’t fall for these, by conducting a few genuineness tests, and asking for certification (which should also cross-check for genuineness).
 The other major thing you need to look for in wedding bands diamonds is the range of features described by the 4 C’s of diamond: colour, clarity, carat and cut. Your ultimate decisions, with regard to these 4 C’s will be influenced by the couple’s preferences. Availability and financial constraints might also come into the picture, in deciding what you ultimately go for, in these regards. Some colours of diamonds, as it turns out, are not so easy to get. Some carat weights, while preferred by the couple in question, might be beyond their financial reach. Some cuts, especially the more unique one might not be available in the market when you go shopping: hence the need to go with clarity of mind, yet with flexibility to go with the ‘second best’ you may find in terms of wedding bands diamonds.

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Stores that Give Couples Opportunity to Design Wedding Rings for Themselves

December 16th, 2009 No comments »

Are you preparing to getting married soon, through a wedding? Or are you involved in a ‘wedding planning’ committee in some capacity? If so, then chances are that procurement of weddings for the big day is surely something you must have given some thought to.

Now when most of us think about buying wedding rings, what tends to instantly come to mind is the idea of simply popping into a jewellery store, buying one of the ‘ready made’ rings –and getting done with the whole business.

Yet a wedding ring is an important sentimental item, one which many people (given the option) would prefer made specially for them: and exactly to their specifications.

Unfortunately, for many years, the possibility of wedding couples to have wedding rings made for them exactly to their specifications was simply not there. They had to make do with what was available: in this case the ready made ‘one design fits all’ variety.

In recent days, however, we have seen the emergence of a new class of jewellery stores that actually givens couples the opportunity to design wedding rings for themselves.

In these stores, upon the payment of a small deposit (or the whole price, in a few cases), the couple is given the opportunity to design wedding rings exactly to their liking, with the people behind the stores taking up from there to make those designs a ‘reality in metal.’

There are both online as well as brick and mortar jewellery stores, which give their clientele the opportunity to design wedding rings for themselves. And contrary to what some of us may imagine, the extra price for this ‘privilege’ to design one’s own ring is not too high. Indeed, in some cases, the price of the self-designed rings is more or less the same as the price of mass produced pieces: so that opting for either becomes simply a matter of personal preference.

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Tacori Rings Explained

December 15th, 2009 No comments »

Tacori rings, increasingly popular among people shopping for engagement and wedding rings, are made by a powerhouse in the jewellery industry going by the same name: Tacori.

Currently based in California, where Tacori rings are actually handcrafted, the history of the company behind them spans over the last forty years. Over that duration, Tacori rings have come to be viewed as the ultimate rings for people looking for beauty and exclusivity ‘in a package.’

Tacori prides itself of unparalleled workmanship, which comes out through its wide range of products.  Unlike other ring brands, which tend to be machine worked (and therefore lacking in emotion), Tacori rings are actually handcrafted, giving room for the artistry that goes into making them to manifest. Unlike the trend in other ‘fashion brands’ which have in recent years tended to outsource the manufacture of their wares to the so-called ‘eastern sweatshops’, Tacori rings are made right in the United States: in the sunny California.

The makers of Tacori rings don’t sell the rings to the users directly. Rather, they sell them through their network of authorized dealers, from where the users can get to purchase them. Over the years, Tacori has managed to establish a huge network of these dealers, so that wherever you are, you can be sure to quite easily locate someone dealing in Tacori rings if you go looking keenly enough. Tacori’s hesitation to sell their products directly, it would seem, is in a bid to avoid undercutting their distributors: which would inevitably be the result if they were to sell directly.

In addition to the Tacori rings, Tacori also makes other pieces of fine jewellery, including necklaces, earrings and bracelets. These too, according to Tacori, are hand-crafted, and sold through the company’s vast ‘authorized distributor and vendor network.’

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Top Three Features of Contemporary Engagement Rings

December 8th, 2009 No comments »

Simply put, contemporary engagement rings are ‘modern engagement rings.’ Here we are looking at ‘modern’ vis-a-vis the likes of terms like ‘vintage,’ ‘classic’ or traditional. Thus if an engagement ring isn’t vintage, classic or traditional, then it has to be contemporary.

Modern-ness is therefore the defining feature of contemporary engagement rings. It is worth noting, with regard to it though, that what we are talking about here is modern-ness of design, rather than of manufacture. An engagement ring could have been made yesterday, (literally yesterday), but by virtue of the design in it, which happens to be a traditional/vintage design, still fail to qualify for a position among the contemporary engagement rings. Thus it is the design of a ring that qualifies it to be termed contemporary, rather than the year/time of its making.

Contemporary engagement rings tend to be rings crafted taking full advantage of today’s technology. ‘Tech-savvy’ which manifests in things like precision of cuts is therefore another feature that sets these contemporary rings from the more traditional rings. Sure, traditional rings can still be made with today’s technology, but their makers are usually keen to leave ‘bits of imperfections’ in them, if they are to appear truly vintage, and representative of the point in time they are made to represent.

