Diamonds have been treasured as precious for over 2,500 years. They were first used in religious icons in India.

The word “diamond” derives from an Ancient Greek word that means “impossible to tame.”

Most natural sources of diamonds are located in Africa, but they have also been found in Canada, Brazil, Russia, and Australia.

High temperature and pressure deep in the earth enable diamonds to be formed.

Diamonds are the hardest known naturally occurring mineral and their hardness has been known since they first came into use. Because of their hardness, diamonds have become used in jewelry meant for daily wear—such as engagement rings.

Diamonds, while resistant to scratching, are not resistant to breaking—hit a diamond just right, with the proper amount of force, and it will crack into pieces.

The most familiar variety of diamonds is the colorless sort. But diamonds come in other colors: pink, yellow, orange, brown, white, red, or even black. The color is produced by impurities in the mineral.

In ancient China, diamonds were mostly used to drill holes or sharpen tools.

Diamonds began to be used in wedding rings by the year 1477.

There are different distinctions in the gold used for making jewelry, based on the purity of the gold:

24K: The purest in quality, yet also the softest gold, 24-karat is the most costly.

18K: Second in purety, made up of approximately 3/4 gold and 1/4 other alloys, 18-karat gold is somewhat less expensive. It is a popular choice for jewelry.

14K: Between 1/2 and 2/3 pure, 14-karat gold is the most popular choice for everyday jewelry, because it is durable and affordable.

10K: In America, jewelry made from gold must be 10-karat or higher in order to be labeled “gold.” The level of purity is less than 1/2, making it the strongest as well as the least costly.

Diamond bracelets differ tremendously from necklaces or rings. They are meant to be worn on the wrist and attract a lot of attention as the wearer moves about doing. It is ideal to use a gem that attracts attention and speaks for itself upon closer inspection, the light gathering qualities of the gem should be considered as well the tenacity of the bracelet housing the gems. To ensure you are getting the best gem review the gems and compare them to the following information.

The quality of a diamond’s cut is widely considered the most important of the four Cs in determining the beauty of a diamond; indeed, it is commonly acknowledged that a well-cut diamond can appear to be of greater carat weight, and have clarity and color appear to be of better grade than they actually are. The skill with which a diamond is cut determines its ability to reflect and refract light.

In addition to carrying the most importance to a diamond’s quality as a gemstone, the cut is also the most difficult to quantitatively judge. A number of factors, including proportion, symmetry, and the relative angles of various facets, are determined by the quality of the cut and can affect the performance of a diamond. A poorly cut diamond with facets cut only a few degrees out of alignment can result in a poorly performing stone. For a round brilliant cut, there is a balance between “brilliance” and “fire.” When a diamond is cut for too much “fire,” it looks like a cubic zirconia, which gives off much more “fire” than real diamond. A well-executed round brilliant cut should reflect light upwards and make the diamond appear white when viewed from the top. An inferior cut will produce a stone that appears dark at the center and in some extreme cases the ring settings may show through the top of the diamond as shadows.

Diamond Cutting is the art and science of creating a gem-quality diamond out of mined rough. The cut of a diamond describes the manner in which a diamond has been shaped and polished from its beginning form as a rough stone to its final gem proportions. The cut of a diamond describes the quality of workmanship and the angles to which a diamond is cut. Often diamond cut is confused with “shape.”

There are mathematical guidelines for the angles and length ratios at which the diamond is supposed to be cut in order to reflect the maximum amount of light. Round brilliant diamonds, the most common, are guided by these specific guidelines, though fancy cut stones are not able to be as accurately guided by mathematical specifics.

The techniques for cutting diamonds have been developed over hundreds of years, with perhaps the greatest achievements made in 1919 by mathematician and gem enthusiast Marcel Tolkowsky. He developed the round brilliant cut by calculating the ideal shape to return and scatter light when a diamond is viewed from above. The modern round brilliant has 57 facets (polished faces), counting 33 on the crown (the top half), and 24 on the pavilion (the lower half). The girdle is the thin middle part. The function of the crown is to diffuse light into various colors and the pavilion’s function to reflect light back through the top of the diamond.

Tolkowsky defines the ideal dimensions to have:

* Table percentage (table diameter divided by overall diameter) = 53%

* Depth percentage (Overall depth divided by the overall diameter) = 59.3%

* Pavilion Angle (Angle between the girdle and the pavilion) = 40.75°

* Crown Angle (Angle between the girdle and the crown) = 34.5°

* Pavilion Depth (Depth of pavilion divided by overall diameter) = 43.1%

* Crown Depth (Depth of crown divided by crown diameter) = 16.2%

The culet is the tiny point or facet at the bottom of the diamond. This should be a negligible diameter, otherwise light leaks out of the bottom. Tolkowsky’s ideal dimensions did not include a girdle. However, a thin girdle is required in reality in order to prevent the diamond from easily chipping in the setting. A normal girdle should be about 1%–2% of the overall diameter.

