Monday, June 17, 2013

Certified Loose Diamonds: Preserve Your Memories

My mother inherited a ring from her mother.  It’s a beautiful diamond ring, but not the style of a traditional wedding ring.  It’s more of a decorative or fashion ring this is very old.  We estimate it dates back to the 1930’s so it is an antique family heirloom.  The ring was a gift from my grandfather after they were married,  and began their family with one son. He presented the gift to her just before he deployed oversees to fight in World War II.  It’s set into a platinum band with one larger stone in the middle with three stones on each side of the larger stone that are slightly smaller in size.  The problem with this precious heirloom is that the larger stone is missing.  It’s been missing for years and the ring, although having value, is not complete without the primary stone.  We were at a loss.  The family didn't know what to do until we heard about loose diamonds. We learned that we could purchase a single stone to replace the missing one.  We began our search by investigating certified loose diamonds.

Certified loose diamonds can be purchased from many jewelers, both in you local jewelry store and online.  To be certified, the diamond is inspected by the GIA or Gemological Institute of America where it is graded on cut, color, clarity and carat (the 4 C’s) and backed up with a certificate that states the GIA has certified it.