We ensure that you are fully educated about your diamond investment,
without pressuring your selection.
We explain how the interplay of cut, clarity, carat weight, and color
affect your investment's value and your jewelry.

Cutting is the one piece of the diamond puzzle entirely in the hands of a human. A rough diamond may have multiple gems to offer -- the skill is in extracting them properly. The images below illustrate the basics of what makes the "cut". The goal is for all the light that enters the diamond to exit through the "table" on top of the diamond. Any light lost outside the table diminishes the fiery effects of the stone.

Color

Color in diamonds varies from colorless to strongly tinted. This is NOT the same as being a "fancy", which is a topic for a different discussion. In many cases, the overall design of the jewelry piece itself works better with a warmer colored diamond. The less color, the higher the cost, as they are the rarest among the color spectrum.

Clarity is entirely natural, as is color. "Clarity" in this case refers to the number of internal "flaws" (inclusions) in the diamond crystal. The process of creating a diamond, the heat, the pressure, etc., generally means that a diamond cannot be created completely flawless...but some come close, and the proper cut and setting can hide, or even utilize, those inclusions to an advantage.

Why Platinum?

18K white gold is 75% pure gold which is very yellow. To give it a whiter appearance, the gold is combined with a mix of 25% alloy metals. In reality, however, the resulting color is actually a very pale yellow. In order to make white gold truly white, it is plated with a metal called rhodium. Unfortunately, rhodium plating tends to wear off over time and the yellowish color starts to reappear.

For jewelry that is worn a great deal, keeping its gold looking white can be an on-going challenge. To replace the rhodium, the jewelry must be re-polished (which removes some of the gold) and re-plated. Gold's inherent softness, coupled with the process of rhodium plating, increases the speed with which the gold actually wears away.

On the other hand, Platinum 950, (used in quality jewelry) is 95% pure, and is a white metal from the beginning. The other 5% is either ruthenium or iridium, both of which are also white in appearance. Platinum jewelry has no trace of yellow, eliminating the need for plating.

Platinum does not oxidize and will always retain its beautiful white color. It is denser, stronger, more durable and more resistant to abrasion than 18K white gold. Since Platinum does not wear away, it provides a more secure setting for precious stones. Platinum is also less prone to cause allergic reactions than gold, especially as white gold's alloy mix generally contains nickel. And while gold jewelry is certainly beautiful and will always retain its place in fine jewelry, the metal of choice for bridal sets and regularly worn jewelry is, without a doubt, Platinum.

2 in 10 diamonds are gem quality -- 1 in 1 MILLION diamonds is a 1-carat gem; 1 in 5 million is a 2-carat gem -- and no two diamonds are alike. Even if both have the same weight, cut, color, and clarity, they will not be the same.

To find 1 1-carat gem diamond, an object the size of a large pea, 250 tons of the Earth's crust must be removed. Diamond mines are heavily prized, and frequently fought over, even though many of them are in incredibly remote, dangerous parts of the world. New technology is now finding diamond deposits at the bottom of the ocean, but reaching them takes a great deal of money, too.

Cutting diamonds requires a master set of skills, earned through at least 10 years of apprenticeship. Thousands of smaller diamonds will be cut before that person will ever touch a 1-carat stone. No college course can teach these skills. They are passed down through family lines and, with each generation, the cost to employ the best cutters increases--the finer the desired cut, or if the diamond is a fancy, colored stone, the more expensive the artisan.

A diamond is about 140% stronger than the strongest substance known to man. It is a substance that has survived the harshest conditions the Earth can devise, yet it outlasts time. Which is the better investment -- a $30,000 car with a life span of 5 years, or a $3,000 diamond that lasts forever?

Diamonds are carbon dated at around 3.4 BILLION years old, pre-dating dinosaurs by millennia. Somehow, though, they still sell for substantially less than other "antiques".

Since 1940, the value of diamonds has DOUBLED every 10 years or so, and that's a conservative number. Diamonds are an emotional, as well as financial, investment. Nothing can do what a diamond can do. Nothing else has the same level of power.

(c) Tiffany Mann Diamonds 2006 -- All rights reserved.
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