Diamond Dilemma — to Buy or is There an Alternative?

Valentine's day is just around the corner with heart-shaped postcards and sweets in every shop window. But for those who plan to engage this day (this is the most popular day for such an event), there can be some worries about – an engagement ring. Traditionally, it is a diamond ring and if you are still thinking of making a proposal, it can hit your pocket greatly. But are there alternative options that would cost less? Continue reading to find that!

1. A ring with a heirloom diamond. Diamonds are everlasting and they are known as handed-down things in many families. So if you have such a diamond you can have it set into a vintage ring. It won't cost as much but this gift will indeed be priceless. It's like having a ring with its own history. There's a website “Turtle Love” offering vintage rings, so you can hunt for one if you want.

Raphaele Canot Diamond Jewelry Debut in the U.S.

Diamond gems are normally associated with solidity and sophistication. But as it turned out, much depends on jewelry design. Raphaele Canot opted for playful whimsical designs for her diamonds gems, unexpected color solutions and unusual combinations to show that diamond jewelery can be a fun!

Have you ever seen diamonds alongside enamel decoration of eye-popping colors? This is the mixture you won't find every day, but it looks flattering. It seems Ms. Canot could turn a classic diamond stone into a casual fling. 

Rahpaele Canot wanted to make a fresh approach and created an alternative to classic jewelry. You can see whether she succeeded on not from her Art-Deco-inspired bracelets and ring collection. There's a funny 'OMG' ring, that is actually a tribute to one of the most popular American exclamations 'Oh My God!'. It is made in a shape of lips, where a wearer has to insert a finger through an opened mouth to put it on. The upper lip is decorated with diamonds, while the whole idea of a lip motif is caught when one moves the finger. A smiling ring, a funny jewelry!

Agatha Christie's Jewelry Found

Agatha Christie, a world known novelist of murder and mystery stories, had been entangled in a mystery herself even many ago after her death. It happened when a fan of her, who bought an old suitcase as a thing to remind about Agatha, discovered a box of jewelry inside.

The fan, who decided to remain anonymous, said that she bought a suitcase in 2006 at the contents of the Greenway estate. That time she paid about $160 for that old traveling case. Inside she saw a locked box, but since the key was lost a new owner didn't bother much on opening it. Four years passed until she had that box opened. That time she had her building work done and got a chance to use some building tools to wretch it open. What she found there stunned her greatly: a purse of golden coins, a ring with three diamonds and a diamond brooch. Most likely all these stuff belonged to Agatha Christie's mother. Now she is selling an ancient brooch ($10,000-$16,000) and a diamond ring ($6,000-$9,000).

Let It Go! Or Let the Diamond Rings Fly in the Sky

After the Weeks family had found helium balloons with two rings – wedding and engagement – tied to them as a weight, there are plenty of versions about rings mystery. But all of them have one thing in common – a sad background, a broken heart. Most likely the person/couple tried to let all the memories about the past go.
One thing comes in mind speaking about this story – the words from Rihanna's song “Diamonds” (diamonds in the sky) came true! Or better to say diamonds fall down from the sky, what is a dream for a great number of people and sounds like a happy luck. At least for Melany Weeks and her family. This is how it happened.

Six Filipino Artists Tried Themselves in Designing Diamond Jewelry

This idea came to DENOVO, the jewelry company found and owned by Caryll and Jose Benitez. Each of six designers had a chance to represent his/her own line in the whole unique ensemble. The idea was to not simply make a jewel for the sake of a jewel but to tell a story with the help of a breathtaking tool – diamond jewelry. Being speechless, jewelry still can say things about its owner without words. Are you an arrogant, provoking or romantic person? Sometimes you can't say that about yourself with words, so there is jewelry to do that instead of you and there are six best storytellers to do the job. So this is what they told in their collections:

A Diamond Ring Can One Day Turn Into a Cubic Zirconia Ring

It really can happen and even happened with some clients of one NJ pawn shop. So this is the story of how a Toms River pawn shop huddled a cheat.

Aaron's Gold is a pawn shop in NJ with Ann Paris, a 65-years old lady being an owner, and her nephew Walter Hodnovich Jr. being her manager. Both were arrested a couple of days ago because they were accused in buying stolen jewelry. Surely, they knew the original price for precious items and they could guess it was stolen but instead of informing the police both decided to earn on that case. Conspirators paid only $140 for a double platinum ring that was estimated at $15,000. Moreover, they changed a diamond in a ring into cubic zirconia. By that they broke the rule that the item purchased by a pawn shop should never be altered. Nobody knows whether this was the first time of such kind of a cheat or similar cases happened before. It may happen that the clients of this pawn shop who applied for their help brought back an imitation diamond jewelry instead of a real one.

In this case the owner of the jewelry was found and she had the pictures of jewelry at home, so she could prove the authenticity of each item. But as you see, diamonds have always been, still are and most likely will be an apple of discord for many.

Be My Josephine! Napoleon Engagement Ring Sold at Auction

“The fiancé of the French Emperor deserves to be proposed with the deluxe jewelry” Napoleon Bonaparte might have thought since the adjectives “beautiful, awesome and stunning” can't reproduce the splendour of the ring he gave to Josephine.

The ring popped up at the Osenat auction in Fontainebleau, France. The pre-estimated price varied between $13,000 and $20,000 but skyrocketed to unexpected $1.2 million!

Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

 

Choosing a present can be both challenging and tiresome since the main idea is to please the presentee and you may not know that is the pleasing thing really is. Speaking about Saint Valentine's Day, this is even a more confusing task to select the right gift: not the one that is needed but the one that is desired, that can also show your feelings in the best way possible. You may find it sounds too radical, but Valentine's Day is a once-a-year chance to make something special being inspired by loving atmosphere prevailing everywhere around.

From Fiancée to Bachelorette: Britney Spears Returned Her Diamond Engagement Ring to Jason Trawick

Private life of celebrities are usually in public hands, they can hardly do or say anything without being spot on the front page. This is a kind of tribute to their fame. Marriages and divorces are especially talked about and Britney Spears is now in the center of everybody's attention: she broke up with her fiancé Jason Trawick being on her half way to marriage.

Singer's mind is a stranger to everyone but there is an assumption about the possible cause for breakup. Britney Spears claimed to want more children while her starlet boyfriend could not imagine himself being a daddy. But this fact didn't spoil couple's relationships completely: they still continue to be the best friends for each other.

First All-Diamond Ring

Here you can find many posts about various precious rings incrusted with diamonds, for example this and this one. But the unique diamond ring has been recently created by Shawish Jewellery company – all diamond ring cut from a single diamond stone!

The idea of creating one-of-a-kind ring came to Mohamed Shawesh, the president of the company, who implement it in life and unveiled his progeny. This is a 150-carat diamond ring cut from a single diamond either to outrange “Tsarevna Swan” ring that set the Guinness world record for most cut diamonds mounted into one ring (2,525 gems) or to brake the bank being priced at $70 million. But it seems Mohamed Shawish killed two birds with one stone. Still, it took much time and efforts to get such excellent results. According to Shawish, he spent a year on getting the copyright for the ring's design, and once it was approved they had to purchase a special laser to cut it perfect.

Natural diamonds are know for their high price tags, but this time it surpassed all possible limits. So, now we are waiting for the sale to discover the name of a happy (and wealthy) owner. Stay tuned!