Engagement Ring For Less
Buying An Engagement Ring for Less Money
Family Ring
The best way of getting an engagement ring free or cheaply is to see if your mother, grandmother or aunt has a ring that is handed down through the generations. Not only will the ring be unique but it would be a wonderful way to welcome you future wife into the family.
Baguettes
If you like a diamond engagement ring with a lot of sparkle but don’t want to spend money for a large carat diamond, consider a smaller diamond with Baguette. The baguette cut is generally used for smaller rectangular diamonds and features rows of step-like facets. It is often used in pairs to flank a larger center stone. This design will add sparkle and shine but cost less than a larger diamond. Or consider buying a ring with several smaller diamonds instead of one large diamond. Smaller diamonds are less expensive than large ones.
Other Tips to Save Money Buying An Engagement Ring: Save Money When Buying The Diamond, Engagement Ring Shopping Tips, Save Money on Your Engagement Ring, Drop The Diamond For Another Gemstone
Non-Traditional Engagement Rings
The traditional engagement ring may be a solitaire diamond set in gold, white gold or platinum. Diamonds are by far the most popular gemstone used for gemstone engagement rings, or any type of jewelry, for that matter. But there is no law that says you can’t have to ruby engagement ring, a white sapphire engagement ring or a topaz engagement ring. Not everyone likes or wants a diamond engagement ring. There are women who just don’t like the look of a diamond ring on their finger.
If you decide to go with a non-traditional engagement ring and not use diamond as the center piece, you will have many alternatives to be able to create an unique engagement ring that reflects your taste and style.
However, before you go with another gemstone instant of a diamond for your engagement ring, there is one thing to keep in mind. When they say “Diamonds are forever,” it’s not just repeating a marketing slogan and a symbol of everlasting love, it’s because diamonds are the hardest substance found on Earth. A gemstone’s hardness is graded on the Mohs Scale. The scale was designed in 1812 by Frederich Mohs, a German mineralogist. Hardness represents how easily a stone can be scratched.
When choosing a stone for an engagement ring that will be worn everyday, anything lower than an 8 on the Mohs Scale is unsuitable.
Here is a list of more popular gemstones and metals and their relative hardness:
• Gold (pure): 2.5-3
• Platinum: 4.5
• Iron: 5
• Titanium: 6
• Tanzanite: 6.5-7
• Glass: 7
• Quartz (Amethyst, Citrine, Rose Quartz): 7
• Tourmaline: 7-7.5
• Hardened Steel: 7-8
• Beryl (Emerald, Aquamarine): 7.5
• Cubic Zirconia: 8-8.5
• Moissanite (Lab Created Diamond): 9.25
• Diamond: 10
Here is a list of Birthstones and their relative hardness:
• Garnet (January): 6.5-7.5
• Amethyst (February): 7
• Aquamarine (March): 6
• Diamond (April): 10
• Emerald (May):7.5
• Pearl (June): 2.5-4.5
• Ruby (July):9
• Peridot (August):6.5
• Sapphire (September): 9
• Opal (October): 6
• Yellow Topaz (November): 8
• Turquoise (December):6
Sapphires and rubies, and scratchproof glass on watches, are types of corundum, meaning they all have a hardness of 9 and thus are suitable for engagement rings that are wore everyday. If you use gemstones with lower than 8 on the Mohs Scale, just be mindful of their relative hardness or softness and take extra care of your ring to prevent scratching or cracking the gemstone. This is true even with a diamond ring. As hard as diamonds are, they still can be scratched or chipped if they are abused.
Another non-traditional engagement ring to consider – one that doesn’t involve a gemstone: Irish Claddagh Ring.
Cut
Cut – One of the Four Cs
Cut is probably the most important of the four c’s and is the only one of the four c’s that is controlled by a human being.
The cut of a diamond refers to the angles and proportions (height, width, depth) of each diamond. As one of the four C’s, cut does not refer to the shape of the diamond: round, princess, radiant, oval, emerald, heart, marquise, pear, cushion, asscher, baguette and trillion. Cut dictates a diamond’s reflective quality. Most diamonds are cut with 58 facets. The different angles and the finish of a diamond determine its ability to reflect light and give it its brilliance and scintillation by allowing the maximum amount of light that enters through its top to be reflected and dispersed back, also through its top, into the viewer’s eye.
When a diamond is cut too shallow or too deep, the light that enters through the top is allowed to leak out through the bottom and does not reflect back, making the diamond look less brilliant and firry.
A poorly cut diamond is significantly cheaper than a well proportioned one. Many cutters choose to sacrifice some of the diamond’s beauty to achieve a stone that is a larger carat weight. Some jewelers will downplay a diamond’s bad cut and try to convince you that the diamond is larger. But keep in mind that just because two diamonds have the same weight, does not mean they are the same size.
The cut of a diamond can also affect its durability as well as its beauty. Some cutting faults can make a diamond prone to breakage when it is set or mounted on an engagement ring.
Choosing a diamond’s cut quality is difficult for a lay person. That is why you should always get a certification from GIA, or any of the respected labs, to verify a diamond’s quality.
