Engagement Rings

An engagement ring is a ring worn by a woman on her left-hand ring finger indicating her engagement to be married. The ring is usually presented as a betrothal gift by a man to his prospective bride while or directly after she accepts his marriage proposal. It is a confirmation to future marriage.

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In the United States today, it is becoming more common, that a woman will also buy an engagement or promise ring for her partner at the time of the engagement. In Brazil , Sweden and Germany , both the man and the woman wear engagement rings.

Traditionally, an engagement ring is a precious band, mounted with a diamond or other gem. Most of the couples prefer a gold, platinum, or silver band with a single diamond. An engagement ring is often intentionally expensive as a sign of a man's permanency. Diamond is preferred as it is the most enduring, beautiful, and expensive gem. Many women prefer different gems or semiprecious stones like sapphires, star sapphires, emeralds, and rubies to the stark clarity of a diamond.

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The 4 Cs of a diamond

A diamond's value is based on the characteristics known as the "4 C's." Clarity, Color and Cut (proportion) are the quality elements which together with the Carat Weight determine the value of a stone. The closer a diamond grades to the left of one or all of these scales the rarer and the more costly it will be. While many believe that clarity is the most important factor of all the "C's", in fact, color and cut (especially cut) have a stronger impact on the visual appearance of a diamond.

Carat Weight
Carat is the unit of weight for all gemstones. One carat is subdivided into 100 "points". Therefore a diamond measuring 75 points is 3/4 carat in weight, or 0.75ct. There are five carats in a gram. The word "carat" comes from the seed of the carob tree pod which is found in tropical climates. These seeds were used until this century to weigh precious gems.

Clarity
A diamond's clarity is determined by the number, nature, position, size and color of internal characteristics called "inclusions" and surface features called "blemishes". These irregularities occured in the liquid magna (volcanic rock) within which the diamond was created. Diamonds are mostly pure carbon, however, during crystallization other minerals nearby, or even other bits of carbon forming more quickly may have become trapped within the cooling mass. These show themselves as the various characteristics which make up the clarity of a diamond (included crystals, feathers, clouds etc). Clarity is measured on a scale ranging from pure (flawless) to heavily included (I-3). The clarity of a diamond is graded by using 10X magnification under good lighting by an experienced grader. The final clarity grade is usually determined by how easy the inclusions and blemishes are for the grader to see.

GIA - Clarity Grading Scale

Color
Ideally, a diamond should have no color at all, like a drop of spring water. Increasing degrees of body color are measured on a scale ranging from no color at all (D) to deeply colored (Z). Beyond "Z" is the range where the diamond's color is vivid and rich, called "fancy colors". Diamonds of known color are used as comparison stones for color grading. Grading is done by comparing the diamond to be graded against these "master stones" under either artificial or natural north daylight ( in the Northern Hemisphere). A machine called the "Colorimeter" can be used for color grading but there is no substitute for the trained human eye.

GIA - Color Grading Scale

Note: Colors may not be realistic due to differences in video processors and monitors.

Cut
Cut, sometimes the forgotten "C", ensures that a given stone has maximum brilliance and sparkle. Cut is probably the most important factor in achieving beauty and brilliance in a diamond, but is also the least understood and most vague when assigning value. Cut refers to two things: Shape and proportion.

Shape
The standard diamond shapes are:

Round
Oval
Pear
Marquise
Emerald cut
Heart shape
Princess
Radiant

Proportion

Proportion is the single most important element in determining brilliance in a diamond. The angles of the diamonds facets are what causes light to reflect through the stone in a quality known as "Fire". Most diamonds are cut in a compromising way, so as to retain as much weight as possible from the rough crystal, yet achieve maximum brilliance. Only diamonds cut to "Ideal Proportions" (known as Ideal Cut) truly achieve the maximum possible brilliance or fire.

The Ideal Cut is a mathematical formula, developed in the 1920's, for cutting diamonds at the precise angles and proportions necessary for light to be reflected and exit through the top of the stone. In other words, there is no light leakage or "dead spots" when looking into the stone. Light rays from all sides of the diamond are bent towards the center of the stone and reflect back through the top in rainbow blaze of light! This can only really be achieved in round stones, which are absolutely symmetrical. Good cutting is what brings fire to the ice.

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