Diamonds are by far the most popular gem in the jewelry market and they are designated by Carat. The question then becomes, what is the valuation process for these gems.

Diamonds are arguably the most valuable substance on Earth. From jewelry to other more practical applications, diamonds are an important part of everyday life. Jewelry made with diamonds is the most expensive part of the diamond industry with many factors going into the relative cost of the diamonds. So, what is the valuation process?

There are four C's to regard when purchasing a diamond: clarity, color, cut and carat weight. Clarity refers to the purity of a diamond – how cloudy it is, if there are any inclusions (small specks), cracks or other abnormalities in its looks. Clarity is graded in 11 steps as follows: F – Flawless (best), IF – internally flawless, VVS1 – very, very slightly included 1, VVS2 – very, very slightly included 2, VS1 – very slightly included 1, VS2 – very slightly included 2, SI1 – slightly included 1, SI2 – slightly included 2, I1 – included 1, I2 – included 2 and I3 – included 3 (the worst grade, where there are obvious inclusions to the naked eye).

Color refers to how colorless the diamond is, and it is also graded on a scale. It does not take into consideration fancy colored diamonds, such as blue or yellow, rather, these are all grades for a typical clear diamond. Grades D,E,F,G,H,I are all degrees of colorless (white diamonds), J,K,L – near colorless (white), M – faint yellow, N,O,P,Q,R – very light yellow, and S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z – light yellow in color (worst grades),

Cut has to do with the shape that the diamond is cut in, which can range from round to oval, princess (square) to heart shaped. These three, along with the fourth C – carat weight all, determine the valuation per carat. As a general rule, the list below shows how much different carat weights are worth. Larger diamonds are harder to find, so even if you have two small diamonds that add up to a large weight, they will never cost as much as one single large carat diamond. Happy diamond shopping!

hroughout antiquity, man has assigned themes to events and things. Gem fall within this category and here is a brief explanation of what each is associated with.

There are many different areas of gift giving that offer ways to convey special meanings. For centuries, a gift of certain types of flowers has been able to show the receiver just what you think of him or her. Gemstones also have this type of ability, because the different types of gems, along with their colors and cuts, often convey a thought to the receiver. The subjects conveyed are greatly varied, depending on the area of the world you're in, and your beliefs.

Of course, one of the most common sources of associations can be found with birthstones. The twelve months each have at least one corresponding gemstone, and these were set forth in 1912 by the National Association of Jewelers. These gemstones are as follows:

There are many other gem associations besides these obvious ones. Many have to do with their healing and mystical properties. Gems that are used for birthstones also have these other properties, and here's a rundown of some of them. Amethyst – February – used to reflect negativity, it can also strengthen your intuition. Bloodstone – March – used to remove physical and mental blocks, as well as general protection. Moonstone – June – used to attract compassion and love, as well as enhancing psychic powers.

Other gems that are not used as birthstones are also believed to have certain powers and abilities that are bestowed upon their wearers. Carnelian, for example, can be used to stimulate career growth. Rose quartz, a lovely pink version of the quartz crystal, offers those who wear or carry it a feeling of peace and love, and also promotes beauty. Amber, the soft translucent smoky brown gem made from fossilized tree sap, is a great all purpose gem that's perfect for protection of children. Finally, the stone known as tiger eye is great for allowing its owner to know whether he or she is being deceived.

While some may not believe that gems have these powers, others swear by the many different stones and their abilities to enhance mental and physical prowess. Whether you prefer the usual gem association of birthstones, or would like to try wearing a stone for other reasons, one thing is sure – gems are beautiful additions to your life!

The best way to get your loved one the diamond ring she'll love and cherish for always is to let her choose her favorite diamond ring herself. But if you are worried she'll pick out a ring with the biggest diamond in store or you simply want to get down on your knees and surprise her with that big question, then the second best thing is to choose for her.

Buying a diamond engagement ring is pretty tricky since you are a man. Here are easy guidelines for you to follow before heading out to a jeweler's in town or visiting an online jewelry store. Just make sure you're well-prepared and know how to buy a diamond ring before you really buy one.

