It is a Luxury Diamond Engagement Ring, or Not?
How can you tell luxury engagement rings from their less refined counterparts?
If you have got some cash to drop on your engagement rings but find yourself a little naive when it comes to the purchase of luxury jewelry…where do you even begin? The Internet is FULL of jewelers that claim to be the best in the diamond industry, but how can you spot the real from the fake? Here are some tips and clues to help you put your luxury diamond engagement ring cash in the right hands.
1. Search the tabloids. Celebrities may not be a great source for advice on who to vote for in the next presidential election or how many squares of toilet paper you should be using (ehem – Cameron Diaz), but they do know their diamonds! Do some Google searching for “celebrity engagement rings” and see which jeweler’s names pop up. Most recently, Reese Witherspoon became engaged with a rare William Goldberg Ashoka diamond. You know if it is good enough for Reese…it is good enough for me!
2. Gold or Platinum? Okay, I will admit that there is a few luxury diamond engagement rings out there that are placed in gold settings, but for the most part, luxury jewelers choose platinum. Why? Because platinum is the purest metal (won’t cause allergies) it is the whitest metal (looks great with your expensive rock) and is the strongest metal (won’t loose your stones). When you are dropping serious coin on a diamond you want it placed in the best possible setting, and that is platinum.
3. A little something extra. Bare bones rings may offer beauty in simplicity, but just because there is more doesn’t mean that the ring can’t still be refined. Some of the most beautiful diamond engagement rings have subtle details others don’t, most notably microset diamonds along the circumference of the band or around the edges of the stone. Designers of luxury diamond engagement rings will add a special touch.
Read More:
Diamond Jewelry Rings: How to Spot Luxury
Celebrity Diamond Jewelry: How it Makes it to the Red Carpet
Related articles- Celebrities LOVE the Ashoka Diamond! (luxurydiamondjewelry.blogspot.com)
Ashoka Diamonds - Modern Jewelry with Vintage Appeal
Have you seen Reese Witherspoon’s insane new Ashoka diamond engagement ring? Her now fiancé, Hollywood agent Jim Toth, surprised her with an amazing four carat sparkler from jewelry designer William Goldberg.
I am so jealous! This diamond is not only flawless, but has an interesting tie to history and romance. The Ashoka diamond is a William Goldberg exclusive cut that they named after the legendary Emperor Ashoka, who brought peace and love to his people.
Honoring the Buddhist emperor’s ability to manifest harmony and compassion, the diamond is said to instill positive feelings among those who wear it. Thanks to this extra little meaning and the incredible clarity and sparkle in each stone, the Ashoka diamond has become a favorite of those in the market for luxury diamond jewelry.
Ashoka diamonds must be cut from very large rough stones because much of the diamond is lost in the cutting process. This makes the diamond extremely rare, as only 10% of the diamonds mined each year throughout the world are large enough, or perfect enough to warrant the Ashoka cut.
Because of the Ashoka cut, a rectangular shape with rounded corners, these diamonds appear up to 30% larger than other diamond cuts of the same carat weight. Not only is this diamond insanely beautiful…but also HUGE!
Toth, wanting to give Reese only the best that engagement rings have to offer, worked closely with William Goldberg to design her custom ring. The Ashoka diamond is an adaptation of the vintage cushion cut diamond, giving the ring an antique appeal, and to further elevate the sparkle, William Goldberg placed Reese’s four carat vintage inspired diamond on a radiant platinum and pave diamond setting.
Can’t wait to see what the couple choose for their wedding rings!
Read more here! Ashoka Diamonds
Day Five - If you were stranded on a desert island, what five books would you take with you? Include one reason for each.
Oh god. Only five? I can’t bring an entire library with me?
Standard no particular order disclaimer continues to apply
Assumptions I am making: The island has some source of freshwater, or I have the means to create a system to distilling fresh water from saltwater. There is some source of food I can gather/hunt to survive. And thus survive to read these five books.
Assumptions I am not making: How many others (if any) are stranded with me.
Sputnik Sweetheart - Haruki Murakami
Removed from society on this island, Sputnik Sweetheart takes on a whole new voice. It is already speaking of this isolation that we encounter in modern life, stifling us, reducing us to cogs in the constantly churning machine, removing us from the ability to express ourselves.
Out alone on the island, it reminds me that loneliness is not just a human construct, but a condition that can be naturally (yet involuntarily) forced onto us, and that no matter how far removed we are from society, we are molded by society and must choose to conform to or break out of the molding ourselves.
Lord of the Flies - William Goldberg
I’m stuck on a remote island, need I say more? Even if I didn’t I still will.
Perhaps it is because I am taking a course on East Asian Political Thought (basically loads of Confucianism), that I would focus on this, but we must always remember and constantly be aware of our own humanity.
Lord of the Flies is an exercise into diving into the deepest and vilest parts of humanity. The corrupted and degraded parts yes, but they make up a part of us, and it is up to us to manage it and still maintain the positives of what makes us humane.
For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
There is this pervading sense of death through this entire novel. And it reminds me that even though I am stuck on an island, I must make the most of my limited life in a manner that I myself find fulfilling, rather than waste away bemoaning my situation.
There is also the discussion of suicide, which given my circumstances… Well let’s not get into that, but it is an interesting take on suicide given the author and his passing. But in all seriousness, it’s an interesting philosophical discussion over the nature of suicide.
Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
To escape to where the wild things are. Well now I’m stuck where the wild things are. It is a reminder, again, to be human, to balance out these emotions, to not ride out in anger (especially on a tiny island), to remember love and compassion and above all, not lose sight of reality for fantasy.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
I like Roald Dahl. This is a pretty amusing story and I enjoyed it as a kid. It’s nice to have something to be nostalgic for when you’re stuck someone unfamiliar. This would be the book I turn to when I need a space to just escape to, so that I don’t lose it to the monotony of not having internet, and of possibly not surviving on a day by day basis.
