Rose cut diamonds are beautifully unique  diamond cuts with a distinctive vintage feel and an extraordinary appearance reminiscent of older, delicate rings. The rose cut was first introduced in the early to mid 1500s by jewelers experimenting with unique  geometrical diamond shapes. The rose cut is unlike any other diamond cut – it has a completely different  anatomy to its facets and planes. Rose cuts are flat bottomed without the distinctive tapering body; instead, the crown of the gem is elevated in a faceted dome where triangular facets mimic the progressively tighter spiral of a rose. As the between 3 and 24 facets come together they mirror the central focal point of a rose bud and offer a unique perspective of diamond beauty.

Rose Cut Diamond Shapes

The difference between diamond shapes and diamond cuts is particularly prominent in when discussing rose cuts. The term “cut” refers to how the different angles and planes of the gem’s surface come together – in this case, in a progressive rose pattern. The term “shape” on the other hand refers to the overall profile of the entire gem and the outline it presents. Most rose cuts are round, oval, or pear shapes, though some modern jewelers who are attempting to revitalize this older cut are experimenting with more unique shapes.

Problems with Rose Cuts

While rose cut diamonds are distinctive and unusual, their domed array of facets also causes significant problems. The style of the cut seeks to maximize a stone’s carat weight, which in turn can dull its brilliance. In fact, rose cut gems tend to shine from light reflecting off the facets rather than sparkle from light refracting inside the stone. This can be beneficial if a stone has mild interior flaws because they will not be as visible, but at the same time the stone’s color can be distorted because the light is not inside the stone to brighten it. To add more sparkle to rose cuts, some jewelers have backed the stones with a thin layer of reflective gold, silver, or tin foil in order to increase their brilliance without sacrificing the distinctive rose design.

Benefits of Rose Cuts

At the same time, a rose cut diamond can also have several benefits. Because it enhances a stone’s clarity by focusing attention on the surface rather than the interior of the gem, choosing a rose cut can allow a couple to select a less expensive diamond. The unique dome shape of the diamond evokes a sense of mystery and romance, and the cut is very popular for vintage and antique designs because of its retro origins. Couples interested in a unique engagement ring may be intrigued by the inverted shape of a rose cut, and the carefully aligned facets immediately draw the eye to the central stone and focal point of the engagement ring

Finding Rose Cuts

Because rose cuts do not display diamonds in all their optical glory, they can be difficult to find in contemporary rings. The easiest way to find a rose cut ring design is to investigate heirloom rings, estate rings, and antique dealers. A few modern jewelers are revitalizing the style, however, and it can be purchased from some merchants such as the Toltec Trading Company. The cost for a rose cut will vary based on the size and quality of the gem, but generally this hard to find cut is more expensive than popular diamond shapes such as the traditional round diamond, princess cuts, and other popular choices.

Caring for Rose Diamonds

Because most rose cut diamonds are part of very old vintage or antique rings, they must be cared for meticulously to maintain and revitalize their beauty. Rose cuts are generally found in prong, bezel, or flush settings, and care should be taken to protect that setting as well as to safeguard the diamond it holds. Because the dome of the diamond will rise higher than the ring, extra precautions are needed to ensure it is not chipped or damaged along the facet points that are the most delicate parts of any diamond shape.

A rose cut diamond is a distinctively retro design that is enjoying a mild resurgence among couples interested in more unique, classic diamond shapes. The romance and beauty of a rose is captured perfectly in the layered facets of a rose cut, creating an appealing ring with a very unique background..

Lazare Kaplan International, Inc. was founded in 1903 in Antwerp, Belgium. With more than a century of gemology and lapidary expertise, the company has become widely revered for its stunning diamonds and attention to detail. Today, Lazare gems are marketed in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia with great success, and the company continually works to refine diamond cutting techniques for more precise gemstones. In 1957, Lazare Kaplan developed the dimensions for the modern oval shape, and in 2003 they updated the proportions for the classic cushion cut and the square emerald cut. In this way, Lazare diamonds are at the forefront of diamond quality with exquisite proportions and finely balanced cuts.