1. Do you know what kind of metal does she like to wear? - Every woman is different. While some prefer gold jewelry, others adore white gold and platinum. Have you noticed her jewelry? Is her necklace in gold or silver color? What about her earrings and bracelets? If they're all the same, and she kind of wears them all the time, then that's her favorite. So, when you buy her a diamond ring, you'll have to look at either the ones in gold or the ones in white gold or platinum. Note that white gold is cheaper than platinum. It will be a lot easier for you.

2. Is she an adventurous, a classic or a contemporary woman? - You must know her. After all, she is the one you love, isn't she? If you can summarize her in one word? What's she like? Is she funky, edgy, eccentric, shy, old-world, self-confident, dare-devil, outspoken, conservative, elegant, urban, modern, sexy or what? Is she an Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider, an Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, a Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City, or a Jennifer Aniston in Friends? Keep this in mind when you pick out a diamond ring for her. The diamond ring must portrays her style.

3. Notice her hands and fingers: Are they short and chubby or long and sleek? - This is an extremely important factor. If she has short and chubby hands and fingers, then the best choice would be an elongated diamond like a marquise or an oval because it will make her fingers look longer. If her hands and fingers are long and sleek, then you would have no problem at all. Any diamond will look good on her. Now about the band. If the band is thick, it will make her fingers look shorter. On the contrary, if the band is thin, it will make her fingers look longer.

4. Do you know what shape of jewelry she likes? - While round diamonds are the most popular shape of diamond, it is very important that you pick the diamond shape she likes the best. You can always tell by looking at the jewelry she wears every day. Is it round, pear-shaped, square, or cluttered? Do you think she'd prefer a solitaire diamond engagement ring (a diamond set alone in a ring)? Or do you think she'd perfer a cluster of diamonds? If you take a good look at her everyday jewelry, you'll have a pretty good idea.

5. What ring size does she wear? - You can ask her mother or her best friend. If they don't know, they'll figure a way to find out.

Keep in mind that a diamond ring is the most important ring in her life. Spend some time to learn about her style and you'll buy the most beautiful diamond engagement

All pearls are formed when a small object finds its way into a oyster and becomes an irritant. As a natural reaction the oyster coats it with a substance called nacre and it is the continual covering of this nacre which we call the pearl.

There are two types of pearls. Natural and cultivated. Natural pearls are those which nature has formed by itself. The irritant has gotten into the oyster through some crevasse or small opening and irritated the oyster to form the nacre covering.

A cultivated pearl is made by the deliberate insertion of a foreign substance, often another piece of shell, to the oyster and then nurturing it for a number of years until a pearl is made.

Whereas the natural pearl can be many different shapes and sizes and even colors, the cultivated pearl tends to be round or spherical in shape although coloring can be added to ensure the pearl is of a particular hue or color.

The discovery of how to make cultivated pearls changed the pearl industry for all time. Pearls became available to most people and not just to the select few due to their rarity.

This boosted the industry to a multi million dollar enterprise that flourishes around the world today.

Cultured pearls can be made virtually if not completely flawless and the oyster, during the pearl making process, is monitored and cared for in order to enable it to produce the best cultivated pearls.

Ti can also be done in bulk and this also brings the price for cultivated pearls down to an affordable price and pearls became accessible to large numbers of people around the world.

The advent of cultured pearls took most of the risk, and guesswork out of the pearl industry, allowing it to become stable and predictable, and fostering its rapid growth over the past 100 years. Today the cultured pearl industry has effectively replaced the natural pearl industry, turning the natural gems of old into collectors' pieces.

Apart from the obvious color, size and shape of natural pearls as against cultivated you can also tell the difference using x-rays to reveal the nucleus of the pearl.

Pearls are formed inside the body of oysters. The mollusk deposits layer of nacre, a combination of crystalline and organic substances, when any irritant or parasite enters or placed inside its body. Over a period of time with nacre building up in layers and layers, the pearl is formed.

