• Introduction

When selecting a diamond engagement ring, there are many factors to consider prior to making a purchase. The task might seem daunting at first, but with a little bit of knowledge you can walk into any showroom feeling confident in making an educated purchase. When evaluating a diamond, it is best to look at the carat, color, clarity, and cut.

• What is a carat?

Contrary to popular opinion, carat (ct) actually refers to the weight of the diamond and not the size. Typically when discussing stones of less than one carat, jewelers talk about the stone in terms of points. This is because a carat is divided into 100 points, and thus .01 carat would equal one point. For instance a ½ carat stone would be referred to as 50 points. This analogy doesn’t always prove to be true because diamonds cannot be all uniformly cut to an exact carat, or half carat, so oftentimes the carat weight (1/4 carat, 1/2 carat, etc.)  is an estimate of the actual weight of the diamond. For instance a ¼ carat stone can refer to a stone range anywhere between .23 – .27 carats.

• How does weight affect price?

Diamonds become rarer as their weight is increased, and as such, the more valuable and costly each stone is. The larger the stone, the more the cost in carat increases at an unbalanced rate. For instance, a 2-carat diamond is always more expensive than two 1-carat diamonds that are the exact same quality.  It is crucial to note that when assessing a diamond, weight and size are not the same thing.

•  What to keep an eye on

For centuries diamond cutters have sought to produce a diamond with the highest possible weight while not sacrificing quality from the rough diamond. It’s easy to say that bigger must inherently be better, but you really need to consider what is right for you. The quality of the diamond, which we will cover in a successive blog post, must also be considered in addition to budget.

I am on my way to Shane Co.’s Salt Lake City jewelry store. I love to spend time with the staff at our stores. This gives me time to get ideas of what our customers are looking for so that we can design styles to fit their preferences.  The experience of actually watching sales happen, watching someone fall in love with a ring that we designed, is such an honor. We truly feel like we are a part of their lives. Our customers ultimately help us decide what styles we need.  When it comes to designing engagement rings I spend time all over the world working with manufacturers and reviewing trends to find just the right styles.  Some of the ideas can come from the simplest concept and then I look at it to see what we can do to make it unique for the Shane Co.

Every day I work on designs and creations from simple pencil drawings to AutoCAD drawings while searching out styles that will work in our stores, such as our St. Louis jewelry store.  Once the concept is started we work to get samples so we can review the structure of the engagement ring or wedding ring.  The structure of the ring is so important because our rings carry a lifetime warranty; the ring must be constructed correctly while keeping in mind that the design must be pleasing.  Once we get a design set, it is really fun to decide where we want to put diamonds into the setting, or if we want to use sapphires or rubies. I find one of the most frustrating things is to have to wait for our designs in white gold or platinum engagement rings to arrive to the stores because you are so excited about your concepts and you want to share them with our customers now.

Once we get a design ordered it is the time to start all over again.  We have hundreds of rings in our inventory and my main goal is to keep ahead of the trends.  I am landing in Salt Lake City so wish me the best in finding a couple more styles to add to our already large assortment of rings.