Choosing an Engagement Ring

If you are planning to buy your special lady a diamond engagement ring, you will want to pay close attention to the following advice. Not only are you about spend substantial amount of money (all women know that an engagement ring should cost the fiancé at least a month's salary), but you are also about to purchase an item that will be a symbol of the most important relationship of your life. There are universally agreed rules on buying diamonds. Follow them and you should avoid the pitfalls. Firstly, the geology: diamonds are 99.95 pure crystallised carbon and can be extremely old - one to three billion years old, in fact. They are the hardest naturally occurring substance known to man and are formed beneath the Earth's surface when crystals of diamond occur in volcano feed-pipes. When volcanoes erode down, they release diamonds from their feed-pipes into layers of gravel which are later mined. However, due to the relative rarity of this natural process, diamond mines are found in just a handful of sites around the world. In rough form, diamonds are shipped to the world's cutting centres to be shaped and polished before being set as jewellery. It is the hardness, brilliance and sparkle that emerges during this process that transforms them into a girl's best friend. The history: as you may be curious to know where the fashion began. Legend dictates that in 1477, a lovestruck Austrian, Archduke Maximilian, came up with a gem of an idea: why not give Mary of Burgundy a diamond ring to celebrate their imminent engagement? He placed it on the third finger of her left hand - the finger believed by ancient Egyptians to have a vein that led straight to the heart. The Four C'sSo now that you know why you are buying an engagement ring made with a diamond, you can familiarise yourself with the "Four Cs" - cut, colour, clarity and carat. All must be considered equally when comparing diamonds. Cut: It is how the 57 or 58 facets (the tiny planes cut on the diamond's surface) are angled and sized that dictate how light reflects and exits the diamond, an effect known as its "fire". The cut will also determine the shape of the diamond. The most common shape is the round or brilliant cut, but others include the emerald, the pear, the marquise, the princess, the oval and the heart shape. Colour: The most valuable and rare colour is white, that is to say, colourless. Jewellers grade absolutely colourless diamonds with a "D". The scale moves up to "Z" (don't ask what happened to A, B and C) and, between these two extremes, diamonds will display subtle coloured tones. Diamonds with a very strong and distinct colour are extremely rare and are called fancies. Clarity: Many people get unnecessarily hung up over the clarity of a diamond. Look into most diamonds with a jeweller's loupe (magnifying eyeglass) and you will see small "inclusions", also known as "nature's fingerprints". They look like small clouds or feathers but are usually invisible to the naked eye. Inclusions can affect the diamond's fire, but they also make your diamond unique and shouldn't always be seen as a fault. Why worry too much about something you can't see, anyway? As long as the stone is graded SI1 (Slightly Included 1) or better (best and most expensive is IF, or Internally Flawless; worst is I3, or Imperfect 3), you should be all right. Carat: The weight, and thus the size, of a diamond is measured by carat. A carat is equal to 0.2gm, or 200mgm. A carat is divided into 100 smaller units called points. For example, three-quarters of a carat is 75 points. The average size of most engagement-ring diamonds is somewhere between one carat and half a carat. Any reputable jeweller will know about the four Cs and be prepared to talk you through them all without prompt when displaying diamonds. But if you don't wish to place your trust entirely in a jeweller, you should request a "certificated diamond" - a diamond that has been assessed, graded and coded with a laser by an independent gemmological laboratory. The type of certificate is important, as not all are universally recognised. The most internationally recognised are issued by GIA (the Gemmological Institute of America). Other popular certificates include HRD, IGL, EGL, Anchorcert and AGS. The fee for a grading certificate varies depending upon the carat of your diamond, but for exact prices, contact a specific laboratory. And do not be afraid of organising your own certificate rather than accepting the jeweller's recommendation. Another good reason for getting certified diamonds is to guard against buying "diamonds" made with substitutes. Zircon, white sapphire, topaz and quartz are natural minerals that can be nearly colourless and used as natural diamond substitutes. Synthetic substitutes include cubic zirconia and moissanite. All these are sold as legitimately cheap alternatives, but be aware that they are sometimes, albeit rarely, passed off as real diamonds. Diamonds can also be artificially treated, most commonly by being fracture filled, irradiated or laser treated. All of this is legal, as long as it is disclosed to the buyer, but if you want a "real" and untreated diamond, guard yourself against terms such as "clarity enhanced". How much should I pay?This is the fifth C - cost. Obviously, how much you spend is a personal matter, but you will no doubt hear that one to two months' salary is the norm. Trade associationsBritish Jewellers' Association (Tel: 0121-237 1109, www.bja.org.uk) Diamond certificate issuersAnchorcert, the UK Assay Offices' diamond grading division.(Tel: 0121 262 1010 www.anchorcert.co.uk) Gemmological Institute of America Inc (GIA) (Tel: 001 760 603 4000, www.gia.org) Diamond High Council (HRD) (Tel: 0032 3 222 0511, www.diamonds.be) European Gemmological Laboratory (EGL) (Tel: 020-7916 3519, www.egl.co.za) Independent Gemmological Laboratories, Inc (IGL) (Tel: 001 212-557 0111)American Gem Society (AGS) (Tel: 001 702-233 6120, www.agslab.com)

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