The second most abundant mineral on Earth’s crust, quartz comes in myriad varieties, including more than a few gemstones. Purple quartz is amethyst, greenish-yellow quartz is citrine, and so on. You may have heard of rose quartz, a frosty stone that exhibits a rosy red hue due to trace amounts of iron, manganese, or titanium;…
Somewhere along the way, some judgmental people—probably in the sixties or seventies—decided that hoop earrings were somehow an indication of questionable and unladylike character. Can you imagine anything so ridiculous? Hoops have survived so long, they’re classic—you might even call them a retro classic—and anything available in diamonds can’t be trashy. Aside from being classic…
There are many reasons to choose a channel setting, which places stones—usually round, though emerald, oval, square, and baguette cuts are also seen—in a trough-like (or channel) setting, so that the stones are flush with the shank. First, it’s a secure setting that prevents the stones from snagging or being pried loose from prongs. Second,…
So what about it? Can you or can’t you mix metals—white, yellow, and rose gold? Can you do it every day or just on special occasions? And what are the rules? First off, of course you can mix metals. There may have been some antiquated rule once but, as you know, in fashion, rules are…
If you buy a diamond at a retail jeweler, it’s likely marked up 100 percent from its wholesale value. If you buy a diamond ring, you could be looking at 200 to 300 percent markup. So what do you think happens when you walk out of the store? That’s right: the value of that purchase…
You may have heard of colored diamonds and, of course, they’re fancy, but are they different from fancy colored diamonds? Not really. The difference is that the rarer colors—pink, blue, green, red—are usually called pink diamonds, blue diamonds, green diamonds, red diamonds. But the less rare ones, the yellows and browns, well, they get the…
Red, green, blue, and purple stones are rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and amethysts, right? Not exactly. These familiar labels are actually trade names for certain color varieties of precious minerals that can occur in a wide range of other colors. The names are usually created in an attempt to make the stone seem more appealing—simple marketing…
And if you see it when you shop for jewelry in the DC area, should you buy it? If you’ve been reading this blog long enough, you know that we’re always in favor of buying what you like, so if this gorgeous blue stone appeals to you, then yes! You should buy it. But if…
We all know that one of the four Cs of diamonds is cut, but when it comes to diamonds, you’re not going to see another C-cabochon. We thought, then, it might help to know about this cut when you go shopping for jewelry in the DC area. A cabochon—or cab as is often heard—cut means…
The minute something becomes a trend, somebody is already bucking it. In the case of diamond engagement rings, it’s taken a while. But over the past decade or so, engagement rings don’t have to diamonds alone, or even diamonds at all. A betrothal can be marked with just about any ring at all, and colored…