Most of the gold ring sold in the US are white gold rings, and this is a worldwide trend visible in Mexico, France and Latin America.
That graph shows you the comparison of US online demand between yellow gold rings (in red) and white gold rings (in blue) since 2004. We can see that the demand for white gold rings is much higher than the demand for yellow gold rings.
Although the demand is present, few know what white gold is and how it is used in jewelry. That article will undoubtedly help you in your search for information about white gold.
White gold is an alloy composed of fine gold, pure yellow gold that you know well, with other metals that will give it a white / gray color.
The only information available on the white gold of your ring will be the gold title, given by the mark on the jewel, of 9K, 10K, 14K, 18k or even 24k (in the case of pure gold jewelry), which indicates to you the proportion of pure gold of the jewel.
Composition of 750 white gold:
A ring in 18-karat white gold (or 750/1000) is made of 75% pure gold.
But what about other metals allied to gold? Well, we do not know !!
The white gold alloys are made according to certain recipes that can vary, from mixtures of commercial metals and some are more or less secret, according to the jeweler or the company considered.
Here are some examples of known white gold alloys:
For obvious reasons, pure white gold does not exist, pure gold is only yellow. Check our post about the karats of gold here.
The French and international law is very strict as to the respect of the gold content announced by the mark of the jewel, but nothing is done to inform on the composition of the alloy of gold.
Some gold alloys tend to give a light gray or gray tint to yellow to gold, while others give it a more pronounced gray-white color.
In this image, we can see yellow gold on the left, in the center, the alloy of various metals used to make white gold from yellow gold, and to the right of 14-karat white gold. We notice the gray color pulling on the yellow of this alloy.
White gold is a young metal that has only been known for a little over 200 years. Historians estimate its appearance at the beginning of the 19th century.
In fact, one of the first mentions of white gold in literature was in the book "L'art du Bijoutier" (The Art of the Jeweler) published in 1823 in France, whose author Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin describes how he obtained white gold by mixing platinum with pure gold.
The first patent on white gold in Europe was granted in 1912 to the German chemist Carl Louis Ullman. In his patent, Ullman describes how to obtain white gold with a mixture of pure gold, platinum and palladium.
But it is assumed that the knowledge of German jewelers predated that first patent.
You can learn more about the history of white gold by reading that article.
We have seen that we can make white gold with certain metals alloyed with yellow gold. There are many ways to obtain white gold from yellow gold, but jewelers look for a white gold alloy that is also as economical as possible and does not cause inconvenience to users in the form of allergies.
Palladium and nickel are metals that are very effective in giving yellow gold its white color. Below, you can see a palladium ore on the left and nickel on the right.
But these metals have drawbacks:
So, for cost and health reasons, white gold is usually made from metals that are non-allergenic and cheaper. So much so that many white gold alloys eventually tend towards a yellowish color. Here you can see the difference between two types of white gold with different bonds and what they look like when the white gold is raw when it comes out of the casting stage.
On the left we see an 18-karat white gold ring fresh from the foundry. We notice the white color of the gold in its raw state, unpolished and without rhodium, a sign of the quality of the white gold alloy used. On the right, we see another type of alloy that tends more towards yellow.
Since white gold may not be all that white, it is rhodium plated to give it a truly white appearance. The color of the white gold depends of the other metal components added to the pure yellow gold to make the white gold.
Why?
Well, white gold is never as white and shiny as rhodium, we have become accustomed in jewelry to depositing a plating on the metal of the ring giving a better visual effect.
In fact, rhodium is so brilliant that in a diamond ring it is difficult to distinguish the brilliance of the diamond from the brilliance of the rhodium from afar.
Please note that platinum is also sometimes used instead of rhodium. These two metals are part of the same group of metals and have similar properties. The point is that that white rhodium plate improves the visual appearance of the white gold ring.
Generally, a white gold ring without rhodium plating is called gray gold.
Therefore, you will have understood that the yellowing of your white gold ring is not due to dirt or aging gold, but rather due to the rhodium (or platinum) plating of your ring vaning away.
Bumps, friction, and wear and tear on your ring tear away microscopic pieces of your ring's rhodium plating, revealing its natural gold color.
The solution to the yellowing of your ring will therefore consist of taking it to your jeweler who, after cleaning and polishing the jewel, will once again deposit a layer of rhodium on it to restore its new appearance.
Below, you can see the example of a white gold scorpion ring without its rhodium plating next to the same ring with white rhodium plating.
Strictly speaking, it is not possible to recognize white gold with your eyes only.
In fact, as the outer color of the jewel is due to a surface coating, it is impossible to visually recognize white gold. Silver with rhodium will have the same color as white gold with rhodium.
To test a white gold piece of jewelry, you must file the surface and test it with acid. In this way, the jeweler will be able to confirm that it is white gold and what the fineness of the metal of your jewelry is.
After verification, you can put a rhodium plate back on the jewelry.
White gold differs from silver in its density. Gold being denser than silver, a person accustomed to it can tell if the jewel is gold or silver.
White gold is also distinguished from platinum by its color and density, with platinum being the densest of all precious jewelry metals.
Common white gold has the same price as yellow gold, due to using common alloys. But it will need to be rhodium plated every 18/24 months to regain its color.
As for white gold with palladium, which looks whiter and can be used polished without rhodium plating, this type of gold is more expensive to purchase but does not require as much maintenance of the ring in the form of rhodium plating to maintain its white appearance.
Here, some examples of white gold jewelry made in the Vivalatina jewelry workshop.
More information :
]]>If the wearing of the signet ring meets the aesthetic and fashion today, precise rules governed the wearing of signet rings for the nobles during the Middle Ages.
The wearing of the signet ring changes according to the country, the sex and the time.
Here's how you find it, starting with a review of the fingers of your hand
Today signet rings have evolved to become a form of personal expression. It’s a chance to express your individuality while continuing a centuries-long tradition, whether you choose a vintage style or design a family signet ring.
Our guide explores the history of signet rings and how different cultures wear signet rings. We’re answering the most common questions about signet rings, including the French signet ring and advice on wearing a signet ring.
You might be shopping for a signet ring for your little finger or want to learn more about this heritage piece. Keep reading to discover why the wax signet ring has stood the test of time.
The jewelry we wear today can be traced back through the generations. Some styles and silhouettes have become virtually unrecognizable, while other heritage pieces look the same today as they did a hundred years ago. The signet ring is the classic example of this – often treated as an heirloom piece that is handed down from one generation to the next.
Gold signet rings can be traced back to the Middle Ages, remaining synonymous with nobility until the mid-20th century when they became more mainstream. These rings were worn on an individual’s little finger to show their social status.
Signet rings first served as a practical accessory, offering a form of identification. A wax signet ring would be worn by nobility to provide as a signature on wax seals and legal documents. The term ‘signet ring’ comes from the Latin word ‘signum’, meaning signature.
During the Victorian era, signet rings became a popular way of denoting your relationship status. Oscar Wilde’s most famous portrait features him wearing a signet ring, leading to it being adopted as a symbol amongst the LGBT+ community.
Different cultures and countries have their own interpretation of the meaning behind a signet ring. You’ll see men and women wearing signet rings on different fingers and hands, depending on the country they’re from.
There are no set rules for wearing a gold signet ring. You can choose your preference based purely on aesthetic or cultural reasons.
As the adage says:
"Messieurs les français, tirez en premier"
Family crest and signet rings are synonymous with French nobility, where there were strict etiquette rules for wearing them based on your gender.
Younger men typically wear their signet ring on the little finger of their right hand. Older gentlemen wear signet rings on their left hand, usually alongside their wedding ring.
Signet rings for women are a popular accessory in France. Traditionally French women will wear their signet ring on the little finger of their right hand. The way a woman wears her signet ring is comparable to Irish Claddagh rings, with the signet ring signaling their relationship status. The motif on the ring will point outwards if the woman is single or face inwards if they are married, showing that their heart is taken.
The rules of the French nobility are:
For women, the signet ring can be worn in two ways depending on whether they are married or not:
Signet rings continue to be a popular heirloom piece, often gifted to commemorate a milestone occasion or birthday. It’s popular in England to wear a signet ring on the little finger of your less dominant hand. Members of the British Royal Family, including King Charles III, are commonly photographed wearing signet rings.
Prince Charles wearing his signet ring to the left little finger
King Edward II is widely credited for popularizing signet rings, and the accessory continues to offer a feeling of grandeur. Signet rings in England are typically worn on the little finger of the person’s least dominant hand.
While most cultures follow the tradition of wearing signet rings on your little finger, Switzerland does things a little differently. In Switzerland, a signet ring is commonly worn on the ring finger of your left hand.
It’s a common misconception that signet rings are only for men. Trends and traditions have evolved with the style becoming more unisex. However, noble women have worn signet rings for virtually as long as men have. Women can choose to use signet rings as a way of signaling their relationship status, depending on the way the motif on their ring is facing.
A signet ring is the only ring that most men will wear until they get married. Once you’ve said, ‘I do’, you can continue to wear your signet ring alongside your wedding band. You can stack your signet ring and wedding band together if they’re the correct size. Alternatively, you can wear your signet ring on the little finger next to your wedding ring.
You can choose to wear a signet ring on any finger. Traditionally, these family seal rings are commonly worn on the little finger of either hand.
Women typically wear signet rings on their little fingers. It’s a custom in France to wear the motif facing outwards if you’re single and inwards towards your heart if you’re in a relationship.
Traditionally in most European countries, you wear your signet ring on your least dominant hand. Alternatively, you can follow the tradition in Switzerland and wear your signet ring on your left hand.
Explore our range of 18k and 24k gold signet rings to choose a heritage ring that will become your signature piece.
The history of the wearing of the signet ring goes back to Roman antiquity (and perhaps beyond) and the codification remained after the fall of the Roman Empire among the peoples who then inherited this use.
As can be seen, the wearing of the signet ring in the nobility is essential to the little finger (except for siblings), because the signet ring historically used to seal the documents, it was more convenient to wear it on this finger.
Today, apart from nobility, everyone is free to wear it at the finger of their choice.
Hereafter, you can see several custom-made signet rings:
More information:
]]>View of the platinum tiara made by Mellerio and acquired by the Spanish crown since 1867
Platinum is a surprising and interesting metal in many ways, so much so that we have decided to deal with the subject in depth in order to help you choose your 950 platinum jewelry.
The chemical symbol for platinum is Pt (in jewelry too), it is a shiny gray-white colored metal that is very dense. With a density of 21.4 platinum is denser than pure gold whose density is 19.3 (pure platinum is 10% denser than pure gold). The density of 14 karat gold being 13.7; platinum is therefore 56% denser than 14 carat gold.(find here gold carat explained)
From left to right, Platinum 950, pure 24-karat gold, Pure silver. While pure gold nugget jewelry is common, pure platinum or pure silver is not almost not used in jewelry
Its atomic number is 78, so it is placed next to gold (79) in the periodic table of the elements, which explains why it shares many chemical properties with pure gold.
Platinum is a transition metal obviously part of the platinum group which includes the following elements: Ruthenium, Rhodium, Palladium, Osmium, Iridium, Platinum and Rhenium.
Position of platinum in the periodic table of chemical elements
Platinum is a precious noble metal that is both malleable and very ductile.
What does that mean ?
Platinum is a noble metal since it is unalterable, therefore it is not oxidized by oxygen and is not attacked by strong bases or strong acids.
Platinum is only attacked by aqua regia (HCL+HNO3), which dissolves it. We will detail this for the platinum acid test later.
Platinum is a malleable metal since it can be shaped easily in plate, cut with a saw, deformed by bending or hammering or even by stamping.
Platinum is a ductile metal since it can (just like gold) be drawn into wire very easily. It is estimated that one gram of platinum can be drawn into a fine wire over two kilometers in length.
Finally, platinum is a precious metal, since it is relatively rare and expensive and coveted, in the same way as the other precious metals which are gold, silver, palladium and rhodium.
Platinum is also and above all characterized by a very high melting temperature which is 3214°F (1768°C) compared with that of pure gold which is 1947°F (1064°C).
Finally, platinum resists friction and abrasion much better than gold, as platinum is 3 times more wear resistant than 18k gold, we will detail this later.
Platinum wedding band from our platinum jewelry collection
Platinum black is a black porous platinum powder that is used in industry for chemical catalyst purposes and has no application in jewelry.
Where does platinum come from?
Before being extracted from the ground in mines, platinum comes from space. Like gold, platinum was formed during a supernova explosion by r-type stellar nucleosynthesis.
The iron atoms in the core of the collapsing star are subjected to a very strong flux of neutrons transmuting the iron into platinum and its isotopes (and other chemical elements).
Present in the protoplanetary gas cloud, it is then aggregated with the rest of the chemical elements of the cloud to form our solar system and the earth.
Although platinum has been discovered and worked by man for several millennia, it was only in the 16th century that it was first mentioned in Europe.
It was the Italian humanist Julius Caesar Scalinger who first mentioned platinum in 1557 in his work De subtilitate, ad Cardanum. He describes it as a mysterious Central American metal that is impossible to smelt:
"Præterea scitio, in Fundaribus, qui tractus est inter Mexicum, & Dariem, fodinas esse orichalci: quòd nullo igni, nullis Hispanicis artibus hactenus liquescere potuit. Adhæc non omnibus metallis uerbum, liquescere, uidemus conuenire." P 134 (source).
Yet the oldest artifact made of platinum dates back to the days of ancient Egypt, dating back to 2700 BCE. Platinum was indeed found as decoration of the hieroglyphs on a decorative copper box found in the excavations of Thebes.
View of the ancient Egyptian decorative plate whose hieroglyphs are decorated with platinum, exhibited in the Louvres
It seems that this early and punctual use of platinum by the Egyptians was more accidental than intentional, the craftsmen of the time having been able to confuse platinum with electrum (an alloy of gold and silver).
Unlike the Egyptians, the pre-Columbian culture called La Tolita-Tumaco (from the name of the locality where it was established) used 100 years before our era, in a recurring way, alluvial platinum nuggets for the manufacture of artefacts and body jewelry.
Archaeologists have found many platinum nose jewels and platinum funerary masks in the tombs of this little-known culture, located in the west of present-day Colombia.
Location of the La Tolta-Tumalco culture, on the Colombian border with Ecuador
What is even more fascinating is that this culture did not have sufficient means of heating to melt pure platinum, which melting point is 1768°C. Therefore, it was by an artisanal method of sintering that the jewelers of this culture managed to make their platinum jewelry.
This technique consists of mixing platinum with powdered gold and melting the latter, then forging the ingot thus obtained. The operation is repeated a sufficient number of times so that the platinum is intimately mixed with the gold which then serves as a binder. The jewels obtained are for some platinum alloys with 60% platinum and 40% gold.
Example of a funerary mask made of a rich platinum alloy from the La Tolita culture (source)
El interés de la corona española por el beneficio del platino y su comercialización a finales del sigle XVIII, Pedro Damian Cano Borrego, 2016.
Having fled to the United States in 1792 when King Louis XVI was deposed, he was recalled by the Convention in 1795 to create the reference units of weight measurement: the kilogram made of a mass of 1 kilogram of pure platinum which will be declared in 1799 the kilogram of the archives and which will remain for 90 years the reference weight before being replaced in 1889 by a weight of one kilogram in platinum-iridium.
If you ask yourself: Why choosing platinum to make such units reference? The reason is that Platinum is very stable in volume when temperature change, making it the perfect metal for such use.
The history of platinum is fascinating, and long, so I recommend reading this article on the subject.
The chronological history of platinum can be summarized by the following dates:
Although platinum jewelry is more expensive than gold jewelry and platinum is rarer in our societies than gold, its price has been lower than that of gold over the past 10 years, as shown this comparison chart.
Chart showing the price of one ounce (ouce troy is 31.10 grams) of platinum and gold in USD since 1985 (http://www.macrotrends.net/2541/platinum-prices-vs-gold-prices)
As we can see, regardless of the scarcity of platinum on the market, its price varies, depending on supply and demand, independently of that of gold. This has been verified over time since the 1870s as this other graph shows.
Fluctuations in the price of an ounce of platinum and gold over the last century, in USD (source)
During the 20th century, the price of platinum was usually higher than that of gold.
It should be noted that platinum is mainly used by industry and that only 8% of platinum (platinum -rhodium - palladium) worldwide is used in the jewelry sector. It is therefore the industrial demand for platinum that controls the price of this precious metal, which is a vital industrial material for the automotive, military, space and fuel cell industries.
Breakdown of platinum uses by industry worldwide in 2021 (source)
Like gold, platinum is a precious investment metal whose value, volatile over time, can be a safe haven for some. Platinum is available in bars of 1 gram, 10 grams, 100 grams, 1 kilogram from companies specializing in precious metal investments.
The interest of such an investment being to physically own the metal.
The disadvantage of Platinum on gold is that it is much less liquid and its resale is less easy than that of gold in the event of an emergency anywhere on the planet.
In order to recognize platinum in jewellery, when one does not rely on the platinum dog's head hallmark on the jewel or when it is illegible, it is useful to know the characteristics of this metal, which make it possible to distinguish it from other precious metals.
Pure platinum has a specific gravity of 21.4 against a specific gravity of 10.5 for silver. Since platinum is almost twice as dense as silver, it is easy to see this and recognize the metal by weighing the jewel.
Silver is whiter and brighter than platinum, whose hue tends towards matt grey-white. In addition, platinum resists abrasion better than silver, this is clearly visible on an old piece of jewelry.
18 karat white gold has a specific gravity of around 16 (which can vary depending on the alloy) compared to a specific gravity of 21.5 for pure platinum. In addition, rhodium white gold can be recognized by the extremely shiny and white rhodium layer on the surface, which is very easily scratched.
