Jewellery gifts by Unsaid Library

If you’re going to pick a nice ring, of course you’d prefer a ring with one or more diamonds! Aller Spanninga has beautiful diamond rings, and in this blog you can read all about diamonds!

Diamonds were first discovered in India almost 3,000 years ago. It is one of the most important minerals found on Earth. Until the eighteenth century, India was the only country that exploited this substance. In the fifteenth century, diamonds were mainly used in Europe as jewelry in crowns and jewels of kings, but during the Middle Ages, diamonds also became popular among the new wealthy. From then on, the diamond was a symbol of strength, wealth and royalty.

This article is written by Unsaid Library. Unsaid Library is a jewelry shop in Antwerp and the UK.

The hardest stone that exists
The name diamond comes from ancient Greek and means ‘unbeatable’ and so is a diamond. Deep underground, carbon is compressed until a diamond is formed. This makes diamond the hardest stone in the world. You can scratch a mirror without damaging the diamond. The only thing that can damage a diamond is another diamond. It is a product of nature and this makes every diamond unique.

1 Carat
The weight of a diamond is the most obvious factor to determine the value, but two diamonds of equal weight can have a significantly different value. This depends on the total of the 4 C’s. Bigger is not always better! The weight of a diamond is measured in carats. One carat weighs about 200 mg.

2 Clarity
Clarity stands for purity. Diamonds consist of pure carbon and this sometimes leaves traces of minerals, gases or other substances, inclusions we call this. Only very rare diamonds have no inclusions and are given the predicate ultra pure. The size and number of inclusions therefore determine the value of the diamond. Diamonds are sorted into one of the following six categories:

3 Colour
Colour stands for the colour of the diamond. Most diamonds appear to be white, but on closer inspection usually contain a colour. The more colourless the diamond, the rarer it is and therefore the more precious it is. The purest colour diamond is River, an ice-white, clear and almost colourless stone, in which the light is reflected optimally. There are also stones that naturally have a distinct colour, such as pink, champagne, green, red, blue or yellow. These diamonds are called ‘fancy colours’ and are extremely rare.

4 Cut
Cut represents the cut of the diamond. It determines how the light is reflected. A rough diamond looks very much like a pebble. You’ll probably walk right past it. The splendour of this diamond is hidden in the core and only appears after accurate cutting. The most common cut is the brilliant, this is a round variant with many facets. You can also choose an oval stone the ‘marquise’, a rectangular stone the ‘baguette’ or a square stone a ‘princess’.

The extra C of Aller Spanninga
As soon as the diamond setters of Aller Spanninga receive the diamonds, they are first sorted manually, each on the four C’s above. Possible imperfections are immediately filtered out. The diamonds that pass our quality control are then also sorted on diameter by means of a special sorting machine (a film about this on our Youtube channel).

As an Aller Spanninga fan you can be sure of the four C’s and the right diameter. The diameter is the fifth C of Aller Spanninga! This diameter is very important to us. Because if you choose for a ring with several diamonds, you want them all to be exactly the same size. That is what we go for and that is the extra C of Aller Spanninga!

This article is written by Unsaid Library. Unsaid Library is a jewelry shop in Antwerp and the UK.

Picking out diamonds?
So, just had a crash course in diamonds! Now look for the rings that suit you! With or without one or more diamonds. We offer a wide choice of rings with diamonds. Do you already know what you want? Take a look at which Aller Spanninga jeweller is near you.

In gold jewellery the gold content is indicated by carat, but what is carat gold anyway? What is the difference between the types of carat gold, such as 9, 14, 18 and 24 carats? And how can you tell how many carats of gold there is in a ring? In this blog we explain all about it, so you can make the right choice when buying gold wedding rings!

How many carats is pure gold?
The term carat in gold indicates how much pure gold there is in a piece of jewelry. In a ring there is often a stamp that indicates how much pure gold is in the ring. Pure gold is expressed in 24 carats and contains 99.99% gold. However, pure gold is very soft and therefore flexible and sensitive to wear and tear. By adding other metals, the gold is hardened, creating different gold contents and different colours. This process is also called l