The further the diamond’s characteristics are from Tolkowsky’s ideal, the less light will be reflected. However, there is a small range in which the diamond can be considered “ideal.” Today, because of the relative importance of carat weight in society, many diamonds are often intentionally cut poorly to increase carat weight. There is a financial premium for a diamond that weighs the magical 1.0 carat, so often the girdle is made thicker or the depth is increased. Neither of these tactics make the diamond appear any bigger, and they greatly reduce the sparkle of the diamond. So a poorly cut 1.0 carat diamond may have the same diameter and appear as large as a 0.85 carat diamond. The depth percentage is the overall quickest indication of the quality of the cut of a round brilliant. “Ideal” round brilliant diamonds should not have a depth percentage greater than 62.5%. Another quick indication is the overall diameter. Typically a round brilliant 1.0 carat diamond should have a diameter of about 6.5 mm. Mathematically, the diameter in millimeters of a round brilliant should approximately equal 6.5 times the cube root of carat weight, or 11.1 times the cube root of gram weight, or 1.4 times the cube root of point weight.

Diamonds do not show all of their beauty as rough stones; instead, they must be cut and polished to exhibit the characteristic fire and brilliance that diamond gemstones are known for. Diamonds are cut into a variety of shapes that are generally designed to accentuate these features.

Diamonds which are not cut to the specifications of Tolkowsky’s round brilliant shape (or subsequent variations) are known as “fancy cuts.” Popular fancy cuts include the baguette (from the French, meaning rod or loaf of bread), marquise, princess (square outline), heart, briolette (a form of the rose cut), and pear cuts. Newer cuts that have been introduced into the jewelry industry are the “cushion” “radiant”(similar to princess cuts, but with rounded edges instead of square edges) and “ascher” cuts. Many fancy colored diamonds are now being cut according to these new styles.

Diamond earrings are something that both men and women can enjoy and wear. The styles range dramatically between the sexes and within them. Keep in mind the recipients taste as best you can as well the occasions you intend the gift for. Long pendant earrings are best for black tie events though tasteful studs could do just as well there and at a tennis game or horse race. Some diamond earrings are worn day to day because of the meaning bestowed in them from the giver. Think about who the person is to you and when they would choose to wear them and also keep in mind the following when examining the gems.

Diamonds become increasingly rare when considering higher clarity grading. Only about 20 percent of all diamonds mined have a clarity rating high enough for the diamond to be considered appropriate for use as a gemstone; the other 80 percent are relegated to industrial use. Of that top 20 percent, a significant portion contains one or more visible inclusions. Those that do not have a visible inclusion are known as “eye-clean” and are preferred by most buyers, although visible inclusions can sometimes be hidden under the setting in a piece of jewelry.

Most inclusions present in gem-quality diamonds do not affect the diamonds’ performance or structural integrity. However, large clouds can affect a diamond’s ability to transmit and scatter light. Large cracks close to or breaking the surface may reduce a diamond’s resistance to fracture.

Diamonds are graded by the major societies on a scale ranging from flawless to imperfect.

The price per carat does not increase smoothly with increasing size. Instead, there are sharp jumps around milestone carat weights, as demand is much higher for diamonds weighing just more than a milestone than for those weighing just less. As an example, a 0.95-carat diamond may have a significantly lower price per carat than a comparable 1.05-carat diamond, because of differences in demand.

A weekly diamond price list, the Rapaport Diamond Report , is published by Martin Rapaport, CEO of Rapaport Group of New York, for different diamond cuts, clarity and weights. It is currently considered the de-facto retail price baseline. Jewelers often trade diamonds at negotiated discounts off the Rapaport price (e.g., “R -3%”).

In the wholesale trade of gem diamonds, carat is often used in denominating lots of diamonds for sale. For example, a buyer may place an order for 100 carats of 0.5 carat, D–F, VS2-SI1, excellent cut diamonds, indicating he wishes to purchase 200 diamonds (100 carats total mass) of those approximate characteristics. Because of this, diamond prices (particularly among wholesalers and other industry professionals) are often quoted per carat, rather than per stone.