Palladium-plated white gold (not rhodium-plated) is whiter than platinum, which is grayer in color.
Platinum is much more resistant to abrasion than 18 carat gold.
Finally, white gold melts around 1000°C while pure platinum melts at 1768°C. Read more about the differences between platinum and white gold in this complete publication from Brides.
Palladium is another precious metal used in jewelry for making rings and jewelry. It is a metal which is light gray and shiny, with a density of 12 g/cm3, palladium is almost half as dense as platinum, but its melting temperature of 1555°C is relatively close to that of platinum .
A simple and non-destructive method to recognize platinum is to test the jewel in question with acid, this is called the touchau method. Like gold, platinum is a noble metal unalterable by simple acids.
Like gold, platinum is only attacked and dissolved by aqua regia which is a mixture of concentrated nitric acid and hydrochloric acid.
The jewel is rubbed against a touchstone to leave a fine platinum mark on the stone. This trace is then treated with test acid by the jeweler who can then confirm, depending on the chemical reaction, whether the jewel is indeed made of platinum or other metals.
The touchau test is described in our article on the fineness of gold.
Views of a bottle of acid intended to recognize platinum by a touchau test
Like all jewelry made of precious metals, platinum jewelry is hallmarked. This hallmark changes between France and abroad, according to the times and the French legislation is sometimes not very obvious.
We are going to take stock of the hallmarks of platinum in France and abroad.
In most countries of the world, platinum jewelry is identified by the Pt hallmark followed by the title of the platinum used. In the case of platinum 950, common in jewelry, the hallmark is the following Pt 950, this hallmark indicates that the jewel is made of Platinum 950/1000, i.e. 95% platinum and 5% other metals.
It is by the decree of December 5, 1912 (and published on December 21) that the dog's head hallmark is created in order to mark and identify French jewelry made in platinum whose title is at least 950/1000 . This hallmark will remain valid until 1994.
Illustration of the 1912 dog's head punch for marking platinum jewellery, source Mike Fieggen author of the book Les bijoux des français
View of the decree of December 5, 1912 announcing the creation of the dog's head hallmark for platinum works. Note that there is no mention of the purity of 950/1000 for the use of this hallmark
In 1994, the law relating to the guarantee of precious metals was amended by the law of January 4, 1994.
The modifications it implies for the marking of platinum jewelry are the creation of 4 hallmarks for 4 distinct titles of platinum, visible in this document from La Monnaie de Paris.
View of the various modern French hallmarks for marking platinum jewelry (see customs source document)
Let us recall in conclusion that these hallmarks of platinum are only valid for France and rather difficult to understand for all the other countries of the world.
Contrary to popular belief, platinum is no rarer than gold in the earth's crust. Since their respective clarke numbers are similar in the Earth's crust, their abundance on Earth is of the same order of magnitude.
Here is a summary table of the abundance of precious metals in jewelry: Silver, Gold and Platinum as well as the tonnage of their respective annual production.
Metal | Symbol | Z | Clarke (ppm or g/t) | Production (2011) |
Silver | Ag | 47 | 0.07/0.08 | 23800 t |
Gold | Au | 79 | 0.003/0.005 | 2700 t |
Platinum | Pt | 78 | 0.003/0.005 | 192 t |
Abundance of precious metals on Earth (source)
What does that mean?
In the earth's crust, platinum and gold are found at a concentration of about 0.003/0.005 grams per ton of rock.
The local concentration (expressed in grams of platinum per ton of ore) at ground level determines whether it is profitable to extract platinum or not. In platinum mines, this metal is found in a concentration of 2 to 20 grams per ton of rock, depending on the region.
However, the amount of platinum produced each year is almost 10 times less than gold and the amount of platinum in circulation worldwide is 20 times less than that of gold.
How to explain this difference?
While gold has been extracted from the ground by men for 6 or 7000 years, the exploitation of the first platinum mine began in an artisanal way in Colombia around 1750 (supposed date, no reliable source). It will be necessary to wait for the discovery of the first large deposit of platinum in Russia in 1819 to see the beginning of the industrial exploitation of platinum, that is to say barely two centuries ago.
In 2011, experts estimated the total amount of platinum already mined in the world at 9,400 tons compared to 200,000 tons for gold, or about 20 times less. To get a better idea, compared to the 1 740 000 tons of silver already extracted from earth, platinum is 185 times less available than silver.
The distribution of platinum on the planet is very unequal and the main producer of platinum in the world is South Africa, which in 2021 accounted for 73% of world production, as this table shows.
Ranking of the main world producers of platinum (source)
The very first historical platinum mining site of Chocó located in Colombia now produces only one ton of platinum per year (source).
As for Russia, having the first historic site of industrial platinum extraction, it produces only 20 to 25 tons of platinum per year (source).
It is in the south-east of Africa, encompassing South Africa, Zimbabwe and Bostwana that the richest region in the world in platinum ores is found. This region accounted for more than 81.5% of global platinum production in 2021.
The Modikwa mine occupies the original site of the discovery of platinum ore by the German geologist Hans Merensky in 1924. It is the largest platinum mine in South Africa with estimated platinum reserves of 391/429 tonnes of platinum.
Note: estimating reserves from English measurements is confusing since there are two types of ounces: the 28.35 gram ounce and the 31.1 gram ounce (I admit that these imperial measurements lose me).
South Africa has 11 mining companies exploiting platinum and 30 active mines in operation (source). You will find information on most of these mining sites on this page. Most of them are located around the town of Rustenburg located 100 kilometers west of Pretoria.
These two maps show the location of platinum mines in South Africa and around the city of Rastenburg, this map is not exhaustive
This other map gives a better view of the identified platinum deposits in South Africa.
World reserves of platinum were estimated in 1997 at 56,490 tons (source), of which 50,000 tons are in South Africa. At the current rate of exploitation, there would therefore remain more than three centuries of platinum exploitation.
In general, the estimated reserves of PGM (platinum group metals) is 69,910 tons, 90% of which are still in South Africa, which makes this country the pivot for the world market. The slightest economic or political concern in the country would greatly affect world platinum prices.
Platinum is sometimes found in its native state, that is to say in the form of platinum nuggets. This was the case of the pre-Columbian mines of Colombia where the pre-Columbian peoples directly used the platinum nuggets they found in the ground to make their jewelry and masks.
Most often, platinum is mined associated with other metals (iron, gold, rhodium, iridium...) or in the form of platinum arsenide (PtAs2) or as a by-product of the exploitation of giant mines. copper or zinc, as is the case in most Russian mines.
Zoomed view of platinum arsenide (source)
This means that very important mechanical and chemical treatments are necessary in order to separate the platinum from the rocks extracted from the earth. Imagine that with a high concentration of 25 grams of platinum per ton, you have to extract and process 40 tons of rock to extract 1 kilogram of platinum.
Realize that it takes 2 to 6 months depending on the case to obtain pure platinum once the rocks extracted in South Africa have been processed in England. Here is a brief description of the process of extraction and purification of platinum.
It should be understood that platinum is not found alone in the rock, are also present most often gold, iridium, iron, copper and zinc. You have to separate all your metals from the rocks, but also from each other.
The rocks extracted from the mine are crushed and crushed before being washed, that is to say mixed with water and chemicals that will bind with the platinum (and the other metals present).
Air is pumped into this mixture in order to separate the metals by flotation by skimming the foam on the surface of the mixture, which foam contains a high concentration of platinum and PGM. This foam is dried and then contains 85 to 850 grams of platinum group metals per tonne.
This powder is then put in the oven in order to burn off the impurities which are then blown out, making it possible to obtain a concentration of 1.4 kilograms of PGM per tonne.
This is followed by an aqueous chemical treatment process to obtain 99.99% pure platinum. This process is summarized in the following diagram:
Simplified overview of the platinum refining process (source)
For those who are interested, the (almost) complete detail of the platinum refining process is described here.
The choice of platinum in jewelry is justified for customers by its brilliance, its particular brilliance and its unalterable and durable character.
For jewelers, it is the white metal of choice for setting diamonds and gems due to its mechanical resistance and its ductility and malleability, which makes it an easy metal to work on the bench peg.
It is also three times more resistant to abrasion than gold, which makes it a much more durable metal than the latter for all jewelry, but especially for making fine platinum chains. Indeed, while gold chains wear to the point of breaking due to friction, platinum chains are three times more durable than 18k gold chains and less likely to break over time.
However, platinum is a difficult metal to melt, which requires special equipment consisting of an acetylene-oxygen torch in order to reach a sufficient temperature for its melting and the production of platinum ingots.
Melting platinum is also not very obvious and requires special melting machines, operating under argon gas and under pressure of a few bars in order to ensure a good quality of melting, which however sometimes requires touch-ups by laser welding. These manufacturing concerns are the responsibility of the jeweler and do not affect the customers.
The benefits of platinum in jewelry are summarized here:
Platinum Allergies:
Platinum does not generate allergy through jewelry. The only cases of platinum allergy concern people working in the medical field or exposed to platinum treatment processes and exposed by the respiratory tract to platinum salts.
Disadvantage with platinum:
Platinum is much more expensive in jewelry than the price indicated by the world price of platinum. I don't have a quantified explanation to explain this. However, it should be noted that platinum wears out the cutting and rolling tools enormously, which must be adjusted to the platinum, this implies a limited work rate and premature wear of the platinum production tools in jewellery.
Declared by Louis XVI, metal of Kings, platinum was initially reserved for European crowned heads who shared the privilege of owning the rarest of precious metals.
It was Cartier who first launched into the manufacture of platinum jewelry in 1856, democratizing platinum to the general public.
Here is a brief presentation of works of art and platinum jewelry that have made history.
Sugar Bowl Louis XVI, Platinum, 1786 |
Platinum chalice, Pope Pius VI, 1788
|
Platinum Watch, Cartier |
Platinum Brooch, Victorian Era
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Crown Queen Mary of England entirely in platinum, 1911 |
For more information:
]]>Rolex watches are known for maintaining their value over time and many rolex owners and watch lovers like to customize their luxury watch to their own taste.
In the case of this project, we had to customize our client's Oyster Perpetual Datejust model that had already been personnalized in the past, as described below.
Rolex watches are known for maintaining their value over time and many rolex owners and watch lovers like to customize their luxury watch to their own taste.
In the case of this project, we had to customize our client's Oyster Perpetual Datejust model that had already been personnalized in the past, as described below.
Please, be aware we are not watches experts and the focus of this article is the presentation of the jewelry work on this rolex watch. If you find errors about watch, rolex watch model or information relative to the watch industry, feel free to share your knowledge in the comment section to improve our article. Thanks.
View of the Datejust Rolex model after customization with a brand new 18k gold bracelet paved with 66 diamonds of 1,5 mm in diameter with a total diamond weight of 0,8 carat for the bracelet alone
Also, discover our publication about a custom 14k gold bracelet made for a 5054 Patek Phillip, and our work about a custom 18k gold dial for a French watch brand: Sartory Billard.
This rolex model came to us with a rolex datejust diamond dial in 18k gold, set with 1,7 millimeters diamonds and a stainless steel bracelet upgraded with a 14k yellow gold chain links, as shown in the picture. This gold bracelet was not original from Rolex and was showing signs of breaking up soon.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust before customization
The overall state of the watch was a general wear visible on the gold bracelet and stainless steel, deformed chain links with space between them announcing a future failure of the bracelet in the coming months.
Our mission from our client was as follow:
As 18k gold is more malleable than 14k gold, and because we needed to set diamonds on each link of the bracelet, it was necessary to make new gold links, thicker than the old ones.
The first operation consisted in disassembling the bracelet from the rolex watch and checking the thickness of the gold links.
Above, you can see the gold links of the gold bracelet, compared to the new one in the picture below. The new 18k gold links are 80% thicker than the old 14k gold links.
Rolex watch in spare parts with some new 18k gold links
The original links of the bracelet made of stainless steel are then weighted to be able to determine the final gold weight of the bracelet.
The making of such a gold bracelet is tedious as each of the 68 links (66 plus the 2 large links located on the watch case) have to be made one by one and also be assembled one by one.
We already had the experience of a custom 14k white gold bracelet made for 5054 Patek Phillip watch, but this time the job was totally different.
For the making of the new 18k gold links, a gold bar is laminated, then cut in parts and every one of this parts is adjusted and polished one by one before starting the assembly onto the stainless steel links.
You can see each 18k gold links with its relative stainless steel link before assembly
Then, diamond locations are pointed out on each gold link before the setting, as shown below.
Check the gold links before assembly and the gold links once linked with the stainless steel links with the locatioon of the diamond pointed out.
Diamonds are then set onto the gold links with claws and the gold links are decorated with false claws to give a better finish and shinier aspect. Both lines on the link help to keep the symetry of the setting and decoration.
Close up view of the gold link set with real diamonds. You can see the 4 prongs around heach diamond and the decorative prongs around made as a decoration
Each link once finished and set with a diamond is then polished individually before assembling on the watch bracelet. This is a long process before materializing the assembled bracelet.
Here is a view of a gold link set with a diamond being polished before assembly
After polishing, each group of 3 links are set onto the stainless steel links to assemble the whole watch bracelet. We can then weigh the finished bracelet to get the real weight of 18k gold used for the making. In the case of this wath, we have used 21 grams of 18k yellow gold for the making of the sole bracelet.
Once the bracelet finished, we still have to make the gold clasp of the bracelet, reproducing the size and mechanic of the original one made of stainless steel.
The making of the gold clasp is straighforward after the tedious making of the godl & diamond bracelet. We used laminated sheets of 18k yellow gold to cut and solder them to replicate the original stainless steel clasp of the rolex watch.
As you can see, this solid piece of gold is quite small but is quite heavy. You can see the perforations on the side for the length adjustement of the bracelet. The gold clasp is finished with an aspect of brushed gold to keep it more ressistant to wear so it will not show visible scratches in the futur (even when receiving scratches).
We can appreciate the diamond iced-out rolex watch, once the real gold bracelet assembled with the gold clasp and the watch.
This view shows the rolex watch with full diamond setting on the real gold bracelet and the rolex dial. The total diamond weight set on the bracelet is 0,8 carat.
This view shows the 18k gold clasp and diamond setting of the rolex watch
Detailed view of the diamond setting on the rolex gold bracelet
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While intaglio in jewelry is not fashion nowadays, there are still people fascinated by this form of art and looking for ancient intaglio rings made of carnelian or onyx stone. Some jewelry carvers specialized in reproducing such ancient intaglio gemstone, and the cost of such artwork usually ranges from $300 USD to $800 USD.
Many people interested in this form of art are not wealthy enough to affort such prices for traditional custom intaglio. While looking for a solution we had the idea to test a CNC carving method on gemstone, that we are going to present in this article.
We will detail the carving method used, the pros and the cons and suggestion to improve it.
Quick view of intaglio made with the CNC engraving machine on fine stones to be used in jewelry
To engrave our fine stones, we use a diamond tip driven by a CNC machine link to a computer using a specific software. In our case, we use an AM30 jewelry engraving machine usually used for engraving silver and gold jewelry.
The diamond tip is a standard one as this is the best option to engrave any surface, so we use it to engrave our gemstone.
View of the AM30 CNC Engraving Machine linked to the computer that commands the moves of the diamond tip
As a reminder, diamond's hardness on Moh's scale is 10 and the majority of the stones engraved by this method described in this article have a Moh's scale hardness around 7.
The advantage of the CNC machine is that it is very precise, and we can repeat the number of passes without losing the details of the engraving.
As you will discover, while the diamond tip is the best option to engrave gemstones, one engraving pass is just not enough to get a proper engraving result.
I have tested this engraving method on a small panel of fine stones:
Here you will find the complete list of gemstone with their indicated hardness.
For this test, we made a logo engraving with initials at the center. The engraving is large, made of thin lines and the engraving is repeated 15 times to allow the diamond tip to engrave deep enough so we can feel the engraving with our finger tip.
View of the first pass of CNC engraving on this onyx stone
For each pass of the diamond tip, few microns of material are scratched from the surface. Once the dust is cleaned, it can be hard to see the engraving from a distance, this is the reason why we repeat the carving program several times.
Here is the final result after 15 passes.
Here, the engraving is deep enough to be clearly visible and you can feel it with your finger
Here is another onyx CNC carving of initials with only 5 passes.
You can note that less engraving passes affect the visibility of the engraving
Carnelian stones were used a lot during antiquity to make intaglio rings or intaglio jewelry for seal purpose. Archeologists have found a lot of ancient intaglio rings set with carved intaglios representing animals, divinities or objects of everyday life dating back from the romans.
As ants were one of the animals represented on roman intaglio rings, we have used this example to make a comparison of a traditional antique carnelian intaglio with this CNC carving method.
Traditional intaglio is made with tools carving the stone tenth of a millimeter deep so it was possible to make a wax seal with such a stone. On the contrary, the engraving we are able to make with this CNC engraving is flatter and is not usable to make a wax seal, still it is visible to the naked eye.
While the CNC engraving on carnelian stones gives a result, we can visualize that this stone is harder than onyx stone and require more engraving passes to give good results.
The ant engraving on this carnelian stone required 25 engraving passes to give the result shown in the picture.
It is necessary to remark that while this seems a lot, this process is still faster and much cheaper than a traditional intaglio hand carved.
Here is another comparison of a design engraved on carnelian stone by CNC means and traditional carving made by hand. On the left, the design is made with 30 passes while on the right, the deep engraving of the same design is made by hand with specific tools and this intaglio allows the making of wax seals.
Lapis lazuli was a fine stone used a lot during antiquity to make Egyptians jewelry and archeologists have found a lot of lapis lazuli intaglio jewelry from ancient civilizations.
