Diamonds may be a woman’s best friend, but modern man made diamonds are so good as to be indistinguishable from real diamonds. And when you look at the huge savings on price, man made diamonds may be a woman’s best decision.
Increasingly, engaged couples are considering the cost of some wedding jewelry. In today’s high pressure high cost lifestyle couples are really wondering whether or not it is appropriate to spend big on, say, a diamond engagement ring.
The more spent on wedding jewelry the less available later for the important things in the marriage, like a house. Or the kids when they arrive. Is it responsible to spend so much to buy a diamond engagement ring when these more important things may need to be compromised later?
Especially when you consider that good quality man made diamonds cannot be distinguished from real diamonds, even by jewellers.
Faux diamonds are big business. The pearl jewelry industry was revolutionised by the advent of cultured pearls. Synthetic diamonds are doing the same thing to the wedding jewelry business.
There are a range of ways to produce synthetic diamonds. Modern technology is very adept at making any product which will sell well and faux diamonds are no exception. And the quality is so good that many of the alternatives to diamonds perform exceedingly well when compared to diamond using the common diamond quality tests.
In such tests as hardness, refractive index, fire, brilliance, luster and others the man made diamonds perform admirably. Sometimes even better.
Brilliance is a test of the amount of light which enters the stone and gets reflected back. It is affected by the quality of the cut of the stone.
Fire is the ability of the stone to break light down into it’s component colors and is also affected by the cut. “Fire” can be seen as color coming out of the stone.
Luster is the amount of light reflected back from the surface of the stone.
Moissanite, for example, outperforms diamond in brilliance, fire and luster and is only very slightly lower on the hardness scale. In fact a special piece of testing equipment had to be designed so that jewellers could tell moissanite from diamond as so many were unable to.
And, of course, moissanite is much cheaper than diamonds. And if most jewellers cannot tell it apart from diamonds, could you?
There are a range of different processes used to produce a stone which is a good diamond alternative. Most produce fine quality stones which produce stunning quality jewelry which any woman would be proud to wear.
Moissanite is not strictly a man made diamond though, as it is, in fact, naturally occurring. Unfortunately it doesn’t occur in sufficient quantities to be commercially viable for mining. But technology has come to the rescue by devising a method of producing high quality crystals.
Our preference for the best alternative to diamonds? Moissanite. A fine jewelry stone which will make a stunning engagement ring, or other jewelry piece. And you can buy moissanite wedding jewelry at a fraction of the price of diamond wedding jewelry.
And when the kids come along, buy them something extra from us from the money you’ve saved.
Showing posts with label diamond. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diamond. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
6 Handy Tips on Buying The Right Diamond
1. Learn about diamonds
Sometimes, I just can’t help myself but to keep on emphasizing this to anyone who wants to buy a diamond online: LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT DIAMONDS! Sorry, I don’t mean to shout. But in reality, many people are still very ignorant about diamond.
Believe it a not, there are jewelers who are unable to differentiate a diamond cut from a diamond shape. Everyone is so hyped up about the carat weight and has totally forgotten about the other 3 characteristics of a diamond.
It won’t take you years or months to learn something about diamond. There are plenty of articles and information on the 4C of a diamond. Spend some useful time in the library or internet and learn about diamonds. Who knows, you may become an expert in diamonds.
2. Prioritize the 4 characteristics
There are much more about diamonds than just the 4Cs. But at the end of the day, the 4Cs are still the major factors influencing the quality and price of a diamond.
Before you start prioritizing the 4Cs, you got to know what your girl actually likes about a diamond. If she like big one, go for a diamond with big carat weight but with poorer quality in terms of color, cut or clarity. If she likes the brilliance of a diamond and doesn’t mind the size, choose one with excellent cut and clarity. Whichever the case is, prioritizing the 4Cs will give you a better idea of what diamonds will suit her taste as well as your budget.
3. Do a price research
With your list, do some price research at some of the online jewelry stores (Here are some of the top online jewelry stores). Based on your list, you should have a rough estimate of the market price of the diamond you are looking for. If the price is out of your budget, try going for a grade lower than your expectation and you may eventually find one that suits you well.
4. Do some background research on the jewelry stores
If you have been doing researching, you would have come across information on cubic zirconium diamonds. These synthetic diamonds are D-color graded, flawless and cut to perfection. In short, a CZ diamond is a ‘perfect’ diamond. It is brilliant, flawless and yet cheap. Their prices do not increase exponentially with their quality unlike diamonds.
And there are also some natural diamonds which have undergone treatments to reduce its blemishes thus enhanced its appearance. It is still a low grade diamond and dishonest dealers may try to pass it off as a good graded diamond and sell you at a higher price.
So, before you start swiping your hard-earned money away, do some research about the jeweler as well. Ask your family, relatives or friend who have purchased from the dealer. Online forum is a good place to ask around and there are plenty of sites that provide reviews on jewelry store online.
Give the jewelry store a call, talk to their staffs and decide for yourself if you are comfortable with the store.
