Diamond Engagement Rings Specialist

It’s been christened the Olympic Diamond 3G iPhone and it was unveiled in London by De Vere’s. If you want bling, this one’s got oodles of it – there are eighty eight diamonds all around the screen and it is priced at over £4000. Well, actually, £4188. One wonders why that particular number of diamonds till you find out that according to Chinese folklore, the number stands for double wealth.

Well, we say, you need all that wealth to go looking at this iPhone! However, looking at the many luxury phones that have been making an entrance into the market, we could be wrong. The demand for them especially in countries like Russia and China seem to be phenomenal and this lucky number should be just the right touch for the Beijing Olympics. Even the opening date – 8-8-08 makes you realise just how much importance they give this lucky number.

88 might be a lucky number for the Chinese but a customer is also free to choose the number of diamonds that could be set in the iPhone as well as the design. The phone could be a special coming of age present or an anniversary gift in which case, you could have the exact number of diamonds that you specify on the phone. There’s a very expensive one with 168 diamonds that is priced at £7888. Diamonds are the gems of choice but if you have a preference for any other precious stones, you can get those set as well. Here’s to Olympic diamond days ahead!

No doubt this question has crossed the mind of many an ardent suitor when he stepped into a jeweller’s store to buy the love of his life an engagement ring. Is there something like an average? How much is too much and how much too little? Would that there were a guide to let a man in love know.

The fact is, there is no universal average. The carat size of an engagement ring diamond could have different averages depending on which part of town or which part of the country you are from. The national average might tell you that the figure is 0.38 carats. However, this is not a static number and it is said to be growing with the passing of the years.

If you want an average, it might just be worthwhile looking at the averages in each city. When it is a large and prosperous city, the average carat will be found to be much higher. California’s is 1 carat but if you were to focus on a specific wealthy region, it could go up to maybe 2.75 carats. In Europe however, the average is 0.30 carats.

With so many people all over the world spending anything between £1000 and £1600 for a diamond engagement ring, it looks like the average could well touch 1 carat soon. That just means there will be a lot of sparklers on many women’s fingers and with the diamonds growing bigger, diamond engagement rings are going to be in the limelight.

Billy Zane and Kelly Brook seem to be back together again. It looked like they had called it a day in May and the diamond engagement ring was conspicuous by its absence on Kelly’s finger. The 29 year old actress and the 42-year old actor-director had been together for four years.

The split took place in April this year and one of the early warning signs was when Kelly came to the Bafta Awards function sans her diamond engagement ring. They were living together in Kent and Billy planned to move out and back to Los Angeles. What really happened? Was Kelly grieving over the death of her father and did she have a rethink about this relationship? One can only surmise the real reason but whatever it was, the separation probably made them realise just how much they mean to each other. Recently, Kelly dined out in London and she was spotted with the diamond engagement ring back on again.

According to sources, Kelly hadn’t been absolutely sure about whether she wanted to get married or not. The split seems to have helped her make up her mind and she seems to be sure now. Everyone’s probably asking them, ‘When?’ but they don’t seem to have fixed on a wedding date as yet. The main thing is, she missed him, they’ve realised just how much they mean to each other and they are back together again.

The premiere of The Dark Knight in London at the Odeon, Leicester Square was a great event and Kelly Osbourne added a bit of fuel to the celebrations when she turned up wearing a diamond ring on her engagement finger. Now this is one rocker that makes waves wherever she goes. She’s 23 and he’s 18 so it seemed a little far fetched to expect to hear wedding bells ring, let alone the dazzle of a diamond engagement ring. This is despite her having dated Luke Worrell, the model since the beginning of this year.

However, there’s that bit about the ‘fake’ engagement earlier to Matty Derham the musician. Remember the inflatable church and the Irish Electric Picnic Festival where they were supposed to have got married? So where Kelly is concerned, there will always be that little bit of speculation. Kelly herself brushes the whole thing off saying that she always wears rings on that finger. She also jokes about being too young to get married. So according to her, there is no engagement on the cards, let alone a wedding and she brushes it all off with a casual explanation that she just loves wearing jewellery on her wedding finger.

Well, it takes all kinds and one wonders. If she could pull off a fake wedding, maybe she could pull the wool over everyone’s eyes that this isn’t real, either? Maybe, just maybe the truth is very different.

