Step 1: Pick a stone
To diamond or not to diamond? Well, diamond rings have remained popular for a reason. Diamonds are nature’s hardest yet one of the most beautiful materials. And since engagement rings are typically worn every day, this is an important factor to consider. Recently, however, diamond rings have been losing ground to other gems, such as sapphires and rubies. In order to solve this stone conundrum, consider what type of jewellery your soon-to-be fiancé wears. If they are partial to diamond earrings, diamond pendants, or other diamond jewellery then chances are diamonds are now your new best friend.

Step 2: Create a budget
The old adage is you need to spend two months’ salary on a rings. Can we please put this one to rest? If you are not too sure about the type of rings you want, try looking at examples of engagement rings online, figure out a rough estimate of how much similar rings typically cost, and then spend what you are comfortable spending. After all, this is a symbol of love, not some status symbol to impress other people.

Step 3: Time to go shopping
In days of yore our only option to get an engagement rings was to either inherit one or buy one at a brick-and-mortar store. Luckily because we now live in a world where there are a myriad of options to buy jewellery online, shopping for an engagement rings has never been easier (or even the matching diamond earrings and diamond pendants, hint hint). When it comes to buy diamond jewellery online, the benefits of convenience, selection, and most of all price can’t be ignored. Low overhead means low prices and more selection of jewellery  designs for you. Just remember, when browsing for jewellery online, be sure to stick with reputable online diamond jewellery brands that use conflict free diamonds and can offer certification  from a trustworthy grading lab, such as the Gemological Institute of America.

Step 4: Get ready for the memory of a lifetime
Different people use different rules. This is your engagement and there are no right or wrong answer. Sure it’s traditional to pop the question on one knee, but what if that’s not your style? Don’t let others dictate what you can and can’t do. Take some time to really think about what speaks to you as a couple. If that means a quiet dinner in a candlelit garden, then you go right ahead. Or if that means writing your proposal in the sky for the whole world to witness, then don’t let anyone stop you. Love is such a personal treasure that too often gets blurred by what we’re told to expect. At the end of the day, it’s important to remember to listen to your heart and not your brain.

Bracelets were first made using nothing more than a few stones, shells and bones tied together with a string around the wrist. Over the centuries, bracelets have come a long way. While the original styles still exist in one form or another, newer styles, newer metals, stones and designs have come up to take center stage.

Interesting Trivia: More than any other jewelry item, bracelets have been adopted by major jewelry brands as brand emblems. Metal, leather, as well as many other modern man-made materials feature in bracelets worn by men and women across the globe.

1. Women’s Bracelets: In most cases, women’s bracelets are modified forms of bangles. However, while bangles are worn on both wrists, bracelets are meant to be worn on just one. Like men’s bracelets, women’s bracelets also come in a number of different styles and designs. These are far more delicate and stylish than men’s bracelets and can often be studded with diamonds and gemstones.

2. Men’s Bracelets: Compared to women’s bracelets, men’s bracelets tend to be slightly heavier, but simpler in design. They may or may not be studded with diamonds and are often made with silver, gold or platinum. Attractive designs and high quality finishing are hallmarks of men’s bracelets. 

3. Designer Bracelets: These modern day versions of bracelets are quite chic and stylish. They are not necessarily made of metal, but come in a combination of leather, rubber, metal and even diamonds. These bracelets are often customized to represent key theme of individual brands.

4. Fitness Bands: Undoubtedly the latest trend in health and fitness, these bands help health enthusiasts track their daily calorie intake and outtake, the steps they have walked and many other fitness related data. Due to advanced technology used to make these bracelets, they are typically made with combination of plastic, rubber or metals and often come in simple less intricate design.

5. Magnetic or Health Bracelets: Different from fitness bands, health bracelets are usually magnetic bracelets worn around the wrists. It is believed that the magnetism of the bracelet helps keep illnesses away. Similar to fitness bands, magnetic bracelets are not made for style and generally come in a single format that does not cost too much.

There are of course, many other styles and manners in which bracelets are made and worn.

Hard Fact: Bracelets are perhaps the second most popular jewelry item for men after rings. This makes them different from other jewelry items, which are largely thought about and designed mainly for women.

Be it simple or be it elaborate, the actual wedding ceremony and more specifically, the exchange of the wedding rings forms the centre of most weddings across cultures worldwide.

