DIAMONDS
It’s the king of gems due to rarity, blinding shine and great hardness. The diamond is one of the few gems that consists of a single chemical element, pure carbon. Its crystal structure is extremely compact and that’s where it owes its great hardness and priceless value.
"A custom of recent decades is that the engagement ring must be diamond, either an old cut diamond or a brilliant cut diamond of recent decades.
TINT
Although at first glance most diamonds seem colourless, they have slight shades. There are also samples with clear with vivid colours such as yellow due to the presence of nitrogen in the crystalline structure, and brown. The rarest diamonds are pink, red, blue, green, gray or black.
DIAMOND JEWELRY
A custom of recent decades is that the engagement ring must be diamond, either an old cut diamond or a brilliant cut diamond of recent decades. It is the ideal stone for earrings, single diamond ring or not, chandelier, gold necklace with K18, choker with pearls and baguettes, diamond rivieras and magnificent rings, rosette-style with coloured stones.
Nothing is more beautiful than for the baptism cross to have diamonds, or be of Byzantine style with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires. And of course wedding rings and men’s cufflinks decorated with diamonds for a glittering glamour.
And all this is just wonderful because diamonds shine forever!
BRILLIANT CUT DIAMONDS
The confusion between the brilliant cut diamond and the diamond is very common. In fact, the brilliant cut diamond is not a type of stone. The brilliant cut diamond is a unique type of diamond cutting which was developed specifically to exploit one of its main properties: the internal flame (change of colours created by the spread of white light and which depends on the cut).
THE CUT
The most usual types of diamond cutting are : Brilliant, Princess, Emerald cut, Baguette, Marquise, Square cut, Heart, Oval, Pear, Radiant, triagonal, cushion etc.
AUTHENTICITY CERTIFICATE
The purchase of diamonds must be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity (Diamond Certificate) and the following must be written in full:
The 4 «C»s
The combination of the four «C»s defines the value of the diamond
- CARAT: Refers to the weight in carats. 1ct=0.20gr.
The heavier a diamond is, the rarer and more expensive it is. - CLARITY:
Refers to internal clarity as observed by an experienced gemologist with a loupe 10X.
Thus it is characterized:
F: flawless (the most clarity)
IF: internally flawless
VVS1-VVS2: very very slightly included
VS1-VS2: very slightly included
SI1-SI2: slightly included
I1 I2 I3: included (the least clarity)
or P1 P2 P3: Piqué - COLOUR: Refers to the diamond’s colour.
Thus it is characterized:
D,E,F: colourless (the best colour)
G,H,I,J: white
K,L,M: tinted white
N,O,P,Q,R,Z: tinted colour (inferior colour) - CUT: Refers to the quality of cutting the stone.
So we have:
Ideal: the top cut
Excellent
Very good
Good
Fair
Poor: the «poorest» cut
CARE
Because diamonds are fragile, they need protection from sharp blows. There are no problems in the cleaning of diamonds unless they have inclusions, so warm clean water and liquid soap makes them shine even more.