All the pearls sold in USA and in other countries around the world are cultured pearls and are known by various names such as freshwater pearls, akoya seawater pearls etc. Natural pearls are rarity.

The bead-nucleating technology of producing cultured pearls was developed and perfected by Kokichi Mikimoto of Japan in early 20th Century. Japan is famous for producing akoya cultured pearls but recently China has become the leading source of all cultured pearls - freshwater and akoya pearls.

Difference in cultured and natural pearls can’t be made with naked eyes; however, distinction becomes very prominent when seen through x-rays. Cultured pearls are used in pearl jewelry as well as in cosmetics. One should also be careful about imitation pearls.

Cultured pearls are generally in white colors but can be colored-dyed in various colors.

Cultured pearls are now available in high lustrous quality and much lower prices than ever before.

In the world of creative arts, bead jewelry making and design is quickly becoming the most popular craft. This craft offers boundless possibilities in terms of design and materials and will surely awaken the artist in you. The limitless possibilities in design and form in this craft may be overwhelming and may cause some problems but at the same time may allow you to exercise your creativity freely.

An expert in the art of bead jewelry making maintains that problems in the craft may pave the way for the birth of unique design elements. Take for example her experience with designing a bracelet out of jasper and copper. Jasper drill rings are unpopular with crafters because they are generally unattractive and not conveniently functional.

She chose a colorful combination of red, brown and green jasper drill rings for her bracelet design. However the result of her effort looked appalling. She decided to try another style to salvage her project. She experimented with copper to compliment the colors in the jasper drill rings.

The results were dramatic. The element of copper blended the colors of the jasper drill rings and transformed into a stunning masterpiece. She even accented the bracelet with copper wire. She discovered that the key to working with any element when it comes to bead jewelry making was in the harmony and blending of the colors.

The abundance of materials in bead jewelry making gives you plenty of opportunities to experiment. All you need is your imagination and a lot of patience. The initial results of your project may not be impressive but if you keep at it you may be rewarded with a stunning work of art.

One of the recent and most fashionable trends in bead jewelry making is cell phone charms. They are easy to make and allows you to exercise our creativity in personalizing your cell phone. They are very popular among young girls and many of them have started to make their own design. Materials that give headaches to seasoned crafters may provide inspiration for young budding artists.

You don't need to know all about diamonds in order to ensure you are buying genuine diamonds and not fakes.

There are some diamond scams or cheats that occur sometimes and it is best to be aware of them.

There is no substitute for educating yourself about diamonds and understanding how they are graded and what the most common ways of tricking consumers into buying poor quality diamonds art a high price or even fake diamonds sold as real.

Here is a list of the areas to look out for.

Sometimes a jeweler will tell you that the diamond you are looking for is a, "This is a blue-white diamond." This might sound nice but it is an old term and not used much these days. The term blue-white refers to the fluorescence that results in natural light, which contains ultraviolet wavelengths. Blue fluorescence can actually makes a colorless diamond look a little oily or milky in sunlight and decreases its value. With stones that have a faint yellow color, a moderate amount of fluorescence will make it look whiter as it will cancel some of the yellow.

So ignore the term blue-white when used by a jeweler. It is said to impress and does not necessarily describe a good quality stone.

Jewelers often list total carat weight of a ring and not the center stone separately. This can be a problem as the center stone is generally of a higher quality than the surrounding smaller stones. If the carat weight of the center stone is proportionately less than the additional smaller stones which are often of a lower quality. This can mean the value of the center stone is less than implied and this can make a difference a thousand dollars or more.

In addition you cannot properly compare the carat price of a diamond in a ring with another diamond in another ring this was as you don't know the actual carat weight of the diamond. This can be crucial as a larger diamond of the same weight as the total weight of 6 smaller ones say is proportionately worth much more. The value of a one carat diamond is worth much more than the total weight of 6 smaller diamond of the same quality.

For instance, if you have one G/VS2 diamond weighing 1.00 carat, it might be worth about $5,500. But 10 smaller G/VS2 diamonds totaling 1.00 carats might only be worth about $1,800.