Interesting Trivia: The wedding band or ring is a circle to signify a relation without a start or an end – an eternal love. Marriage too is believed to be an eternal relation; in India it is believed that marriage ties a couple together for seven lives. The empty part in the centre also has its own meaning – it is the entry way or gate to each other’s hearts.

So how did this simple piece of jewellery become such an important symbol of love and commitment?

The tradition of rings as a piece of jewellery has been around since times immemorial. The earliest rings were most probably made of simple plant stems or tree bark twisted into a ring to wear on a finger. The credit for presenting a ring at a social event perhaps goes to the Egyptians. The first metal rings were of course made by the Egyptians, but it was the Romans who really turned them into symbolic pieces of jewellery items. A band on the ring finger of the left hand meant the wearer is married.

Initially, only women were required to wear a wedding rings or band. Men started wearing wedding bands only in the last century. It was actually a war, World War II, which got men to start wearing wedding rings. Men’s wedding rings came into existence for the soldiers fighting in a far off continent as a reminder of the love they had left behind.

Interesting Trivia: While the Egyptians, the Romans, and the Western civilizations started the tradition of exchanging wedding bands ages ago, the more traditional eastern countries have also accepted this trend in recent decades.

If you are wondering how a wedding rings differs from an engagement ring, there are some subtle differences that you can look for to tell which one is which. An engagement or a proposal ring is typically a precious metal or diamond studded ring with a solitaire in the centre. The wedding band, on the other hand, is a simple precious metal band. Some brides prefer a matching wedding band with their solitaire engagement ring, a “Bridal Set”.

For the layman, a diamond is just a shiny stone that reflects light really well. However, understanding how a diamond is graded and priced would answer all the questions regarding what makes one diamond better than the other.
In earlier times, there was no universal system available for diamond grading. Back then, diamonds were graded mainly based on simple visual understanding. And different people valuing the same diamond priced it differently based on their own perceptions. It was only in the last century that a globally acceptable grading standard was developed.

This standard is known as the “4Cs” system of grading diamonds and is based on “Colour”, “Clarity”, “Cut” and “Carat Weight” of a diamond. Among these, the first two – Colour and Clarity are natural occurrences in diamonds and we rarely have any control over these. The other two – Cut and Carat Weight are defined by the manner in which a diamond is cut and polished.

In this blog, I am going to go over the very first “C” of diamond grading – the “Color” of a diamond.

Interesting Trivia: When we talk about the colour of a diamond, we actually refer to the lack of colour in that particular diamond. The purest diamonds that contain no other elements than carbon are colourless. The colourless diamonds are the rarest. Most diamonds have some form of impurity elements other than carbon inside of them which absorb certain wavelengths of light causing diamonds to appear yellow, blue or other wide spectrum of colours.

The whiter or more colourless the diamond, the higher is its value. As per the grading system and chart defined by the Gemmological Institute of America, diamond colours range from D to Z – D being the purest, completely colourless diamond. Colour inclusions in a diamond then increase in a sliding scale all the way down to Z.

Diamonds that fetch the highest value are generally graded D to F in colour. However, these are rare to find and extremely costly to own. Then there are grades G to I, wherein diamonds are visually colourless to the naked and untrained eye. As you go down the grade scale, say J to M, tinges and hints of yellow or brown colour start creeping into the diamonds.

When it comes to diamond studded jewelry, there are a few tricks that can make a diamond appear slightly better in color than it actually is. The right metal shade can definitely complement the appearance of the color of your diamond. For example, if you set a diamond with slight yellow tint in white gold setting, the diamond will appear to be less yellowish due to internal reflection of white metal around it. Similarly, a yellowish stone set in yellow gold will look even more yellowish.

Hard Fact: Grading a diamond’s colour is very difficult using naked eye. Most labs have a set of “master stones” that define the highest and lowest limits of acceptable colour or lack of it within a stone. A trained gemmologist keeps placing the diamond to be graded right next to different master stones and compares their shades until the diamond’s shade matches the colour of one of the master stones. The diamond gets the colour grade of its closest matching master stone.

While the exact origin of jewellery is yet to be traced, archaeological finds suggest that humans started wearing adornments much before they started clothing themselves. Almost every ancient civilization that has been discovered so far has had some or the other form jewellery  that has been unique to them. As humans have evolved and developed, so have their jewellery pieces as well as methods and styles of wearing their jewellery.

Interesting Trivia: The forms and types of jewellery have evolved and grown over the thousands of years. Yet, some of the earliest forms of jewellery – shells strung on tree bark rope or twine are still around and popular today as fashion and beach jewellery.