Being quite soft, Lapis lazuli can be engraved easily with this CNC process as you can see hereafter. It is possible to engrave easily names, initials or drawings with fewer passes.
On the left, Greek initials are engraved in the center of the Greek decoration while on the right, you can see a griffin being engraved with the diamond tip of the CNC engraving machine
Lapis lazuli is easy to engrave, gives a good result quite easily with a few passes of the diamond tip to get the job done.
Amethyst stone is a common fine stone that is also used for intaglio but that is not common as such nowadays. Being a hard stone and translucent, I had the make the test knowing it would be difficult to get a good result.
Once again we used the ant design to be able to compare the engraved amethyst with the carnelian stone engraved previously.
The first engraving test was made with 10 passes of the diamond tip while the second test (other stone identical to the first one) was made with 30 passes.
As you can see, with 30 diamond tip passes, the result is pretty good. The disadvantage of translucent gemstone is that it can be difficult to see the engraved design because of the refraction of the light going through the stone.
After 30 passes, you can feel the engraved design with the tip of your finger.
Turquoise is a soft stone that is not used for intaglio usually. I wanted to try our CNC engraving process as this is a common gemstone used in jewelry and I thought the result would be pretty good.
We engraved a Christian cross, with only three passes, the result is pretty good. You can see the stone is broken at the base, this is not an engraving problem as the stone was already damaged before the engraving.
The engraving went wrong as the stone was not properly set on the CNC engraving machine and I was missing more samples (with a different shape) to make more engraving tests.
Turquoise was engraved easily and I think it gives good results, I will have to try another design engraved on a bigger and flatter stone to confirm it, but I am optimistic with CNC turquoise engraving.
Malachite is another soft gemstone quite common in jewelry, while it is not so common for intaglio ring making.
This time, I engraved with an initial and I was quite happy with the result after only 15 engraving passes.
Depending on the gemstone hardness, CNC engraving with diamond tip can be easy to difficult. As we have seen through these examples, 30 engraving passes can be required in the case of gemstones with a Moh hardness of 7 (Carnelian, Onyx, Amethyst).
Beyond the gemstone, other parameters have an impact on the ease of engraving:
The result of this engraving process is not the same as the classical intaglio engraving usually made in the jewelry industry, as the depth of the engraving is not the same and the finish is not polished.
But this process is much easier and quicker and cheaper and is a good option for someone with a limited budget looking for an intaglio ring he does not plan to use for wax seal making.
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]]>With more than 6 200 000 tourists flying to Puerto Vallarta in 2022 (which 57% came from abroad) and more than 35 000 US and Canadian citizens living in Puerto Vallarta, the town offers a great deal of activities and things to do to enjoy your stay or living in Puerto Vallarta.
Panaramic view of Los Arcos from the shore
As I have been living more than ten years in Puerto Vallarta for business purpose, I have discovered many things to do here with my Mexican friends. I wish I could say I have done it all, but I still have some activities to check on this list of more than 133 activities to do in Puerto Vallarta.
]]>With more than 6 200 000 tourists flying to Puerto Vallarta in 2022 (which 57% came from abroad) and more than 35 000 US and Canadian citizens living in Puerto Vallarta, the town offers a great deal of activities and things to do to enjoy your stay or living in Puerto Vallarta.
Panaramic view of Los Arcos from the shore
As I have been living more than ten years in Puerto Vallarta for business purpose, I have discovered many things to do here with my Mexican friends. I wish I could say I have done it all, but I still have some activities to check on this list of more than 133 activities to do in Puerto Vallarta.
Obviously, if you have already come to Puerto Vallarta and you have done things that are not listed here, feel free to leave a comment about it, I will be please to add it to this list.
Turquoise waters of Colomitos beach, from the hill. This is a great hiking to do in family
While Puerto Vallarta has not much of history compared to Archaeological sites or other colonial cities of Mexico, you still have some fun cultural acitivities to do in town:
Catrinas on the Malecón of Puerto Vallarta for the day of the dead
Located on the shore and close to the mountains, Puerto Vallarta offers many outdoor options for those looking for fun things to do in contact with nature and being in touch with wild animals:
Aerial View of Marietas Island with its famous beach inside in the middle of the land
Vallarta offers and intese night life with lots of bars, restaurants and shows that are always different. You will find some local shows and events that occur each year and are worth to be done:
The famous show of Rhythms of the Night on an isolated beach
If you are looking for adrenaline, Puerto Vallarta for sure is a place for you. The location on the shore, the environement made of wild mountains and tourist agencies offer a wide range of activities you will enjoy alone or in family.
View on Punta de Mita and Higuera Blanca and the Ocean from El Mono Hill
While Puerto Vallarta is pretty small, it can be busy and noisy during winter time and maybe you will enjoy getting out of the town to visit different places few hours away from Puerto Vallarta.
From Vallarta to the North
Lo de Marcos beach
From Vallarta to the South
View of the Colonial town of Magdalena de los Opalos, famous for its Opal mines
From Vallarta Inlands:
Jewelry made in Puerto Vallarta by Vivalatina Jewelry, custom jewelry service here
Vallarta is not your dream destination if you want to be shopping during your holidays. But a lot of Mexican crafters and jewelers offer unique products on the beach or downtown and there are a few malls.
This is the backbone of Puerto Vallarta, between mountains, beaches and jungle you will find unique places to relax and enjoy corporal care, wonders and relaxation.
Vallarta and Banderas Bay are famous for the numerous beaches you can relax on. Many hotels and condos have their own private beaches (artificialy made by Tecnoceano) but the majority of tourists do not even know about the best beaches of Vallarta, here they are:
There are several things you can do in Vallarta:
Tourism in Vallarta lead to a strong development of the food industry with hundred of restaurants and Tacos booths all over the area leading rekowns chefs to set up their restaurant in the area.
With the rising cost of medical care in north America, it can be as much as 75% more economical to get medical attention in Mexico than in the US. Take into account that Vallarta is a touristic place, and so is more expensive than other Mexican cities. Anyway, in Vallarta you will find good doctors, fluent in English able to treat you for a fraction of the cost compare to the US.
This list gives you a pretty accurate view of all you will be able to do, see or experience in Puerto Vallarta.
Please feel free to add your suggestion if you feel it would make that list even more useful.
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Paraiba tourmaline rough stones showing the electric blue coloration, also called neon blue, characteristic of this stone
This article invites you to learn more about this fine stone with incomparable colors, its history and its use in jewelry.
This picture shows a rough paraiba tourmaline stone showing an array of colors characteristic of paraiba tourmalines from blue neon to green showing a gradient of concentration of Mg and Cu elements inside the crystal
Tourmaline is a fine stone known to man for centuries and exploited in many countries and in particular in Brazil. Most of the deposits are known.
The discovery of the Paraiba tourmaline, a unique gem, is due to the tenacity, or should we say the madness, of a man: Heitor Dimas Barbosa who took it into his head in 1981 to start mining a hill near the village of Sao José da Batalha, in the state of Paraiba, located in the North West of Brazil.
Heitor Barbosa, the tenacious Brazilian miner who discovered this unique gem, here posing with a raw specimen of neon blue paraiba tourmaline
Everyone in the village took him for a madman, Heitor o Bobo, as they called him when he claimed to have discovered a stone unique in the world and still unknown in this hill.
He excavated the hill, Batalha mine, for 6 years (with his team of 13 people) before finding the very first specimen in 1987. The first gems arrived on the jewelry market in 1989.
View of the first mine of paraiba tourmaline from the Batalha village
This village is located in the northeast of Brazil, in the state of Paraiba, about forty kilometers east of the city of Patos.
The red dot marks the location of the village of Sao José da Batalha, between the towns of Patos and Campina Grande
The result of his discovery was worthy of Heitor's efforts. The tourmaline stone he discovered turned out to be a unique color, an unknown chemical composition and a remarkable luster.
So much so that when the stone was presented to the public for the first time at the Gemological Convention in Tucson, Arizona, in 1990, it had the effect of a bomb and multiplied the covetousness of gem collectors.
Selling for $250 per carat at the start of the convention, prices hit $2,500 per carat 6 days later when the event ended. The Paraiba tourmaline stone had just made a sensational entry into the jewelry gem market and that was just the beginning.
Paraiba tourmaline is a gem of elbaite, which is a subgroup of silicates whose chemical formula is as follows: Na(Li,Al)3Al6(OH)4(BO3)3(Si6O18) with the possible presence of other trace elements whose variable content is at the origin of the range of colors of the stone.
The official definition of paraiba tourmaline published by the Laboratory Manual Harmonization Committee (LMHC) is as follows:
It is a “blue” (electric blue, neon blue, blue violet), blue-green to blue-green, green (or yellowish-green) tourmaline, with medium to high saturation and a color mainly due to the presence of copper and manganese, whatever its geographical origin.
It is the presence of copper and manganese that gives its unique bright blue-green color to this fine stone which is rarer than diamonds and whose price per carat can exceed that of diamonds, for stones of good quality. The copper content can vary from 0.4% by weight up to 2.4% while the copper content can vary from 0.1% by weight up to 3.5% (source GIA). This table shows the variations of composition according to the colors of the gem.
Like all other tourmalines, paraiba tourmaline forms in pegmatite rock with however very specific conditions with high concentrations of copper and manganese which are at the origin of the blue tint of this gem. This is all the more unique since copper is not usually a coloring factor for other types of tourmalines.
An even more astonishing anecdote is that geologists still have no idea of the source of this copper which enriched the pegmatite which gave rise to the paraiba tourmalines and the latter have for the moment only hypotheses.
Here is an example of the different blue-green hues this gem can take:
Blue color, green and bleu-green colors of the paraiba tourmaline stone (source)
The shades of paraiba tourmaline range from blue, blue-green, green to purple (due to manganese) although purple-tinted stones are less sought after and valued on the market than others. Here is an example of paraiba tourmalines of different colors and tending towards purple in particular:
Here is a summary of the characteristics of this gem shared with us by the Laboratoire Francais de Gemmologie (LGF):
In 2023, paraiba tourmalines come from only 3 countries in the world, Brazil of course, but also Mozambique and Nigeria.
This geographical map showing the continents in the form of Gondwana (540 million years ago) helps to better understand how such distant mines can produce the same quality (to qualify) of gems.
Distribution of geological layers on Gondwana, allowing the formation of paraiba tourmalines
The discovery of the first specimens of this gem dates from 1987 in Brazil, coming from a single hill, the Batalha mine, containing an isolated vein included in an area 200x300 meters wide.
The arrival of paraiba tourmaline on the market created such demand that the exploitation of the Batalha mine intensified to the point of exhausting it in 1991, given the low capacity of the latter. The peak of the extraction of this mine took place from 1989 to 1991.
Today, two other sites further north, in the state Rio Grande do Norte are producers of such gems, the mine of Mulungu and that of Alto dos Quintos. These are close to the town of Parelhas, itself located 45 kilometers northeast of the Batalha mine, 77 kilometers by road.
In 2001, this gem was discovered in Nigeria (Edeko region, near Ilorin in Ibadan state then in 2005 in Mozambique (Alto Ligonha)
Overall, the extraction of this gem is done in an artisanal and very manual way on all the extraction sites. The batalha mine, under the impetus of Heitor Barbosa, is equipped and modernized in a more industrial way to cope with the drop in production on the site, the other remains very artisanal.
Valued at a few hundred dollars per carat when it appeared at the Tucson gemological fair in 1989, its price was multiplied by 10 in just a few days, to more than 2500 dollars per carat as its unique and new color unleashed passions.
Today, the finest paraiba tourmalines trade at $10,000 per carat and some stones were purchased at the incredible price of $20,000 per carat in Japan recently.
This converts it into a rarer and more expensive fine stone than conventional diamonds used in jewelry, never seen in the world of gemology.
If you take the time to take a look at this catalog of paraiba tourmalines, you will realize the current market prices, as demand exceeds mining production.
It is, however, possible to find small paraiba tourmalines weighing less than 1 carat at prices of a few hundred dollars per carat, such as these:
Example of small size and strong coloring paraiba tourmalines from the Vivalatina-Shop collection
The most expensive paraiba tourmalines are those with an intense "neon blue" color and very good clarity. For this type of stone, the color and its intensity are more important valuation criteria than clarity, which is notable.
It is not expected that the price of this gem will fall in the near future, the recent mines discovered in Africa making it possible to supply the market in just-in-time fashion and to extend the knowledge of this unique gem to a wider public, risking to further fuel demand.
It should be noted that although the official name of paraiba tourmaline does not depend on the place of extraction, the latter can have a significant impact on the selling price, hence the need for gemological laboratories to be able to certify the origin of gems.
Determining the origin of the gems is not an easy thing in the case of paraiba tourmaline and the technique currently used by the GIA consists of a laser chemical analysis of the elements and proportions of isotopes of the analyzed sample. A laser beam sublimates a tiny portion of the stone, which is then ionized into plasma and then analyzed by a mass spectrometer. I refer you to the GIA in order to have more details on this method.
Like conventional tourmalines, sapphires/rubies or tanzanites, paraiba tourmalines can be heat treated to improve their color.
Remember that natural gems form naturally exposed to the heat of the earth and that this type of heat treatment is not considered by gemological authorities as a treatment that must be reported to describe the quality of a gem.
There are glass-fill type treatments for these tourmalines which can be detected by gemological laboratories, on the other hand the treatments by irradiation or heating of certain tourmalines are not identifiable (LFG).
Some sellers present Brazilian blue tourmalines (indicolites) as being paraiba tourmalines although they do not have the characteristic copper concentration of the latter and they owe their intense blue color to the presence of iron in their structure.
On May 5, 2022, the largest cut paraiba tourmaline stone in the world was recorded in the Guinness World Record. With a weight of 196.17 carats (39.234 grams), Apollo, as it is named, narrowly beats the previous record set by the other giant paraiba: "Ethereal Carolina Divine Paraíba". It is the Thom Munsteiner cutting workshop located in Germany which currently owns this gem.
Discovered in 2009 in Brazil, the "Ethereal Carolina Divine Paraíba" was undoubtedly the largest and most famous paraiba tourmaline for several years. It is massive weighing 191.87 carats, with impressive dimensions of 36.44 mm by 33.75 mm by 21.85 mm.
This unique gem shines with its intense neon blue color and its incomparable clarity, since it is Flawless, a rare thing for a gem of these dimensions. It was recorded in Guinness World Records as the largest paraiba tourmaline from 2009 to 2022.
It is also the most expensive since in 2013 its price was estimated between 25 and 30 million dollars. Everyone agrees that its price has certainly increased since then.
Owned by the Canadian businessman Vincent Boucher, this stone is the centerpiece of a necklace commissioned by him from the Canadian jeweler Kauffman de Suisse.
The Canadian jeweler Moneca Kaufmann, is the creator of this extravagant and colorful necklace called "Paraiba Star of the Ocean Jewels"
With the discovery of these huge gems, the largest paraiba tourmaline discovered and cut weighed 59.10 carats with dimensions of 29.22 mm x 22.20 mm x 15.30 mm. You can see this gem here mounted on a platinum ring.
View of the third largest paraiba tourmaline known to date
The paraiba tourmaline stone was discovered "officially" in 1987. It arrived on the gem market in 1989 and the peak of extraction of the mine of Batalha, state of Paraiba, took place between 1989 and 1991.
The current production of the batalha mine has become low, around 600 grams per year of gems (3,000 carats) for an extraction of crude paraiba tourmaline of less than 50,000 carats per year.
During its peak between 1989 and 1991, the mine is estimated to produce between 10 and 15 kilograms of gemstones.
The production of gems from the Mulungu mine is estimated at 1000 grams per year.
For comparison, 10,000 times more diamonds are mined worldwide than paraiba tourmalines.
It is estimated that 80% of Brazilian "paraiba" tourmaline production does not exhibit the neon blue/blue-green "paraiba" color before receiving a heat treatment at around 500°C.
Since its arrival in the spotlight, this gem has unleashed the world of gemology and jewelry, becoming fashionable, due to its rarity, among the ultra-rich, thus inciting the major jewelry houses to include this gem. in their unique creations, of which here are some examples.
Ring set with a paraiba tourmaline, creation of the Gucci jewelry house
Paraiba tourmaline set by designer Jochen Leen
Coomi ring set with a large paraiba tourmaline cabochon
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Wiccan pendant made of two 7 pointed stars in silver and 8 natural stones
You should know that the heptagram is an ancient religious symbol that can be drawn in many ways as explained here.
The original design of the pendant should be 40 mm in diameter and the gemstones should be 3 mm each.
Our client knew exactly which stones she wanted and in what order she wanted them set on the jewel. We helped her to refine her needs according to our manufacturing capabilities.
In this case, if we could supply the stones that she wanted and all the re-cut, it was much easier for us to crimp stones larger than those wanted, while lowering the price of the jewel, thus avoiding having to rework them.
We finally stopped on a diameter of 50 mm for the pendant and a stone size of 7 mm for the stones and 8x10 mm for the moonstone in the center of the pendant.
The other stones are (clockwise) transparent quartz, amethyst, topaz, jade stone, amber, carnelian, and red garnet.
Initially intended to be made of welded silver wire, we changed our guns to turn to a cut in the mass of a solid silver plate.
The pattern was cut out in a laminated silver plate and then refined to match the design.
Then we could take care of placing the stones on the pendant.
On this view, we can see the two heptagrams of the internal motif of the pendant.
We then have to put the stones on the pendant. We can see below the set stones prepared alongside the precious stones of the pendant.
View of the pendant with the central moonstone larger than the other stones. The crimped stones are welded in place before crimping them in their respective locations.
View of the finished pendant with all the stones set, stones of garnet (red) and topaz (blue) are cut while the other stones have a form of a cabochon.