A diamond’s certificate will list the important proportions of that diamond:
Table percentage (table / diamond width)
Depth percentage (depth / diamond width)
Cut quality is difficult for a lay person. That is why you should always get a certification from GIA, or any of the other respected labs, to verify a diamond’s quality.
Just compare these numbers against a master chart of percentages for that diamond’s shape. A master chart will tell you what the ideal proportions are for particular diamond shape.
The certificate will also list the polish and symmetry of a diamond.
Polish will indicate any nicks, scratches or other flaws on the surface of the diamond.
Symmetry will indicate the accuracy of the cut to the shape and pattern of the facets.
The GIA rates both as EX (excellent), VG (very good), G (good), F (fair) or P (poor). The AGS rates both as ID (ideal), EX (excellent), VG (very good), G (good), F (fair) or P (poor).
A diamond graded very good is your best choice for quality and value. But if you are on a tight budget go for a good rated diamond.
Engagement Ring Tradition
The engagement ring is often seen as a form of public announcement of two people’s love and commitment to each other. It has a long heritage and is common in different societies around the world, but is most popular, especially the diamond engagement ring, in the United States, Japan and Canada.
The exact origin of the engagement ring is unclear. Rings have been associated with love and marriage since ancient times. Perhaps the earliest suggested origin of the engagement ring tradition was in ancient Egypt, where engagement rings were worn on the 4th finger, or ring finger, of the left hand, because that was the finger believed to have the “vein of love” flowing straight from the heart. A simple iron loop used by early Romans to symbolize a betrothal was replaced by a plain gold band around the second century A.D.
In 860 Pope Nicolas I decreed that a gold ring was a requirement to signify engagement and groom’s financial commitment to his future wife and her family.
In the Christian tradition of wearing an engagement ring on the 4th finger of the left hand dates back to the 1549 prayer book. The priest or groom would put the engagement ring on the bride’s first three fingers in turn when saying “the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost”, finishing on the 4th finger where the ring would stayed. The 4th finger of the left hand is still the traditional finger on which to wear the engagement ring.
Traditionally simple rings of gold, silver or iron were used for engagement rings. Over time the simple ring gained engravings or decoration. By the 14th century, Europe’s privileged classes were dressing their engagement rings with precious jewels as a status symbol and laws were passed to prevent the common people from the owning precious stones or gems. As these laws were relaxed, the practice of mounting gems and precious stones on engagement rings began to spread among the general population. Often a combination of the birthstones of the bride’s parents, the bride, the groom’s parents, and the groom were used on these engagement rings to symbolize the joining of the two families.
It was not until 1477 that the diamond engagement ring as we know it came into being when Archduke Maximillian of Austria gave Mary of Burgandy an engagement ring set with a diamond. At that time diamonds were thought of as magical and created in the flames of love.
This first instance of a royal engagement ring fueled the European passion for diamonds. But the practice was limited to the privileged and very rich as diamonds were very rare and expensive. At this time, other precious and semi-precious stones were used for engagement rings, stones such as This first instance of a royal engagement ring fueled the European passion for diamonds. But the practice was limited to the privileged and very rich as diamonds were very rare and expensive. At this time, other precious and semi-precious stones were used for engagement rings, stones such as emerald, amethyst, ruby, emerald, sapphire, and topaz.
At the end of the 19th century, when large deposit of diamonds were discovered in South Africa, diamond prices declined and diamonds for the first time became affordable to used regularly in engagement rings.
The modern day traditional diamond engagement ring didn’t begin until the 1930s, when the De Beers diamond company decided to encourage Americans to buy more of their diamonds.
After WWI, De Beers experienced a drop in diamond sales that lasted for almost two decades. In the early 1930s, De Beers turned to the PR firm of N.W. Ayer to launch a national advertising campaign to promote its diamonds. Ayer convinced Hollywood actresses to wear diamond rings in public, and encouraged influential fashion designers to discuss diamond rings as the new trend. The advertising campaign worked and between 1938 and 1941, diamond sales went up 55 percent. By 1945, the typical American bride wore a diamond engagement ring with a matching wedding ring. In 1947, a copywriter dreamed up the slogan “A Diamond Is Forever.” The sale of diamond engagement rings continued to rise in the 1950s. By 1965, 80 percent of American women wore a diamond engagement ring.
Today the diamond engagement ring is by far the most popular type of engagement ring. It is the custom for the man to privately purchase the engagement ring and present it to his future wife or fiancée when he proposes marriage. But more and more men are making the proposal without a ring, or with a substitute ring, and the real engagement ring is picked out by the man and woman together as part of the marriage process.
In The United States, it is customary for the man to give a woman an engagement ring and for the woman to wear one. De Beers tried to convince more men to wear male engagement rings, but the campaign has generally been a failure. There are several countries where males traditionally wear engagement rings. In these countries the male’s engagement ring is frequently used as the wedding ring.
Regardless of how you feel about the origin of the tradition of the diamond engagement ring, the tradition is here to stay. And what better way is there to symbolize two people’s love and commitment to each other than the diamond engagement ring?