Total carat weight (t.c.w.) is a phrase used to describe the total mass of diamonds or other gemstone in a piece of jewelry, when more than one gemstone is used. Diamond solitaire earrings, for example, are usually quoted in t.c.w. When placed for sale, indicating the mass of the diamonds in both earrings and not each individual diamond. T.c.w. is also widely used for diamond necklaces, bracelets and other similar jewelry pieces.

Most diamonds used as gemstones are basically transparent with little tint, or white diamonds. The most common impurity, nitrogen, replaces a small proportion of carbon atoms in a diamond’s structure and causes a yellowish to brownish tint. This effect is present in almost all white diamonds; in only the most rare diamonds is the coloration due to this effect undetectable. The GIA has developed a rating system for color in white diamonds, from “D” to “Z” (with D being “colorless” and Z having a bright yellow coloration), which has been widely adopted in the industry and is universally recognized, superseding several older systems once used in different countries. The GIA system uses a benchmark set of either natural diamonds of known color grade, along with standardized and carefully controlled lighting conditions are also. Precision-crafted cubic zirconia master sets are sometimes used in the trade, however the GIA has found these sets to be inaccurate. Diamonds with higher color grades are rarer, in higher demand, and therefore more expensive, than lower color grades. Oddly enough, diamonds graded Z is also rare, and the bright yellow color is also highly valued. Diamonds graded D-F are considered “colorless”, G-J are considered “near-colorless”, K-M are “slightly colored”. N-Y usually appears light yellow or brown.

In contrast to yellow or brown hues, diamonds of other colors are much more rare and more valuable. While even a pale pink or blue hue may increase the value of a diamond, more intense coloration is usually considered more desirable and commands the highest prices. A variety of impurities and structural imperfections cause different colors in diamonds, including yellow, pink, blue, red, green, brown, and other hues. Diamonds with unusual or intense coloration are sometimes labeled “fancy” by the diamond industry. Intense yellow coloration is considered one of the fancy colors, and is separate from the color grades of white diamonds. Gemologists have developed rating systems for fancy colored diamonds, but they are not in common use because of the relative rarity of colored diamonds.

Before rushing to the Jewelry store, consider if there isn’t another gem that your significant other has expressed interest in earlier. Diamonds, though thoughtful and direct can be hackneyed. The process that some diamonds go through to get to their markets is greased by blood. Should your significant other be aware of these facts it may be more than a little insensitive to perpetuate the cycle in their name.

Consider the following:

In some of the more politically unstable central African and West African countries, revolutionary groups have taken control of diamond mines, using proceeds from diamond sales to finance their operations. Diamonds sold through this process are known as conflict diamonds or blood diamonds. In response to public concerns that their diamond purchases were contributing to war and human rights abuses in central Africa and west Africa, the United Nations, the diamond industry and diamond-trading nations introduced the Kimberley Process in 2002, which is aimed at ensuring that conflict diamonds do not become intermixed with the diamonds not controlled by such rebel groups, The Kimberley Process provides documentation and certification of diamond exports from producing countries to ensure that the proceeds of sale are not being used to fund criminal or revolutionary activities. Although the Kimberley Process has been highly successful in limiting the number of conflict diamonds entering the market, conflict diamonds smuggled to market continue to persist to some degree (approx. 1% of diamonds traded today are possible conflict diamonds). According to the 2006 book, The Heartless Stone, two major flaws still hinder the effectiveness of the Kimberley Process: the relative ease of smuggling diamonds across African borders and given phony histories, and the violent nature of diamond mining in nations which are not in a technical state of war and whose diamonds are therefore considered “clean.”

Diamonds are a popular (though commercialized) symbol of everlasting love and a true, pure bond between two people. If you are thinking of getting someone a necklace or are getting one for yourself, keep in mind who that person is to you and what their style is. Avoid choosing something too gaudy or something that is miniscule, chances are if you are getting someone a Diamond necklace, you may be close enough to them already to not need to try very hard to impress them. Just keep their tastes in mind and assure your choice is of good quality gems. Regardless of who they are, they won’t need anything as impressive as the Hope Diamond* to understand what you are trying to say.

A chemically pure and structurally perfect diamond is perfectly transparent with no hue, or color. However, in reality almost no gem-sized natural diamonds are absolutely perfect. The color of a diamond may be affected by chemical impurities and/or structural defects in the crystal lattice. Depending on the hue and intensity of a diamond’s coloration, a diamond’s color can either detract from or enhance its value. For example, most white diamonds are discounted in price as more yellow hue is detectable, while intense pink or blue diamonds (such as the Hope Diamond) can be dramatically more valuable.