Smaller stones are also usually of poorer quality as it is the bigger stone people look at and rarely do people consider the smaller stones in a ring.

The way to over come this is to ask for the weight of the center stone in writing. If the jeweler will not give it, go elsewhere.

Discounts and sales.

In a nutshell if a jeweler can sell a diamond at half price then he has marked it up far too high in the first place. It usually means that the actual value of the diamonds for sale are much lower than even the sale price and therefore the quality is also.

Ask to see a certificate from an independent gemological laboratory and see what the jeweler says. If he says, "huh?" or "it is not needed for this particular diamond", go elsewhere.

You get what you pay for and if you pay for cheap diamonds you will get exactly that.

If you go to a store to buy a specific diamond you have seen advertised and are then told when you get there that, "That diamond has been sold but here is a great one." Don't buy. This is called the Bait-and-Switch and quite common in many stores. It is illegal but difficult to monitor and so many stores will get away with it.

Do you notice that all jewelery stores have heaps of white light? This is to show of the diamonds in the best possible manner. This is fair enough, every jeweler wants to show off his wares in the best possible light. But some go a little further. Some light bulbs have strong ultras violet wavelengths and these tend to make most diamond fluoresce blue. Of course this is artificial and the easy answer to this is to take the diamond outside in natural light and look at it there. Then you will see the true color of the diamond.

Again, always ask for a certificate from an independent laboratory and if the jeweler will not supply one, then goodbye jeweler.

Swatch watches arise when the Swiss watch manufacturers begun losing the market share they previously had. A crisis began in which a great chunk of the traditional manufacturers bowed down and declared themselves bankrupt and others moved to luxury watches manufacturing.

Swiss Watches For The Masses?
The dream of Swiss watches for the masses seemed over and buried. In 1983 though the miracle named Swatch emerged. The basic principle behind their selling policy was that if the watches had the right price, buyers would prefer a made in Switzerland watch.

Swiss Quality At Affordable Prices
The basic mean of reducing costs was to make the manufacturing process fully automated, use cheaper materials and keep the design simple. In fact a Swatch is an example of minimalism by using only 51 components. Compare that with a traditional watch which has a least 100 and you will begin to see the whole picture. As a matter of fact a Swatch watch has a cost making which is 5 time smaller than that of a traditional watch

Short History

Soon after their launch Swatch watches took over the world. In 1984 they managed to sell 2.3 millions of them. In the mid 80’s they took over United States with those infamous Swatch stores. Sky seemed to be the limit.

They were fashionable and cheap. Their fashionability soon had though a boomerang effect and soon after these watches came out of fashion. Nonetheless their sales are rather high to this date and the Swatch company is the biggest manufacturer of its kind in the world.

Contrary to popular belief the name Swatch in itself does not derive from “Swiss watch”, but from “second watch”. This company grasped the moment when pop culture was at its height and became an integral part of it. A Swatch watch is a disposable one. Nothing reflects better this thinking than their early success.

The 90’s came though and a new sense of welfare was established. The irrational exuberance of the 80’s was over once for all. Swatch attempted to change their image accordingly without much success though.

As the company moved on into the new millennium, the acute need of finding the authentic and original in everything we buy found its way in the corporate thinking of the Swatch executives. Nowadays Swatch watches may appear where you don’t expect them as the group purchased a lot of Swiss luxury brands. The quest for cheap watches is hopefully over, the quest for quality has just started.

No matter how much you think of it, when Swatch watches appear in your mind the first image coming will be one of a colorful, bright watch with a certain uniqueness to it. Swatch watches gained the status of a symbol and it is very likely that they will stay that way. Even when they build cheap watches Swiss companies cannot stop being Swiss. No matter of how cheap they are, these watches still have a touch of class to them. This unique combination made them the most wide spread brand in the world.

Amber is a fossilized tree resin from ancient forests. Many centuries ago resins trapped debris such as insects or air bubbles creating intricate designs of nature. Thus Amber, which is in fact a fossilized pine tree sap, is like an ancient antique from historical times. Over the years it transforms into a warm and golden, or green colored organic gem.

