LUXURY ON A BUDGET

 CLARITY I think this is pretty easy to figure out...If there is nothing at all inside the stone but diamond, then it is clear and flawless. When an appraiser looks at a stone, he does it with ten power magnification.  If he looks at the stone under an eye loop or a microscope and sees nothing at all in the entire stone, then he may judge the stone to be flawless or he may say Internally Flawless.  This includes things like abrasions, scratches and chips. There are lots of opportunities to hide imperfections in the stone.  When you look at one, the center is pretty easy to see right through the stone to the bottom.  But as you move to the sides, the complex play of light and the many facets of the cut stone can mask what is inside, basically hiding whatever is there with light and reflections. The jewelry piece may have prongs or a band of gold holding the stone into the setting.  These may be strategically placed to cover a flaw that is located near the ed...

 It is interesting that diamond prices are very artificial.  There are organizations like DeBeers that have huge stockpiles of diamonds in storage.  Probably (in my mind) there sre more in storage than there are out in the market.  This artificial rarity keeps prices high.  And yet they continue to mine them every year.   If they released all those diamonds onto the market the prices would drop everywhere to the point you might be able to buy them in cartons of a dozen like eggs in gas station convenience stores. ================================================================================== Fake and lab created diamonds. Unless you are trying to get a potential lover into bed with a jewelry purchase.... JUST DON'T BUY THEM! Lab created diamonds are technically and CHEMICALLY diamonds, but not real.  I have a deep-seated prejudice I guess against anything artificial.  It is such a strange market, that some companies actually put flaws into...

 COLOR Diamonds are found in all sorts of earth tones from silvery gray to black or ecru to brown.  There are also fancy colors like attractive shades of yellow, pink, lavender, purple, blue, orange and red.  There are plenty of variations as a nice pure yellow or blue may have grayish or brownish influences and anything else you can imagine. Color of a stone is graded from D to ...well whatever E, F, G.....  I have never seen anything that would be whiter than a D.   The closer to a pure white(colorless) the more expensive it will be...UNTIL it grades far enough from the white to become attractive to the eye.  A slight brownish tinge to the stone may become a very attractive champagne or a beautiful brown.  An off-color yellow in a stone eventually becomes dark enough to become an attractive canary or lemon yellow, gold or whatever shade you can imagine.  I have seen some yellow diamonds that look like nothing less than hardened dog urine......

  As I mention this damage possibility, it reminds me to warn you that jewelry needs regular care.   Take it to a jeweler regularly to have them check to see if stones are getting loose.  Catching them on your sweater or hitting them casually while wearing them can loosen stones, bend the points of the prongs or even chip and damage the stones.   Most good jewelry is a big investment, and it is a shame if you look down to see a valuable stone broken or missing from the setting.  Abrasion just in day-to-day life over time can wear the tops of the soft metal prongs off leaving the stone ready to just drop out.    Little beads of metal can be added to the prongs to resecure the stone (Repointing) Unfortunately, this can make the ring or other pieces of jewelry catch on things like cloth or clothing and hair.  You become used to the worn points over time so the newly repointed prongs can be irritating.  You can ask the jeweler to file t...

 Pear shaped diamonds This is a chimera stone.  It has the rounded end that may have good life in it, and the long pointed end that has less life in it.  I just love pear shaped stones...graceful I guess, like a teardrop in a pendant.  I used a number of ovals and pears in the wedding set I made for my family.  They also are a graceful shape on a finger.  Still, there is that pointed end that can be vulnerable to breakage and striking the stone on the side of that pointed end can rotate the stone in the setting a bit and loosen it in the setting. This stone too is easy to hide flaws inside at the pointed end.

 Marquis (Marquise) shaped diamonds. This shape is sometimes referred to as a navette,(usually in colored stones) from the French for little boat.  They are long ovals or ellipses that come to a point rather than a rounded end. To my eye they have less life than some other shaped stones and can, again, form dark shapes inside.  They are also cut from more awkward pieces of rough.  They are very useful, again, in complex jewelry design.  I have never seen a Marquis shaped diamond ring or pendant that I liked.  The long narrow shape exposes the sides of the stone to possible damage.  Often the points of the stone can be easily broken as well.  The points are often capped with a broad prong that covers the point.  When the stone is struck, the stone can often be shifted sideways(diagonally) in its mount and the stone can come loose easily or break off at the points. This is not a stone for an active lifestyle. The long, pointed shape can also ha...