Diamonds are Still the Favorite Gem February 13, 2003 – Posted in: Press

By SARA BURROWS
Published: February 13, 2003
Skyline News

Some 2,500 years ago a love affair began. That was about the time human beings discovered diamonds, and ever since they have been infatuated with those bits of crystallized carbon.

Once dead plant and animal matter buried 90 to 125 miles beneath the earth’s surface, the stones are brought to the surface, cut, fauceted, polished and encased in precious metals. Rare and beautiful as they are, these gems were once reserved for kings.

Far more available today, diamonds are still the gem of choice up and down the income sale. “Diamonds are still number one for engagement rings,” says Tobina Kahn, gemologist and vice president of House of Kahn, 60 E. Walton St. and estate jewelry business founded by her parents, Adele and Edward Kahn, dome 50 years ago in the gold coast.

For most people, it’s the symbolism, the crystal purity and durability of the stones as well as the history that’s important. “I like colored stones, but for an engagement ring, a diamond is more traditional,” says Carrie Armetta of Norwood Park.

“A diamond just goes better with a wedding band,” agrees Pam Golden of Rogers Park. “It’s traditional.”

Even when it’s not in an engagement ring, diamond is an ideal token for Valentines Day. So it’s no surprise to Rick Chavez, owner of Detalles in North Center that “The most popular gifts we’re selling are the diamond stud earrings.”

“The popularity of diamonds never changes. For engagement rings and special occasion gifts, we still sell more diamond pieces than anything else,” says Nannette Best, employee at Hoffman Jewelers in Skokie.

That popularity translates into something more these days says Kahn, “A diamond is always going to be in fashion. In the last year or so, because of the economy, people have been looking at jewels as much for an investment as they are for a gift. Especially from the men’s point of view, the attitude toward jewelry has completely changed. It’s not just, ‘Oh, I’m getting married so I have to get my fiancée a diamond.’ A lot of people really got hurt through their stocks, you don’t see that with jewelry.” she says.

Despite the current political upheavals in Africa, Kahn believes there will always be a market for good diamonds. “I’ve never heard of anyone loosing money on a diamond if it was purchased the right ways.” she says.

She says estate, or used diamond jewelry can be the best value because the seller does not have to include a standard retail markup.

Over the centuries diamonds have acquired a mystique that is a potpourri of history, science, business, politics, poetry. First mentioned in Sanskrit writings of 2,400 B.C. from what is now India, diamonds made their way east slowly. Small ones arrive in Europe in the 13th century and Louis the fourth of France decrees that small or not because they were so rare, these gems would be reserved for royalty. A century later, both men and women with royal status were wearing diamond jewelry and in 1477, the Hapsburg Emperor Maximillian the first, commissioned the first diamond engagement ring for his royal fiancés, Mary Duchess of Burgundy.

In 1492, another royal lady, Isabella the second of Spain, sole many of her diamonds and gems to finance a daring, exploratory scheme headed by an Italian, Christopher Columbus. One of her bracelets, a band of Burmese rubies and diamonds is now in the collection of the House of Kahn, “We bought is from Isabella’s heirs.” says Kahn.

By the 19th century, even middle class citizens wore diamond jewelry, and a major lode of diamonds discovered in South Africa, made the stones even more affordable. At the same time, engineering advances of the Industrial Revolution created tools and techniques for cutting and polishing that revealed an innate brilliance of the gems, unknown to earlier times. “Cutting a diamond can get rid of some flaws.” says Phillip Janney, manager of the Isotope Geochemistry Laboratory in the Field Museum’s department of Geology. “A big flawed stone will be worth much more than a small flawless one.

The Kohinoor diamond, for example, today in the British crown jewels, was worn as an uncut diamond by a princes and kings of India for centuries.” says Janney “The British had it cut and faceted, which got rid of some flaws, so it is smaller now, but more brilliant.”

That’s because a flaw, usually some impurity like nitrogen, boron, or other gas, affects the light moving through the gem. “Diamonds have the highest refractive index of all materials,” says Janney which means they slow down and bend light passing through them. They refract of bend some color waves more than others which is what we call the diamond’s sparkle and see as tiny rainbows. “The jewelers call it a diamond’s fire.” he says.

