Diamonds are comprised of unmodified carbon, and they are the hardest objects known to man. They are formed due to extremely high temperatures and high pressure far beneath the surface of the earth’s crust. Volcanic eruptions bring these one to three billion year old gems to the surface, where they are mined from rivers by means of dredging and sifting. Only one carat of usable diamond is found for every 250 tons of earth processed. Only 20% of diamonds found are even worthy of being used for jewelry. This is why diamonds are very expensive. They are rare and precious gems of incomparable beauty.
Diamonds are a symbol of love because of their indestructible composition. Since diamonds last forever, the commitment of love associated with marriage makes them the perfect token of devotion and adoration. A diamond ring is a sign of commitment to the person you intend on spending the rest of your life with, so choosing a diamond is a momentous occasion. Knowing what to look for in a diamond is beneficial when making this important decision.
Diamonds are graded according to cut, color, and clarity. They are graded by diamond grading laboratories that use a special scale to determine these attributes. The most recognized independent diamond grading labs are The European Gemological Laboratory, The International Gemmological Institute, and The Gemological Institute of America. You will often see the initials of these leading laboratories on diamond appraisals.
Diamonds are graded on color from “D” to “Z”. You will pay a premium price for colorless
diamonds in the D, E, and F range. Brilliantly colored diamonds are the most expensive of all because they are quite rare. The most common diamond color is yellow or cognac. There are also varying shades of champagne. Blue and red diamonds exist, but are even rarer.
The clarity of a diamond is determined by flaws and inclusions within the diamond and how easy they are to see. Flawless, internally flawless, and diamonds listed under VVS and VS on the clarity chart are higher in price. Near colorless diamonds that are considered “SI” (slightly included) are the best value.
The cut of a diamond will also determine the cost. You will pay more for an “ideal cut” diamond. Diamonds considered slightly less than ideal will cost less but still offer a brilliant look.
Diamond jewelry having a serial number engraved on the side for security purposes will cost you more. If you’re on a budget, this option may be one you can do without.
Avoid mall stores when shopping for your diamond jewelry. These stores typically have higher overhead costs. Shop for your
diamond jewelry in stores that offer diamond guarantees that are free of charge. Should you lose or break a diamond under normal conditions, they will repair or replace the diamond at no cost to you. Most
jewelers offer this service, but most are not free
.
Avoid jewelry stores that have set prices on diamonds. They guarantee low prices, but they’re not necessarily the lowest. Keep in mind, there is a HUGE mark-up on most diamond merchandise. Don’t be afraid to ask for a lower price on a diamond. Some jewelry stores will accept a lower price if you’re paying with cash rather than putting the item on layaway or paying with a credit card. Asking if the item is the best possible price could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Use these tips and suggestions to get the diamond jewelry you want at a price you can afford. Keep in mind that love is priceless, and you shouldn’t have to pay a fortune to get the diamond jewelry you desire.
A Barbie doll that will be looked at but never played with is being auctioned at Christie’s auction house on the 20th of October in New York.
The big difference with this barbie doll is the pink diamond necklace that adorns her plastic neck. Designed and arranged by Jeweler Stefano Canturi, the one carat pink diamond surrounded by smaller white diamonds is expected to bring between 300 and 500 thousand dollars, making this the most expensive barbie in the world according to Christie’s.
Combined there are a total of three carats of diamonds arranged in the necklace. As well as the necklace, Canturi designed the Barbie dolls clothes and accessories as well.
Although bidding is expected
This maybe the most expensive barbie doll ever sold. The previous most expensive barbie up for sale by auction fetched just over 17 thousand dollars.
Just show you what a good quality necklace can do?
Bulgari Diamond: A two-stone ring with a rare triangular blue diamond the size of a quarter on a gold band with baguette-cut diamonds could bring at least $15 million when it is offered at auction in New York next month.
At 10.95 carats, the stone is the largest triangular-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond ever to come to auction, Christie’s told The Associated Press in advance of the Oct. 20 sale. It is paired with a 9.87-carat white diamond cut in the same shape.
“Vivid blue is the strongest and purest saturation in any colored diamond,” said Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s jewelry expert. “As a vivid, this is as good as it gets.”
The two diamonds were cut to be together.
“They are perfectly matched in size and shape. They may be different in terms of weight, but the measurements are perfect. These two stones are made for each other,” Kadakia said.
The Gemological Institute of America said the blue stone in Christie’s sale is the largest triangular-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond they’ve ever graded, Kadakia said.
It is being sold by an anonymous European businessman. Kadakia described him as “someone with a very, very keen eye” who purchased the ring for $1 million from Italian luxury jeweler Bulgari in Rome in 1972 — a gift to his wife for the birth of their son. The couple went on to have three more children, celebrating each birth with an important gift.
Bulgari’s distinctive geometric forms, classic Greek and Roman influences and unusual combinations of colored and colorless diamonds have long adorned celebrities and movie stars, including Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor.
Last year, a 7.03-carat cushion-cut blue diamond sold at Sotheby’s for $9.5 million, or $1.3 million per carat — setting the highest price ever for a fancy vivid blue gem.
Based on that sale, the Bulgari blue diamond alone is worth $15 million, said Kadakia. With the white diamond, the ring could well surpass that estimate.
