Sign up for Insider Access
Tips for taking it with you Summer officially kicked off last week and, with it, many of us are hitting the roads and runways in search of some well deserved R&R (including me!). As you consider what accessories to take on your travels, Jewelers Mutual Insurance offers a few tips for protecting your jewelry: Carry on [...]
The Question is what to inscribe, and when to have it engraved, on your husband-to-be’s wedding band. Wedding planning is all about the details. It’s decisions, decisions and more decisions from the time you say “YES!” until you say “I DO”. Trust me, I got married 7 short months ago, I know how easy it [...]
Are you Recently Engaged or Married and Want to Know the Secret to Caring for your Most Treasured Platinum Rings? Caring for platinum jewelry First off, congratulations on your smart and savvy decision to choose platinum for your engagement ring and/or wedding band! In fact, many members of the Kwiat family selected platinum for their [...]
I am often asked what “the rules” are when it comes to matching a wedding band to the engagement ring. Does the wedding ring have to exactly match the band of the engagement ring? Must the rings fit together to appear as if they are one ring? Some women ask if it is alright to [...]
Of all the tradeoffs and choices made in the selection of a diamond, the cut is the one thing that should never be compromised. The cut is the single most important element in determining how brilliant and beautiful the diamond is, and to sacrifice on the quality of the cut is to sacrifice the core beauty [...]
First, I need to address a popular misconception. Diamond “cut” is different from diamond “shape.” The shape of a diamond describes its outline and some general attributes about the cut of the stone. The different shapes include round, oval, cushion, emerald cut, asscher cut, radiant, pear and heart shape. Diamond cut is more technical and [...]
In diamonds, fluorescence is an attribute that is observed when the diamond exposed to invisible ultraviolet (UV) rays. Under normal lighting conditions, a diamond’s fluorescence is not detectable to the eye. However, if a diamond is naturally fluorescent, it will emit a soft colored glow when viewed in ultraviolet light. This glow will last as [...]
The first thing I always explain when talking about color is that the differences between any two consecutive grades is very subtle and is often indistinguishable to the untrained eye. When looking at diamonds, you should not get overly focused on one specific color grade to the exclusion of grades near to it. The second [...]
When considering the clarity of a diamond, I always begin with the advice that you do not want to have any inclusions that are easily visible to the naked eye. In practice, all flawless, VVS and VS diamonds will be “clean” to the naked eye. Most SI1 round diamonds and some SI2 round diamonds will [...]
The clarity of a diamond refers to the presence of “inclusions,” or imperfections, in its crystal structure. Nearly all of the world’s diamonds have inclusions of some kind, and the clarity scale is used to denote the degree to which those inclusions are present and visible within the diamond. In higher quality diamonds, the inclusions [...]
