Engagement Rings (merged)

stumpjumper

Hi there, Stumpjumper's to be other half here.
Noticed there where a few threads asking about engagement rings recently, and knowing now till Valentines is the busiest period in the diamond market i thought maybe like the wedding tips thread to add a few notes and pointers to help guide folk through what can be an imtimidating process.

firstly for better and clearer explinations heres a few links on diamond education:
http://www.goodoldgold.com
http://www.whiteflash.com
http://www.cooldiamonds.com
http://www.pricescope.com

the first three links are diamond sellers, but they have good non biased information available on their sites. Good Old and Whiteflash are both USA based, while cool diamonds is UK, but it'll allow you to get a good idea on price on both sides of the atlantic.

Pricescope is an independant diamond buyers help forum, again lots of information available on the site - and was the place that gave me my diamond knowledge, and the confidance to proceed the way i did.

first tip - is to take your time, do a little research so you know more about the 4Cs - Cut, Clarity, Carat and Colour.

tho i tend to say the 6Cs Cut, Clarity, Cut, Colour, Cut, Carat.

i say this as cut is THE most important factor in a diamond - it is this that makes a diamond sparkle - if its poorly cut - then it wont sparkle. But this is one of the easy bits to look at - as it is not a subjective thing... its how it looks to your eyes. yet it is the one that doesnt affect the price - except when looking at brands and 'ideal' cuts. (cut is often confused with shape - Round Brilliant, Princess, Assher, Radient, Pear etc.)

a word of warning tho - your average jewellers - high street or what not - often throws enough light at their rocks to make a peice of coal sparkle! so best way when looking is to request to look at it away from their spotlights - under flouresant tubes, even better, in daylight - this will reveal more about what the diamond is like in the real world than a certificate. its how it looks to your eyes that matter.

anyways i will come back to cut later.


firstly - dont be afraid of online diamond buying - its no worse than buying in the shop, and you are covered by the same comsumer laws as the high street. Yes do your homework to ensure you are buying from a reputable place. Ask questions of the sellers - both in the highstreet, and online.

right moving on - certificates and grading reports.
there are several labs out there which grade labs (tho these reports are not valuation reports) they are an independant experts opinion as to the quality of an unset diamond or gem - against a set scale. grading labs trade on their integraty for honest and accurate gradings and do not sell diamonds. Different labs provide differing levels of information on their reports. some of this is useful to the average consumer, some isnt (but is to the diamond geeks like myself) by this i mean, pretty much all lab grade reports give 4C info. some then go futher to give information about the angles of the diamond.

the Labs your most likely to come across in the UK market are GIA, IGI, BGA, HRD and EGL. (and on the US market AGS too)
Pricescope did a comparison of 3 of those labs here http://grading.pricescope.com/

ok? still with me?

onto the basics.
Colour
A colour grading is given to the most common diamond colouring - yellow. This is normally graded on a scale of D to Z (system started by GIA for clarity as previous conflicting systems where so confusing... some started A, others AAA, or I... so GIA started again - as an aside AGS use their own system of 0-10 0=D 0.5=E 1=F and so on to 10=X)
D is Colourless
Z is Very Yellow.
and this is graded with the diamond upside down against a white background, against a set of master stones.
Colour is a subjective grade... most labs are graded then moderated with a second oppinion. the differences between a D grade and F grade is very small, but the difference between a G grade and I grade is much bigger.

E and F are still in the colourless range
G H I (and sometimes J) are near colourless - with a small hint of yellow against the white background.
K and below are tinted - the yellow is easier to see. and you start moving more into 'fancy colour' diamonds

the reason for the upside down grading is that the colour is hidden more when viewed 'pointy bit down'

colour also affects the price - D is the most expensive as it is a much rarer diamond... yet when set to all but the most colour sensitive will look exactly like a G/H graded diamond, yet has a premium of around 50-60% over the G/H

Tempered with this is the one that gets forgotten... Flouresance. this is what happens when the diamond is exposed to UV light. around 50% of diamonds can be observed to react to UV light.. this is caused when there was traces of Boron when the diamond was formed.