In addition to its commitment to superior quality, Lazare Kaplan is also committed to supporting legitimate diamond mining operations throughout the world. As a devout supporter of the Kimberly Process, the company has high ethical and professional standards to prevent the trafficking of illegal conflict or blood diamonds. Yearly audits and public reports are only two of the tools Lazare Kaplan uses to reassure consumers about the quality and integrity of its diamonds.

The Importance of Cut
Couples investigating diamond engagement rings are inundated with advice about the four Cs of diamond quality: clarity, color, carat, and cut. What many consumers fail to realize, however, is that only one of those characteristics can be affected by the experts and professionals responsible for turning a raw stone into a polished gem: the cut.

Lazare diamonds focus on the ideal cut, using precise calculations to determine the appropriate angles and facet proportions that give diamonds the maximum fire, sparkle, and brilliance. An ideal diamond optimizes the stone’s reflection and refraction through its table, the large, central facet on the top surface of the stone that is most visible. Poorly cut stones allow light to escape through the sides of the stone, and some of the gem’s brilliance is forever lost.

This attention to a precise cut means that Lazare gems are cut for their beauty, not their overall weight. Even the largest stone, infused with shadows because of an imprecise cut, will appear dull, but properly cut stones will be brilliant and attractive no matter what their size.

Lazare Engagement Rings
Simple settings show the gem’s brilliance.Not only are Lazare diamonds available as loose gems for individuals to purchase and set in designs of their choice, but the company has also developed exclusive styles that highlight their gems’ beauty. The most popular designs are simple yet elegant solitaires and three stone rings that focus on the beauty of the gems without excessive embellishments. Prong, channel, and bezel settings are all available.

Other Jewelry with Lazare Diamonds
Couples interested in the beauty and precision of Lazare gems can also find these exquisite stones in a variety of other jewelry pieces, including:

Right Hand Diamond Rings
Diamond Pendants
Diamond Earrings
Wedding and Eternity Rings
Any of these additional designs would make a stunning anniversary gift or accompaniment to a Lazare engagement ring.

Finding Lazare Designs and Stones
Lazare Kaplan does not market their diamonds or jewelry independently; interested consumers must locate an authorized jeweler who carries Lazare designs. The company’s website, LazareDiamonds.com has a comprehensive locator searchable by zip code, and consumers can also search the Lazare inventory for suitable loose gems.

With exquisite attention to detail and precision, Lazare diamonds are exceptional stones with unparalleled brilliance and fire. Whether in engagement rings or other diamond jewelry, these beautiful gems vibrantly symbolize the fires of romance and passion for any relationship.

While traditional colorless diamonds may be the most popular choice for engagement rings and other diamond jewelry, pink diamonds are becoming more sought after as unique and delightful options for creative pieces. While they are still diamonds and are subject to the same characteristics of diamond quality, pink stones have several unusual considerations as well.

What Forms Pink Diamonds

A colorless diamond is comprised of pure carbon, while colored diamonds have a chemical variation that affects how the stones reflect light, resulting in different hues. Other factors, such as radiation present during formation or twists in the crystal structure of the stone can also affect a diamond’s color. While gemologists are certain of what causes certain shades – boron, for example, creates blue stones – they haven’t yet discovered what creates pink shades. Pink is one of the rarest colors of diamonds, and commercial quality stones are only found in the Argyle Mine in Australia, making them even more mysterious and sought after.

Quality of Pink Gems

All diamonds, regardless of their specific color, are judged by their carat weight, cut proportions, purity of clarity, and overall color. While most diamonds with a tinge of color are considered inferior and less valuable, an intense, consistent color is highly valued. That characteristic is one of the most prevalent when judging the quality of pink diamonds.

Color Intensity

Pink stones are available in a range of hues, from a very light salmon to an intense, vibrant magenta. The deeper the color, the more valuable the stone and hence, the higher its price. The majority of pink stones are lighter shades, but because of their inherent rarity they still command a high price, up to ten times the cost of a similar quality colorless stone.

