When it comes to choosing the perfect engagement ring for your loved one, you might feel confused because you may have no idea on how to find an engagement ring with a high-quality diamond. We feel for you and can confidently say that many people have been in your position. That is why we prepared a small guide on the basics that you need to know and the things you need to decide beforehand.
The first thing to decide is the type of metal the ring band will be made of. The band is the part of the ring that goes around the finger and can be either made from platinum or gold(white, yellow and rose). Platinum look like white gold, but is more durable. There is also palladium, which looks like platinum, but is less durable.
You can also decide if you want to have small diamonds on the band or have it without any decoration. Also, you can choose if you want the 2 sides of the band to interlock or have it in split shank style, which is when the band splits off towards the center stone.
When we think of diamond rings, we usually imagine a round-shaped diamond on a ring, but the thing is that there are a lot of other shapes available, that can be a better option for your loved one. Each one of these shapes has a different appearance and can reflect light differently.
The shapes and their names are presented below so that you can imagine their appearance better.
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The next thing you should consider is the setting of the ring, which is the style with which the stone is placed on the metal of the ring.
Prongs are the claw-like sharp edges that are like guards that hold the diamond on them. There can usually be four, six or more prongs to hold one diamond. The number depends on the taste of the customer.
This style's name speaks for itself. Imagine digging a long channel and putting a lot of small diamonds next to each other on this channel. The metal of the ring is usually worked over the edges of the diamond to fully protect them.
This setting is a lot like the channel setting, except it has bars that are separating the diamonds, kind of like a prison built for diamonds.
With this setting, the band of the ring fully holds the ring with its 2 edges.
In this setting, the band get thicker at the top and has diamonds inserted next to each other in the middle part of the band.
The word tension already tells a lot about this setting, because in this setting, the diamond is squeezed by the 2 sides of the metal. There is nothing else that holds the stone except the 2 edges of the band .
This is a really beautiful setting, which combines couple of small diamonds, usually cut in princess shape, that are set next to each other and form an illusion of one big diamond.
Likewise the illusion setting, this setting features very small diamonds placed together to again form an illusion of one big diamond.
These are the most famous settings, if you don't find convenient one for you, then you can search the web and look for other options.
It might seem funny, but there are also specific terms to describe how the stones are featured on the ring. For instance, center stone is when the whole attention is drawn towards the one big stone and the other supplement details are put to further outline the stone.
There is also the solitaire style, which features only one stone no other supplements. Moreover, the Three Stones style features one center stone and two other smaller stones from each side.
Finally, one of our favorites is halo, where there are many small stones surrounding the center stone and create an illusion of a bigger stone.
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If you ever wondered why diamond engagements became a thing, then you should totally read this interesting story about them. If not, skip it and continue your learning experience.
Although diamond engagement rings were already popular during the 19th century, data shows that only the 10% of the engagement rings included diamonds. It was not until 1940ies that they grew to their fame. It was all thanks to the diamond trading company De Beers' efforts.
It all started when massive diamond mines were discovered in South Africa. After that, couple of British businessmen founded a cartel named De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd. (now De Beers) in 1888, quickly becoming a diamond trade leader. They heavily started working on creating a mentality that diamonds were very scarce and valuable.
In 1938, Harry Oppenheimer, the De Beers founder's son, hired a New York–based ad agency N.W. Ayer to help them persuade men that the size and the quality of the diamond had direct connection with how much he treasures and loves his future wife. Short after, all the celebrities and influential personalities would be seen wearing diamond rings and the glittering stone would shine bright in all of the paparazzi photographs that were later published in influential magazines and newspapers.
Later Ayer came up with the 'Diamond is Forever' campaign which perfectly managed to not sell the diamonds but the idea that once bought, a diamond stays with you forever and it cannot be resold or get broken.
Photo Credit: https://www.forevermark.com
Now that you know how girls' favorite diamonds actually became their favorite, here's what you need to know in order to find the perfect one for your love.
The 4 C's which are color, clarity, cut and carat, are qualities that help evaluate the diamonds. By learning the basics about them, you can have an overall understanding about the value of the diamond.
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All diamonds are rated according to their color. The less noticeable the color is, the more the value of the diamond is. The color is ranked on a 23-point scale that ranges from D to Z, with D being pure, colorless diamond and Z having a light color, which is close to brown or yellow.
While evaluating diamond's clarity, you need to take into account 2 things: 'inclusions' and 'blemishes'. These 2 factors affect the overall appearance of the stone and the more pure it is, the higher the value of the diamond. You can think of these 2 as the imperfections of the diamond. The GIA has determined 6 categories of diamond quality with Flawless(FL) being the most perfect type of diamond and Included(I1,I2,I3) being the most imperfect type, by having the most percentage of inclusions. As many inclusions and blemishes are too tiny to be seen, you better have the diamond checked by a professional.
This quality refers to how accurately and symmetrically the diamond is cut, meaning that if the facets of the stone are created with perfect proportions , the light of the diamond will be maximally reflected, thus will be shinier and more beautiful.
Carat is a metric used to measure diamond's wieght. It is defined as 200 milligrams. The important thing to know is that a bigger diamond does not mean more carat, so pay attention to the carat and not the size when choosing a ring.
Congratulations! Now you know the basic information about the types of settings rings can have and learned how to evaluate diamonds.
