Love

I so love this new ring I got in! 

Check it out here! 

Another happy customer!

Who wrote just the sweetest note! 

“Hi Gillian! I just wanted to let know that K proposed this weekend with your beautiful ring I fell in love with! That sneaky,diabolical, wonderful man had been scheming behind my back and pulled off such a wonderful surprise!!! I wanted to thank you for helping him and being so patient and understanding. He’s so proud and I’m so very happy and you helped make that happen. And everyone is saying I have the most beautiful engagement ring they’ve ever seen!!! And it is. Thank you again for everything, K could never have done this without you!” —S

Thank you both for letting me a small part of your happiness! And for supporting a small business like myself! I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to finally work for myself doing what I love. 

To check out my whole line of vintage diamond rings, click here. 

Kim Kardashian’s Engagement Ring

Dear Gillian,

Here’s a question (tapping into your gemology background): What do you make of Kim Kardashian’s engagement ring? Inquiring minds want to know. ;)

Thanks for considering the question.

P.S. Your daughter couldn’t be any cuter. Good luck with naps! Rockspings

Thanks for the great question! Actually, I quite like the ring. I’ve read several reports stating how tacky the ring is, but I find the cut and design quite conservative. Emerald cuts are less flashy than other cuts, and flanking the center with two side stones makes this a very traditional three stone ring. And with a center of 16.5 carats, it’s not all that big in the scope of celebrity diamonds. Elizabeth Taylor’s engagement ring to Tim Burton was of a similar style and was over 33 carats. Of course, Elizabeth didn’t pick the same engagement ring with multiple fiancees, and she did donate all her gems to charity upon her death.

I do wonder as to the quality of the diamond. I was able to dig up that it’s a VS quality - which probably means a VS2. In such a large stone, and particularly in an emerald cut, this means that the inclusions (the ugly stuff sometimes trapped in a diamond) probably are eye visible. So if I looked at the diamond with just my eye (no loupe or fancy tools) I could probably pick out the flaw. So it looks like they went with size over quality for the budget (which was apparently 2 million)…Which is just fine by me! Can’t say I’d be unhappy with that stone myself! Just to explain a bit, emerald cuts are what we call step cuts. So instead of having the super sparkly faceting of a round diamond (which can obscure the quality), these stones have a less facets that when seen from above look like steps going to the back of the stone. The large facet on top, called a table, acts like a large window straight into the diamond, and you can usually easily see any flaws and whatnot. It also makes emerald cuts very easy to grade. 

My other concern is in the knock off department. Now that Kim has this ring, a lot folks shopping for an engagement ring will be looking at the emerald cut. And unfortunately, they just don’t sparkle well unless they are very large. Most engagement rings are less than a carat, and in my opinion that just isn’t big enough to show off an emerald cut well. Add to that the fact that stones don’t sparkle as much when dirty, and I think most people would disappointed with an emerald cut. But in the larger sizes, emerald cuts, and Kim’s ring, are just stunning. Now let’s just hope the engagement/ marriage lasts! 

LOVE!

This style of engagement ring is the hottest thing out there. It goes by many names: a halo design, micro-pave or french cut, but it’s all essentially the same thing. A ring of small diamonds set around a larger center stone, with a single row of small diamonds continuing down around the finger. The metal should be as invisible as possible, and only an expert diamond setter can secure the stones. The effect is beautiful…the small diamonds enhance the center stone and make it look larger, and who doesn’t want diamonds encircling their finger. Shown here with a cushion cut center, this is one of my favorite styles. 

Why is Tiffany so expensive?

Really the question is, what’s in the name? Clients would often tell me that they had seen a design they liked at Tiffany, but were not going to buy there because “of course” it was overpriced.

But in reality, you get what you pay for. When purchasing a piece from Tiffany, you’re not only paying for the gold, the diamonds, etc. that go into your piece, but also all the marketing they do, all the trademark lawsuits they’ve filed, as well as great design and over a hundred years of history. Quality is also paramount at Tiffany. They don’t skimp on the gold, or use lower quality diamonds, or set stones improperly. Plenty of other jewelers maintain that high standard of quality (I’m one of them!), but it can very difficult for the average consumer to tell the difference.

Take this design. Tiffany calls it the Tiffany Novo. In reality, it’s a classic engagement ring design that’s been around forever. The diamonds on the side are a variation of a prong setting. Tiffany usually only sells its settings with the center stone, so it can difficult to tell how much they’re actually charging for the setting, but this one seems to run well over $3000 in Platinum. I can manufacture a very similar ring (but of course not the same because I don’t want Tiffany to sue me) for $1600 and still make plenty of profit. I’ve seen knock off’s of this design with other jewelers for as low as $700, but I know you can’t manufacture this ring for that price without sacrificing quality. So maybe Tiffany is a little overpriced, but mostly, you get what you pay for.