Diamonds Are Rarer Than Thought!

According to a recent article by the BBC, the Earth is no longer producing diamonds.

Geologists mapping the diamond producing areas of the world have confirmed that diamonds are actually billions of years old.

This goes to proves that diamonds are really a piece of eternity. Many people under-estimate the rarity of this beautiful gem. Diamonds are rare! I think I heard once that for every 1 carat diamond found, 1 ton of the mine is excavated. That does not even bring the diamond quality in to the equation.

People seem fascinated at how such a small item could be so expensive. When you consider what a loose diamond really is and just how beautiful they are, you will understand.

Would you like to own a beautiful piece of eternity? You had better hurry, they are no longer being formed!

Buying The Wife Diamonds

They used to say that a month's salary should be the budget guide when shopping for a diamond engagement ring. Well that's exactly what I spent all those years ago when I got engaged. Trouble is, I was quite young and I wasn't earning much at all! I was fortunate to meet a good lady who didn't really mind what the ring was like, what it stood for was much more important.

So that is what she wears nowadays. Trouble is, my wife's friends have been whispering in her ear that she should upgrade it. They can not believe that given that I am a well established jeweller, she is not taking advantage.

Well I felt that I should treat my wife seeing that she does so much for me and give her something that would keep her friends quiet!

So that is what I did. I surprised her with diamond stud earrings. So what did I go for? What I choose surprised me somewhat as I advise people all day long about what diamonds they should be purchasing.

I usually recommend going for a balance of value and quality ie.. Go for the largest size you can afford at a quality you would be happy with. The most common quality I recommend for diamonds over 0.25ct (1/4 carat) is H/Si which means colour and Si clarity.

H colour is nearly colourless and Si stands for small inclusions, which means that you have to look quite closely (4 inches to the naked eye) to see the inclusions.

Now what I actually ended up with was G/Vs. G colour is a very good colour and Vs clarity (very small) means that you need a 10x jeweller's eye-glass to see the inclusions. To top it all off I set them in Platinum (I usually recommend platinum over white gold if the budget will allow it, though white gold is perfectly satisfactory).

Now why did I exceed the quality I usually recommend? As I said before, it did surprise me that I did and I guess that when it comes to the person I love, I want to provide the best that I can. The experience and education that I have gained from the diamond jewellery trade, really made me appreciate the value of the gift. Of course my wife loves them.

Every time I see her wearing them, I get satisfaction from seeing my wife wear such beautiful diamonds. Every time my wife sees them in the mirror, she gets satisfaction from them.

Words can not describe the satisfaction I get from seeing the smile on my wife's face, diamonds truly are a girl's best friend....

Add A Bit Of Sparkle To Your Easter

Now here's something that we wont be stocking in our store next month!

(Story found in the Sun newspaper) The Diamond Stella Egg has been unveiled at La Maison du Chocolat in London and is just about the finest Easter egg you could find. The Egg is covered in 100 half carat diamonds and is valued at around £60,000.

The Egg is around60cmss in height and the shop boasts that no glue or tape was used in the making of the egg.Apparentlyy a chef melted small sections of the choclate egg in order to be able to implant the diamonds.

So whats on the inside...?

The egg is filled with peach and apricot chocolate and pralines

Duttson Diamonds of London provided the jewels for the Diamond Stella Egg and you can find out more info here- Online Chocolate – La Maison du chocolat

Diamond Trade In Dubai Reaches Record Levels

Trade in rough diamonds in Dubai grew at amazing 46.25% during 2005. In total over $3.7 billion dollars worth of rough diamonds were traded. The weight of the diamonds traded was an incredible 71 million carats (accoutning for both exports and imports.)

India, Europe, Russia and China are the main diamond trading partners for Dubai

The diamond houses in the area are keen to promote their diamonds as "clean" diamonds and there were record numbers of certificates issued via the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in 2005.

Diamond Jewellery For Single Women

A new book called - What Women Really Want - profiled many women leaders including Ruta Fox, a American diamond Jewellery designer.

Ruta Fox is the founder of Divine Diamonds which she launched just 5 years ago. The company specializes in designing and creating diamond jewellery for single women. The first piece of jewellery, the Ah Ring, was featured in Oprah Winfreys magazine.

The name for the Ah Ring comes from the first letters of the words "available" & "happy". Fox has now added a further three different diamond jewellery designs to her web only business whihc now has sales of almost $2 million dollars.

The three collections are called the Snowflake Necklace, The Love Me Design and the Tranquility Cross.

Fox said she is working on new designs and plans to grow her brand presence internationally.

H Samuel / Ernest & Jones Sales Slump!

Signet, the company that owns a huge number of high street jewellers in both the USA and the UK announced a sharp downturn in UK sales last year.

The groups 539 UK shops are branded as either, H Samuel, Ernest Jones or Leslie Davis. Between them theses stores have seen sales drop 8.2pc in the year to January just gone.

The groups Chief Executive, Terry Burman said successful Valentine's Day promotions had helped the groups sales in the last couple of months and that like for like trading was now on the increase.

He also added that the UK tastes were changing an we now had an appetite for diamonds that had greater "fire and sparkle". (welcome to the world of bling!. White metal jewellery was gaining in popularity.