Our client was kind enough to explain the meaning of the stones and the shape of her pendant:
"Indeed, each stone has a use in lithotherapy, the geometric form also has a symbolic.
First, the 7 stones composing the periphery of the pendant represent the spectrum of the light, the colors of the rainbow: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, plus white.
Then these 7 stones also represent the 7 chakras: 1st red, 2nd orange, 3rd yellow, 4th green, 5th blue, 6th purple and 7th white.
Moreover, the 7-branch heptagram/star shape also has a symbolic: as well as the number 7: number of days of the week, number of deadly sins, 7 wonders of the world, the 7 colors of the rainbow/spectrum of light, the 7 chakras ...
Finally, each stone has a use in lithotherapy:
Here is an overview of other esoteric jewelry that we had the opportunity to make in our workshop via our online jewelry creation service:
More information:
]]>Freemason ring made in 18 carat white and yellow gold, via our custom-made ring creation service
]]>Freemason ring made in 18 carat white and yellow gold, via our custom-made ring creation service
Here are a few examples of other masonic ring designs custom made in our workshop:
As a freemason, our client wished to get a unique freemason ring design no one was already wearing on this finger. He wanted a massive ring, with large parts enabling a unique personnalization of his ring.
He was therefore interested by a ring of ours he wanted to modify in a unique manner, this large doble headed eagle ring from our signet rings collection.
Large diamond eagle ring that inspired our client for the creation of a unique customized masonic ring
Following the request of our client, we designed a new CAD model of the ring, removing all the diamonds from the shank, adding initials and crosses instead. We also removed the large gold plate on the upper plate to replace it by a large black onyx stone carved and surmounted by a large Masonic symbols in yellow 18k gold.
Here you can see the result of our modelization of his dreamed ring design.
Renderized views of the masonic ring project before starting the making of the ring
Once the client could validate the design, being in accordance to his needs, we could start the making of such a massive ring.
From the CAD making of the ring made previously, we can start the 3D printing of the differnt parts of our ring project. While the ring size is US 9, the ring's part are quire big because of the ring's design with a total gold weight of 15 grams once the ring will be finished.
View of the 3D printed resin parts of the ring previously to the casting process
We use these parts to make a 18k gold casting using the lost-wax casting process, this process is know to mankind since thousands of years. So we obtain exactly the same parts as printed, made of 18k white and yellow gold.
View of our casting rod with two white gold ring shanks seen rough from casting
Detail view of the engravings on the ring shank made of 18 white gold
Masonic symbol in 18 karat yellow gold after the casting process and before detailing it properly to make a better separation between the square and the compas
View of the white gold ring shank and the yellow gold inner ring cast for this freemason ring project
Once the pieces are cast in gold, we need to deburr them and pre-polish them to start their assembly by welding.
Here is a detail view of the shank assembled with the inner ring while on the right you can see the detailed square and compas masonic symbol
At this point, we need the onyx stone to continue making the ring.
While this custom ring is a large project, heavy and with many parts, the carving of the black onyx stone is by far the most complex step for this project. Black onyx is quite an affordable gemstone, but the carving of such a large and complex cabochon made this part the one we spend the most time on.
Here you have an idea of the complex geometry of the onyx stone required for the ring, complex and beautiful, in line with the masonery spirit
As the onyx cabochon need to insert perfectly in the upper part of the shank, we couldn't rely on a stone cutter from the outside and we had to carv this stone in-house to adjust it perfectly to the ring.
We start the carving from a large block of natural black onyx rough, cut with a diamond disc and water. You can see here after all the steps that transformed a rough onyx piece of stone into a complex and perfect piece for our ring project.
The onyx stone is fragile, it must be cooled when it is cut to prevent it from breaking because of excess of heat
We obtain a piece that is reworked by successive cuts so as to gradually give it the shape of a rounded cross.
View of the stone mounted on a wodden support with jeweler's wax to rework the contours of the stone
Then, various steps of filing the stone with smoother grips allow us to obtain a nice shiny black surface for the onyx stone.
Here you can see the grip glued to a flat piece of wood and the stone glued the the wooden stick. The upper curve of the cabochon is made by hand with this method.
The onyx stone being polished to give it its convex curvature
Finished stone after polishing whre you can appreciate the luster and the upper curve of the cabochon
The stone is then perforated with two small holes in which are mounted and glued the lugs of the Masonic symbol.
Here is a video summary of the different steps of the size of the onyx cabochon:
Following the final polishing of the ring, we can appreciate the result of the work done:
The custom masonic ring seen from different perspectives
The signet ring finger of our client is shows the huge size of this custom Mazonic ring, with a total weight of 15 grams in 18k gold
Here are more projects of jewelry in relation with the freemason or showing a similiar work with customized religious rings:
More information:
Choosing the right engagement ring you want to offer to your fiancée isn't an easy task.
The issues to be faced by the fiancé are many :
Choosing the right engagement ring you want to offer to your fiancée isn't an easy task.
The issues to be faced by the fiancé are many :
2,5 carat diamond engagement ring custom made. View the details for the making process here
Picking up the right engagement ring perfect for her can be even much harder than planing your proposal for the fiancé that is not aware about jewelry and has to learn a lot before understanding what his fiancée prefers.
This article will detail all you need to know to be able to pick up the perfect engagement ring for your fiancée. And our infography resume all that at the end of our publication.
Polls show that in average, a man needs two months to choose the ring design for his future fiancée. Add to this a manufacturing time of 2/3 months and you see that you will need up to 5 months to get the right engagement ring from start to finish.
So planning your engagement proposal and your ring making is crucial to be able to manage your proposal without stress.
If you plan to buy a non customized engagement ring, then it will be easier and faster for you to get your ring.
There is almost an infinity of designs of shanks and combinations of gemstones, gemscuts and metal possible with changing prices so you will quickly get lost in the middle of this if you do not stick to your budget.
In France,the average price of an engagement ring is 750 dollars while it's more than 5000 dollars in the US.
Before choosing an expensive ring, make sure that it will be a ring that will please, corresponding to your fiancee's tastes.
Having the ring to fit her finger the day of the proposal is not an option.
If you do not know already her finger size, you have different options to get the information without having to ask her (if you want it to be a surprice):
Check here how to measure your ring size
What you should not do:
If you want to measure your finger size (or her finger size) use this string method in the video that divide the error by a factor 2.
If you do not now already the kind of jewelry design she prefers, you have three options:
Here are the few precious metals that can be used for the making of your engagement ring:
Silver is the cheapest precious metal you could find. It is also the whitiest of all precious metals, but it get darker being oxidized by sulfurs agents so you will be to rhodium plate your ring every two years.
Gold is the most comon of all precious metals, you can get 14k, 18k, 20k or even 24k gold for your ring if you wish. 14k and 18k gold can be obtained in different colors, white, rose, black (with black rhodium plating) and yellow. Gold is inalterable which is a great advantage over Silver.
Palladium, is a grey precious metal that is not so comon in jewelry, it is more expensive that gold in jewelry. Palladium is also inalterable.
Platinum 950 is a grey precious metal that is quite comon nowadays. It is much purer (95%) that 18k gold (which is pure at 75%) and much denser. Because platinum jewelry weighs more than gold jewelry, and because working with platinum requires more work, higher temperature and specific machinery than gold, platinum jewelry is generally much more expensive thant gold jewelry. Platinum also is an inalterable metal.
Get more information about gold colors here
Diamond cumulates the superlatives, it's the hardest stone, the whitest, the most brilliant and the most demanded one in jewelry. It is also the most expensive one
To make your choice of diamond, you'll have to familiarize yourself with the 4Cs of diamond (Cut, Carat, Clarity, Color).
To make it quick, the diamond quality is evaluated according to the purity of the stone (the absence of inclusion), the whiteness of this one evaluated by letters from D to Z and by the cut quality of the diamond. Quality is presented through a warranty certificate drawn up by an independent laboratory.
The diamond price is defined by the Rapaport Diamond Report, depending on the Clarity, Color, Cut and Carat weight (hence the 4 Cs defintion of the quality of a diamond).
Most uninitiated people base their choice of diamond only on purity, color and weight totally omitting the cut quality while is the most important parameter for the shiny appearance of diamonds.
Note that there are also colored diamonds that offer durability and originality, their price depending on demand. You will find more information about black diamonds here, as an exemple.
You probably already know the main cut shapes of gemstones, but there are many more, as you can see in this presentation.
The most common are the top six. The princess cut shape is full of symbolism as you can check here.
Stone setting is the most delicate operation when making your engagement ring. The most common setting for engagement rings is the claw setting that gives a clear view of the stone while the ring is set on the finger.
But there are different types of setting for the main stone of the ring you can see here the most popular ones:
As you may know, diamond is very popular since 1947 since DeBeers started its massive worldwide marketing campaign: "A diamond is forever" .
Before that date, precious gemstones like Sapphire, Ruby and Emerald were the prefered gems set on royal and celebrities jewelry. As an example, the Talisman of Charlemagne from the IX° century is set with precious stones but without any diamond.
Many people interested in gemstone history and jewelry education often turn to visual aids to enhance their learning. Documentaries or explainer videos make complex information more digestible. To make these videos even more accessible, especially for viewers with hearing impairments or viewers watching in noisy areas, subtitles can be helpful. VEED's tools can come into play by adding subtitles to these videos. They have an auto subtitle generator that can automatically transcribe the dialogues in the video and synchronize it accurately. So, if you're creating a video discussing the history of engagement rings or you're a jeweler showcasing different gemstones, consider utilizing VEED's tools to make your content more accessible and user-friendly.
Sapphire is a corundum that can takes all the colors, from white to rose, the most reknown of them being the blue sapphire and while red corundum is called Ruby.
Following diamond, sapphire is currently the most requested gemstone for engagement rings. With a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale, it's a durable and precious stone since the dawn of time that was in fashion well before diamonds.
Example of blue sapphire and yellow sapphir engagement rings
This complete guide about sapphire gemstone will help you to choose the right sapphire for your ring
Ruby a deep red corundum color variation with its own name as it was known and sought after for its rarity. No other gemstone comes even close to deep red ruby called Pigeon's blood ruby.
Emerald is the fourth well known precious gemstone, it is the most delicate of all with a hardness of 8 on the scale of Mohs and that which requires the most maintenance and care, especially with chemicals.
This massive solitaire emerald ring is a sober design
While working on personnalizing your engagement ring design, engraving is still the best way to make it unique with a discreet emotive message hidden on the inside of the shank.
It is the easiest and cheapest way to personnalize your ring. Just make sure the shank of your ring design gives enough space for the engraving to be readible.
Modern engracing tools as CNC and Laser engraving allow to add symbols, hearts or other unique form of your choice.
Most common engracing ideas are about:
The righ engraving for your ring is the one that makes sense to you
If like many men you decide to design a custom diamond ring for your proposal to your fiancée, the diamond size matters twice.
First, the size, and so the visible size of the diamond will have a huge impact on the light and sparkles your fiancée will see on her ring.
Second, the size of the diamond will have an even bigger impact on its weight, and so on its price. This image resumes it all, for the same sparkling appearance, the halo setting savez you 60% of the diamond weight you would have with a unique diamond.
This infography resumes all the information detailed on this article. Do not hesitate to share it or leave a comment if want to share your one useful tip on how you choose your own engagement ring.
Infography on how to choose an engagement ring, click to enlarge
For more information:
]]>View of the center of Magdalena de los Opalos which is a typical Mexican village
Located on the highway linking Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara, 20 kilometers from Tequila and 80 kilometers from Guadalajara, so it is easy to plan a stopover during an excursion in the region. It will take 3h30 or 3h45 by car from Puerto Vallarta, taking into account traffic.
View of the highway to get to the opal mines of Magdalena from Puerto Vallarta, soon a more direct highway going through the jungle with help to get there faster.
Founded at the beginning of the 16th century, the current town is organized around the church, the chapel and the convent located opposite the central square.
If this small town is pleasant when you are passing through, it is not exceptional either, the interest of this one being the visit of the mines and the possibility of looking for opals there. Several dozen mines are scattered in the region around the city, where miners search the volcanic soil for fire opals and noble opals that they can sell to lapidaries and jewelers in the city center.
Mine tours are organized by different jewelry stores. I don't think there is a tourism union, because when I went there, no one was able to tell me about any organization managing tourism in the locality. You will have to organize yourself both for accommodation and to organize your visit.
The Opalos de México jewelry store located at 115 Calle Independenia (main street crossing the city) and the lapidary workshop La Sorpresa at 43 México Street (30 m from the central square) offer you the opportunity to visit opal mines. The visit is generally paying with the food included.
To organize your visit, I advise you to take a look at the Opalos de México site, whose website is well done and will give you enough information to know what to expect. Of all the opal shops and jewelry stores, Opalos de México seems to be the reference and especially the one that promotes itself best and offers (in my opinion) the most beautiful stones in the city.
During our excursion to Magdalena, we were lucky enough to meet an ex-miner who offered to show us around an opal mine. So here we are on the way at 10:30 in the morning to a mine (whose name I forgot) north of the city. It will take about half an hour to get there.
I have not been able to find a map showing the opal mines that surround the city. To find out where they are, you have to meet miners or jewelers who can provide you with information. It is certain that the satellite views of Google Maps are a good way to locate mines from the sky as can be seen in the following photo, the latter leave an easily recognizable mark on the ground seen from the sky.
Visiting such a mine is definitely worth a visit, as it is an interesting experience. On the one hand, the mines being open pit, it is not necessary to sneak into a dirty and poorly shored blast hole, one can stay on the edge and have a good overview of how minors work in the mine.
They perforate the rock with drills and then insert explosives that fracture the rock. The miners then finish crushing the rubble into small pieces in search of flashes of light betraying the presence of opals. While you are unlikely to find an opal in this way when you visit, it is common to find opal fragments in rubble piled up by miners outside their working area. This photo is an example of such waste showing encrustation of opals.
The miners work on the ground with a hammer and gloves for all tools. The use of machine tools risking damaging the opals, they are only used to evacuate the rubble out of the mine. Our visit was an opportunity to meet a friend of Felipe (pictured below) who experienced the opal rush in the early 60s and spent his whole life in the mines around Magdalena. That day, a Saturday, he was looking for opals to pass the time. After all, why watch TV if you can hunt for opals.
The next photo shows a couple of slightly better equipped miners hunting for opals. The cavity where they work has been dug with dynamite. They finish breaking the rock with a hammer in search of the presence of opals in them.
The three types of opals extracted from Mexican mines and used in jewelry are the common opals, opaque and of variable color, the fire opals which are translucent and of color varying from yellow to dark orange and finally the noble opals which have play of light characteristic of the diffraction of light rays on the microscopic structure of silica constituting the opal.
This mexican opal was extracted for a mine of Magdalena de los Opalos and weighs 22 carats
And here is the kind of the jewelry that can be done with such a unique opal gemstone.
For accommodation, I recommend the Real Quinta Minas hotel, located at the corner of Calle Allende and calle Francisco Javier Mina #49 (telephone 386 744 0546), it is really comfortable with the choice between a double bed , a Queen size bed or a King size bed. The rooms are spacious and clean with a bathroom and hot water. The TV is a flat screen with cable included. Prices are very reasonable ranging from 250 pesos for the double bed to 350 pesos for the king size bed. It is located close to the square where it is possible to eat both lunch and dinner.
For your opal purchases, you will have the opportunity to buy wholesale opals in rough stones in bottles with water. It's a rip off, most contain boring stones and hydrophane opals which have great light shows when in water and are opaque with no light show when dry. I advise you to go to a jewelry store to choose either your stones or your jewelry with opals, it will be safer.
For more information:
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Regarding this historic ring for the members of the France team, we can regret two things:
This is why we wanted to please ourselves by imagining a commemorative ring of the world football event which is 100% in the DNA of the leather round ball and which appeals to football fans usually not interested in jewelry.
To make it even more interesting, the basic design will be subject to criticism in order to take into account the comments of football fans allowing us to make commemorative versions totally unimaginable for us jewelers.
The specifications of this ring are as follows:
Taking into account these points which seemed important to us, we went with this silver soccer ball ring design enhanced with 18-karats yellow gold elements making direct reference to the 2022 soccer cup, with those details:
With this design and in size 60, the ring is 18 millimeters long (in the direction of the finger) and 26 millimeters wide for a finger diameter of 19 millimeters, the ring is therefore 3.5 millimeters thick on each of the side which is quite acceptable for this kind of ring with an 18 carat gold weight of around 3.5 grams.
Once the design is complete, we can move on to 3D printing the different parts of the ring project. 3D printing consists of obtaining a part in wax from the digital model of the ring.
Here is an image showing the ring of the green resin ring as well as the same ring obtained in 925 silver following the lost wax casting process.
The same goes for the other 18-carat gold pieces in the project, which are 3D printed and then obtained in 18-carat yellow gold using the same process.
In this image, we can see the ring obtained in wax by the 3D printing process, then the same ring obtained by lost wax casting in solid silver and finally the upper circle of the ring in 18 carat yellow gold too. obtained by the lost wax casting process.
Then follows the filing, polishing and assembly of the 4 pieces of our puzzle in order to obtain the ring as imagined at the start of the project.
Next steps in progress:
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Three main particularities characterize 24k gold:
Color: 24k gold is obviously yellow, deep yellow and only yellow. As being pure gold, it is not possible to have pure gold of different color as it has not been mixed with any other metal. (white gold and rose gold are the result of pure gold mixed with other metals that change its color).
Softness: 24k gold is also a soft metal that is quite easy to bend compared to 18k gold or enve 22k gold. So jewelry made from pure gold has to be thicker than 18k gold jewelry to withstand the everyday life being worn during decades.