Flouresance can affect the diamond's look and price. both up and down, as flouresance can be a good thing, and it can be a bad thing. the most common reaction under UV is for the diamond to glow blue - tho some glow green, yellow, orange and white


left to right very strong, strong, Medium blue flouresance

Now as you know - sun light contains UV light, with blue flouresance this glow will come through to different extents. what this will do is with a lower colour like I, J, K the blue of the flouresance will cancel out some of the yellow tint of the diamond to make it appear whiter. But a strong flouresance may cause the diamond to appear cloudy or misty. which is why i said before it was important to view your choice under daylight.

in real terms - in the colour grades D-H strong to medium flouresance will knock 1-15% off the price of the diamond, while I and below strong to medium flouresance will ADD upto 4% to the price as it makes these diamonds appear whiter than they are. in all cases faint flouresance doesnt affect the price as it is very difficult to see, so doesnt affect the look of the diamond.

Bottom line with fluorescence:
Don't let fluorescence discourage your purchase. ONLY if it is noticeably visible to the human eye making the stone look chalky should you consider turning down the purchase. When you are purchasing, ASK if there is fluorescence. If there is "very strong" fluorescence ask if you can compare it with another and if you don't like what you see... don't buy.

Clarity
clarity is a mesure of 'inclusions' and their visability under 10x magnification.
an inclusion is anything within the diamond, it can be peices of carbon to other mineral or gem material.

it is graded again from the underside with backlighting against a dark background

this is measure by the GIA lab as ranging from IF, VVS1(and VVS2) VS1 (and 2) SI1 (2 and sometimes 3 depending on the lab) I1 I2 I3
these mean
IF - Internally Flawless
VVS - Very Very Slightly included
VS - Very Slightly included
SI - Slightly Included
I - Included (some labs - EGL or IGI from memory of visiting Earnest Jones grade I as P instead)

again IF attracts a BIG premium over the other grades, yet to the naked eye most folk wont beable to tell the difference between IF and VS or even SI when set.

Now inclusions can be manythings as i said, and they can be anywhere within the diamond. for examples Cooldiamonds.com have a good little selection of magnified images in their help guide. for example a VS grade could be gained by a single lump of coal in the middle of the diamond under the 'table', easily seen, or it could be many tiny spots around the girdle of the diamond, so tiny they can not be seen without magnification... both have the same grade - but to me one is the better buy.

now inclusions are not bad things in themselves... they are the stones 'birth marks' - unique to each diamond, and if you know where they are, you can check its your diamond if you've had to take the ring to be repaired or cleaned.

also important to note that IF does not mean it is totally flawless - just that nothing can been see under 10x magnification, tho bump it up to 64x and you'll quite possibly see things within it. and over time when worn, a diamond will get knocked and bashed which can damage a stone, and that IF grade is soon lost so again a big premium for its rarity of being IF soon lost on the finger and for something that you wont beable to tell visually between it and a much lower grade.

SI1 is really where things can start to become easier to see without magnification. SI3 is a grade used by some labs to bridge a mental gap between SI2 and I1. as there is a big price drop between SI and I. and personally i really would steer clear of I2 and 3 graded diamonds. I1 while can have an easily visible inclusion it can, depending on the position be hidden by the setting, and doenst always affect the brilliance of the diamond.

I2 and I3 CAN effect the brilliance and the inclusion may also affect the integraty of the stone - in as much as the size of the inclusion may lead to a very weak stone that may break if banged

VS1-I1 can be a great way of maximising your budget for getting plenty of diamond for the pound, but just be aware of what to look for, have a look though the sites above for pictures of diamonds, look carefully at your intended purchase. if buying online talk to someone and get their oppinion about weither the diamond is 'eye clean' or not.

i will come to Carat and Cut in the next post.