Clarity is a measure of internal defects of a diamond called inclusions. Inclusions may be crystals of a foreign material or another diamond crystal, or structural imperfections such as tiny cracks that can appear whitish or cloudy. The number, size, color, relative location, orientation, and visibility of inclusions can all affect the relative clarity of a diamond. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and others have developed systems to grade clarity, which are generally based on those inclusions which are visible to a trained professional when a diamond is viewed from above, under 10x magnification.

The carat weight measures the mass of a diamond. One carat is defined as a fifth of a gram, or exactly 200 milligrams (about 0.007 ounce). The point unit—equal to one one-hundredth of a carat (0.01 carat, or 2 mg)—is commonly used for diamonds of less than one carat. All else being equal, the value of a diamond increases exponentially in relation to carat weight, since larger diamonds are both rarer and more desirable for use as gemstones. A review of comparable diamonds available for purchase in September 2005 demonstrates this effect (approximate prices for round cut, G color, VS2 diamonds with “1A” cut grade, as listed on http://www.pricescope.com):

Carat size Cost per carat (US$) Total cost (US$)

0.5 carat (50 points) 3,000 1,500

1.0 carat 6,500 6,500

1.5 carats 8,500 12,750

2.0 carats 13,000 26,000

3.0 carats 17,000 51,000

5.0 carats 23,000 115,000

The price per carat does not increase smoothly with increasing size. Instead, there are sharp jumps around milestone carat weights, as demand is much higher for diamonds weighing just more than a milestone than for those weighing just less. As an example, a 0.95 carat diamond may have a significantly lower price per carat than a comparable 1.05 carat diamond, because of differences in demand.

A weekly diamond price list, the Rapaport Diamond Report [1], is published by Martin Rapaport, CEO of Rapaport Group of New York, for different diamond cuts, clarity and weights. It is currently considered the de-facto retail price baseline. Jewelers often trade diamonds at negotiated discounts off the Rapaport price (e.g., “R -3%”).

*The Hope Diamond is a large (45.52 carat), deep blue diamond, currently housed in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. The diamond is legendary for the misfortunes it supposedly visits upon its possessors. The Hope Diamond appears a brilliant blue to the naked eye because of trace amounts of boron within the diamond. The Hope Diamond exhibits red phosphorescence under ultraviolet light and is classified as a Type IIb diamond.

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The Hope Diamond’s history can be traced to a blue diamond named the Tavernier Blue, which was originally mined from the Kollur mine in Golconda, India, and was a crudely cut triangle shape of 112 3/16 carats (22.44 g). French merchant-traveler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier purchased it sometime in 1660 or 1661. According to legend, the Tavernier Blue was stolen from an eye of a sculpted idol of the Hindu goddess Sita, the wife of Rama, the Seventh Avatara of Vishnu.

In 1668, Tavernier sold the diamond to King Louis XIV of France. Sieur Pitau, the court jeweller, cut it and produced a 67 1/8 carat (13.4 g) stone. The stone became known as the Blue Diamond of the Crown or the French Blue. It was set in gold and suspended on a neck ribbon for the King to wear on ceremonial occasions. In 1749, King Louis XV had it set on his pendant for the Order of the Golden Fleece. After his death, it fell into disuse.

When Louis XVI of France became king, he gave the diamond to Marie Antoinette to add to her collection of jewelery. During the French Revolution, while Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were held in prison, the pendant with the diamond was stolen on September 11, 1792, when six men broke into the house used to store the crown jewels. One of the robbers, cadet Guillot, took it to Le Havre along with the Gôte de Bretagne spinel and then to London where he tried to sell the jewels. In 1796, apparently seriously in debt, he handed the spinel to Lancry de la Loyelle, who had Guillot put into prison for his trouble. There is no record of what had happened to the diamond after that.

The Hope diamond was recorded in the possession of a London diamond merchant Daniel Eliason in September 1812, which marks the earliest point that the exact history of the Hope Diamond can be definitively fixed. This diamond was generally believed to have been cut from the French Blue, a fact which was finally verified in 2005[1]. It is often pointed out that the Hope Diamond came into recorded history almost exactly 20 years after the theft of the French Blue, just as the statute of limitations for the crime had expired.

It is believed that it may have been acquired by King George IV of the United Kingdom, although there is no record of the ownership in the Royal Archives at Windsor.

The promise ring is a new phenomenon in the rituals of courting and marriage. It is usually given to a long time girlfriend from a male just as an engagement ring is given, but with far less commitment attached to the object – though it usually precedes marriage. It is also commonly used as a ploy for teenage boys to raid the loins of their pure girlfriends, by giving them these rings the assume their girlfriend’s will rationalize that they would not have to wait for marriage for sexual intercourse since the ring is just as good.

