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Jewellery, The engagement rings and You
Diamond classification
Engagement Rings: You have finally made the decision to invest in a diamond engagement ring. Believe me
when I say invest, as apart from purchasing a house or car the engagement ring may well be one
of the biggest investment you will make in your life.
In the jewellery industry, they used to always say that the engagement ring usually represents approximately one
month’s salary. When you take in to account the average wage of around $800 per
week, then this equates to around $3500 for the ring. Now apart from your
housing investment, a diamond is about the only other one you make that will not
lose you money over the years. Of course if you were to sell it within just a
couple of years of purchasing it, then it will not have made you any return on
your initial purchase. However if you were to have the engagement ring re-valued 10 to 20 years
after it was purchased, then you would see quite a big return on it. As most
people do not purchase a diamond engagement ring with the idea of re-selling it,
then your value stays with it always.
Buying engagement rings is a purely emotional thing and I believe that you should no more compromise on this
than you would when making any other investment. On saying this, I also do not
believe in purchasing a engagement ring that is way over any budget that you have decided
on before visiting the jewellery stores.
It is a good idea to begin to discuss all of this long before you actually go out to look at engagement rings.
I have always believed in buying quality not quantity. Don’t buy the engagement ring from the first store you go into.
Always shop around first and make sure that you ask around among friends and family as to
whom they recommend for value for money, great service and most importantly, for
a jewellery sales person who has good product knowledge and not just out for
that big sale. Always ask if you can speak to the jeweller involved in the
making of the engagement ring, if getting a hand made ring.
I would recommend that you do go for
handmade engagement rings if at all possible, as then you know
that your engagement ring is totally unique and was made just for you. If you have an idea
either in your head or one you have seen in a magazine, always describe it to
the jeweller so they can then draw the engagement ring
up for you exactly as you want. Sometimes you pay a little more for having the
engagement ring handmade, but you know that it won’t be a engagement ring that every other person is also wearing.
You need to arm yourself with a few basic questions to ask the jewellers. Remember the 4 “C’s” when you are looking
at stones for the engagement ring.
CARAT: This means the weight
of the stone. Gemstones are always measured in carat weight. 1 carat equals 100
points. So if you wanted a ¼ of a carat it would be a 25 point stone. ½ a carat
would be a 50 point stone etc.
COLOUR: This is self explanatory as it relates to the colour of the stone. If they tell you it is
colourless or pure white, then you are getting the best stone available. The
colour is graded alphabetically with “D, E and F” being colourless and therefore
the most expensive available because of their rarity. If you were to purchase a
“G or H” colour for you engagement ring you would still be getting an excellent stone that would appear
white to the naked eye. Once you start to go past these then you start to get
into the stones that have yellow tinges to them.
CLARITY: This relates to a
diamonds clarity and any inclusions that are found in diamonds. A flawless diamond will have no
inclusions in it. If your diamond is described as being “VVSI” then it means
that it has very, very small inclusions that are not visible to the naked eye.
This means that you need to have it magnified at least 10 times to be able to
see them. If your diamond has “VSI” then it means very small inclusions which
usually cannot be seen with the naked eye. If it has “SI” it means it has small
inclusions which may be visible to the naked eye. If it has “I” it means
inclusions which usually are visible to the naked eye.
CUT: This also is self
explanatory as it relates to the cut of the stone. Still the most popular cut
diamond is the Brilliant round cut. This cut has 57 or 58 facets which have to be precisely
lined up to allow the maximum amount of light to enter the diamond and leave
through the top of the stone. There are quite a few different cuts to choose
from and depending on the style of engagement ring you want, you should be guided by the
experts as to the best cut for that particular style. If you want your stone to
look larger then go for either a pear shape or marquise cut as these two will
always look bigger than any of the others because of the way the diamond is cut.
Always remember that a larger single stone, or solitaire as it is known, is far more valuable than a cluster of small
stones that add up to the same weight. This is because it is a lot easier to
find and mine hundreds of small diamonds than to find and mine one large stone.
If you don’t have a large budget with which to buy your engagement ring, then go for a
smaller stone but of good quality.
I would always much prefer just one
good stone of say ½ a carat (50 points) that was colour G and clarity of VVSI or
VSI than to have a large cluster of over 1 carat in total weight that was in the
range of colour I and clarity of SI. My engagement ring choice would be worth probably 4 or
5 times as much that large cluster of small stones.
I was a partner in a jewellery store for 5 years and I got to learn a lot about diamond engagement rings and
their value during this time. I am by no means an expert on the diamond but as a female who has always
had a love of them, I can relate to a lot of the reasons why we purchase them.
Always remember that although diamonds are a girl’s best friend, never let your
emotions or a pushy salesperson sway you to purchase one that isn’t right for
you.
For clarity of definition the word Jewellery and the word jewelry refer to the same subject:
Jewellery is the English / Australian term whereby Jewelry is the American spelling.
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