What is interesting is that whilst sales have fallen the average customer now spent more money. Ernest Jones average customer now spends £148.

Full article here

Popping the Big Question

So you want to do the "decent thing" and pop the question... How?

Men try to make an effort to being romantic and novel when popping the big question. You hear of novel ways like freezing the diamond ring into an ice cube in her drink, putting the ring in to a fortune cookie or Xmas cracker etc.

All very cute, just make sure she is going to say yes! The last thing you are going to want is for her to hesitate (or even say no!) when you have gone to a lot of trouble to prepare the question.

Now if the case is borderline, or you got competition then a big diamond is definitely going to do the trick! Now this is the hard part. You have to research the size and quality of her friends rings, and aim for better. Then, she won't be able to resist!

The budget. Prepare to spend. Diamonds are very expensive, especially when you go larger and better quality. The reason? Diamonds are very rare, its all about supply and demand. Once you have the target size and quality researched, you will need some expert advice.

Expert advice on buying diamond engagement rings. What most people do is to go in to their local jewellers, get some advice, then scourge the internet for the best deal. Its not decent to waste someones time when you have no intention of buying from them. You don't have to do it that way. We for example will give you expert advice and then send you our recommendation diamond on approval before it has been set in to a ring. That way you get a chance to see something physical before you commit to a purchase. Once satisfied, simply send the stone back and we set it for you. Using our expert knowledge, we will always help you to get the best diamond for your budget.

Buying diamond jewellery can be daunting. Feel free to get our informal expert advice "no strings attached" by using our chat feature. Or you can always call us on 0845 100 2319.

What would you do if you found $1 million worth of jewellery?

I just found this story and it restores my faith in humans!

HONEST John Suhrhoff found a handbag containing $1million worth of jewellery lying on a park bench - and handed it in to the police.

The bag was lost by Canadian tourist Shahla Ghannadian in California and she thought she had seen the last of her Cartier watch, diamond and ruby rings and pearl earrings.

Shahla's son Ali Khalili said: "There are still good people in this world."

More true stories can be read here

Secrets Of Diamond Jewellery Pricing

The diamond industry is very secretive about its pricing structure. You will see many variations of prices of diamond jewellery and this is very confusing to the consumer. It is very difficult to compare diamond jewellery when shopping especially when jewellery products that look very similar are being offered at very different price levels.

On the other hand, some diamond jewellery is very easy to compare when the specifications are detailed, but again large variations in prices are again found.

Most people are therefore are very nervous buying diamond jewellery and tend to place large amounts of trust in the retailer they choose to purchase from.

Some reasons for large price fluctuations:

1. Jewellery is difficult to brand - Buying in to a brand is usually more expensive but products are easily comparable and you know more or less what you are buying according to what brand you choose. This results in a much wider market place and thus the larger the price variances due to many different retailers with different sales margins/costs.
2. Diamond Jewellery is expensive to stock - A typical retailer not only has to cover the overheads of running a shop, they also have to invest in very expensive stock with a low liquidity level. Ie. They may have to stock an expensive item for a long period before it is sold. Add in the high security expenses and insurance and you can easily justify the high margins a jewellery retailer needs to cover all these costs.
3. Diamond Quality - The quality of the diamonds used in a piece of jewellery greatly affects the final selling price of diamond jewellery. As diamonds are so rare, small variations in the quality of the diamond result in large differences in price. In fact most variances are so small, that only diamond experts can tell the difference yet the differences in prices are huge.
4. Grading Diamonds Is An Art - Ultimately, the grade of a diamond is only an opinion. The more trusted the opinion, the more dependable and thus more expensive the stone. It is therefore very important that you trust the opinion of the grade before you part with your hard earned cash.
5. Unscrupulous Retailers - There are many retailers who will try to exaggerate diamond grades in order profit from their misrepresentations. Beware! Only buy from trusted sources!
6. Many more.....

The above are some of the main reasons why trusting your diamond jeweller is so important. Ask your jeweller questions, try not to be intimidated. Get references, interview them, what does your gut instinct tell you?

A diamond jeweller with nothing to hide and his reputation to keep will not shy away from your questions. When buying online, in addition to the usual online security assurances you are used to, look for clear policies and guarantees. We would most definitely call the online jeweller to confirm their knowledge before your purchase. Good communication is essential!

Once you are satisfied with your purchase, don't forget to recommend to others. Your groundwork will save others a lot of hard work and gives them more confidence to purchase.

We welcome all enquiries, please contact us should you have any questions or concerns.

Diamonds Sold At Auction

For those of you who wonder where diamonds start out or what journeys they have been on before coming to rest on your finger or in your ears we have posted some results of a Diamond auction held in Moscow last week:

Alrosa, Russia's Yakutia-based diamond monopoly, (they currently mine 23% of all diamonds!) sold more than $27 million in rough diamonds at the 13th international diamond auction for special-sized diamonds hosted by the Russian Diamond Chamber in Moscow.

The Russian Diamond Chamber said that they managed to sell 133 out of the 153 lots and in total these lots contained 1,110 diamonds which had a weight of an amazing 19,000 carats.

What I found interesting was that contained within this parcels were 15 separate diamonds which weighed more than 50 carats each. The biggest diamond weighed a staggering 343 carats!

For those of you with really deep pockets the next auction will be held on April 13th!