Thursday, December 23, 2010

Black Diamond Rings - Why Do They Have a Unique Appeal in Women's and Men's Jewelry?

Black diamond rings are probably one of the most dramatic ways to wear colored diamonds. Until relatively recently, very few people had even heard of them even though they have been around for millions of years, just like their white counterparts! Found in only a few locations world wide, they are very rare and the best black diamonds frequently command premium prices higher even than rare fancy yellows!

Diamonds are elemental carbon, which formed into a unique lattice crystal under high temperatures and pressures within the Earth's crust. However, in the case of black diamonds, a small amount of carbon charcoal impurity remained which subsequently colored the forming gemstone crystal. Thus, the black gemstones are flawed natural diamonds which, until their opaque color became fashionable, were generally regarded as poor quality unsuitable for jewelry, and discarded!
However, celebrity interest in colored diamonds, including black ones, fuelled interest in these dramatic gemstones. Their strong opacity and deep hues coupled with their brilliance and sparkle make them true statement pieces. When set into rings alongside white gemstones, they can look truly stunning especially when accessorizing that little black dress!
In fact black diamond rings can be found in many settings. Smaller gemstones can be set pave style into cascades of gold to give a wonderful impact. Or they can be set into a striped arrangement alongside white gemstones. Larger fancy blacks look wonderful as the central gemstone in an otherwise white diamond cluster, or as the centrepiece in a trilogy ring.
Black diamonds certainly add chic sophistication and elegance to any outfit!
But they do not only appeal to women! Men too are increasingly buying black diamond jewelry. These gemstones are strikingly eye-catching when set into white metals such as white gold or platinum. Their intense color means that even smaller stones can be set directly into chunky jewelry, such as signet rings. And such strong statement pieces make natural adornments for men!
Despite the rising demand, black diamonds are still rare. Happily, gemologists can now increase the intensity of naturally present hues of appropriate clean gemstones by subjecting them to high temperatures and radiation mimicking natural diamond formation conditions. This results in a so-called color enhanced natural diamond. However, this process can only be carried out on those diamonds with appropriate hue and hue saturation characteristics.
All this means that fancy blacks are not going to flood the market any time soon! So if you are looking for black diamond jewelry, you can be confident that it will hold its value well enough to become and heirloom piece!

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