Not everyone has heard about conflict diamonds or blood diamonds. However, if you have, it might be a contribution to world welfare if you were particular about the diamonds you buy. Blood diamonds or conflict diamonds are diamonds that fund terrorist or unlawful groups and a lot of this happens in many countries in Africa. The sad thing is that many of these diamonds find their way to jeweller stores around the world without anyone being the wiser.

This is why the KPCS or the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme came into being in 2000. Some South African countries who wanted to ensure legitimate diamond trade got together and started a movement that would try and eliminate conflict diamonds from coming into the regular trade channels, thereby drying up the funds that went towards these illegal activities. The great thing is, it’s a movement that seems to be working. No guns, no violence, just an economic stranglehold that is producing results slowly but surely.

How can you help it along? When you go shopping for that diamond engagement ring or wedding ring, ask your retailer for proof that the diamond on that diamond ring is not a conflict diamond. Just a little effort from each of us could mean that very soon, blood diamonds and conflict diamonds will be history. Canada has already started taking steps to identify the origin of the diamonds that are mined there. Once this kind of authentication becomes a rule, we will hopefully see a lot less unrest and war in areas that are now being funded by the illegal diamond trade. Needless to say, all diamonds from Samara James are guaranteed conflict-free. Saying No to conflict diamonds is one small step in the right direction.

When Matt Grant and Shayne Lamas got engaged on the reality show, The Bachelor: London Calling, it seemed like a romantic fairy tale come true. There they were, only a month after knowing each other, and he could have been singing ‘She wears my ring’ proudly as she accepted the stunning 2.85 carat diamond engagement ring. So what if the show wasn’t really all that good – it sparked off a romance in real life, didn’t it?

This platinum eternity ring wasn’t meant to be worn forever and a day unfortunately. Barely five months after they got engaged, we hear that the engagement is off as 27 year old Matt and 22 year old Shayne decide to go their separate ways. There she was, the one girl out of twenty five girls who managed to win him under the glare of the bright arc lights and so soon, it’s all over. They have mouthed the usual platitudes about staying friends for always but for all those TV viewers out there who watched that show, it just means disappointment and disillusionment that it couldn’t have a perfect ending. However, that perhaps only happens in ‘reel’ life.

What is it about reality shows that are not real? Is it the fact that facing the cameras makes you a different person? Well in this case, could it be that the characters they became in front of the cameras were not who they were and that real life is far removed from reality shows? Well, that dazzling diamond engagement ring was for real all right. Pity that the feelings that the two thought they had were not as long lasting!

It was the usual exclusive Tiffany’s opening – Breakfast at Tiffany’s with caviar laid out and champagne flowing and everyone who was everyone was there on the morning of July the 24th. It was a red letter day for Perth which didn’t have a Tiffany store till now and it looks like it’s going to be the start of an affair to remember. The early morning event didn’t stop the designer dresses and the bling being paraded.

There was one little difference. Way before all those socialites could arrive, a couple in Perth were let into the store. They took a tour and at the end of it, were given a gift bag. It was only when Shane Lehmann went down on his knees that his girlfriend, Caroline realised that the bag contained a diamond engagement ring. Could she really say anything else but ‘Yes!’? What a truly romantic way to open a store that has for so many years been the destination for couples in love to pick out diamond engagement rings and wedding bands.

The jewellery that was displayed was positively stunning and the store was a welcome addition to King Street in Perth which is a strip of every international luxury retail store imaginable. In this booming mining town, a Tiffany’s just had to have a presence. This is a city that oozes sophistication and positively reeks of the fragrance of wealth. Just the right setting for Tiffany’s, wouldn’t you say, with its dazzling diamond rings and its exclusive jewellery? The Mayor of the city said she was proud that Tiffany’s had opened in Perth finally – after all, the city with its multi-faceted nature and its shining performance, could well and truly be compared to the rarest of stones, the diamond!

The demand is growing for diamonds that are coloured and that’s a huge sweeping change. Time was when the whiter the diamond, the better it was thought to be. The times they are a-changing however as more and more coloured diamonds are entering the diamond fashion scene. Look around and you’re sure to notice some diva wearing a diamond that’s pink or even brown – oh, yes – brown is very ‘in’ when it comes to diamond rings.

