So guys, you've decided to propose to your girlfriend. That's a big decision you're making, and you want to be sure you're giving her the kind of ring she's going to love showing off to her friends. But you've hit a bit of a snag: you know next to nothing about diamond rings.
This doesn't apply to the men who work in a jewelry store (if you do, good for you) or the ones who through some sheer luck had all this explained already. But for the uninitiated, there's a few things you need to pay attention to.
The Four Cs of Diamonds
The four Cs are cut, color, clarity, and carat. These four qualities are the things you look for in a ring. Enlist whatever help you can to ensure you know the levels you want in each area.
Cut is the form the raw diamond is shaped into. This is the first thing you notice when choosing a ring and the first she'll notice when you pop the question. In fact, picking the wrong one of the eleven possibilities can be a Very Bad Thing. Your choices are:
- Round
- Princess (oblong with a square top)
- Radiant (rectangle with curved edges)
- Trillion (triangle radiant)
- Heart-shaped
- Marquise (elongated with pointed ends)
- Cushion (square with rounded edges)
- Emerald (rectangle with sharp corners)
- Oval
- Pear-shaped
- Asscher (square version of emerald)
Is your head spinning yet? No? It will be soon, because there's still three C's to go.
Color is, well, the color of the stone. In diamond rings, it might surprise you to know that not all diamonds are actually white (clear). The Hope Diamond, for example, is classified as a Fancy Dark Grayish Blue diamond. And though many colors can occur based on all kinds of scientific things like nitrogen content, most diamonds on the market today are in the "normal color range" of yellow, through light brown, to white. Any other colors, beyond what's called a Z grade of yellow, are known as "fancy" diamonds. These colored diamonds are the rarest of the rare.
When someone talks about the clarity of a diamond, they're telling you how many imperfections are in the stone. And how visible they are. This grade is fairly intuitive: the lower the rating on the scale of imperfect to flawless, the more flaws exist and the more visible these diamond flaws are.
The carat of a diamond refers not to the size, but to the weight. One carat is equal to 200 milligrams, which means a 1/2 carat stone weighs in at 100 milligrams and so on from there. Follow so far? Good. Some women want a specific carat of stone (and if you're lucky they'll tell you), whereas others are less decisive on size and more focused on quality. It really all depends on the woman.
The Engagement Ring
Say you know which diamond you're getting. A 3-carat princess cut that's rated a D on color — the highest rank — and flawless clarity, for example. The next problem now is which metal to get it made from. Your options here are yellow gold, white gold, silver, platinum, and titanium. There might be some other choices, but those five are the most common.
In this case it all comes down to personal preference. Yellow gold, the most classic of the metals, is making a comeback in recent years after being overtaken by white gold. Silver rings are inexpensive compared to their gold brothers; and platinum and titanium rings are the rarest of all types.
Still here? Good ... you might get through this without your eyes glazing over after all.
The final thing you have to consider is the setting of the diamond. Do you want a solitaire (one stone), tri-stone (three diamonds), or diamond-encrusted? There are other kinds too, but those are the primary settings.
The Non-Diamond Ring
There are as many options for engagement rings as there are women in the world, and some of them might not want a diamond engagement ring. Sapphires, topazes, and emeralds are a few examples of the stone your lady love may want instead of a clear diamond sparkling on her hand.
One more tip: If you're uncomfortable about buying a ring, don't hesitate to ask someone who knows your prospective fiancee's jewelry tastes better than you do.
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