Weight: density of 24k gold is 19,5 while 18k gold density is 15,4. So every jewelry made in pure gold is almost 30% heavier than the same jewelry made of 18k gold. Obviously, this affects the price of our 24k jewelry as it is heavier and 1 gram of pure gold is more expensive than 1 gram of 18k gold.
Taking into account this information, these are the reason not all jewelry is made of 24k gold and why 24k gold jewelry really stands out of conventionnal jewelry.
Here after, we present different custom jewelry projects made of 24k gold.
Three main particularities characterize 24k gold:
Color: 24k gold is obviously yellow, deep yellow and only yellow. As being pure gold, it is not possible to have pure gold of different color as it has not been mixed with any other metal. (white gold and rose gold are the result of pure gold mixed with other metals that change its color, check here what is white gold made of).
Softness: 24k gold is also a soft metal that is quite easy to bend compared to 18k gold or enve 22k gold. So jewelry made from pure gold has to be thicker than 18k gold jewelry to withstand the everyday life being worn during decades.
Weight: density of 24k gold is 19,5 while 18k gold density is 15,4. So every jewelry made in pure gold is almost 30% heavier than the same jewelry made of 18k gold. Obviously, this affects the price of our 24k jewelry as it is heavier and 1 gram of pure gold is more expensive than 1 gram of 18k gold.
Taking into account this information, these are the reason not all jewelry is made of 24k gold and why 24k gold jewelry really stands out of conventionnal jewelry.
Here after, we present different custom jewelry projects made of 24k gold.
You will find out more about our custom jewelry service here
Pure gold ring are made thicker than 18k gold ring to ensure they will not deformed themselves during the decades they will be present on your finger.
This is the case with this small pinky ring engraved with initials and with personalized engraving on the ring's flanks.
You can apreciate the 3D model of this custom pinky ring here above and the rendering here under.
Here is the real pure gold ring once finished.
This pure gold signet ring is a custom design finished with black gold coating. As the details are molded in 3D and the gold is coated black, the final polishing reveal all the engraving with a strong color contrast between the 24k deep yellow gold and the dark black gold.
Here you can have a look at the finished ring.
This thin wedding band is also made in 24k gold and is engraved with branches and leaves and the message in French Joie sans fin (Happiness without limit).
Name ring is a traditional family present that can also be made in 24k gold. Such a ring can be made with 2, 3 or even 4 names on the ring (depending on the length of the names) like this ring presented below.
You will notice that each name is separated from the others by a small heart set with a small diamond.
A lot of customization in jewelry is made from the names of our clients or the name of the person the jewelry is made for. In the case of this name necklace, a husband asked us to make this with the names of his kids to offer the personalized necklace to his wife.
We made the name of the three kids in 24k gold while the chain is made in our workshop n 18k gold to give more resistance to the necklace.
This kind of name necklace can easily be personnalized with the number and size of the names, the font used to write the names and the type of chain.
Custom pendant can also be made in pure gold following our client's recommendation. Here are some examples of custom pure gold pendant made in our workshop.
For more information:
]]>While custom diamond ring designs are the norm for proposals, going sideways choosing a unique an mysterious precious stone as the emerald is a sure way to surprise her and make your engagement ring colourful.
Of course, be sure emerald is a stone that she loves.
Emerald stones were considered precious for centuries, by far before diamonds were even know all over the world.
In the case of this emerald engagement ring making, we are going to show you all the steps our clients went through to create a truly unique emerald ring so he could propose his fiancée with one of a kind ring.
]]>While custom diamond ring designs are the norm for proposals, going sideways choosing a unique an mysterious precious stone as the emerald is a sure way to surprise her and make your engagement ring colourful.
Of course, be sure emerald is a stone that she loves.
Emerald stones were considered precious for centuries, by far before diamonds were even know all over the world.
In the case of this emerald engagement ring making, we are going to show you all the steps our clients went through to create a truly unique emerald ring so he could propose his fiancée with one of a kind ring.
This custom engagement ring shows boths emeralds stones and the main diamond set in the center of the ring
This customized engagement ring was made through our custom ring service allowing you to create your unique ring idea. You can contact us about your project through this form.
More examples of simple but custom emerald rings
In the case of this ring project, our client was the mastermind of the project and knew exactly what he wanted. During weeks he had made his homework studying his fiancée's jewelry preferences to define the stones for the project and the ring design that she would sure like.
He came to us with this ring design on paper:
Engagement ring drawing defining the project to make
The ring is made of a unique shank set with a main 4 millimeters large diamond shouldered by two emerald stones 3 millimeters large and 6 peridot gemstones 2 millimeters large.
The shank will be made of 18-karat white gold.
With this unique ring design idea so clearly detailed by the fiancé, we could proceed to the CAD modeling of the ring project enabling us to set the shank width and the stones size to unsure of the harmony of the design to be made.
Thanks to this 3D model we could produce rendering views of the ring project giving a very accurate view of the finished project, even before starting to make it in gold.
Rendering view of the CAD model of this engagement ring project
As our client knew which ring design he wanted, he also had a good idea of the stones to be set on the shank.
The main stone should be a good quality 4 mm round diamond accompanied by two deep green emerald stones and three smaller stones light green tone.
We could find a fantastic 0,25 carat white diamond with D color, VS2 purity, and excellent cut certified by the GIA gemology laboratory. You can see this diamond here under.
Close up view of the diamond VS2 purity with a magnificense of X25, the diamodn is 4 mm large
GIA diamond certificate of the diamond to be set on this ring design
The two emerald stone choosen are deep green emeralds and the lateral small stones are peridot stones to fit with the fiancée taste for light green gemstones.
Once the ring's CAD design validated and the stone choosen, we started the making of the metal shank. The 3D model is used to 3D print the ring that is then cast in 18k white gold through the lost wax casting process.
The rough white gold ring is obtained from this process.
Once the rough cast ring comes from the casting process, it has to be deburred and prepolished so the gemstones can be set on the ring.
Nice gemstones have to be set on this ring, starting with the smaller and most economical stones.
View of the ring after setting the peridot stone on the ring's flanks
Then follow the setting of the emerald stones before the main diamond stone
Once all the stones set on the ring, this latter is polished and rhodium plated, giving this result.
View showing the emerald engagement ring on the finger
Quick view of different emerald stone shapes and cuts.
For more information:
You may have the best proposal idea, but having THE perfect engagement ring hand-made and personnalized for her will give you confidence to popose her with a YES as an answer.
You will discover here various unique engagement ring designs hand-crafted in our jewelry worshop so you can discover how to can start with an idea and finish with a stunning piece of jewelry that will impact your whole life.
Let's begin.
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You may have the best proposal idea, but having THE perfect engagement ring hand-made and personnalized for her will give you confidence to popose her with a YES as an answer.
You will discover here various unique engagement ring designs hand-crafted in our jewelry worshop so you can discover how to can start with an idea and finish with a stunning piece of jewelry that will impact your whole life.
Let's begin.
Examples of engagement ring custom-made in our workshop through our custom jewelry service
For his ring design, the fiancée new exactly what he wanted and could share with us a drawing of the engagement ring design he wanted to propose his fiancée.
The point here is not to draw perfectly the ring, but to communicate one's expectation that give us a clear understanding of his needs.
Drawing of the engagement ring project
From this drawing, we could model the engagement ring project using a CAD software so we could finsh creating the design in shape, size and proportion.
CAD model of the ring made from the drawing, before rendering
This 3D model is then used for rendering so we and the fiancée agree on the design and this latter be sure the ring of his life will be made according to his expectations.
Rendering views giving a good idea of the finished ring before making it
Yes, I do.
Our client validated this desing so we could proceed to the making of the ring with the right choice of stones, in this case a large pear-shape blue topaz with three small amethyst stones.
The 18k gold shank is made through traditionnal casting after 3D printing the ring thanks to the 3D model we made previously.
The rough gold ring is then filed and polished by hand before setting the gemstone on the ring, so we get this marvel.
Flower is one of the most popular theme for custom-made engagement rings designs. Because of the symbol of love it represents and the freedom of design you have, it is also easy to set a good-sized diamond in the center of the flower.
For this personnalized ring project, our clients set us his request with a patchwork of ring pictures where he took his inspiration. From the for ring designs he presented to us, we were able to design the ring he dreamed of to propose his fiancée.
We started to make a CAD file of his unique project so he could see the ring design and propose modification if required.
The rendering views of this unique ring design give a good appreciation to the client of what the finalized ring will look like.
Once de design validated thanks to the rendering views, we can 3D print the ring's master in resin which is the real size ring made from our previous modelization work.
Here under you can see the master made with green resin and set with a zirconia.
For such an important ring, choosing the correct diamond in line with your project and budget is important. For this ring, the choice was a 0,41 carat diamond with color grade E, purity VS2 and and Excellent cut grade as you can see its GIA certificate here under:
Sometimes, and when possible, having a look at the diamond's picture is a good way to be sure your engagement ring's diamond will be up to the task. With a width of 75 mm on my screen, the magnification of the diamond is X15 which means the minor defects of the diamond will be totally unvisible to the naked eye.
View of the E VS2 diamond with X15 magnification
After the manual casting process, the ring is hand finished and the diamonds set on it.
View of this unique engagement ring once on finger
When the goal is to personnalized an engagement ring on a budget, hidding initials in the ring design is a good way to get a customized ring at an affordable price.
This custom engagement ring was made for a client with a limited budget from one of our ring designs shown here after.
Following the request of the fiancé, we had to remake the ring design to suppress all the small diamonds set on the ring's shank and we needed to redesign the inner part of the ring to include the initials C and D with a new arabesque design with heart shape.
This 3D model is then used by our client to validate his unique engagement ring design, so we can start the production phase. Here after, you can see the differents parts of the ring, 18k rose gold for the shank and 18k white gold for the inner part with the initials.
The redering views of the ring gives a stunning idea of what the ring will look like, even before starting making it in metal.
Once the fiancé was satisfied with his initial ring design, we could start the making of the ring. The different parts of the ring are gold cast and then soldered in place.
Here you have an idea how look the ring after soldering the white gold initials to the rose gold shank, and before polishing and diamond setting.
The rough gold aspect of the ring is common to all hand-crafted ring that will be polished after soldering
Emerald engagement rings are ring designs built around the deep green hue of the natural emerald stone. This custom engagement ring design is set with two emerald and one central diamond. The fiancé new exactly the design he wanted and was able to provide a drawing of the ring project.
The design being almost done, we could nevertheless assit the fiancé to choose the six lateral green stones (peridot stone) and find the perfect diamond to be set on his engagement ring.
The diamond chosen here is almost perfect, while being small, it weighs 0,25 carat, the color grade is D, the purity grade is VS2 and the cut is Excellent, as you can see on this picture of the actual diamond set on this ring.
As usual, we start this project making a 3D model of the ring which allow us to show these rendering views of the ring for design validation from the fiancé.
The ring is then hand-made in our jewelry workshop casting the shank in 18k white gold, setting the stone and polishing the ring you can see finished here:
While being simple, the design of this engagement ring is truely unique as the shank of the ring is made of a blade of grass rolled up around the finger and set with a round blue sapphire on top.
While the rendering does not show the lines of the blade grass, we will have to engraved those lines on the ring shank once metal casted, as shown on these pictures.
We learned since then that the fiancée was very happy has she was proposed at the top of a hill while hiking with her fiancé and that she said YES.
This simple ring design is made around a 2 carats ruby oval stone with two small diamonds. This kind of design is quite classic, the personnalization of this design was made to adapt the right stones wanted by the client to the ring.
The 3D model of the ring, once again, allow us to make rendering views of the ruby ring before making it.
This ring is a no brainer and you can see it finished on these pictures:
2-carats ruby engagement ring on finger
For more information:
In the case of this diamond ring project, we show you step by step the designing and creation of a custom engagement ring made of a triple shank set with a large oval 1,7 carat diamond. You will notice on the picture that the shank is set with 1,6 millimeter round diamonds for a total de 1,7 carat of diamond.
In total, this ring is set with 2,5 carat of diamond.
]]>In the case of this diamond ring project, we show you step by step the designing and creation of a custom engagement ring made of a triple shank set with a large oval 1,7 carat diamond. You will notice on the picture that the shank is set with 1,6 millimeter round diamonds for a total de 1,7 carat of diamond.
In total, this ring is set with 2,5 carat of diamond.
Close-up view of the ring showing the large oval diamond with refracted light, this ring was custom made through our custom jewelry service online
If you have been preparing your proposal and already got your unique proposal idea, you certainly have learned how to choose the perfect engagement ring for your fiancée.
From what she loves and already wear, you already know:
These details are important so that your jeweller is able to help you design your own engagement ring with diamond ( or any other gemstone).
In the case of this project, our client was the fiancé who was creating in secret the perfect engagement ring for her based on what he knew would make a hit.
Since our client knew what he wanted for his fiancée, there was little iteration in the development of the design, our job being to give shape to our his ideas.
This ring project is first modeled in 3D and built around the main diamond. The digital model of the ring then makes it possible to take rendering pictures of our virtual ring in order to validate the final design of the project with the fiancé.
As you can see on the pictures, this ring project is made around a large oval diamond set on a triple shank that is set with small round diamonds. This kind of design is classic in the jewelry, part of the project was to find the perfect diamond in size, shape and quality inside the budget of our client.
This step makes it possible to freeze the design of the project without ambiguity and without forgetting each part and following the validation of the project, we can move on to the metal manufacturing of the ring.
The ring is designed around the main oval shaped diamond, which quality is F color and SI2 purity with a very good cut.
For such an oval diamond weighing 1,7 carat, you have to consider a budget around 9000 dollars depending on the quality (HSI) and higher if you plan to buy a good quality oval diamond.
Chek our guide on how to choose a diamond.
It is important to highlight the need to get educated about diamonds when comes the time to choose your diamond ring. While everybody knows about the 4Cs to evaluate the diamond's quality, few people know about the importance of the quality cut that reflets the capacity of the diamond to sparkles.
As I often say to our clients, the diamond color is not as important as the quality cut. Your fiancée will never find our if her diamond ring is set with a E or I coloured diamond, but she will notice at first glance the sparkling of her diamond.
Such a diamond always comes with a certificate from an independant gemological laboratory as presented below for our diamond.
1,7 carat oval diamond F, SI2 certificate visible online on igi.org
You will notice that such a large diamond is almost always laser engraved on the girdle for better tracking of the stone and as an insurance against frauds.
The case of this diamond perfectly illustrates how it is possible to choose a diamond well.
Lack of knowledge of diamond classification criteria and their impact on its luminous brilliance drives many buyers to a race for the best criteria, thus rapidly driving up the price of their diamond.
However, for those who know how to assess the impact of purity and cutting quality on the fires of the diamond, it is then possible to choose diamonds with certain minor defects (such as the impurities of this large diamond visible to the eye under certain angles) which go completely unnoticed in the middle of the diamond's fires (due to the quality of the cut).
This makes it possible to buy diamonds with a very beautiful finish much cheaper than perfect diamonds that an untrained eye cannot differentiate from others.
Once the diamond ring's design has been validated by the client and the diamond in our possession, we can manufacture the ring. First we 3D print the 3D model in resin which can be used for the godl casting of the ring.
The master of the ring is printed in resin using a 3D printer (sla 3d printer diy) from the digital file previously validated by the customer. This step takes a few hours and allows us to obtain our ring conforming to the design with an accuracy of 30 microns (0.03 millimeter or 0,0012 inch).
Wax ring 3D printed from the CAD file previously made
The gold ring is obtain through lost wax casting. The wax master is used to make a refractory plaster mold which, once dry, will be burned out to destroy the master. The resin is sublimed by heat and frees space inside the mould.
The molten metal is then poured inside the mould and fills the cavities inside it.
Here is the white gold ring obtained through lost wax casting, you can see the raw metal just after the casting process before finishing and stone setting.
Follwing the casting process, the ring is then deburred and prepared to receive the brilliant diamonds of the ring body.
Pictures showing the sparkles of the diamonds
View of the ring on the finger, the large diamond stands out
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The British Museum in London exhibits incredible Byzantine rings, which recall the splendor of the Byzantine Empire, pearl of the Orient at a time when Christianity was very present there.
We therefore had the opportunity for one of our customers to reproduce one of these rings that you can find here on their site.
]]>The British Museum in London exhibits incredible Byzantine rings, which recall the splendor of the Byzantine Empire, pearl of the Orient at a time when Christianity was very present there.
We therefore had the opportunity for one of our customers to reproduce one of these rings that you can find here on their site.
Bespoke tailoring project done via our online service, you can also find our more detailed article on the reproduction of antique jewelry here.
This ring has a wide hexagonal shank, each of the 7 available sides of which is decorated with scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary.
This ring is distinguished by the shape of the ring body and the shape of the ring plate as well, giving it a unique and characteristic style of this era. This original ring is dated between the 6th and 7th century AD, i.e. more than 1300 years old.
For his project, our client wanted to be strongly inspired by this Christian oriental ring design in order to copy the upper plate of the ring, while having his own figures engraved on the other 7 sides of the ring body.
The 3D modeling phase of the project therefore allowed us to model his project so that he could validate the design in every detail, thanks to the visual rendering of the digital model.
This visual shows you the digital modeling of our client's ring project
Here is an overview of the final rendering of the silver ring even before its manufacture, this allows you to validate the design and avoid misunderstandings about the design of the ring
Once the design of the project has been validated in every detail, we can move on to manufacturing the master.
This is done using the digital tool again, since it is the same project modeling file that we use to 3D print the master of our ring.
The one-to-one printing of the 300 layers of 25 microns constituting our ring will allow us to obtain a wax master in all respects identical to the computer project sculpted virtually before.