And even a diamond with a large flaw enough to see with the unaided eye, can, through the jewelers arts, be turned into a piece of fine jewelry. Diamonds can be cut in several shapes in addition to the classic round- emerald, a rectangle, oval, pear shape, marquise, an oval pointed at the small ends and brilliant, a square-shape.

“Much depends on the way the diamond is cut and mounted. There are ways to camouflage flaws- ways tat can save thousands of dollars. When the flaw is hidden by the mounting you can still have a really nice look.” says Kahn, and besides, she says “There aren’t many flawless stones out there.”

The Gemological Institute of America, grades clarity or degree of flawlessness from: internally flawless, or perfect to VVS1 AND VVS2, very very slightly included (flawed) through VS1 and VS2 very slightly included, ST1 AND ST2, slightly included through I1, I2 and I3, imperfect.

Color is another element of a diamond’s value. “You want it to be as colorless as possible,” says Kahn. “For a lot of people, the color is more important than the clarity.”

White diamonds are graded by color which, according to the standards of the American Gemological Institute, ranges from completely colorless or D-grade, on through the alphabet to visibly yellow, or Z-grade. “Most diamonds re in the market of F,G,H and I grade,” says Kahn. The color variation between consecutive letters is quite minimal. “With the unaided eye, it’s hard to tell the difference between a D diamond and an E-color stone. I tell people the difference is going to cost people thousands of dollars and the people won’t see it unless their highly trained in gemology.”

Diamonds come in just about every color-the Hope Diamond, in the Smithsonian Institute is blue- but those are a whole different category of diamond. However, right now, Chavez notes, “There’s a fashion for ‘fancy yellow or champagne-colored diamonds.”

Size counts too. “I have one diamond solitaire that’s only an I-color but it costs $100,000 dollars because it’s 6 and a half carats,” says Kahn. One carat, a unit of diamond weight is about 1/5 gram, the same weight as a paper clip. “The biggest diamonds are fist sized and weigh about 1,000 carats.” says Janney.

After considering these four c’s – carats, cut, clarity and color.- the decision to buy a diamond is simply a matter of what the buyer likes and can afford, says Kahn. “I’m not going to say one diamond is better than another because for every person it depends on what you like and what your look is.”

Getting the right ring

Buying a diamond ring for an engagement token, which folks have been doing since 1477, is something a man wants to do right.

His lady will be wearing that ring the rest of her life, so she’ll be much happier with one she likes. And is she’s happy, he will be too.

So what’s a guy to do? Boldly go alone?

Better to go shopping with the lady first, or at least window shopping, as Carrie Armetta of Morwood Park and her fiancée did. “I didn’t have a sister I could take along to ask about what I like.” she says, “So we just went shopping to look around one day. He wanted to get an idea of what kind of stone I’d like- there are so many shapes. But he went and bought the actual ring himself.” she says. They’ve been happily married seven years now.

“Men mostly come in having an idea of what the woman wants” says Rick Chavez, owner of Detalles, 3059 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago. He says many of those men have, like Armetta’s husband, done a pre-sopping trip. “We do custom engagement rings, so I ask a series of questions and show the men catalogs with pictures of various designs. I want to help them as much as I can.”

“Men do come in alone,” says Tobina Kahn, gemologist and vice president of the House of Kahn, 60 E. Walton ST., Chicago. And when they do, the problem is often more the ring size then anything else. She believes men pay more attention to their beloved’s taste in jewelry then women might think.

But everyone buying a diamond ought to do their homework. Jewelers like Chavez and Kahn are happy to share their experience and information on the four c’s of diamonds.-cut, clarity, color and carats- to help buyers.

The Gemological institute of America web site, http://www.gia.org offers an interactive tutorial on “How to Buy a Diamond.” Alexander Angelle spokesman for the Carlsbad, California –based organization, suggests that those who don’t have internet view the web site at a public library. “Even a small diamond is a good sized investment.” he says “You wouldn’t buy a dishwasher or clothes dryer without doing some research and a diamond costs a lot more.”