Flaws

All diamonds, regardless of their color, are subject to the same types of flaws and inclusions. Normally any flaw will decrease the value of a gem, but because of pink diamonds’ rarity, jewelers may manipulate the flaw to create a unique design – a starburst, for example – rather than discard the stone as unworkable. Ideally, however, the stone should be flawless to keep from detracting from the distinctiveness of its unusual color.

Pink Diamonds in Engagement Rings

Ever since Jennifer Lopez was given a pink engagement ring, these stones have been immensely sought after for engagement jewelry. Pink diamond engagement rings can be found in a number of styles, settings, and designs, or if a couple is fortunate enough to procure a loose gem, most jewelers would welcome the opportunity to create a custom ring with the unusual shade.

To preserve the stone’s color, most colored diamond rings are set in white gold or platinum rather than yellow gold, which may cast a yellowish hue onto the stone. In the case of pink diamonds, simple settings perhaps accented by smaller colorless diamonds or coordinating gemstones are the most prevalent designs.

Alternative Stones

Because pink stones are far more expensive than most couples’ budgets, alternative gems are a wise choice to create a distinctive look at a lower cost. Rubies, pink tourmaline, and pink sapphires are the most popular choices, though synthetic pink stones are also available. Other options include using the pink gems as accent stones rather than the central diamond, perhaps in a distinctive pave setting or other unusual setting that will still draw the eye toward the exquisite gems.

Pink diamonds are a rare but beautiful option for couples interested in unique diamond jewelry, including engagement rings. Though they are expensive, the sophistication and rarity of the gems has made them increasingly popular in today’s jewelry market..

While blood diamonds may at first sound like a vibrant red shade of colored diamonds, they are actually diamonds that pay for illegitimate, militaristic operations by blood. These diamonds fund wars, oppression, rebellion, and other hostile acts in a number of countries, primarily in Africa.

Where Blood Diamonds are Mined

In the late 1990s, nearly 4 percent of the world’s diamond supply consisted of conflict stones that were illegally traded to support rebel uprisings. Today, less than 1 percent of the world’s diamond trade is conflict-based, and the majority of those stones come from central and western Africa, specifically the Republic of Congo, Liberia, and the Ivory Coast. Other countries that have traded in conflict stones in the past include Angola and Sierra Leone.

It is no surprise that blood diamonds originate from Africa: many African nations have been war-torn for decades, even generations, and the continent is the single richest source of diamonds in the world, accounting for more than 60 percent of the world’s total supply. But most conflict stones are not mined and processed by rebels. Instead, they may hijack shipments of stones, incorporate illegal stones into already processed shipments, or otherwise covertly infiltrate the diamond supply with stones to pay for weapons and guerrilla warfare.

Funding Oppression instead of Advancement

Diamonds help fund beneficial programs in many societies, including African nations. For example, diamonds help provide healthcare benefits, steady employment, educational facilities, health research to combat HIV/AIDS, infrastructure development, and more. When those stones are diverted to conflict sources, however, they begin to fund weapons, guerrilla training, bribes, and other illegal tactics for an elite few rather than supporting progress for an entire population.

Stopping Blood Diamonds

Since mid-2000, the United Nations has been dedicated to eliminating the trade of blood stones in order to quell violence. Today, 69 nations are involved in the Kimberley Process, a system of certification and verification that protects the legitimate diamond trade and sanctions conflict diamonds.

The Kimberley Process

The Kimberley Process monitors diamonds at every step of their development to ensure their legitimacy. The basic steps of the Process include:

