Is An Old Or New Engagement Ring Better?
You’ve gone through all the motions and have reached the point where you are ready to propose – congrats! But with great achievement comes responsibility, like making sure you make a success out of one of the most important decisions of your life – buying the engagement ring! It should say something about your relationship, be practical enough for everyday wear, and symbolize your love and intention. Tall order? Maybe. Impossible? Never!
Let’s begin
The 4 C’s (color, clarity, cut and carat) is the starting block of engagement ring research, and once you understand the 4 C’s, everything else becomes much easier. It will also help you to stick to your budget. It can even help you to navigate to a cheap engagement ring that not only fits your finances, but is elegant and classy.
If you’ve ever known anyone who lost a valued piece of jewelry, you will understand the sadness and devastation that goes with it – and that goes for financial as well as emotional! If you would like to ensure your piece before taking it home (a move I would recommend), you can always get an insurance company to do a valuation on the ring.
The ethics of jewellery
Recycling culture has brought with it a great move to reusing what already exists, rather than generating more things. Above and beyond the sustainability factor, antique and vintage rings are often one of a kind, making it unlikely that someone will have a similar ring to yours.
The engagement ring is defined by its central or main stone. Although this is often a diamond, there are many other options that can be highly suitable for the engagement ring application. Make sure you do your research upfront and be clear on the symbolism of the stone you choose.
There is a lot to learn in the research for a cheap but elegant engagement ring. The diamond industry is complicated, and you have to take your jeweller’s word about the origin of your stone.
What am I looking for?
The purest and most desirable diamonds have no colour at all, like water. It is this absence of colour that makes the ring desirable, and a diamond of this specification will rate as a D on the color scale. Diamond colour is ranges from D to Z. D is the ‘whitest’, and Z is a black diamond. Variations in the color of a diamond can be picked up by the naked eye from more or less K onwards. At K, the diamond often seems to be mildly yellow, which is as a result of nitrogen and inclusions on the stone.
Of course, the setting of the ring is equally important. White gold is popular, but because it is a soft metal, it tends to wear sooner than platinum. Platinum is extremely hard but tends to lose its brilliance much sooner than gold. It is also difficult to restore its shine once it dulls. Silver should be avoided, as it is far too soft.
