Diamonds & Engagement Rings News

Material Properties            

    Since the materials exception physical characteristics diamonds have been adapted for many uses. Naturally occurring diamonds have a density ranging from 3.15 to 3.53g/cm, with very pure diamond typically extremely close to 3.52 g/cm. 

Hardness   

    Diamond is the hardest natural material known to be out there; hardness is defined as resistance to scratching. Diamond’s hardness has been known since antiquity, and is the source of its name. 

   The hardest diamonds in the world are from New England area in New South Wales, Australia. These diamonds are generally small, prefer to semi perfect octahedral, and are used to polish other diamonds. The hardest of the diamonds is considered to be a product of the crystal growth form, which is single stage growth crystal.

     The use of diamonds has historcially been associated with their hardness;this property makes diamond the ideal material for cutting and grinding tools. Diamonds also can be used to polish, cut, or wear away any material, including other diamonds. However, diamond is a poor choice for machining ferrous alloys at high speeds. Industrial-grade diamonds are either unsuitable for use as gems or synthetically produced, which lowers their value and makes their use economically feasible. 

   The hardness of diamonds contributes to its suitability as a gemstone. Because it can only be scratched by other diamonds, it maintains its polish extremely well. Unlike many other gems, it is well-suited to daily wear because of its resistance to scratching—perhaps contributing to its popularity as the preferred gem in an engagement ring or wedding ring, which are often worn every day. 

   Diamonds are an allotrope of carbon. It is the hardest known material and the third-hardest known material after aggregated diamond nanorods and ultra hard fullerite. Diamonds hardness and high dispersion of light make it useful for industrial applications and jewelry.          

   Diamonds are specifically renowned as a material with superlative physical qualities, other diamonds can only scratch them and so that makes excellent abrasives.          

   The name Diamond comes from ancient Greek adamas (“invincible”). They have been treasured as gemstones since their use as religious icons in ancient India and usage in engraving tools also dates to early human history. Because of increased supply, popularity of diamonds has risen since 19^th century.          

   About 49% of diamonds originate from central and southern Africa, although significant sources of the mineral have been discovered in Canada, India, Russia, Brazil, and Australia. They are mined from kimberlite and lamproite volcanic pipes, which brought to the surface the diamond crystals from deep in the Earth where the high pressure and temperature enables the formation of the crystals. The mining and distribution of natural diamonds are subjects of frequent controversy such as with concerns over the sale of conflict diamonds (aka blood diamonds) by African paramilitary groups. 

Does the thought of purchasing a diamond ring overwhelm you? Don’t think you know enough about certificates, inclusions, grading scales, and colors? Or do you know the basics, but need a refresher course? A good understanding of diamonds is necessary before you begin shopping. Our guide gives you the basics — the all-important “four Cs”,  and more,

We will start with the four c’s

Today we will talk about cut, please feel free to add your coments.

CUT

The cut of the diamond is perhaps the most important of all C’s as it determines its brilliance. While nature determines the color and clarity of a stone, diamond cut is dependant solely upon the skill of the cutter. A diamond cutter spends years mastering his craft, learning how best to cut a rough diamond to achieve the ultimate cut with the fewest imperfections and the least loss of carat weight. The better the cut, the more valuable the diamond.

A good cut gives a diamond its brilliance. The width and depth have an affect on how light travels within the diamond and how much brilliance it will exude.

For starters, find out what shape she likes. Diamonds come in nine basic shapes.

Determining the cut of a diamond extends further than straightforward measurements of the width and depth. Diamond grading laboratories utilize optical measuring devices to create a three-dimensional image of your diamond in order to ascertain its proportions and angles.

Polish and symmetry are crucial to the diamond cutting process. Both polish and symmetry are assigned a grade, which appear on the diamond certificate. The polish grade indicates the smoothness of the facets, while the symmetry grade evaluates the alignment of the facets. With poor polish, the surface of a facet can be dulled and may create lackluster, blurry sparkle. With poor symmetry, light can be misdirected as it enters and exits the diamond.

Because cut is so important, several grading methods have been developed to help consumers determine the cut of a particular diamond. In general, these grades are ideal, very good, good, fair and poor.Diamonds on Fifth uses the measurements from each diamond’s grading report to determine: Table percentage: The ratio of the largest facet on top of stone to the girdle’s overall diameter.
Depth percentage: The ratio of the total height or depth of the diamond to its diameter.

From these proportions, Diamonds on Fifth has assigned each diamond a cut grade. The following are the proportion ranges for each grade of diamond cut:

Ideal cut: An exquisite and rare cut that reflects nearly all the light that enters the diamond and creates maximum fire and brilliance. “Ideal” for the person who enjoys knowing that he has one of the finest diamonds that money can buy. Very good cut: Reflects almost as much light as the ideal cut but for a lower price. A Diamonds on Fifth recommended buy.Good cut: Reflects most of the light that enters the diamond. The cutter has chosen to create the largest possible diamond from the original rough crystal, rather than cutting extra weight off to create a smaller but higher quality diamond. Diamonds in this range offer an excellent cost-savings to customers who want to stay in a budget without sacrificing quality or beauty.

Fair cut: A fair cut diamond will not be as brilliant as a good cut, but is still considered a quality diamond.