Well, there’s this jeweller in Austin, Texas in America who is enamoured by coloured diamonds. Not that he doesn’t like the white ones, he just finds it a lot more exciting to design using the coloured ones. Dean Fredrick’s passion is designing jewellery and it started way back when he was in school. After training at the Gemmological Institute of America in Los Angeles, he worked for a bit and then started his own line of jewellery – and he just can’t get enough of those coloured bits of dazzle!

Not for him the typical coloured diamonds like yellow or pink. He is much more daring when it comes to diamonds, especially diamond rings. So you’ll see him experimenting with brown and black diamonds, even green ones. And it’s not just for diamond engagement rings, but for wedding bands as well. The coloured diamonds are set in 18 carat gold and he likes to use yellow, white or rose and he also loves to work with platinum. He has a special line of stackable coloured diamond rings which have become very popular. What he loves designing most of all though, are custom-made diamond engagement rings. Here’s to a lot more colour in the world of diamonds!

You might wonder why women feel the need to take their rings off when they apply lotion on their hands – but so many of them do. Well, that’s what happened to Mina Shim in Connecticut. The ring was off, she was applying some lotion when her phone rang and she was so busy talking, she got out of the car, emptied some trash, got back in and the family drove off. It was miles later that she realized that her diamond ring was missing and they turned around.

Now this ring was rather special. Her in-laws had given it to her when her daughter was born and it was the ring that her husband’s grandfather had given to his wife seven decades ago in Egypt. The couple had travelled a lot through Egypt ad Europe so the ring was well travelled too. The family scoured the parking lot where they had stopped but found nothing. Days passed and in desperation, Mina wondered whether she should contact Oprah Winfrey.

Meanwhile, her ring had been found – by someone who thought it was too large to be real. A friend remembered seeing an ad on craigslist.com and that was how the person who found it contacted Mina. Mina and her husband drove back, wondering at the miracle that had made getting back this ring which had so much sentimental value possible and thanking their lucky stars that it had been found by an honest man who found and restored a huge diamond ring to them. Not often do you find such honesty.

A 1.26 carat diamond engagement ring got lost – and was found by a sharp-eyed little six year old who gave it to her older cousin thinking it was a fake. Here’s what happened – Haley Wagnon slipped the rings off her fingers at the Wal-Mart store in Bryant, Arkansas in the U.S. where she worked, got a call, stood up and went back in, not realizing that her rings had slipped to the ground. Well, when she did realize what had happened, she and the people she worked with scoured the whole parking lot where they found her wedding ring but not her engagement ring.

Then they looked at the surveillance videos and saw a little girl pick it up – it was tough work finding out who owned the Nissan that the girl got into but the Bryant police did find out. This involved going to the local dealer and determining just who the family was. It turned out that the little girl was the niece of the man the vehicle belonged to and they were visiting from Chicago. When they got to the family, they realized that the ring was still at the back of the car – the little girl had given it to her cousin and little did either of them know what an expensive ring it was. All’s well that end’s well and Haley Wagnon got her sparking engagement ring back. Losing a $9000 solitaire diamond ring and then finding it after three days is like a dream come true – at least it was for Haley!

Black Eyed Peas rapper Taboo got married a few days ago and the band was there to watch Jaime Gomez – that’s his real name – exchange his-and-her platinum diamond wedding bands with his fiancé Jaymie Dizon. Jaime and Jaymie wed in Pasadena at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church on the 12th and Jaime or Taboo turned 33 on the 14th.

Sources say that Jaymie’s diamond engagement ring was from Neil Lane, the exclusive jewellery store and the wedding rings were specially designed matching rings made of platinum set with diamonds. The long haired rapper made his wedding vows in front of an intimate gathering which consisted of family and close friends, including his band members. His close friend Polo Molina was his best man and his band members will.i.am and Apl de ap were his groomsmen. Of course, the centre of attention was fellow band member Fergie who had come with her fiancé, Josh Duhamel. Now we wonder when those two are going to walk up the aisle!

What’s ahead for Taboo? First a romantic honeymoon with his brand new wife – and no, they’re not telling where they are going - and then it looks like a solo album is in the pipeline as well as a role in ‘Streetfighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li’, an action movie. Will the movies be what he was made for? Taboo will have to wait and see. Meanwhile, marrying long time love Jaymie means the waiting will be a lot easier to do.