Mining: After stones are mined, they are transported under guard to a government office. This step is when many blood diamonds are hijacked.
 69 nations are part of the Kimberley Process to eliminate conflict stones.Export: Once at the government office, the origination source of the stones is verified to be conflict-free, and the gems are sealed and stored in tamper-resistant containers with unique serial numbers and certificates.
Import: As the stones arrive at their destination, their authenticity is again verified. Unsealed containers or stones without proper paperwork are rejected or impounded, helping eliminate the problem of conflict traders adding stones to already verified shipments.
Manufacturing: As a legitimate diamond is cut, polished, and set into jewelry, it is verified at each step as authentic and conflict-free. Companies involved in this system of verifications are required to audit the process and keep records for a minimum of five years.
Retail Sales: Jewelers are required to verify that the stones they use are conflict-free, though they are not required to provide documentation of that warranty to consumers. However, consumers have the right to question jewelers about the authenticity of the stones they wish to purchase.
Under the Kimberley Process and its associated System of Warranties, only the 69 registered nations may import or export stones. Uncertified shipments are not permitted to trade among participating countries, and nations not abiding by these regulations can have criminal charges brought against them.

While there is still any trade in blood diamonds, the United Nations is committed to improving the Kimberley Process and eradicating all conflict trade. In late 2006, more than 60 recommendations are to be reviewed by the General Assembly to help improve the Process and tighten the trade of conflict diamonds even further.

Avoiding Blood and Conflict Diamonds

Consumers who wish to avoid conflict stones can take several steps to be sure their diamonds are conflict-free.

Always ask the jeweler to verify the stone’s authenticity, and ask to see the diamond’s certification and origination credentials.
Avoid loose diamonds sold in bulk without appropriate verifications, particularly if the stones appear to be significantly cheaper than market value.
When considering online rings or stones, continue to ask for verification of the stone’s origination.

Diamonds are indisputably valuable, but blood diamonds have a far higher cost than any price tag: by funding wars, oppression, and rebellion, a single conflict stone may provide the means to take multiple lives. This is certainly not the association that most couples desire when they buy an engagement ring, but by seeking authentication of their stone they can easily avoid the negative effects of supporting conflict.

Knowing how diamonds are formed gives couples an appreciation of the rarity and exclusivity of this traditional bridal gem. The newest diamonds on the planet are an astonishing 45 million years old, and the longevity of their beauty is the perfect symbol of a lifelong relationship.

 Basic Process of how Diamonds are formed

 Diamonds are the crystalline form of elemental carbon, formed between 75-120 miles beneath the earth’s crust under specific conditions of pressure, chemistry, and temperature. Once the crystal structure has formed and hardened, it may take thousands of years for the circulation of the earth’s mantle to bring the stones to the surface where they can be mined.

 Most diamonds are formed by the melting of the earth’s crust – the rocks submerge into the mantle, where the carbon atoms are liquefied. Eventually, the temperature drops and the crystal structure of diamonds forms. Geologic events (earthquakes, volcanoes, etc.) then forces the rocks to the surface in a number of ways, such as alluvial deposits (in riverbeds) or kimberlite pipes (primary diamond mines).

 Diamond Composition 

 Diamonds are pure carbon.Diamond is pure carbon, and the word “diamond” comes from the Greek “adamas” meaning indestructible. Diamond is among the hardest substances on the planet, and it is the only gem to be purely composed of a single element. The hardness of the stones is due to the crystal structure of diamond formation: an isometric (cubic) arrangement that resists fracture under the tremendous pressure of the earth’s crust.

 Fancy Colored Diamonds 

Ideally, a flawless, colorless diamond is composed solely of carbon atoms, but that is a very rare occurrence. How diamonds are formed – in the turbulent stew of minerals beneath the earth’s surface – leads to impurities such as trace amounts of other elements. When nitrogen is introduced into a diamond’s crystal structure, the stone takes on a yellow, orange, or brown tint. Boron will create a blue or purple shade, while other trace elements may generate a rainbow of hues. If the color is pale or barely discernable, the diamond’s value is typically lower, but if the color is strong, consistent, and vibrant, the stones are highly sought after as fancy colored diamonds.

 Other colored diamonds result not from mineral inclusions, but from subtle changes to the diamond’s crystal structure. If nuclear rays are present during formation (very rarely), green diamonds may form. Other colors such as red or pink are the result of slight discrepancies in the crystal structure that change the way the stone absorbs and reflects light.