5. Always ask for a money back guarantee
There are risks in very form of transactions, so do buying diamonds. Protect yourself and minimize any risks by making sure that the store has the complete details about their return policy. It should include information about the validity period, what to do if you wish to return your purchase and their address.
As a rule of thumb, online stores should offer you no less than 21 days return policy. In fact, most of them have a return policy of 30 days.
6. Choose jewelers who provide grading reports
Certified diamonds will come along with a grading report by reputable gemology organizations such as GIA or AGS. Some online jewelry stores certified their diamond by in-house gemologists and they may be using different grading standards from GIA or AGS, while others may not provide the grading reports. Diamonds from top online jewelry stores generally comes accompanied with a grading report.
After you have purchased your diamond, you should get it appraised again with the grading report by a trained gemologist. The grading report will be very helpful in ascertaining whether the diamond you have bought is up to the specifications shown on the report.
Sometimes, I just can’t help myself but to keep on emphasizing this to anyone who wants to buy a diamond online: LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT DIAMONDS! Sorry, I don’t mean to shout. But in reality, many people are still very ignorant about diamond.
Believe it a not, there are jewelers who are unable to differentiate a diamond cut from a diamond shape. Everyone is so hyped up about the carat weight and has totally forgotten about the other 3 characteristics of a diamond.
It won’t take you years or months to learn something about diamond. There are plenty of articles and information on the 4C of a diamond. Spend some useful time in the library or internet and learn about diamonds. Who knows, you may become an expert in diamonds.
2. Prioritize the 4 characteristics
There are much more about diamonds than just the 4Cs. But at the end of the day, the 4Cs are still the major factors influencing the quality and price of a diamond.
Before you start prioritizing the 4Cs, you got to know what your girl actually likes about a diamond. If she like big one, go for a diamond with big carat weight but with poorer quality in terms of color, cut or clarity. If she likes the brilliance of a diamond and doesn’t mind the size, choose one with excellent cut and clarity. Whichever the case is, prioritizing the 4Cs will give you a better idea of what diamonds will suit her taste as well as your budget.
3. Do a price research
With your list, do some price research at some of the online jewelry stores (Here are some of the top online jewelry stores). Based on your list, you should have a rough estimate of the market price of the diamond you are looking for. If the price is out of your budget, try going for a grade lower than your expectation and you may eventually find one that suits you well.
4. Do some background research on the jewelry stores
If you have been doing researching, you would have come across information on cubic zirconium diamonds. These synthetic diamonds are D-color graded, flawless and cut to perfection. In short, a CZ diamond is a ‘perfect’ diamond. It is brilliant, flawless and yet cheap. Their prices do not increase exponentially with their quality unlike diamonds.
And there are also some natural diamonds which have undergone treatments to reduce its blemishes thus enhanced its appearance. It is still a low grade diamond and dishonest dealers may try to pass it off as a good graded diamond and sell you at a higher price.
So, before you start swiping your hard-earned money away, do some research about the jeweler as well. Ask your family, relatives or friend who have purchased from the dealer. Online forum is a good place to ask around and there are plenty of sites that provide reviews on jewelry store online.
Give the jewelry store a call, talk to their staffs and decide for yourself if you are comfortable with the store.
5. Always ask for a money back guarantee
There are risks in very form of transactions, so do buying diamonds. Protect yourself and minimize any risks by making sure that the store has the complete details about their return policy. It should include information about the validity period, what to do if you wish to return your purchase and their address.
As a rule of thumb, online stores should offer you no less than 21 days return policy. In fact, most of them have a return policy of 30 days.
6. Choose jewelers who provide grading reports
Certified diamonds will come along with a grading report by reputable gemology organizations such as GIA or AGS. Some online jewelry stores certified their diamond by in-house gemologists and they may be using different grading standards from GIA or AGS, while others may not provide the grading reports. Diamonds from top online jewelry stores generally comes accompanied with a grading report.
After you have purchased your diamond, you should get it appraised again with the grading report by a trained gemologist. The grading report will be very helpful in ascertaining whether the diamond you have bought is up to the specifications shown on the report.
Diamond
The diamond ( from the ancient Greek ἀδάμας (adamas) meaning invincible ) is one of the best-known and most sought-after gemstones. Diamonds have been known to mankind and used as decorative items since ancient times; some of the earliest references can be traced to the Indians. Diamond's hardness and high dispersion of light make it useful for industrial applications and jewelry. One of the characteristics of diamonds that make them so desirable as jewelry is their tendency to disperse white light into its component colors, giving the diamond its characteristic "fire." Diamonds are such a highly traded commodity that multiple organizations have been created for grading and certifying diamonds based on the four Cs which are carat, cut, color, and clarity. Other characteristics, such as shape and presence or lack of fluorescence also effect the desirability and thus the value of a diamond used for jewelry. Perhaps the most famous use of a diamond in jewelry is its use in engagement rings. This use became popular in the early to mid 1900's due to an advertisement campaign by the De Beers company, though diamond rings were used to symbolize engagements since at least the 15th century. The diamond's high value has also been the driving force behind dictators and revolutionary entities, especially in Africa, using slave labor to mine blood diamonds to fund conflicts.
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