While the earliest forms of jewellery were nothing more than stones, sea-shells or animal bones strung together on plant twine, jewellery from then until now, has been a mark of status, stature and wealth in every culture. It is believed that jewellery was first worn nearly 100,000 years ago. Simple necklaces or charms made of sea-shells strung on bark rope or twine have been found buried with the remains of people from long lost civilizations. These finds have also been a proof that man’s love for jewellery started long before he understood the importance of wearing clothes.

As mankind progressed and civilizations moved inland from the sea coasts, minerals and metals were found. This also led to major changes in the kind and manner in which jewellery adorned the bodies of humans. The range of different ornaments being worn also increased. As men learnt how to work with metal, the simple trinkets and charms made of shells were replaced by varied adornments such as rings, necklaces, earrings, nose rings, bracelets, and other jewellery.

The use of jewellery also went through many changes. In some cultures, it became a form of currency, in others, an expression for artistic talents. When religion was found, specific ornaments became a symbol for certain religions.

The Birth of Modern Jewellery

Egypt and India are both credited with giving birth to modern jewellery. However, the art of metal working was first developed in Egypt. It was also the Egyptians that realized the value of gold, silver and other precious stones and started storing them as a form of wealth. Almost every Egyptian pharaoh that was buried had huge treasure hoards buried with him in the pyramid. Similarly, there have been innumerable stories of unspeakable treasures in the form of gold, silver and other ornaments being found from ancient Indian forts, temples, and palaces.

Once diamonds were discovered around 3000 years ago in India, these shiny rocks soon became major adornments for the wealthy. Over the course of time, the art and styles of jewellery kept undergoing changes. More and more types of jewellery items such as headgears in the form of crowns, bands and bracelets for the upper arms, as well as waist bands, and many other articles were introduced. After the Egyptians, it was the Romans and Greeks that took the jewellery tradition forward by bringing in further intricacy into their ornaments. Both these cultures utilized jewellery as an important form of trade and business.

Then of course came the period when the true value of gemstones, including diamonds, was recognized, and precious jewellery took a permanent turn for the better. Studded diamonds and gem stones jewellery pieces in gold, silver and platinum were created, and are very much in demand and use even today.

Thus began the love story of a man with diamonds. That love story started around 3000 years ago. The far forgotten land was some place in the Southern part of India (as per popular belief). And the man who found the first diamond… Well, no one really knows who found the first diamond. What is definitely known though is that since then men have done the most amazing and romantic things with these sparkling stones to celebrate their beauty.

Interesting Trivia: For nearly 500 years, diamonds were known only in India. The rest of the world had no idea that such an exquisite stone existed!

So who introduced diamonds to the rest of the world?

Some historical facts point the finger toward Alexander the Great of Macedonia. It is believed that he first took diamonds back to Europe with him when he returned to Greece after his conquest of India. That would mean diamonds travelled from India to Europe sometime around 327 BC. That’s even before Christ was born!

Maybe the ancient Indians knew about the value of diamonds and used them in jewellery… or maybe they did not. There’s no record. But what is historically known is that in the second century AD, a Hungarian queen had diamonds set on her new crown. Much later, in 1477 AD, the Archduke Maximilian of Austria, presented an engagement ring to his soon to be queen – Mary of Burgundy. The ring was set with diamonds and it started a trend of getting engaged with a diamond ring which continues till date.

Going back to the 13th century, cutting and polishing of natural diamonds was still an unknown process. No one knew how to cut diamonds until the late 13th century. It was only in 1375 that the Point Cut was created. Up until then, only the best naturally formed diamonds were used for jewellery or decorative purposes. The rest were discarded.
Fact: Until the 14th century, only best naturally formed diamonds were used for jewellery or decorative purposes; the rest were discarded since no one knew how to cut and polish the stones.

Increasingly thereafter, various new cuts were developed. The demand of diamonds as objects of desire and their use in jewellery grew substantially.

In the 18th century, India ran out of diamonds, but new supplies were discovered in Brazil. About a century and a half later, South Africa took over as the diamond producing capital of the world. It was South Africa that gave birth to the world’s largest diamond producing organization – the De Beers Corporation. As newer diamond deposits were discovered in various countries around the world, the reach of diamonds increased. What was once an object of desire and flaunted by only the rich and elite, started reaching the masses.

In the last couple of centuries, these stunningly brilliant stones have gone through many upheavals and changes, but their allure and attraction has remained unchanged.