Recently, there has been a trend in the abstinence world similar to that of promise rings, though the rings are given to the young boy or girl from their parents, youth group, or church along with a vow of celibacy until marriage, thus hijacking another simple pleasure of the young and curious. The rings have no set design since they are not traditional by any means but usually incorporate the sacred heart, crosses, “Jesus”, “Love Waits”, or an inscription similar to those once used on chastity belts.

Though the chastity ring seems more lenient than the archaic chastity belt, Organizations such as SIECUS have called abstinence-only programs “fear-based”, “designed to control young people’s sexual behavior by instilling fear, shame, and guilt.”Author Judith Levine has argued that there might be a natural tendency of abstinence educators to escalate their messages: “Like advertising, which must continually jack up its seduction just to stay visible as other advertising proliferates, abstinence education had to make sex scarier and scarier and, at the same time, chastity sweeter.”

In spite of these criticisms, abstinence has become the de facto focus of sex education in the United States, so that opponents frequently adopt the line that abstinence education is acceptable only if it is combined with other methods, such as instruction in the use of condoms and easy availability thereof. Most nations of Western Europe use more comprehensive measures, and in sharp contrast to the heated discussion in the US, abstinence is hardly discussed as an educational measure.

A promise ring or friendship ring is given to a romantic partner to signify a promise to be committed in a monogamous relationship, usually a precursor to marriage. The gift of the ring indicates that serious courting is under-way. It can be given as a symbol that a couple does not feel that it is an appropriate time to consider engagement or marriage but are serious about each other and their relationship.

A common promise ring.

A promise ring can be worn on any finger on the left or right hand, although ring fingers are far preferred. Most often it is the left ring finger, but due to engagement confusion, the right ring finger is finding acceptance in today’s world.

High school class rings (rings purchased to represent one’s high school and year of graduation) are coveted by young people of either sex. “Wearing his/her class ring” means that the couple is ‘going steady’ and that theirs was an exclusive relationship (if the young man wore a ‘letter jacket’ — an overt symbol of athletic participation — his girlfriend may be given that to show that she is ‘taken’).

Some people judge the seriousness of a promise ring by its value and by the size of its gem. Most promise rings as marketed by jewelers are less valuable than traditional engagement rings, with smaller gems.

In some cultures, young adults in partnership wear ‘friendship rings’ as a sign of their commitment to each other. Generally speaking, however, ‘friendship rings’ are uncommon except for the very young.

Also in some cases, but not all, a promise ring may take the place of an engagement ring in the most serious of relationships among young people. This is often because one or both of the partners are either too young to legally be wed under the law or unwilling/unable to receive legal waivers, required due to status as a minor/dependent, from their respective parents and/or guardians.

In certain religious groups, where the concept of premarital sex is shunned, a promise ring can be worn by a person to indicate that they have made a vow to put off having sex until they are married. These rings are then replaced by a true promise ring (given by the partner in the relationship), engagement ring, or wedding ring.

Other options for the symbolism behind promise rings include purely platonic promises: a promise to refrain from sexual activity until marriage, a promise to quit smoking, or a promise to keep in touch between friends, for example. In these cases a promise ring may be exchanged at any age, between any two individuals regardless or their personal relationship (from parents to children, same-sex friends, etc.).

Though the symbolism and intent behind engagement rings and promise rings may be similar, the rings themselves are usually closer to wedding bands than engagement rings having little or no adornment or being a simple hoop of silver or gold.

Though there are no formal rules or traditions regarding promise rings, generally speaking the more expensive the ring is, the more serious the promise. Girls that receive promise rings with expensive gems might very well expect these to be precursors to engagement rings. There is nothing more awkward than giving a heartfelt gift only to have more read into it than intended. Therefore, make the promise clear when exchanging promise rings.

Friends might exchange promise rings for any number of reasons, from sealing a vow, to making a wish, to simply celebrating the bond of friendship. Promise rings are a great way to make any commitment real, and keep it foremost in mind. Though these are traditional reasons to exchange promise rings, a promise ring is a nice reminder for nearly any significant promise — including a promise made to yourself. Even a moderately expensive gold or titanium band or pinky ring can be a constant daily reminder of the investment you are making in yourself to meet a desired goal too long put off, rise to a difficult challenge, or fulfill a lifelong dream.

Like the eternal circle that has no beginning or end, promise rings speak of infinity and bonds that cannot be broken. That which is bound to a promise ring ‘benefits’ from the symbolism and beauty of the ring, which serves to strengthen the bond or promise. Promise rings are a beautiful way to remind ourselves of the allegiance we feel to those people and things that mean the most to us.