The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond, a 17th-century fancy deep grayish-blue 35.56-carat gem, holds the world record for any diamond and jewel sold at auction. Christie’s sold it in 2008 for $24.3 million.
Worldwide, Kadakia said, blue diamond production accounts for 0.0001 percent of all diamonds produced. And only one in 10 million diamonds have a color pure enough to qualify as fancy vivid blue and measuring over 10 carats.
The blue is determined by trace amounts of boron. The GIA scale runs from faint blue, light blue, fancy light blue, fancy blue, fancy intense blue, deep blue and — when the tonality and saturation are perfect — fancy vivid blue.
The Bulgari blue diamond probably came from the Premier Diamond Mine in South Africa, virtually the only mine in the world producing blue diamonds, Kadakia said. It is where the 3,100-carat rough Cullinan Diamond was found in 1905, and from which the British Crown Jewels the Great Star of Africa and Cullinan II diamonds were cut and polished.
Kadakia estimated that the Bulgari blue diamond came from a rough of at least 20 carats — the rest being lost to polishing.
The world’s largest known deep blue diamond is the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond, discovered in the 1600s, and housed at the Smithsonian.
Kadakia said that in the last 2 1/2 years he has seen a 15-20 percent rise in the number of clients investing in high-end jewelry and diamonds, both those who buy at auction and privately.
“In what other form could you carry $15 million to $20 million so easily?” he asked.
The ring will be officially unveiled at Christie’s Geneva gallery on Tuesday, with stops later in Hong Kong and London before returning to New York.
The Curse of the Black Orlov Diamond, said to be worth over 2 million dollars, may well be broken at the 78Th Academy Awards if worn by Actress Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) and she wins an Oscar. The Black Orlov Diamond is said to be ridden with a curse and three people have reputedly died as a result of the curse.
The owner of the diamond, J. Dennis Petimezas of Johnstown, Pa, hoping that his Necklace with the diamond will be the one worn at the Oscars.
Known as the Black Orlov, or “The Eye of Brahma,” the jewel is haunted by a curse said to have begun when the original 195-carat diamond was removed from a Hindu shrine in southern India. The diamond is tied to the deaths of three former owners who apparently killed themselves.
Only one out of every 10,000 diamonds is a black one.
In 1947, Princess Nadia Vyegin-Orlov and Princess Leonila Galitsine-Bariatinsky - both former owners of the Black Orlov - leapt to their deaths in apparent suicides.
Fifteen years earlier, J.W. Paris, a diamond dealer who imported the stone to the United States, jumped to his death from one of New York’s tallest buildings shortly after concluding the sale of the jewel. In an attempt to
break the curse, the diamond was recut into three separate gems and has since been owned by a succession of private owners, all of whom seem to have escaped the curse.
Petimezas dismisses the curse and said the necklace has brought him nothing but good luck since he purchased it more than a year ago.
“Since I have owned it,” he said, “I have married my longtime sweetheart, we have moved into our dream home and enjoyed continued growth in the diamond business.”
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 at 3:34 pm.
Diamond Arkansas Ice
Looking down can be very worth while it seems. A young 14 year old boy was doing just that when he spotted something sparkling in a footprint of other visitors in the Crater of Diamonds State Park a few days ago.
According to a park official, ‘The diamond resembles a miniature ice cube’.
Peter Slowik and his father were searching the surface of the Murfreesboro, Ark., park not far from the south washing pavilion when he spotted the gem in a footprint of other park visitors.
‘Peter Slowik’s diamond is so clear, just like a piece of ice.’ The eight grader has named the diamond Arkansas Ice.
Pink Diamond
A rare pink diamond ring was sold at auction recently to wealthy British billionaire Laurence Graff for over 46 million dollars. Graff modestly dubbed it the “Graff Diamond.” This sets a new record for the highest priced diamond, also bought by Graff in 2008. Graff described it as the “most fabulous” diamond he had seen in his entire career. He said he had bought the gem for his own
collection, immediately naming it “The Graff Pink”.
After the auction, which took place in Sotheby’s in Geneva, he said: “It is the most fabulous diamond I’ve seen in the history of my career and I’m delighted to have bought it.”
Auctioneer David Bennett, head of Sotheby’s international jewellery division, also described the diamond as “absolutely sensational”. He said: “I find it difficult to exaggerate how fine this stone is because I love it.”
Bidding started at 20 million Swiss francs – £12.65 million, but with frenzied bidding quickly surpassed the previous record.
It finally went under the hammer for 40.5 million Swiss Francs, with the premium pushing it up to 45,442,500 Swiss Francs or £28.8 million or 46 million dollars.
Mr Bennett told the room: “That is a world record for a jewellery sale anywhere in the world.”
After the sale he added: “Tonight’s spectacular result demonstrates that truly extraordinary objects will bring truly extraordinary prices. It was simply one of the most desirable diamonds I have seen during my 35-year-career at Sotheby’s.”
The diamond was formerly owned by the late Harry Winston, US jeweller to the stars.
Its incredibly rare, perfect pink colour is thought to have been caused by it absorbing light in an unusual way when it was formed deep inside the earth over millions of years.
It is set between shield-shaped diamond shoulders on a silver ring.
This entry was posted on Thursday, November 18th, 2010 at 8:17 pm.