Contemporary engagement rings, which are highly loved by young couples who want to appear ‘fashion-conscious’ and ‘hip’ have tended to be made from metals different from those employed traditionally for the purpose. Traditional metals included the likes of diamond (the most popular), and gold. The metals you will tend to find in the ultra-contemporary engagement rings are the likes of titanium and platinum: which the new generation is increasingly finding more fashionable for making engagement rings.

So contemporary engagement rings end up being ‘set apart’ by their designs, technology/precision, and the metals used in their making.

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Where to find a low-cost necklace with diamonds

December 7th, 2009 No comments »

We start with a supposition here, that you have made up your mind to either gift yourself, or someone else with a beautiful necklace with diamonds. The problem is, such a diamond-studded necklace would be sure to cost you an arm and a leg – and you don’t quite have that much money. Yet you really need to get such a diamond-studded necklace.

In a situation like that, it would be easy to give up on your search for the necklace with diamonds – and console yourself with the fact that you simply ‘couldn’t afford it.’

Yet with a little more tenacity, you can just as well get a necklace with diamonds, being sold cheaply. To do this, you would only have to go searching for it at the right places, and once there, ensure that your search is diligent enough.

A good example of these places where you can find really good diamond-studded necklaces being sold for a song is at the auctions: whether online or the more traditional variety of ‘real’ auctions. As it turns out, in the auctions, items are usually being sold, not to make a profit as such, but rather to either recover certain monies (especially in the traditional auctions) or just get rid of them (especially in the online auctions).

As such, it becomes possible to find a real diamond-studded necklaces being sold for only a fraction of what they would go for in a jewellery store.
Of course, when shopping for a necklace with diamonds at these auctions, as indeed when shopping for any jewellery items anywhere, it helps to keep a watchful eye. You do need to ensure that you don’t end up being taken in by people selling ‘fake’ products: usually pieces of glass or quart cleverly cut to look like diamonds!

Yet, while being careful, you need not be paranoid about it either.

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Why Cartier Engagement Rings are Many Couples’ First Choice

December 1st, 2009 No comments »

It is an incontestable fact – looking at a number of jewellery stores’ sales statistics – that Cartier engagement rings are many couple’s first choice, when shopping for an engagement ring to mark that milestone of their relationship.
 But just why are Cartier engagement rings so many couples’ first choice of engagement rings, one may ask.
 Well, stylishness has to be one of the factors that make Cartier engagement rings many couples’ first choice of rings to mark that milestone in their relationships. After all, Cartier engagement rings are considered among the top ‘designer’ engagement rings, making them irresistible to the couple that wants to come across as stylish in their choice of engagement rings. In other words, the very choice of Cartier engagement rings shows that the couple doing so has a highly refined sense of ‘taste:’ for that is what Cartier engagement rings are associated with.
 Another factor behind the popularity of Cartier engagement rings is the fact that they appeal to both modern and classic styling. This is unlike other types of engagement rings that give the couple the choice of either getting the classic look or the modern look. In Cartier engagement rings lies a good compromise for a couple that wants to look modern without ignoring ‘tradition’ (with regard to what is considered ‘proper’ in engagement rings).
 It might also be added, the fact that Cartier engagement rings don’t come too cheap makes them alluring to the many couples looking for ‘exclusive’ engagement rings. These couples looking for ‘exclusive’ rings, by the way, are quite many, taking into consideration the fact that many people are often willing to ‘sacrifice’ things in order to celebrate their engagements in style. These couples find in Cartier engagement rings jewellery that  is ‘exclusive’ (a little pricey), but then which has a lot to offer, in terms of beauty and elegance – and beyond ‘just the name’ – to justify the extra price tag.

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Why Many Couples are Going for Gemstone Engagement Rings

November 26th, 2009 No comments »

In the traditional way of doing things, engagement rings were usually made of diamond. Indeed, in some circles, it came to be assumed that engagement rings had to be made from diamond.

In recent days, however, we have seen the emergence of a trend where more and more couples are opting for gemstone engagement rings, rather than the traditional diamond engagement rings. This begs the question as to why these couples are turning their heads on tradition, which seems to favor diamond engagement rings, and instead opting for the gemstone engagement rings.

Two main factors can be identified, as being behind this trend.

One is the fact that gemstone engagement rings offer more freedom in terms of colour – seeing that they come in so many different colours (and their various colours are in fact easily available). True, diamond engagement rings also came in quite a variety of colours too. But besides the clear or white colour, the others (like pink or black), tended to be rather hard to find: so that couples who cared more about aesthetics, as expressed in colour, and less about tradition, found the diamond engagement rings somewhat stifling. Thankfully, this ‘stifling’ is done away with in gemstone engagement rings.

Second is the fact that gemstone engagement rings, while considerably elegant, tend to be more affordable than diamond engagement rings. Thus, as the world goes through turbulent economic times, even diehard traditionalists, who would have preferred to go for diamond engagement rings are finding themselves unable to afford them. In most cases, where they find diamond engagement rings unaffordable to them, the gemstone engagement rings tend to be a reasonably good ‘fall back option.’ Indeed, many of these couples end up loving the gemstone engagement rings than even the diamond engagement rings they were so keen on initially.

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