Poor cut: This includes all diamonds that do not meet the performance standards of a fair cut. These diamonds are deep and narrow or shallow and wide and tend to lose most of the light out the sides and bottom. Diamonds on fifth does not carry diamonds with cut grades of poor.

Diamonds on Fifth carries an exquisite selection of certified ideal-cut diamonds. We do not carry diamonds with cut grades lower than good as these are generally too shallow or too deep to present an acceptable amount of brilliance.

Diamonds on Fifth Recommendations
While a good quality round diamond with an ideal cut will certainly be very beautiful, very good and good cuts might be just as attractive without costing as much. Diamonds on Fifth recommends that for fancy shapes, good and very good cut grades will result in the best performance. Consider the length to width ratio of the diamond and the design of the mounting when selecting a fancy shape.

We have people calling us up to purchase a diamond for engagement ring or jewelry for there loved one, we get into this long discussion regarding diamonds and engagements, we teach them all about the 4’cs the pro and cons. Then some of them ask me if I ever heard of bluenile.com and I tell them sure they are one of the biggest retailers on the web. 

Then comes the big question why should I buy from Diamondsonfifth.com  over Bluenile.com, and this brings us to our post today. Here are some of the reason why people purchase from us even after they had gone to bluenile.com and seen what they offer. 

1)I don’t know if a lot of people knows this but Bluenile doesn’t own not a single stone, every stone they sell online gets drops shipped directly from the manufacture, Now you ask yourself why should I care, the answer is simple, every single stone looks different then the other there can be two D SI1 stones that will look completely different (For example, a lot of times the SI1 inclusion can be in the center of the stone and it will not be clean to the naked eye, while the other stone is in the side.) so when you purchase a D SI1 stone from them they can’t tell you where the inclusion is, while every stone Diamondsonfifth.com sells online gets checked by one of our professionals to make sure that you are getting the best stone for your price.

 2)And because we have every stone in our hands before it gets shipped, we have the benefit to shoot some pictures for the customers to see how the stone looks like before they make the purchase. 

3)Diamondsonfifth.com offers a upgrade program, meaning that when you purchase a stone and a few years later you saved up money to be able to purchase a bigger stone. We buy back the first stone and put that money towards the new purchase.

 4)When you call Diamondsonfifth.com you always speak to one of the owners, so we will do everything to make our customer happy. 

5) Diamonds on Fifth offers the unique opportunity to meet with any of our experts in person to discuss and view your purchase and answer any questions you may have.   This is some of the Diamondsonfifth different. Please take a look at what our customers have to say.

 www.diamondsonfifth.com 

866-382-0288

As consumers shop for the perfect diamond engagement ring this holiday season, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has launched its first-ever national public-awareness campaign to help better educate people about diamonds.

The new campaign, “The Difference Between Wondering and Knowing,” explains the GIA-created Four C’s (color, clarity, carat weight and cut) and the importance of a diamond-grading report in informing consumers of the gemological qualities of the stone they intend to purchase.

“We are a public-benefit institution and, as such, we want people to see us as a resource with tools to help them,” GIA Chairman Ralph Destino said in a statement. “Our purpose in initiating this new awareness campaign is to help educate the public about diamonds and diamond-grading reports so they are able to make more informed buying decisions.”

Destino said consumers want more information, especially as new technologies, synthetics and diamond treatments emerge in the market.

“New jewelry-distribution channels make diamonds more visible and available to more of the general public than ever before. People see and hear more about diamonds, and therefore want to know more about diamonds,” he said. “This campaign will help answer their questions.”

The campaign has three components. These include a national print and online advertising campaign targeted to audiences with an immediate need to know more about diamonds, such as high-end jewelry buyers and men on the market for wedding rings. Ads will run in select major publications in the United States and on prominent Web sites.

Another component—which the ads will direct consumers to—is a new GIA Web site: Gia4cs.gia.edu. The site will offer information on diamonds, the Four C’s, how the GIA grades stones and how to read a GIA diamond-grading report. It will offer basic and unbiased information about diamond origins, the difference between natural, man-made and look-alike stones, and details on diamond care and other diamond essentials.

The last part of the campaign is a kit for retailers to help educate consumers and includes info on the Four C’s and the International Diamond Grading System.

“Retailers are key providers of diamond information to the public,” Destino said. “We’ve had many requests from retailers for these kinds of tools, and we’re glad to provide them and make it easy for stores to respond to their customers.”

This kit includes: Four C’s brochures, a grading-report tool to help explain what’s on a GIA report, and a new “Grading the 4Cs” video. The kit, and other materials, including posters, will be available in mid November on a special retailer Web site.

I came across this video clip all about the history of diamonds, it is pretty funny. Enjoy it.

http://www.jcoc.tv/view_video.php?id=153

Moshe

We have people asking us all the time what is the ideal cut in a pear shape diamond or a emerald cut diamond, so I decided to add these pictures to make is easer to understand. Hope this will help.

Now lets take a look at the first picture, this is a emerald cut diamond. Lets say on the certificate by the measurement it says that the size is a 9.81×7.45×4.95 you take the first number and divide it into the second number in this case it will come out to 1.31 now you look at our picture below you see that this is a beautiful diamond shape.

The same you do with each cut diamond. Use these pictures below to help you decide what ratio diamond is the nicest in each shape.