This wax master is then used to make a refractory plaster mold which will take the imprint of the smallest details of the ring. The wax master of the ring is then destroyed by passing the plaster mold through an oven programmed according to different temperature curves.
When the master is evaporated and the plaster mold at the right temperature, we can pour the molten silver into the mold and then obtain our raw silver ring from the foundry.
The ring is then reworked and detailed to highlight all the engraving details present on all sides of the ring.
On this photo, we find the engraving of Christ and the Virgin Mary both being blessed and below the inscription in Greek OMONYA which means CONCORDE.
Byzantine jewelry has marked Occidental history by the wealth of its creations. Heir of the Roman culture, the Byzantine empire was particulary rich in gold and gems and under the influence of the Oriental world.
Byzantine Jewelry is characterized by a strong reproduction of Christian iconography on jewelry (lile the ring presented before) and a massive use of gold for jewelry making as it was abundant for them.
One of the most notable fact about Byzantine jewelry is the Justinian Code from 529 A.D regulating the wearing and usage of jewelry and gems in the Byzantine society.
Here is a brief presentation of antique ring design we had the opportunity to work on for our clients.
For more information:
And yet, everything about these rings is fascinating, whether it's their method of manufacture, which hasn't really changed over the centuries, or their millennial history, which bears the traces of the many civilizations that have preceded ours and left their mark for the making of modern intaglio rings.
To open the chapter of intaglio ring is to delve into the history of the world and antiquity, myths and legends, a fascinating world full of adventures, fantastic beasts, gods, but also everyday objects and life scenes from antiquity in Egypt, Mesopotamia or the Roman Empire.
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And yet, everything about these rings is fascinating, whether it's their method of manufacture, which hasn't really changed over the centuries, or their millennial history, which bears the traces of the many civilizations that have preceded ours and left their mark for the making of rings with modern intaglio ornaments.
To open the chapter of intaglio ring is to delve into the history of the world and antiquity, myths and legends, a fascinating world full of adventures, fantastic beasts, gods, but also everyday objects and life scenes from antiquity in Egypt, Mesopotamia or the Roman Empire.
These rings only attract scholars, history enthusiasts who marvel at a pebble shaped by hand centuries ago and which has crossed the turpitudes of the world to reach us and leave its testimony of an era gone.
Because often antique intaglios are exhibited in museums or are extremely expensive, copies or reproductions are made so that they can be worn.
1. What makes Intaglio rings specials?
2.Intaglio: a millenial History
3. Which stones for ingaglio engraving?
5. Custom cornelian intaglio gold ring
6. Custom onyx intaglio silver ring
Intaglio rings are rings set with a fine stone engraved in hollow which can be used as a seal. These stones can be opaque or translucent, as we will see later.
On the opposite, the cameo is a stone engraving in relief, it is generally done on an opaque stone, to better appreciate the reliefs.
It should be noted that there are engraved intaglio stones which cannot be used as a seal, these stones are fine translucent stones engraved on the back of the stone and whose engraving by transparency of the latter is appreciated. They therefore have a face in the shape of a cabochon or else a classic cut which is of no interest for sealing the documents.
On the left, a Roman amphora engraved in a dark blue agate stone. On the right, the portrait of Demosthenes, the famous Greek orator of antiquity, engraved on a cabochon-cut amethyst stone
Beyond their physical particularity, the intaglios mostly refer to illustrious characters from antiquity, represent gods or scenes from mythology, or even reproduce objects from everyday life in the antiquity.
The history of these rings begins millennia ago in Mesopotamia with the development of Glyptics, which is the art of engraving fine stones, particularly for making cylinder seals.
Nearly 5000 years before our era, the first developed (known) civilization made its appearance in Mesopotamia and with it appeared the first texts of laws, title deeds and official acts signed by the people concerned.
At the time, the signature was made by a roll of fine stone engraved by hand (and therefore unique) rolled and pressed on fresh clay tablets, thus leaving their mark and attesting to the participation of the signatory.
Cylinder seal with its clay mark dated from the Uruk period
With the development of this know-how, it becomes possible to cut smaller stones more finely, which once set on rings, allow the wearer of the intaglio ring to easily dispose of his seal without risk of losing it.
The intaglio ring is the ancestor of heraldic engraved signet rings and signet rings, since the techniques of stone engraving (glyptics) developed long before man was able to use metals, the age of bronze beginning only 3000 years before our era.
Here is an example of intaglio seal rings from Mesopotamia.
The Mesopotamian civilization largely influenced the Egyptian civilization, also known for its stone-engraved artifacts, including scarab-shaped amulets found in countless tombs.
The latter subsequently influenced both Greece and ancient Rome, which produced their share of intaglio rings bearing the effigy of, among other things, their gods.
Example of unique egyptian jewelry: an Egyptian scarab carved from a piece of lapis lazuli stone to then be mounted on an Egyptian cross of life pendant, made in our jewelry workshop
All stones can, in theory, be engraved. It all depends on the talents of the engraver and the risks he is able to assume, the engraving of fragile stones or stones with internal tensions that can lead to their breakage.
This is particularly the case with emerald stones which are naturally very included and fragile. The cutting of precious stones implies great control and significant costs, just because of the price of the stone alone and the risk of breakage for certain stones.
The fine stones that will most often be found for intaglios, whether modern stones or ancient stones, are:
In principle, the engraving of intaglios has not changed since the appearance of this technique 7000 years ago.
The principle remains to remove material step by step, following the contours of the drawing in order to create the cavity that will make the desired design.
The tools have completely changed and the engravers use magnifying glasses with lighting, motorized tools and cutters as well as polishing pastes with diamond powder allowing them to work much more efficiently than their predecessors of antiquity.
The fact remains that the technique and the craftsmen's tricks allow them to create real works of art, as shown in this video detailing the different stages of the sculpting of a beetle as well as an intaglio in a carnelian stone.
Modern tools nowadays make it possible to engrave stones automatically through the use of CNC machines in order to reproduce texts, drawings or images faithfully and economically.
If the rendering is not strictly identical to manual intaglio engraving, the fact remains that these techniques make it possible to democratize this type of engraving and to obtain results of more than satisfactory quality.
The artisan jeweler can carry out the engraving of soft stones with a diamond point.
Large manufacturers, for their part, use dedicated machines for the series production of stones with identical engravings allowing the simultaneous engraving of several stones.
One of the best known and recognized European companies for the quality of engraving of these natural stones in series is a German company Lorenz-Gravuren.
Even if modern techniques compete today with the know-how of the engraver, the latter remains the only one able to offer a tailor-made antique work, his know-how having a deserved price.
This 18k gold intaglio ring project features a classic design with a barrel-shaped top topped with a Carnelian stone engraved with Egyptian motifs.
The particularity of the ring is the height of the plate which is full, the ring then weighing 22 grams in 18-carat yellow gold. You can see below the draft of the project before its manufacture.
The engraving of carnelian stone is done in the traditional way, it is done by hand in hollow and the quality of the engraving is checked using modeling clay allowing the quality of the engraving background and the rendering to be clearly seen. will have the wax seals made with this intaglio stone.
Finally the stone is mounted in place and we can see the final rendering of the ring worn on the finger. Here you can see the intaglio work done by Detelina.
This intaglio ring project is made in solid silver on an onyx stone engraved by a modern CNC engraver.
Why choosing this method?
The goal is to engrave a logo that is visible on the onyx stone and not to make seals. it did not justify the financial investment of a modern traditional engraving. In addition, CNC engraving can do multiple engravings side by side symmetrically, which is not the classic style of manual intaglio engraving.
The design of the project can be seen on these rendering visuals of the digital model of the ring project.
As you can see in these images, the onyx stone protrudes far beyond the ring top, giving it an old-fashioned style that adds to its charm.
Above, these examples of men's intaglio rings in onyx on the left and greek lapis lazuli intaglio ring on the right show what is possible to achieve, via our custom ring creation service.
For more information:
The choice was a Milanese bracelet with 19 mm width and a clasp with folding clasp.
The interest of this type of clasp is obvious since the bracelet is enlarged but does not open when the clasp is accidentally opened. Which, for a gold bracelet of this weight is a useful and necessary security.
As this type of gold bracelet was not available on the market for this brand, nor in the dimensions or in the Milanese mesh style desired by our client, the only thing left was the made-to-measure manufacture of the watch strap.
We therefore realized in the workshop the bracelet and the folding clasp in solid gold according to the given measures so that the bracelet fits perfectly with the entrecorne of the gold watch.
Here are the steps of the manufacturing.
Our work begins with the melting of the 14-carat white gold alloy, which is melted into a bar, rolled and stretched to give it the caliber needed to make the bracelet.
You can see this thread on the following image.
Our white gold wire is black because it is dirty and unpolished
Here is a summary of the transformation steps of the gold in order to give it the shape of thread, then the winding of each mesh constituting the Milanese mesh bracelet and finally the bracelet.
Notice the hue of 18k white gold, is already appears white even if it has not been polished yet
After mounting more than 150 links in each other, we get our gold bracelet in this form.
The clasp of our bracelet is copied on a steel folding clasp model, adapting the measures to the needs of our project.
We begin our work by producing a white gold laminate which is then cut, shaped and welded to obtain an articulated piece that fits perfectly to form our clasp-buckle.
The job is summarized via the following image.
Fabrication of the gold watch bracelet folding clasp
Once the folding clasp is manufactured, it can be assembled with the rest of the bracelet and make the necessary adjustments to minimize the games
It is then possible to drill on the buckle the adjustment holes of the length of the bracelet and to polish it in order to rhodium it.
Finishing and final rendering of the gold watch bracelet
Gold bracelet for watch in its case before delivery
Making a bracelet in the form of a flexible mesh chain is always an exciting activity for a jeweler.
If you want to know different types of meshes achievable for your gold watch straps, I suggest you to read this complete article on the subject.
Here is another example of a custom-made watch project with a 18k yellow gold bezel on this watch:
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]]>For most people, sapphire means blue sapphire as this is the most famous type of sapphire stone. In fact, there are many varieties of sapphire gemstone that can be of any color, from white (or colorless) to green.
Sapphire is actually a variety of corundum with traces of other chemical elements that give it its color. It is characterized by a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale, just after moissanite which has a hardness of 9.5, and below diamond which has a hardness of 10.
]]>For most people, sapphire means blue sapphire as this is the most famous type of sapphire stone. In fact, there are many varieties of sapphire gemstone that can be of any color, from white (or colorless) to green.
Sapphire is actually a variety of corundum with traces of other chemical elements that give it its color. It is characterized by a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale, just after moissanite which has a hardness of 9.5, and below diamond which has a hardness of 10.
View of a blue raw sapphire on the left and a pear cut blue sapphire on the right
Blue sapphire is the most used of the precious stones in jewelry while people are generally not aware of the different types of sapphire colors, or quality criteria of sapphire stones.
This article is a complete guide to help you discover what corundum is, what are the different types of sapphires and their colors as well as to help you know the quality criteria of sapphire and have an idea of its price.
Sapphire is a mineral, called corundum, which is aluminum oxide (Al2O3) whose crystalline structure has traces of other chemical elements giving it its crystal color. These elements can be iron (Fe), titanium (T), chromium (Cr), vanadium (V), or magnesium (Mg).
Above, you can see the cristaline structure of corundum wihout any trace of chemincal elements determining its color
Because of these chemical elements, corundum can take on any color, with the particularity of being called ruby when this color is red and sapphire in all other cases (blue sapphire and fancy sapphire)
Indeed, ruby is colored corundum, just like sapphire. What defines the ruby is its red color which can be more or less intense and when a ruby is only weakly tempted, then it will be called a pink sapphire.
Comparison between a ruby and pink sapphire, with the same chemical composition, only the concentration of chromium differs from both gemsones samples
It is the presence of chromium in the crystalline structure of corundum that gives it a hue ranging from pink (then called pink sapphire) to deep red, it is then called ruby pigeon blood.
The concentration of impurities necessary for the appearance of color varies according to the chemical elements. While at least 1% chromium is needed in the corundum structure to obtain a deep red ruby, only 0.01% iron and titanium are needed to give it a blue hue.
Sapphire is mostly known for being a deep blue precious stone, while it can take on many different hues, including blue, pink, green, yellow, orange, black and white with numerous intensities and shades of color depending on the type and concentration of chemical elements found within its structure.
Examples of sapphires of different colors, ranging from blue to green through yellow and orange and colorless sapphire or pink sapphire. Sapphires with a large range of colors are used for rainbow ring making as shown on the rigth
Blue sapphire is a corundum that owes its hue to chemical impurities in the form of iron and titanium oxides. Its perceived color depends on its hue, the intensity of the hue, the brightness of the blue and the tone (light or dark) and also the shades of color that are visible depending on the orientation of the stone. For blue sapphire, its shades generally range from purple to green.
Its price also depends on its purity, visible to the eye, but we will come back to this in the next chapter about sapphire price.
Solitaire blue sapphire ring with cushion cut, made through our custom ring service
Blue Sapphire are the most look after on the jewelry market and the most expensive sapphires are all blue. The most expensive sapphire stones are the one with pure blue hue and a vivid saturation.
It is the presence of iron and iron alone in the corumdum that gives sapphire its yellow or orange hue, the presence of a single another element changing its color from yellow to ther color. For this kind of clear hue, the purity of the stone is all the more important, since any imperfection is very visible to the naked eye.
Yellow sapphire cushion cut ring, this ring of our collection is adapted here with a nice yellow sapphire of 8 mm
Given its hardness and pronounced yellow hue, yellow sapphire is an excellent alternative to yellow diamonds, this latter being much more affordable than a diamond when lookng for a stone with a pronounced hue.
As explained above, pink sapphire is a corundum mineral containing traces of chromium and having a hue too weak to be called ruby. Pink sapphire is also an excellent alternative to pink diamonds, which are, for the average person, quite expensive, whereas pink sapphire is quite affordable, in comparison.
Pink sapphire gemstone and a ring set with a pink sapphire giving you an idea of the visual rendering of the gemstone well highlighted
The value of pink sapphire rise when the pink color gets deeper (increase in chromium concentration). Pink sapphire is a good subtitute to pink diamoands, close in hue and so much cheaper.
White sapphire is a corundum crystal without impurities, it is rare because most of the time, during its formation, its crystals are "polluted" by other chemical elements.
It has often been used in jewelry as substitute to diamonds, which is less common today given the development of synthetic diamonds and zirconium oxide which is so economical.
Top and bottom view of a colorless white sapphire whose color is noticeable but whose luminous reflections have nothing to do with those of a diamond
As you can see on the picture, white sapphire is not as white as G or H diamond and does not show the brightness or fire you can see with diamonds.
As with yellow sapphire, it is the presence of iron oxide that gives it its green hue. Green sapphire is almost unknown to the general public and is not much in demand in jewelry. It is however a beautiful and very resistant stone and really economical for a precious fancy gemstone.
Green sapphire competes with emerald, another more fragile but much more fascinating gemstone, and it can also be a substitude with les precious gemstones such as tsavorite and peridot, which are much more economical.
Color change sapphires are natural sapphires which color change depending on the incident light. Commonly, they show one color on the day light and another one when exposed to artificial light.
This phenomenon is quite rare and is called the "alexandrite effect" for the name of the Alexandrite gemstone showing the same color change.
Such type of sapphire can be blue at daylight and become purple with artificial light or be green at day light and become pink/violet with artificial light.
Example of color change sapphire with blue hue under natural ilght and becoming purple under incandescent light (source)
Such color change sapphire are mined in different areas of the world such as Madagascar, Tanzania and Sri Lanka (ex Ceylon).
These color change sapphires must not be confused with natural bi-color sapphires that show different hues in a single stone.
These samples of bicolor sapphires are all natural (source GIA:https://www.gia.edu/)
Although little known to the general public, Padparadscha sapphire is certainly the rarest of all natural sapphires and also one of the most expensive. It is characterized by its unique orange-pink color and historically comes from mines located in Sri Lanka. Today, such sapphires are also found in mines in Madagascar and Tanzania, which is best known for its production of tanzanite stones (see tanzanite price chart here).
Its name derives from the Sinhalese word Padma radschen which means "lotus flower", the color of this stone is surprisingly similar to that of the flower, as you can see below.
Visual showing a lotus flower with its vibrant colors as well as a cut padparadscha sapphire and a rough padparadscha sapphire allowing you to see the colors of each
Padparadscha sapphires are the most expensive fancy sapphires after natural blue sapphires. Nowadays such Padparadscha sapphire color can be obtained through beryllium diffusion treatment (see sapphire treatments chapter here below).
The color of Padparadscha sapphire is so unique that even experts do not agree at all about the color definition of these sapphires."It is GIA's opinion that this color range should be limited to light to medium tones of pinkish orange to orange-pink hues."
This rare sapphire can be found in those countries: Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Myanmar.
Star sapphires are colored corundum with inclusions of rutile (TiO2) in the shape of needles showing a six-rayed star pattern when looked at day light (note that the star will disapear to the eye with artificial light). This star effect appears white over the fancy colored sapphire that is cut in cabochon to give the best effect to this phenomenon.
Star sapphire exist in all fancy sapphire colors, the most famous are blue and black star sapphires. When a red corundum shows a star effect, it is called Star ruby.
This star like effect is called asterism.
While black sapphire is little known and little coveted in jewelry in the form of cut stones, black star sapphires are much more famous and used in jewlery. The white star overing on the black sapphire gives a stunning effect on any jewelry set with this type of sapphire.
Cabochon-cut black sapphire with astherism phenomenon also know as black star sapphire
Below, you can see a blue star sapphire cabochon set on a ring. To be valuable, the star sapphire must show a clean and clear white star with no defects. The more valuable star sapphires are blue star sapphire, then pink star sapphire and black star sapphire are the least expensive ones.
