Have you ever wondered about the level of training a new sales associate at an engagement ring store receives prior to selling, for instance, a white gold engagement ring? Are you ever curious about which engagement ring related questions your average sales representative can accurately answer, and which engagement ring related questions are best taken directly to a trusted jeweler? At the same time, how do you ask your trusted jeweler questions about an engagement ring you found at a store, when they can’t see, hold and touch the engagement ring, let alone place it under a loupe or a microscope? The fact is, the training most engagement ring sales reps receive is relatively generic. They are always happy to discuss with you the four C’s of diamonds and other banal information, easily obtainable from a simple Internet search. But try asking an engagement ring sales rep for the pros and cons of considering a GIA VS2 diamond over a GIA SI1 diamond, and your average sales rep just may disappoint you. For that matter, ask your engagement ring sales rep for reasons to consider diamonds above G color and diamonds above a GIA VS2, and your chances of disappointment increase further. In this issue of DT Era we discuss a few examples of engagement rings and wedding rings, while offering some insight and a few details that your engagement ring sales rep may or may not know.
Right off the bat we start with an Italian engagement ring. This solitaire engagement ring is pictured with a one carat Italian round (brilliant) cut diamond, meaning 56 facets + 1, a GIA VS1, color F-G. Let’s pose the following question – most diamond grading scales indicate that a G color diamond will be clear to the naked eye. Why, then, would this solitaire diamond engagement ring feature an F-G diamond? Taking this question to the next level, why would anyone buy a diamond above G color, when G color is considered clear? While G color diamonds smaller than one carat do show clear to the naked eye, once you reach one carat or more, a G color diamond will often show some yellow. A G color 2-3 carat diamond will almost invariably show yellow, so the larger the diamond, the more need there is for a higher color grade.
Next we move on to an Italian wedding ring, featuring five half carat Italian round (brilliant) cut diamonds, each diamond being a GIA VS2, G color. Another question – why would a five stone wedding like this be set with GIA VS2 diamonds, rather than SI1 or SI2 diamonds, to make this wedding ring cheaper? The key to wedding rings, much like the key to engagement rings, is consistency in quality. A GIA VS2 diamond will never (yes, never) have inclusions visible to the naked eye. If these diamonds were a tenth of a carat each, inclusions would be less of a concern, but when the entire aesthetic performance of a wedding ring lies on the shoulders of five half carat diamonds, for a total of 2.5 carats, there is absolutely no room for hinderance of light dispersion.
We end this issue of DT Era with a simple concept that most engagement ring salespeople know, but relatively few mention it to their customers. The engagement ring featured above is produced in 18k white gold. Engagement ring stores today have made a push in the direction of 18 karat gold and platinum, but why? Is the customer in fact better off with an 18k gold or platinum engagement ring? The answer is, it depends. In this day and age, most people lead active lifestyles. Do you take off your engagement and wedding rings before every time you head into the shower? Do you remove your engagement and wedsing rings before picking up dumbels at the gym? How about when you make dinner, do you remove your engagement and wedding rings then? If you don’t, fats and some solubles speed up metal corrosion, and any metal to metal action (such as dumbel to engagement ring) will shave layers off your engagement and wedding rings. An 18 karat gold shank is much softer than 14k, and platinum is even softer than 18k. So be careful when an egagement ring sales rep tries to convince you to upgrade to a higher gold content, since the softer the engagement ring shank, the more maintenance, the higher the cost.
We could not possibly go through every fact or detail that could prove important in the engagement rings and wedding rings arena. But remember, your engagement ring sales rep is a commision-based employee with sales incentives and sales quotas. Therefore it is up to you to conduct your own engagement ring and diamond research, and make certain that you have all of the pertinent facts when making your decisions. As one brilliant thinker once said, “if you don’t know jewelry, know the jeweler”.