 Flaw Formation

 Very few diamonds are formed flawless. A variety of flaws appear in most stones, from simple chips or scratches created as the stones migrate to the surface to interior disruptions in the crystal structure caused by variations during the actual formation. As much as 60 percent of a raw diamond may be cut away to remove flaws when crafting a jewelry quality stone.

 How Diamonds are Formed: from Carbon to Jewellery

 Only about one fourth of mined diamonds are considered of fine enough quality to become jewellery. Other stones are used as abrasives or for industrial equipment, particularly for cutting and polishing other diamonds. The countries that produce the majority of diamonds for today’s jewellery industry include Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Australia, and Canada, though many other nations have minor diamond deposits as well. Savvy consumers, in fact, will insist on seeing their stone’s certificate to authenticate where it originated and be sure it is not a conflict diamond.

Once the stone is mined, it must be cut and polished into a final shape. There are certified jewellery labs throughout the world to perform these delicate services, and the finished stones are then sold to jewellery manufacturers to be mounted in a variety of settings for different types of jewellery. From the time the stone is mined to when it is placed on a bride-to-be’s finger during a proposal, the process may take several months.

A small diamond company has uncovered a huge 235-carat gem - the size of an hen’s egg - in South Africa only a few weeks after launching its operations, the firm said on Friday.

Nare Diamonds Ltd said it uncovered the rough gem on Wednesday after resuming mining in March at the Schmidtsdrift mine, 80 km northwest of the country’s historic diamond centre of Kimberley.

The mine was shut down three years ago by another firm that went bankrupt, a spokesman said. During the mine’s previous operations, the average size of stones was 1.14 carats.

“The large-sized gemstone is octahedron in shape and of very good quality according to a third party assessor,” the statement to the London stock exchange said.

It is hard to set a value for the diamond because typical valuation measures fall away when diamonds reach a certain size, the spokesman said.

London-listed Lonrho Africa Ltd, which recently bought a 17% stake in unlisted Nare, issued the statement. Its shares shot up 7.5% to 28-3/4 pence.

The world’s biggest diamond group De Beers found a 316.7 carat diamond at its South African Venetia mine in January, the largest-ever find at Venetia.

The largest-ever gem, the Cullinan, weighed in at 3 106 carats when De Beers discovered it in 1905, but other massive diamonds have ranged around 600-900 carats.

In 1986, De Beers discovered the 755.5-carat Golden Jubilee, which is now the world’s largest polished diamond at just over 545 carats.

A spokesman for Nare said the discovery does not necessarily mean the mine holds other sizeable gems since it is from an alluvial deposit - a former river bed where diamonds were swept from a smattering of other eroded deposits.

Nare, which has three other diamond projects, is planning to list on the London stock exchange around the middle of the year.

Carbonados, or black diamonds, have long been a mystery. They’re the oldest, toughest and rarest diamonds around. Now, some researchers have a theory about its origin, and it’s out of this world, literally.

Stephen Haggerty, Ph.D., a geoscientist at Florida International University in Miami, has been studying black diamonds for more than a decade. Dr. Haggerty says, “I feel I have an obsession about them, and I do, it’s a challenge.” It’s a challenge because researchers are still trying to figure out where the black diamonds came from. Traditional diamonds are formed deep in the earth and came to the surface through two volcano eruptions that happened 100 million and one billion years ago. Carbonados are older than 3.8 billion years. “They clearly did not form in the same way that conventional diamonds formed,” Dr. Haggerty says.

Most diamonds can be found all over the world, but carbonados are only found in Brazil and Africa. Dr. Haggerty believes black diamonds came to earth during an asteroid event that struck when the two countries were still one continent. “Maybe it is a maverick, or a fringe idea, but no one has come up with an alternative,” Dr. Haggerty says.

Carbonados have hydrogen in them, suggesting the diamonds formed in an environment, like a star. When examined under infrared radiation, researchers found a spectrum similar to a type of diamond that exists in space. Dr. Haggerty says, “This is the closest we can match this to.” It may take some time for all scientists to accept the idea, but one thing’s for sure — carbonados are the most mysterious diamonds around.