Diamond Engagement Rings Specialist

They were always popular but in the last couple of years, they seem to be shooting up in the popularity stakes. It just seems that the world is going gaga over pink diamonds and we’ve seen so many of them being sold in auctions recently – both old and new and fetching incredible prices! It looks like ‘pink’ is definitely setting a trend and making news in the dazzling world of diamonds!

Let’s take a look at the ones that have made news recently. There was the Sotheby’s sale of the incredible pink diamond that went for the highest price, there was that Hong Kong Christie’s auction that sold the perfect pink dazzler to a buyer who wished to remain anonymous and a few days ago, there was the Christie’s New York auction which saw a 6.89 carat pink diamond go for over £4.3 million.

Actually, this diamond is not absolutely pink – it is a gorgeous purple-pink colour and it is set in 18k rose gold. It is a rectangular cur fancy diamond and it is surrounded buy a pave design in pink diamonds. There were other pieces of jewellery sold too and apparently what Christie’s got at this auction was the highest in an American auction.

A tribunal in New Zealand has told a jewellery store that they cannot tell a customer that their diamond ting is set in white gold when it is rhodium plated. Three years ago, a man had bought an engagement ring for his girlfriend and he specified a diamond ring set in white gold. How was he to know that it would be rhodium plated? He says the store referred to it as white gold and never mentioned it wasn’t.

Then, to his dismay, he realised that the ring looked like it needed replating and he was shocked to find that rhodium plated rings needed to be replated every year to keep it looking like white gold. So he sued and the store has been asked to refund his money.

The sad thing is, many jewellers have been doing this and calling rhodium plated gold white gold when it isn’t. It might look like it, but it isn’t the real thing and when you have to wear it every day, you don’t want to be replating it every year or maybe even sooner. So the tribunal is looking into this huge problem saying that it isn’t fair to all on the consumer. We wonder what is going to happen to all those people who bought those rings – are they going to get their money back, too?

Last month, there was an Amazing Race reality show that brought a tear to everyone watching it – and that was when one of the contestants asked another to marry him. Yes, these reality shows have seen things like this happening before but it still brings a touching lump to everyone’s throats when it does happen.

Stephanie Smith and Chad Waltrip are both contestants and in the middle of November, on one of the shows, he went down on his knee and proposed to her – with an incredible engagement ring. Apparently, he had been planning this in secret for quite some time – almost a month – when he realised that she was the right girl for him.

The ring is a solitaire diamond ring set in gold and it has a great deal of sentimental value. Chad lost his mother when he was young and his step father kept her engagement ring and gave it to him. He says he has had the ring with him for some time now, carrying it around and waiting for the right person to come along. Well, she has and it’s proved to be such a wonderful happy ending.

For so many couples, the engagement ring is a huge milestone in their lives in terms of value – emotional, sentimental and of course financial. There’s so much thought and preparation that goes into it – there’s so much excitement and romance that is bound up in it. So what happens after the couple is no more? Does it just become another heirloom in the family coffers?

With Prince William using his mother’s sapphire and diamond engagement ring as the one to place on Kate Middleton’s finger, the question probably surfaces once more. True, many rich young men will use an heirloom ring they own to get engaged – and it might not be the money so much as the rarity value and a sense of family and belonging that makes them do this. However, most young men will go out and buy an engagement ring, saving up for it and trying to make it special.

What does the girl in this feel about it? Would she like a ring that has been made and chosen just for her? Or would she like one that has belonged to her boyfriend’s family for years? If she does want something special, then what happens to the engagement rings in each family that is collected over the years? Should they be remade into something else? Keeping the sentimental value but not using it as an engagement ring? One would think these questions are important enough for a huge research project.

The State of Texas, USA could well use the money and yet, even after the mandatory period of trying to find the owners or their heirs, there are still so many things of value stored in safe deposit boxes that for all intents and purposes, don’t have an owner.

The State has looked and looked to see if they can trace any of the owners or their descendants. A few personal things like a small Bible and a war medal are not going to be auctioned but most of the other things, including jewellery and a diamond wedding ring are going to be sold. The period that they need to hold these items is ten years but it is long past that for most of the things to be auctioned.

There were around 30 abandoned safe deposit boxes and maybe many of them were forgotten about by their owners. And now, the proceeds of this sale will go to add a bit to the State’s coffers – and it will be very welcome. Not just jewellery, there are so many stocks, insurance papers and certificates as well – all of them unclaimed and the State hopes to make a profit from that too.

She’s all of 88 years old and she’s devastated that she has lost her wedding ring and engagement ring that she has worn for 57 years. Now that’s more than a lifetime for some and when she says that her finger feels bare and funny without them on, one can readily sympathise and understand.

Helen and Walter were both in their home in Florida in the US when the theft happened. She had removed her jewellery and put it on her dressing table while she did some chores and he was just sitting around. Neither of them heard a thing and then Helen went to put her rings back on. It was then that she realised they were gone.

The thief had cut through the screen and had entered the house. It was really a miracle according to them that they were both unharmed. He took the jewellery and pushed his way out of the broken screen. As Walter says, if they had seen him, they would probably be dead now. They are both extremely religious and they feel it is only their faith that kept them safe.

It’s all so relative actually because even so called ‘soft’ surfaces on diamonds are actually so hard. However, diamond experts realize that there are surfaces that are harder than others and surfaces that are softer and when it comes to a very dazzling cut, it’s the softer surfaces that lend themselves to much more glitter and shine.

There have been expert Germans who have researched this and they have been able to explain the atomic mechanism that makes a softer surface so much easier to grind than a hard plane. Diamond grinding is a very sophisticated art as well as a precise science but no matter how good the diamond grinder is, unless the surface allows it, you cannot get as many facets as you would like on each surface. Harder surfaces take a lot more grinding and a lot more time and effort and the facets are not as good as desired. A softer surface however, allows this and you can polish it too to make sure you get the best dazzle.

Diamond experts classify the planes according to their crystal lattice orientation and one finds that a harder plane has atoms that are closely packed lying flat against each other while a softer plane looks more like a lot of ups and downs when it is magnified.

In a Beverly Hills hotel a few days ago, popular actress Sharon Stone made an announcement that she was launching her own jewellery line. Well, actually, she was unveiling the line for the jewellery company Damiani which whom she has been associated for a very long time.

The jewellery collection that she unveiled consisted of diamond rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings and more and at the event, she was dressed win bold gold jewellery that really made her look gorgeous. She’s one actress who looks dignified in anything she wears and she usually does not have too much jewellery on. This occasion however was different and she really dazzled.

Sharon Stone is yet another actress who is associated with jewellers and it really is admirable because a percentage of these profits go towards charity work. This particular line of jewellery will see the proceeds go towards making it possible to give more people in Africa clean drinking water. The charity is known as Drop in the Bucket.

She dazzled – or rather her diamond ring did as she showed it off at a charity event and not just one, there were two stunning rings on her fingers to admire. The diamond ring she was wearing was a Brumani Looping Shine one and it was set in pink and white gold. It dazzled with diamonds as well as champagne coloured topaz.

That wasn’t all. She had paired the stunning ring with another one that was equally stunning and the second ring was a heritage one and this had round diamonds set in pink gold, with imperial topaz and brown diamonds to add some more sparkle. The diamond rings were lit up with Jennifer’s wonderful smile.

Jennifer Lopez and her children are the new models for the Gucci children’s range, a campaign where the company has donated over £60,000 to UNICEF activities in Africa as well as to Jennifer Lopez’s own charities.