Example of a blue star sapphire cabochon cut set on a ring
In theory, this asterism phenomenon could appear in any colored corundum, while I have never heard about star Padparascha sapphire, it would be more expensive than a pink star sapphire.The largest blue sapphire in the world are blue star sapphires, the largest one being The Star of Adam with a weight of 1404,5 carats that was mined in Sri Lanka in August 2015.
"Ceylon is not just the oldest source of sapphire, with continuous production over 2000 years, but also has produced most of the large fine sapphires ever seen, with top stones ranging up to 500+ carats" say the sapphire expert Richard W. Hughes (source).
Ceylon sapphire are also known as Sri Lanka Sapphires as this small island on the shore of India was known as Ceylon up to 1972 when if changed its name. to Sri Lanka.
Among all the mines and countries producing sapphires, there are some that stand out for the quality of their sapphires and the history that surrounds them.
Ceylon sapphires are part of these mythical sapphires given their worldwide fame. They were the most coveted gemstones by the European crowned heads before the diamond became the most fashionable gemstone during the 40s, following the advertising campaigns of the mining company DeBeers.
To give you an idea, Ceylon was mentioned by Ptolemy for its gems 1800 years ago. Marco Polo also mentions it in his writings in the 13th century. It is estimated today that about 25% of the island's surface is rich in gems.
Sri Lanka is a small island in southeast India that was called Ceylon until 1972. The name of the sapphires from this island has stuck to the sapphires from this island which is still considered one of the main sources of the most beautiful sapphires in the world.
Traditionally, when we talk about Ceylon sapphire, we are talking about blue sapphires, however it should be noted that the island produces sapphires of all colors, including Padparadscha sapphire we mentioned earlier.
The following map shows the location of the main deposits and mining sites of sapphires on the island.
Map of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), source map
As you can see, the occurrence of sapphires is most important in the Highlands, which are the areas shown in light green on the map and the blue areas show the main known sapphire deposits.
Ceylon blue sapphires are the best known of all the sapphires on the island, they offer indeed an exceptional hue, a blue color with reflections of mauve characteristic of their origin.
Example of a Ceylon sapphire stone set on a gold ring
In conventional jewelry, depending on the quality of sapphires and market demand for them, sapphire stone cost vary from 200 dollars to 3500 dollars per carat for blue sapphires.
Setting the value to a sapphire stone is particulary difficult as its price will vary depending a lot on its color, its purity and mining origin. Its price will also be impacted by the market demand, the mining activity , the political situation in the countries producer of sapphires and the politicial agreement or bans that can exist.
The most expensive sapphires are the blue sapphires which can reach prices up to $242 000 dollars per carat as it was the case during the auction of a blue Kashmir Sapphire in 2015 at Sotheby.
The single most important criteria to set the value to a sapphire is its color. That's why a sapphire color chart is used to classify the hue of blue sapphires, the vividness of the color is also important so as the clarity (presence of inclusions) of the cristal.
Below is a blue sapphire color chart showing the vast range of blue hue taken by blue sapphires.
All the criteria affecting a sapphire value are listed here:
Other criteria as local mining capacity, fashion for some kind of sapphire or banishment from some importator countries can also have an impact on price that is difficult to evaluate.
Nowadays, a lot of enfasis is made about the stone mine origin creating a hype on some specific mining regions of the world, this origin becoming more imortant than the sapphire stone quality and beauty.
As Richard W. Hughes from Lotus Gemology says "stones with Kashmir walking papers from major labs can fetch as much as ten times the price of an identical stone from Madagascar. Many Burmese sapphires are indistinguishable from sapphires from Sri Lanka, even with the most sophisticated testing. In many cases, labs cannot accurately separate blue sapphires from Sri Lanka and Burma. Additionally, it is extremely difficult to separate some Sri Lankan stones from those of Kashmir and Madagascar."
He also explains how easy it is to fake the procedency of a sapphire to rise its price upward:
"As of 2020, Madagascar's production of fine blues is probably greater than both Sri Lanka and Burma combined. Most of the buying in Madagascar is done by Sri Lankan buyers and as the stones are taken to Sri Lanka for cutting and treatment, many of the blues now sold in Sri Lanka are actually from Madagascar. This misrepresentation of Madagascar origin is one of the major causes of disagreement between labs and their customers. That said, as the quality of Madagascar sapphire becomes better recognized, we are starting to see market prices move towards those from Ceylon". (source)
About the sapphire's price per carat evolution, we can note these auctions showing a high increase in demand for top qualiity sapphire gems since 2005:
"On December 1, 2009, a private bidder paid $2.396 million for a 16.65 ct Kashmir sapphire at the Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction in Hong Kong—at almost $144,000 per carat. In the four years prior to that sale, auction prices for top Kashmir sapphires ranged from $39,000 to $135,000 per carat."
Raw sapphire stones are precious corundum cristals in their primitive form as the nature made them in the harsh conditions of the underground. Gemquality are found in bedrock rivers or mining in their rough primal form before being cut to reach the jewelry market.
The most common raw sapphires are found in basalt or marble.
Raw sapphires that do not reach gemquality are used as fantasy pendants or by collectioners as ornemental pieces.
On the left, a raw bicolorsapphire, on the right a blue sapphire rough, both are ornemental pieces
As you can see, the shape of the sapphire rough is following a geometrical pattern that is due to the hexagonbal structure of the corumdum cristal. When they are expulsed to the surface by volcanos or water worn, sapphire rough can brake and take a very different shape (barrel shape), like a common rock, but showing its incredible color.
Did you know?
Sapphire is formed under heat but has to cool slowly to allow the formation of the mineral lattice. The slower it cools, the bigger the sapphire stone can be.
Having such a common shape can madke them difficult to find in the middle of thousand of other small rocks, as you can sse in this video:
While many people wonder about the provenance of the stones in their jewelry and the working conditions of the workers who mine the deposits, it is worthwhile to present the current state of sapphire mining.
A bit like a diamond, sapphire is formed in the bowels of the Earth, at the level of the lithosphere, where the pressure and temperature are sufficient to create the crystal of aluminum oxide from the mother rock composed of aluminum and silicon Al2SIO5 and other chemical elements that will give its color to corundum.
The presence of mother rock and the pressure are not sufficient, it is necessary moreover a source of heat (the magma) which will allow the formation of the crystal of corundum.
And it is still the magma that will subsequently expel the raw sapphires thus formed underground to the surface of the earth's crust.
According to scientists, natural sapphire is formed at a depth of about 60 kilometers, under a pressure of 20,000 bars and a temperature of 1100°C.
Once forced out by the magma, sapphires are found in alluvial deposits due to the erosion of magmatic rocks by natural elements.
Although sapphire crystallizes in hard rocks, such as basalt or marble, it is in alluvial deposits that it is most easily and profitably mined.
Kashmir sapphires are mined in the rock at an altitude of more than 5000 meters. I recommend you to see this excellent documentary by Patrick Voillot on Kashmir sapphires:
Most of the time, sapphire mines are exploited with very few means, by digging the ground between 1 and 6 meters deep in order to search and sort the sapphires by washing the sediments that surround them.
The means of exploitation of the miners are proportional to the means available to the country according to its degree of development. The majority of sapphire mining is located in Southeast Asia and Africa, where it is mainly done by hand.
Here is a map showing all the sapphire mining sites for the jewelry market, the first three being the most important ones:
World map showing all the sapphire mining sites (https://www.mindat.org/min-3529.html)
As you can see, there is a lot of unknown mines that produce very little sapphires or low grade sapphires (like USA and France). The main production sites both in quality and quantity are Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.
This is a very hard question to answer as mines' production vary year to year, local climate events can affect the mine's site access or local political change affect the ability to export sapphires.
Moreover, as much of sapphire production occurs in third world countries, smuggling is very common and just a fraction of the sapphires extrated get registred by the governments.
If that was not enough, poor quality gems that had been extracted years ago are now treated with modern techniques allowing those stones to reach the jewelry market.
Here are some official sapphire mining data from local governments:
If in countries like USA, Canada and Australia, mechanical means, culture and labor laws allow the exploitation of sapphire in good conditions, it is quite different in Africa and South East Asia where machines are scarse, the culture and the standard of living are very different from the Western world criteria and the access to the mining sites is so easy that there are a lot of illegal exploitations, as it is the case in Madagascar, today one of the countries producing the most sapphires in the world
Sapphire has so many incredible physical characteristics that it si used in many industrial applications, well beyond the sole jewelry industry. Sapphire has a wide optical transmission band, it is much stronger than glass, highly resistant to scratching and melt at a very high temperature (higher than many metals at 2030°C).
Nowadays, white or colored sapphire are used for watches' crystals, high pressure or vaccuum chambers, semiconductors with integreated circuits SOS type, armored vehicles, lasers and prosthesis implants in medicine. The sapphires used for such applications are man-made to reach the requirement in size, weight and purity of the industry.
In 1902, the French Chemist August Verneuil succeeded to create the first synthetic ruby and in 1909 he created the first lab created blue sapphire. The Verneuil process was the first industrial process for producing synthetic gemtones to be a commercial success.
Another method: Czochralski process has been developped in 1916 by polish chemist Jan Czochralski, since then this process has been modernized and allow the production of dozens or hundreds of kilos of sapphir cristal at once.
These techniques have overflown on the sapphire jewelry industry and lab created sapphires are now available for making jewelry.
Let's be clear, lab created sapphires are sapphires but man made, they have the same mineral structure and are identical to natural sapphires, and very often, they need a gemmologist to determine if they are natural or lab created. Lab created sapphires are much cheaper than natural sapphires.
This is the reason why, everywhere in the world it is a requisite to stipulate the man made origin of any synthetic sapphire. Laboratories of gemmology everywhere in the world offer their expertise to certificate your sapphire is natural or synthetic.
Here is an example of microscopic clues that use gemmologists to determine the type of sapphire, natural or lab created.
Photo showing the microscopic clues indicating the laboratory origin of synthetic sapphires (source)
Some inclusions can also help identify a lab-made gem. For example, curved striae are found only in synthetic sapphires and rubies, never natural ones. See this article on inclusions of synthetic gemstones for more information.
If you plan to buy an expensive or big sapphire stone for your jewelry, it is a necessary requisite to be aware of the sapphires treatments to choose your stone.
Sapphire treatments are common since hundred of years, as the GIA laboratory explains it:
"Historically, sapphires and rubies have been coated with substances to enhance their color, or dipped in oil to improve apparent transparency. Such practices—as applied to a variety of gems—were described by Pliny the Second two millennia ago. More-sophisticated treatments—particularly high-temperature, atmosphere-controlled heating of corundum—are now commonplace"
Some treatments are common, others are accepted in the jewelry industry as long as they are disclosed to the buyer. Commonly, treatments that improve the stone without affecting much its price are well accepted while treatments that sharply raise the sapphire stone price have to be disclosed.
Here are the different treatments of sapphire stone used in the insudtry:
This is the most common and oldest treatment of all.
As corrundum needs chemical elements and heat to form and show its color, sometimes the natural pocess of sapphire formation is not completed by lack of heat to reveal the strongest hue the stone could show.
This low heat treatment consists in finishing the job of mother nature by heating the sapphire stone up to 800°C during several hours, which imporve its clarity and blue hue of the stone. This method is also used to improve ruby color.
This kind of treatment is very common and almost all the sapphire stones on the market are heat treated.
This is a new treatment that has been used for a few decades only. It consists in heating the sapphire at high temperature (more than 1000°C) in presence of other chemical elements to allow the supperficial diffusion of those elements in the mineral structure (lattice).
Usually, this method is used with colorless sapphire with diffusion of Titanium to give the corrundum the blue hue of blue sapphire.
Since the years 2000, it has also been used for Beryllium diffusion in colorless corrundum to create Padparadscha sapphires, as GIA laboratory mentions:
"In late 2001, large amounts of pinkish orange “padparadscha” sapphires—represented as natural color—began to appear on the market. While prominent gemologists soon suspected a form of diffusion, there was no understanding at the time about what elements might cause the “padparadscha” and orangy colors on a consistent basis. Thorough investigation proved that a diffusion treatment was indeed being used, and that beryllium was the element being diffused at extremely high temperatures (Emmett et al., 2003). The sudden appearance of these treated sapphires (figure 21), combined with their clandestine release into the marketplace, caught gem dealers and gemological laboratories by surprise (Henricus, 2002). These stones also caused substantial disruption in the gem community, at least temporarily, because the treatment was difficult to detect"
As corrundum is naturally formed under heat and pressure, its lattice shows fractures and voids that can be seen as defects and lower the value of the stone. Fracture filling treatment consist in filling thoses fractures with other components that will mask those defects, improving the aspect of the stone and its value. It is illegal not to disclose such a treatment.
Today, it is easy to detect such treatments, "however, it often requires advanced instrumentation such as laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry to establish the presence of beryllium" (source GIA)
Also, detecting low heat treatment is not always as easy, as Richard W. Hughes explains it:
"There are a number of sapphire sources around the world where sapphire is found associated with alkali basalts. These include Australia, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Ethiopia, Laos, Madagascar (far north), Nigeria, Rwanda, Thailand and Vietnam. In such stones, the sapphires formed within the earth, but were brought to the surface by volcanic eruptions. During these volcanic events, the already-formed crystals underwent a natural heating process. The result is that basalt-related sapphires often show features associated with sapphires that have undergone artificial heat treatment. Due to this fact, it is often impossible for labs to know if a basalt-related stone has been artificially heat treated." (source)
Laboratory sapphires are easily recognizable because for a very affordable price, their hue is perfect, without variations and without any defect, details that can easily be noticed with the eye or with a magnifying glass on a natural sapphire.
If you want a natural stone that has not undergone any treatment, then you will need a certificate from a laboratory that has analyzed your stone and you need to have the budget for such a stone.
While not really of consequence in the world sapphire market, there is strong demand for Montana sapphire in the US. It comes in two distinctive flavors, Yogo and non-Yogo (meaning Rock Creek/Gem Mountain, Missouri River and Dry Cottonwood Creek).
Yogo sapphires have been mined on and off since the late 19th century. With beautiful blue to lilac colors, high clarity and no color zoning, the only thing that has stopped them from being world class is the size. Most crystals are flat and it is a rare stone that can cut a one-carat piece. Two-carat stones are extraordinarily rare. Yogo sapphires fetch prices in the US far above what would be paid in the rest of the world.
Stones from the other Montana mines come in fancy colors and blues tend to be a bit grayish. Rock Creek/Gem Mountain produces prodigious quantities, but virtually all require heat treatment. (source)
Sapphire is the birthstone of September for people with astrological sign Virgo. This concerns people born between the 23 of August and the 22nd of September. The tradition of birthstones is as old as the Jewish history. The modern birthstone calendar was formalized by Tiffany and Co in 1870 and publlished in the form of a poem you can read entierely here, which extract for the birthstone of september is:
September birthstone poem:
A maiden born when September leaves
Are rustling in September’s breeze,
A sapphire on her brow should bind
`Twill cure diseases of the mind
Not only sapphire is a precious stone nowadays, but it has been precious for centuries for having a strong spiritual meanning and healing benefits.
Sapphire stone has been known for more than 2000 years. It has been the stone of Maharadja, Kings, Princes and religious leaders. The most recent example of this, is the blue sapphire engagement ring Prince Charles of England offered to Lady Diana in 1981, untill her death in 1997. It was the property of the Royal family of England and Prince William offered the same sapphire ring to Kate Middleton in 2010.
Sapphire is a symbol of sincerity, loyalty, wisdom and nobility. Back in the antiquity, nobles believed the sapphire stone protected them from harm and jealousy.
Here is a presentation of data about the sapphire world market to get a better understanding of volumes and value of sapphires sold every year. Over the past 35 years, sapphires went from high-priced goods to arguably the world’s most widely sold colored gemstones, accounting for approximately one-third of all global colored stone sales by value.
It is safe to conclude that up to and through the 1970s, the market for faceted blue sapphire and ruby was small relative to the quantities in the jewelry industry today, simply because supplies were limited primarily to the low percentage of facetable goods (typically less than 5%) that came from the mines in salable colors.
Recently, two market research studies have shed light on sales of colored stones in general—and ruby and sapphire in particular—at wholesale and retail. They found—not surprisingly—that corundum represents the largest single share of the colored stone market. One study, published in 2009 in Dubai, reported that the world retail market (of which the U.S. accounted for 60%) for all “precious” gemstones was approximately $80 billion: $69.7 billion for diamonds and $10.3 billion for colored stones and pearls. Of the latter amount, ruby and sapphire accounted for 30%, while emerald was 12%. The remaining 58% comprised all other gems, including pearls (BUZ Consulting, 2009).
$3,09 billions worth of sapphires and rubies were sold in 2009.
The second study, commissioned by True North Gems, pegged the pipeline (retail sales and inventory) for ruby at $2.1 billion and sapphire at $800 million ($58 million of which was pink sapphire), for a total similar to the approximately $3 billion cited in the Dubai study. The same source noted that emerald sales totaled $1.4 billion. The sapphire share is low in comparison to that of ruby because of the large quantities of low-quality and diffusion-treated sapphire in the market (Smith, 2009).
The 1980s marked the point at which the treatment of previously worthless material suddenly resulted in the widespread availability of appealing blue sapphires.
The majority of sapphire stones sold in 2009 are low-quality and treated stones.
