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.
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. …
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 …
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 Guyâ„¢, 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 …
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 …
Color Grading
Color Grading Scale Checking your diamond’s report card. Diamonds come in virtually all colors of the rainbow, from the “beautiful violet” of the Hope diamond to shades of blue, brown, gray, orange, etc. But colored diamonds are very rare and precious. Chances are, all the diamonds you’ll see in your diamond shopping will be white …
Clarity Grading
Clarity Grading Scale I can see clearly now The clarity of a diamond depends on how clear or clean it is ó how free it is of blemishes and inclusions, when viewed with the naked eye and with a 10X loupe, or magnifier. Let’s define our terms. BLEMISHES: Imperfections on the outside of a diamond …