Demand is especially strong for amber with insects captured inside. According to David Federman, author of The Consumer Guide to Colored Gemstones-- "Amber is like a time capsule, made and placed in the earth by nature herself. It has helped paleontologists reconstruct life on earth in its primal phases. More than 1,000 extinct species of insects have been identified in amber."

The two main sources of amber on the market today are the Baltic States and the Dominican Republic. Amber from the Baltic States is older and therefore preferred on the market, but amber from the Dominican Republic is more likely to have insect inclusions and is therefore more interesting.

Properties of amber
Amber is an amorphous hydrocarbon. It is an organic gem which is warm and golden, honey, butterscotch, lemon, or green colored. Since amber is a product of nature, therefore it is common to find air bubbles, insects, or small particles in amber jewelry. Such objects are not considered flaws, but rather a trait of genuine natural amber. This is what gives amber its distinctive quality.

Amber jewelry
Highly prized for centuries by kings and nobles, today amber occupies a prominent place in contemporary jewelry design and is sold in exclusive boutiques throughout Europe.

Exotic amber jewelry can be found on the market. Amber Jewelry Air bubbles reflecting sunlight like glitter, insects, and specks of prehistoric life - all have been trapped in the beautiful gem. No two pieces of amber can be alike, each is unique and different. Some pieces may be smooth and perfectly polished cabochons while some could be rough, raw amber pieces. Some would be clear and see-through, and others with thousands of air bubbles reflecting sunlight like glitter.

While buying amber, check whether the piece is genuine or counterfeit. Common imitations are plastic, glass, semi-fossil resins (copals), and reconstituted amber.

Glass is easy to detect, as it feels cold, is very hard, and is heavy. Copal feels slightly sticky to the touch, and it is usually much paler than fossil amber. Plastics can be trickier to detect. Reconstituted amber is the most difficult, sometimes fooling experts; it is, after all, nothing more than amber chips made into a large piece with”filler" which is usually melted copal.

The jewelry of ancient Egypt has fascinated the world for centuries. The beautiful designs in gleaming gold with brightly colored inlays have never gone out of style. Not only are they beautiful in themselves, but they also evoke the mystery and aura of ancient Egypt and its pharaohs, gods and goddesses.

Modern Egyptian artisans make stunning jewelry today, inspired by the artifacts from ancient tombs. In gold or silver, and in necklaces, rings and bracelets, the unique style and beauty of ancient Egyptian jewelry is available today, and can be personalized for each wearer in fascinating hieroglyphics.

The two most common forms of Egyptian jewelry are the Ankh, the ancient hieroglyphic symbol of Life, and the Cartouche, the symbol which enclosed the name of a pharaoh in ancient Egypt.

Ankh – the ancient Hieroglyph symbol for Life

The ankh symbol is one of the best known and beloved symbols in the world, classic and simple in its form. Pre-dating the cross and even most pagan symbols by thousands of years, the ankh has survived to this day as a powerful symbol of Life. Both the form itself and the timeless meaning have a wide appeal, and the ankh is often worn as an affirmation of life itself.

Cartouche – the symbol of divine royalty

The ancient Egyptians believed that their rulers, the Pharaohs, were descendants of the gods. While the name of anyone could be spelled out in hieroglyphs, only the names of royalty, or, in a few cases, gods themselves, would be encased in the cartouche symbol. The cartouche symbol, or shem, was originally round, and became elongated over several centuries, probably to accommodate the longer names of later pharaohs. The shape signifies a rope encircling the pharaoh’s name and then tied at one end. This symbolized the pharaoh’s divine rule over all that is contained in the cosmos.

Today, modern Egyptian artisans make beautiful cartouche and ankh jewelry, which can be personalized with the wearer’s name or other message in intriguing ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Egyptian art is known for its bright, rich colors as well as its stylized forms, and the jewelry is no exception. Finely crafted gold or silver jewelry with bright inlays of stone or richly colored enamel create a unique and remarkable look that is classic and timeless.