False Promise
“How a gem expert wound up with a fake, and what you can learn from her experience.” By Susan M Neider, Barron’s Penta, May 21, 2011.
The Vivid White Diamond®
When defining sparkle in a diamond, there are only two things that matter — efficiency and amplified light return. Efficiency rating (E.R.) is a measure of the refracted light entering a diamond that is returned to your eye. Amplified light return (A.L.R) is the number of visible internal light reflections that a diamond has per …
Van Cleef & Arpels: What You Need to Know
Van Cleef & Arpels is a member of the Four Horsemen Club (nickname for the top four jewelers in the world); the others are Cartier, Graff, and Harry Winston. They are also referred to as gild stores after the Gilded Age. The company was founded in 1896 by Salomon Arpels and Alfred Van Cleef. Their …
Pillow Tops
Cushions, Asschers, European, Old-miners, Rose cuts; all diamond cuts long gone like the era they flourished in. Gone like the flappers and the Roaring Twenties; gone like the Great Depression and the Zoot suits…or are they? Gadzooks, the Pillow Tops are back! Practically every jeweler from here to Kalamazoo has resurrected Pillow Tops and is …
How To Clean A Diamond
Fred Cuellar illustrates the best new way to clean a diamond using Phillips most advanced toothbrush and how to make your own jewelry cleaning solution.
Dangerous Metals: The Truth About Tungsten and Cobalt Wedding Bands
Fred Cuellar, The Diamond Guy®, and Dr. Mark Mehaffey discuss the truth about removing wedding bands–including gold, platinum, silver, titanium, stainless steel, cobalt, and tungsten. The equipment to remove or cut tungsten and cobalt wedding rings are not as readily available as some have lead you to believe. Fred shows you how to remove these …
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Harry Winston Engagement Rings vs. Tiffany & Co. Engagment Rings
I’m constantly asked to compare engagement rings from Harry Winston and Tiffany & Co. “Fred, is the Tiffany Embrace® better than the micro pave Harry Winston? Is the classic Winston better than a classic Tiffany? Or is the double claw prong solitaire of the Winston better than a Butter Cup Tiffany solitaire?” The answer? Depends. …
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The 'Blood Diamond' Resurfaces
By MICHAEL ALLEN from Wall Street Journal CAFUNFO, Angola—On paper, Angola is a poster child for the global effort to keep “blood diamonds” out of the world’s jewelry stores. International pressure helped end a vicious civil war a decade ago by strangling the ability of rebels to trade diamonds for weapons. Angola is now a …
Color Typing
They’re all diamonds, yes, but color does make a difference. Let’s start this piece by asking what on the surface might seem like a very simple question, Shouldn’t two diamonds of the exact same weight, same clarity, same color, exact same proportions, non-fluorescent, same purchase date, same lab grading report date, both bonded with the …
