Making decisions about diamond choices can be confusing for consumers new to jewelry shopping. A helpful way to learn is this guide to the basics of diamond quality.
Another source that can assist with this is the diamond education page of an online jewelry store. Good retailers will have a good quality page of this type, and it’s a good idea to check it out to learn all about the 4 Cs, just to brush up on the differences between diamond clarity grades, and see what diamond-related knowledge they bring to the table.
In addition to their unusual beauty, diamonds are the hardest naturally-occurring material on Earth. Diamonds have many particular characteristics that make them special, and how well these naturally occur or are carried out my the artisans in charge of them are grouped into a list generally called the 4 Cs.
Diamond cut is the most important factor of all. A poorly planned or executed cutting technique can permanently ruin a top-quality diamond, and conversely a lower quality diamond can be exponentially improved by cutting the stone very well. Cut is often confused with shape, the form into which the diamond is cut.
After cut comes color, which is something many people can learn to see within a few grades. Diamond color grades range from D-Z, but it’s rare to find fine jewelry utilizing anything beyond K color. After K color the quality steadily declines because these stones will have yellow or brownish tints. Of course, diamonds with very pronounced natural colors including bright yellows, pinks, and blues are the rarest of all and actually more valuable many types of white diamond.
clarity is the evaluation of a diamond’s internal and external flaws. Generally speaking, flaws inside a stone are called inclusions while flaws on the surface are known as blemishes. However, for the purposes of grading, gemological labs refer to all diamond flaws as inclusions.
Carat weight, the last of the four Cs and the trait that almost anyone can spot immediately, is the unit of measure applied to diamonds and other gems. While searching for the right piece of diamond jewelry, you may have noticed that pricing for diamonds of comparable cut, color and clarity grades increases exponentially rather than proportionally with the carat weight of the diamond. This is because finding large, good quality diamonds is less likely than finding small diamonds suitable for jewelry, or large diamonds that need bad areas cut away to form multiple smaller gems, so the value of a gem increases as the supply of gems like it decreases.
Ultimately there are no rules about choosing a band. It is up to either the man or the couple together to make a decision. Will he or won’t he. There are a variety of considerations. First, will he wear one? Once that decision is made in the affirmative then there is a whole world of choice about styles, widths, materials and the type of statement the ring makes, both for the man and the woman.
But once he has his ring on it is rare that he decides that he doesn’t like it. And even if he doesn’t, it is rare that the woman will let him take it off! A woman usually has narrower finer fingers, and so a narrower band suits her hand. A man on the other hand has wider chunkier fingers and so a wider band is more suited.
And as many men have never worn any form of jewellery before they have no idea what it will feel like to have something permanently on the finger. Is it heavy? Does it rub? Silly as it may seem to women this can be of concern to some men. (If this genuinely is of concern it is quite possible to find a cheap jewellery shop, buy the cheapest ring available and wear it for a while. See exactly what it feels like. And find out your size at the same time.)
Even though these rings are almost universally regarded as the special exception to this supposed “rule”, they are still, in the eyes of some men, effeminate. (One wonders what they find so distasteful about the feminine, but that’s another article.) They feel that “real men” don’t wear rings or jewellery at all. This is becoming less of an issue as the wearing of wedding bands by men becomes more common, but is still an issue with some men.
There are many different ring materials which also reflect the personality of the individual. Titanium or Platinum are both becoming much more popular. Whilst diamonds are not, of course, as popular with men as with women, they do make a clear statement which pleases some men who choose them. Diamond rings for any gender clearly say “I can afford it” or at least the big ones do. But it can be a brave man who chooses to wear a large diamond design or something even more elaborate.
Yellow gold styles of gold signet ring allow for an unbelievable level of detail and customization thanks to the inherent softness and malleability of this metal. Many 14k gold signet ring styles are individually designed with a variety of wearers with different tastes, interests, and lifestyles in mind, which makes perfect sense when one considers that conveying an individual’s identity was in fact the original purpose of these rings.
Roman custom was to remove a ring from the finger of those who had died, but there was also a bit of superstition surrounding signet rings, too. For example, if the ring was removed, then there was a chance of bad luck and tidings. The custom was to only wear one ring, but as the popularity of signet rings grew, so did the number of rings that were worn.
In the Middle Ages, a man’s ring was often engraved with the wearer’s family coat of arms, and modern signet rings are designed to showcase the simplified modern day equivalent that serves the same purpose: the monogram. Mens white gold signet rings in more recent times have become a traditional gift for sons and other male relatives as eighteenth birthday gifts, or to present upon high school or college graduation.
White gold signet rings for men were inspired by practices dating back thousands of years, but the many styles of mens white gold signet rings sold available today are decidedly modern. White gold is quickly replacing yellow gold as the preferred metal for mens wedding bands, as the cooler tones of white gold is often better suited to masculine designs and several metals in pale, silvery colors are used in many other accessories for men like cuff links and watches. A signet ring also sets these off nicely.
Signet rings were used to validate serious legal documents in Roman times. Cicero and Pliny both state that signet rings were eventually worn on the little finger. It served as a man’s signature. Julius Caesar wore one with Venus on it. Augustus has several signet rings featuring a sphinx, the image of Alexander the Great, and finally one with his own image.
Eternity bands can be difficult to make because rings are sold by carat total weight, so for each ring ordered ordered all the stones need to be a uniform color, shape, and size so the circle they form will look good, add up to the proper carat total weight, and fit the wearer’s finger.
Eternity rings, which make wonderful anniversary gifts, are available in a number of setting styles that display and secure the gems in different ways according to the wearer’s preferences. Some of the most popular types of eternity ring settings are the bar setting, channel setting, four prong setting, pave, micro pave, shared prong, and single prong.
Along with the classic all-diamond styles, eternity rings can also be found or created in a number of different metals and precious stone combinations, so if your dream ring has princess cut blue sapphires alternating with diamonds in a rose gold channel setting, this once difficult request can likely be met through an online retailer.
The solid circle formed by the shining pattern of precious gems in an eternity ring is an extra special take on the lasting love symbolism of the wedding band in general. Of course as the circle has no beginning and no end it’s said to represent love that lasts forever, and most of us are familiar with the saying “diamonds are forever” and can thus see the double significance of a diamond eternity wedding band.
If diamonds aren’t your style, or you like them but want a bit more color in your eternity bands, you won’t be left out! Many jewelers now stock and custom make eternity rings with rubies, emeralds, black diamonds, and blue, yellow, or pink sapphires.