Eastbound

• Engagement Rings
• Diamond Engagement Rings
• Design Your Own Engagement Ring
• Engagement Rings With Matching Bands
• Engagement Rings
• Pre-set Engagement Rings
• Three Stone Engagement Rings
• Solitaire Engagement Rings
• Diamond Rings
• Diamond Accent Engagement Rings

• A diamond is forever. A diamond will only be forever if you take care of it. If you don’t, a diamond can chip, fracture, or break. Even a diamond should come with a care instruction tag.
• A diamond is the toughest thing in the world. People confuse hardness with toughness. A diamond is the hardest thing in the world, but it is not the toughest. Toughness refers to a diamond’s resistance to breakage. There are other gemstones that are tougher than a diamond.
• Diamonds are very rare. Nope! There is more of a man-made shortage than a natural shortage. The distribution of the number of diamonds put on the market each year is highly regulated. There are really enough diamonds to give each man, woman, and child in the United States a whole cupful.
• A cubic zirconia is a man-made diamond. Zirconia is a diamond simulant, meaning it is something that looks similar to a diamond. That’s all. A cubic zirconia does not have any of the same properties as a diamond.
• Women are more size conscious than quality conscious. This one is almost true but not quite. Even though most women believe that bigger is better, there are still quite a few women out there that will sacrifice size to get a better quality diamond.
• A diamond is the most expensive gemstone. The truth is there are quite a few more expensive gemstones on the market. For example, a top quality ruby can be worth over thirty thousand dollars a carat.
• A fancy shaped diamond is more expensive than a round diamond. A round diamond is generally more expensive than any other shape because of the law of supply and demand. Sixty-five percent of all people buy a round diamond. Since more people want a round, that makes it a little more expensive. But mostly on a stone per stone basis all shapes of diamonds are around the same price. (In some cases a marquise shaped diamond may cost 5 to 10 percent more than a round.)
• A large diamond is always worth more than a small diamond. Size is only one criterion by which a diamond can be judged. A small high-clarity, high-color diamond can cost more than a large low-clarity, low-color diamond.
• After a diamond has been cut, little diamonds can be cut from the shavings. Usually there are no shavings, only dust. Most diamonds are ground down and there aren’t any little pieces left over to cut anything else. Most people believe a diamond is whittled, not ground down. This is another myth.
• A fancy shaped diamond is more difficult to cut than a round diamond. All diamonds to a certain degree are difficult to cut, and some very large diamonds take more time and effort to cut than do smaller diamonds. But one diamond is not harder to cut than another just because of the shape.
• Yellow diamonds are worthless. Even though yellow diamonds are more abundant than their white counterparts, they still have a value. All diamonds do. If a diamond has so much nitrogen in it that it is very bright yellow, it can be worth quite a bit. These bright yellow diamonds are called Canary diamonds. Canary diamonds are more valuable than light yellow diamonds.
• Diamonds are a good investment. Webster’s dictionary defines investment as “an outlay of money for income or profit.” Since most people purchase diamonds to be worn and not to be resold, diamonds are not a good investment. Only through proper education and training could diamonds become a good investment. For the average Joe, I would say buy a diamond for the enjoyment and prestige it brings and don’t be too concerned about making a buck.
• A diamond should be bought strictly on its visual appearance: “if it looks good, buy it.” A lot of people believe “what I can’t see can’t hurt me!” Well, we all know that blind ignorance will only lead to disaster. Practically any diamond looks good in a jewelry store. The jeweler spends quite a bit on spotlights to make any quality diamond sparkle. But unless you plan on carrying a spotlight with you everywhere you go, you’d better check the four C’s or you might purchase a diamond that only looks good in a jewelry store and is lifeless everywhere else.
• An emerald cut diamond is the most expensive shape diamond. I don’t know why some people believe this. I constantly have clients tell me that they like emerald cut diamonds but know that they are the most expensive and they can’t afford them. This is crazy! The emerald cut diamond is the least expensive of all the shapes. You see, it is the shape that is most like the natural shape of the rough. So there is a little bit less waste during the cutting process. If you like emerald cut diamonds, enjoy them, don’t avoid them; they are not any more expensive.
• Diamonds are a bad investment. Diamonds may not be a good investment for the average person, but they certainly aren’t a bad investment. If a diamond is purchased at the right price, it will most certainly hold its value. Since the diamond crash of 1979, when A-D flawless diamonds fell in value from seventy-five thousand dollars to under fifteen thousand dollars, the price of diamonds has been increasing constantly since then.
• No diamond is perfect. The definition of a perfect diamond would be a diamond free from inclusions and blemishes when viewed under lOX (flawless), with no trace of color (D-Color), and perfectly proportioned. Even though they are rare, there are such diamonds around.
• It is difficult to tell the difference between a diamond and a cubic zirconia. Any good jeweler can tell the difference immediately. A cubic zirconia in my opinion has more of a plastic look. There seems to be a light blue cast throughout the entire stone. One sure way to determine the difference is by weighing the cubic zirconia. A cubic zirconia will weigh 75 percent more!
• Only a real diamond will cut glass. A diamond will cut glass; so will a lot of fakes. This is not a good test to use to check out a diamond for authenticity. Never take your diamond and do this, because the diamond can be injured during the process.
• Diamonds are expensive. Some are; some aren’t. It depends on their quality. Believe it or not, it’s possible to get a one carat diamond for as low as three hundred dollars if it’s junky enough.
• Diamonds are a girl’s best friend. This one would have stumped me, too. I’ve always believed that all women like diamonds. It wasn’t till recently that I learned there are some women out there that very much dislike diamonds and think they are a waste of money. I guess for them maybe a dog is their best friend.

Engagement Rings