Beryl is a mineral composed of beryllium aluminum cyclosilicate, and gets it’s name from the greek beryllos which broadly interprets as “precious blue-green color-of-sea-water stone”. This interpretation is something of a giveaway as to what the more commonly used names for beryl-composed gemstones might be.
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We live in a time when changes seem almost constant, and tradition is becoming something that belongs to the previous generations. And so it is the same with weddings, and the application of the “something old, new, borrowed and blue” tradition. Although most brides still observe the practice, the definitions have broadened somewhat in recent times.
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It’s no surprise by now to say that many traditions surrounding everything about weddings, from the proposal to the ceremony itself, have changed somewhat. The past 20 or 30 years has seen a significant relaxing of some of the more formal elements of the process, including the age old tradition of the prospective groom asking permission of his father-in-law-to-be for his daughter’s hand in marriage.
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To the untrained eye, two diamonds of similar cuts may look very similar, but the age of the diamond tells us a lot more about how it came to be the shape it is today. Modern diamond cutting is done almost exclusively with lasers, as the high level of accuracy allows the maximum profit from a rough stone. But lasers are a recent phenomenon. So how did diamond cutters manage before the advent of such…
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There are basically two schools of thought when it comes to upgrading an engagement ring. The first is “No, never, it’s a sacred thing”, with the other saying “Why not? Where’s the harm?”. It’s a difficult question to answer, of course, but we think there are many reasons why it is okay to get a different ring, so when and how do you go about it?
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Diamonds may well be a month’s salary that lasts a lifetime, they may also be forever or even a girl’s best friend, but did you know that the shape you choose for your ring may say more about your personality than you realized?
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Diamond engagement rings can be expensive so, instead of stumbling blindly through an area of expertise that actually very few people have, how can you go about maximizing the buying experience, and making sure that you have a handful of relevant snippets of knowledge that will help along the way?
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Normally, when we talk about etiquette, it centers around a mix of formal and informal rules which dictate our behavior in a given situation. When shopping for an engagement ring, it’s a little bit different as the situation can shift one way or another depending on what happens at each stage of the process. Also, the etiquette isn’t necessarily observed according to the rules of the store you might be in, although that will be…
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Loupes are used in all sorts of industries to examine all sorts of products. Printers of all kinds, art historians and collectors, watchmakers, surgeons, modelling enthusiasts and many more. Oh, and jewelers, of course.
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Any commodity which commands a high price in both dealer and open markets is always going to attract certain elements who will look to maximize profits with little or no regard for anybody else. Sadly, diamonds, throughout their history in jewelry manufacture have been no exception. In 2003, to try and combat the rise in diamonds being openly traded to finance several civil wars – known as conflict diamonds – the UN introduced the Kimberley…
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