Today, an estimated one million Thais make their living from the gemstone industry through cutting, trading, and treating (“Thailand government waives VAT. . . ,” 2009). Approximately 70% of the world’s sapphires and 90% of its rubies pass through Thailand. Most are treated and cut in Chanthaburi, where the weekend gem markets still draw thousands of buyers and sellers (figure 11), and are then exported through Bangkok .Figures published by the Gem and Jewelry Institute of Thailand (2009) indicate that polished gemstone exports in 2008 totaled approximately $254.89 million, of which sapphire represented 46.7% and ruby 40.62%. Although the export value of cut gemstones increased nearly 50% between 2007 and 2008, imports of rough declined 13% ($22.9 million to $19 million) for the same period.
In 2009, 70% of the world's sapphires pass through Thailand.
Madagascar's Sapphire deposits proved lucrative, with some 1,200 kg exported to Thailand annually from 94 to 97 and a number of 15–20 ct stones cut. Because a high percentage of the sapphires produced were smuggled out of Madagascar, production statistics tend to be incomplete and contradictory. One report said that by 2005, Madagascar was responsible for an estimated 50% of the world’s sapphires (Tilghman et al., 2007). This may be explained by a claim that 50 kg of sapphire were smuggled to Thailand each week, supported by a World Bank estimate that the country saw less than 5% of its potential revenues from sapphire exports (“Getting stoned,” 2005).
Madgascar has been a huge source of sapphires in the 90s and 2000s years with a lot of material smuggled our to Thailand and difficult to track.
Here is the prospect about the future of sapphire world market:
The Dubai study (prepared before the fall 2008 onset of the global economic crisis) predicted that sales of colored stones would grow an average of 6.1% annually around the world. However, that report and other sources (Emmett, 2007; Shor, 2007c) listed a number of challenges that could hamper growth in retail demand for colored stones, including corundum:
• There are no universally accepted grading standards, which makes colored stones more difficult to describe and appraise than diamonds.
• Apart from tanzanite and several varieties of pearls, there are no coordinated large-scale marketing efforts, such as those that have helped spur diamond, gold, and platinum jewelry sales.
• Supplies can be unpredictable. Colored stone deposits tend to be relatively small and sporadically distributed, and thus many have a short life span.
• The perception of the financial community is that the colored stone industry is a “Wild West” environment, with few laws and extremely fragmented markets.
• The lack of documented information about the colored stone industry deters banks and other financial institutions from offering credit lines.
• Sales of colored stone jewelry are more closely tied to fashion trends than other forms of jewelry and thus are more volatile.
• Treatments remain an issue, and debates continue over “acceptable” and “unacceptable” treatments.
• As with diamonds and other gemstones, however, world events, local conflicts, and political upheavals have affected supplies and, possibly, consumer attitudes toward ruby and sapphire.
(Source GIA)
As sapphire can take a wide spectrum of colors, there is a lot of other gemstones that can be confused with or replace sapphire stones on your jewelry.
Moissanite is a silicon carbide (SiC) that is almost never found in nature while white sapphire is a natural aluminium oxyde (Al2O3) that is naturally made.
Moissanite set on your jewelry is always a lab-createde stone.
Moissanite's hardness on Mohs scale is 9,25/9,5 while white sapphire hardness is 9, so Moissanite is a little bit harder than sapphire. So Moissanite will scratch your sapphire.
In terms of appearance, a natural white sapphire will show imperfections and inclusions while the moissanite will be almost perfect, being man-made. The refraction index and fire dispersion of the moissanite is much better than those of white sapphire and is similar to those of diamond.
This is the reason why moissanite is used to replace diamonds over white sapphire, and why moissanite is more expensive than white sapphire as the market demand is higher.
Cubic Zirconia is a Zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) with a Mohs scale hardness of 8/8,5 which is less than white sapphire. It means your white sapphire will scratch your cubic zirconia stone.
Cubic zirconia has also a better refraction index than white sapphire which makes it a very good imitation of diamond at an unbeatable price, much better than white sapphire.
Topaz is a silicate mineral (Al2SiO4) with a Mohs scale hardness of 8 whitch is less than white sapphire.Topaz will be scratched by any sapphire stone.
Topaz has a refraction index inferior to the refraction index of white sapphire, which makes it less luminous than sapphire. Also, white topaz is cheaper than white sapphire.
For more information:
To better understand the fascinating history of this stone, we invite you to dive into the origins of its discovery.
]]>To better understand the fascinating history of this stone, we invite you to dive into the origins of its discovery.
Tanzanite ring in 18-karat gold, the details of which can be seen here
1. History and origins of tanzanite
2. Price of tanzanite
3. Raw tanzanite
4. Tanzanite color
5. Stone maintenance
Tanzanite is actually a Zoist stone with a very particular composition, containing a high proportion of vanadium.
The stone is a brown color that turns deep blue when the stone is heated to 600 ° C for 30 minutes.
The variety of Zoists was already well known to gemologists since their discovery by Sigmund Zois before 1805.
The Zoists were then silicates worthless on the jewelery market.
The Tanzanite was only discovered in 1967 by the Maasai on their territory following a bushfire which, by ravaging the savannah, sufficiently heated the local zoiste stones rich in vanadium to give them an exceptional blue hue.
Examples of raw tanzanite stones before and after heating to accentuate their color by oxidation of vanadium atoms (source)
These stones, flush with the uncrushed soil, attracted the eye of the Maasai, who had these stones examined by gemologists.
This Zoist variety, hitherto unknown, was named Tanzanite, homage to the land of origin of stone in Tanzania, by the jeweler Tiffany of New York who had fallen in love with it.
It can be said that the fame of Tanzanite depends largely on the efforts of Tiffany House to promote it.
Tanzania is not necessarily well known, I have prepared a small graphic summary of its location in Africa :
Tanzania's position in Africa
The only mine known and exploited in the world is located in the north of Tanzania, in the Merelany Hills, at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro.
You can see the location of the Tanzanite mine in the north of the country, southeast of the city of Arusha on this satellite view :
Satellite view of the mine in the north of the country (click on image to enlarge)
The area of exploitation of the stone is only about 20 km2, as shown in this plane view.
Airplane view of tanzanite mine site
It is then possible to see the Kilimanjaro peaks from the mine site.
Kilimanjaro stands out on the horizon, seen from the tanzanite mine
It should be noted that Tanzanite is 1000 times rarer than diamonds and that estimated reserves are only 105 million carats (only 21 tons), making it possible to estimate the drying up of the mine in about thirty years (current exploitation rate and resources known to date).
The trade in Tanzanite is 95% owned by the Maasai since the deposit is on their land.
Many have made a fortune from the dividends generated by the exploitation of this manna.
Most of the raw tanzanite production was in the past carved out of Jaipur in India, which is a gemstone-sized hub in the world.
Small raw tanzanites
But a law passed in 2010, The Mining Act, banned since the export of raw tanzanite stones of more than 1 gram (5 carats) and this in order to develop an economic activity of size of gemstones specific to Tanzania.
This measure aims to increase the revenues generated by the country's mining operations.
If it touches the tanzanite stones at first, it will be extended in the future to other rough stones (sapphires ...) operated in Tanzania.
Tanzanite mining generates 14,000 direct jobs in the local economy (source).
To discover the steps of size of a tanzanite, I invite you to watch this video :
As you can imagine, the price of a tanzanite stone will depend on the color of the stone, the intensity of the color, the weight of the stone and the size of the stone.
Unfortunately, there is no standard tanzanite quality rating system. (source)
Unlike the diamond that has it and whose price per carat is fixed on the international market.
Thus, the GIA, world-renowned gemological laboratory, specifies on these reports of expertise only the weight, the dimensions, the size and the color and the natural origin or not and the treatments undergone by tanzanite (source).
GIA certificate of a tanzanite
Some tanzanite sellers use the diamond 4C classification to describe the quality of their stones, while others use the A, AA, AAA, AAA + or other classification scale.
None of these classification scales has any legal value on the market, it is a point that must be understood.
You will therefore need to judge the quality of the stone you are interested in according to your own preference criteria.
The price of this stone varies from a hundred dollars per carat for poor quality stones to more than 1000 dollars per carat for stones of very good quality.
Here is a table summarizing the variation in the carat price of tanzanite according to the quality and weight of the stone (the larger a stone is, the more rare it is and therefore expensive to the carat) :
Table summarizing the tanzanite carat price bracket (source)
It must be taken into account that this table is to be taken for information purposes, the price of Tanzania directly depending on supply and demand, unlike the price of diamonds.
It should be known that tanzanite is a very good alternative to sapphire, that its known reserves are very limited (it is 1000 times rarer than diamond) and that the demand increases, so its price has a tendency to climb with the time (except during periods of crisis).
Because of its intense color and strong shine, tanzanite unlike other stones can be used raw to be mounted in jewelry.
Gold bracelet and raw tanzanite stones heated and unheated
Naturally, raw tanzanite stones are translucent brown in color when not heated and blue in color when heated.
Tanzanite can form very large crystals, the largest having been discovered in 2005 at 3,278 kilos.
The peculiarity of tanzanite is to be a blue Zoiste crystal with strong trichroism.
It is important to insist on the BLUE color of tanzanite since you will be able to find on the market "pink or green tanzanite stones".
But if these stones are indeed pretty and rare, they are not Tanzanites, but Zoists, the term Tanzanite being much more sales than the unknown name of Zoiste (source).
Trichroism :
This is its ability to filter the light differently depending on the angle at which one looks at the crystal.
In the case of tanzanite, three observation directions correspond to three different colors of the crystal.
A photo explains this property much better than words :
Trichroism of tanzanite in image (source)
Depending on the angle at which a tanzanite crystal is viewed, it appears blue, purple or red.
This property offers very interesting perspectives in jewelry, depending on the size of the stone, it will then be possible to give it splinters of these three colors.
Seen from a tanzanite stone whose reflections take the 3 colors mentioned
The predominant color of a tanzanite is violet forcing over blue. The rarest stones being blue, they are also the most expensive.
Tanzanite has a hardness ranging from 6 to 7 on the Mohs scale, making it a softer stone than emerald.
It has a cleavage plane, which with the trichroism of the crystal complicates its cutting operation.
Like diamond, the cleavage plane implies that Tanzanite stone can easily break if it receives a shot from a certain angle.
It is therefore prudent to ask if you want to mount your tanzanite stone ring or not.
If the answer is yes, you should always be extremely careful not to practice manual activities with your ring, as this may damage your stone.
You can get in touch with us to get a quote for your jewel project with tanzanite stone or else, here are some examples of tanzanite jewelry from the jeweler Juwelo that are more affordable.
For more information:
]]>I started my work on 3D printing in 2015 with the purchase of a 1200 Project 3DS printer, an honest review of which is published here (in French). I then changed my printer, for a Draken 3D printer from the company 3DFacture which is also an SLA type 3D printer offering a larger printing surface than the 1200 and the freedom to manage the light exposure parameters at will, allowing me to work with resins more economical than those of 3DS and especially castable.
Then, I now turned to a 3D printer, still SLA, but of a new type for me since printing from the bottom up, unlike the two previous printers which are of the Bottom-Up type.
]]>I started my work on 3D printing in 2015 with the purchase of a 1200 Project 3DS printer, an honest review of which is published here (in French). I then changed my printer, for a Draken 3D printer from the company 3DFacture which is also an SLA type 3D printer offering a larger printing surface than the 1200 and the freedom to manage the light exposure parameters at will, allowing me to work with resins more economical than those of 3DS and especially castable.
Then, I now turned to a 3D printer, still SLA, but of a new type for me since printing from the bottom up, unlike the two previous printers which are of the Bottom-Up type.
Finished 3D printer used to make 24k gold jewelry
Bottom-Up SLA printers print a layer of resin trapped between the print bed or back layer and a clear plastic film or silicone surface at the bottom of a print tray. On the contrary, the SLA Top-Down printer prints in the open air the surface layer of the resin bath directly on the printing plate or directly on the front layer of cured resin.
The obvious advantage of this type of technological choice is that it eliminates the need for a non-stick printing tray and that the printed part is not subjected to any stress during printing, eliminating any risk of damage. aborted printing and any risk of layer shift. The printer in question here therefore makes it possible to dispense with the non-stick tray supplier and to remain free as to the choice of the resin you wish to print.
There are very few of this type of printer on the market. This rather particular model is not sold by any specialized company but it is the fruit of the work of Frédéric Lautré, a self-taught man who showed it and developed it in his garage. You can visit his website presenting his work or his Facebook page. The presentation seems light, but yet this printer gives much better results in terms of reliability and cost than the two machines mentioned above for identical precision. The machine is sold as a kit, to be assembled yourself.
When the package is opened, we find the guiding elements of the printing plate, the electronic card and the motor, the cables and what to do the electrical part for the connection of the motor to the card. It may seem a bit complicated, but an online tutorial allows you to step by step set up the machine without hassle.
For my part, I assembled the machine following the instructions in the assembly tutorial. The assembly goes smoothly, I just removed some screws fixing the endless screw bearings to the frame, the system being hyperstatic and giving me jerks during the first adjustments.
For assembly you need a jigsaw, a hand drill and a soldering iron to solder a few wires. The estimated assembly time is 3 hours but when you have the experience, personally I went slowly and I started some parts several times.
I spent a week for the assembly in parallel with my work with the back and forth to the DIY store. Here are some photos showing the stages of manufacture, frame in 18 mm CTP for the base and back of the machine and 12 mm CTP for the side parts.
And once the assembly is finished with a coat of paint:
A little note on the construction: Frédéric (the inventor of this kit) now sells a v4 machine including the mechanics, the structure and the map that avoids this part of the construction. The principle of V4 is the same as V3 or V3 +. The final dimensions of the machine are 30 cm wide, 28 cm deep and 65 cm high.
Note that these measurements vary depending on your choice of structure. As for my machine, it is a mixture made up of the mechanics of the V3 version machine developed by Frédéric with the V4 version card of the machine hence the name V3 +.
Regarding the V3 + and the V4, it is the same electronics, the same software but not the same machine since the mechanics of the V4 are much smaller and are intended for jewelry for printing small parts while the V3 + kit presented here can print both small and large objects.
As we can see, the aesthetic aspect is much less design than what we can see on the market. On the other hand, in terms of performance in terms of precision, I am as precise as with the 1200 Project or the Draken for a fraction of the cost of these machines, 1200 euros including the Acer 6510bd projector.
The print bed I chose and installed is 80 x 120mm, but most importantly, I can use it almost 90% unlike my Draken which had an effective print area of around 50 x 80mm, a lot smaller than the size of the printing plate which was 110 x 190 mm. And let's not even talk about the 1200 Project ...
View of the homemade 80 x 120 mm print bed
6 parts being printed, distributed over the whole plate, all the parts come out without worry, the whole plate is therefore usable for printing
The mechanical adjustment is done without worries if the assembly of the frame is well done with particular attention to the respect of perpendicularities. I did the assembly with just a large square and a defect of a few degrees of perpendicularity will not impact the printed geometry. Having a level will be sufficient to avoid any big perpendicularity error.
My only concern was the hyperstatic assembly of the worm, it is necessary to put the fewest screws possible for the assembly of the screw and the problem is solved. The worm is attached to the motor, which is itself attached to the frame and passes through two guides attached to the frame which creates the hyperstatic system. I loosened the screws of the motor, and two of the four screws fixing the worm to the frame and I removed the other two so that the screw only communicates the vertical translational movement to the translational carriage without offering any constraints in X and Y.
For mounting the projector, I decided to make from the start a perforated plate allowing me to place my projector at 6 different heights in order to be able to modify the size of the printed surface. The printing plate is adjusted to 0 height automatically via a switch. It will therefore always be necessary to adjust the height of the resin in the printing tank according to the 0 of the machine.
This is completely new for the new user but is very easy once you have learned about the machine. Thanks to this, you only have to calibrate the projector once.
The most important parameter in my opinion to make a good impression and have a good adhesion of the parts to the printing plate is to do a lot of drilling of the printing plate so that the resin comes flush with the printing plate when you are at 0 machine.
If this is not the case, we end up with an extra thickness of resin during the first exposure, too thick to allow good polymerization of the resin and therefore adhesion of the part to the plate. The resin then swells without really polymerizing and this prevents good adhesion to the printing plate.
Concerning the plate, the holes are used for the flow of the resin to feed the layer to be printed but also to evacuate the surplus of resins when the printing plate is raised. A lack of perforation will generate an oversize resin bulb on the platen to cause the printing to fail.
This effectively reduces the surface area of adhesion of the part with the plate, but since the part does not see any constraint, this poses no problem.
This is certainly the most of this machine, it comes with software specifically developed by Frédéric to manage printing. I used Creative Workshop before with my Draken, which is a creative common license software that offers certain limits and sometimes crashes. The software developed by Frédéric seems a bit complicated at first, but becomes easy to use once you have followed the instructions.
View of the print settings control panel
The control panel allows you to manage all the printing parameters as well as the dimensions of the vertical or offset printing supports. One tool in the software that I particularly like is viewing our sliced part on the platter and thus checking for “up” parts that require print support.
The software offers 5 printing thicknesses: 12.5 microns, 25 microns, 50 microns, 75 microns or 100 microns.
Sectional view of our part, any part in the air appears clearly, allowing the supports to be positioned as best as possible
I use resins from B9creations, which are affordable and pourable. The exposure time setting is 17 seconds with my Acer 6510bd projector, while it was 13 seconds with my Draken. Note that it is only 1 seconds for some FunToDo resins. The oxygen in the air seems to disturb the polymerization of the resin which then requires a longer exposure time.
Regarding the cost of this printer, I got 600 EUR with the delivery for the V3 + kit, 500 EUR for the projector and approximately for the construction elements (printing plate, translation carriage, wood, screws, etc. ..). A very powerful kit is obtained for a very reasonable price, especially for a "Bottom Up" type printer.
To summarize in a few lines this machine compared to the 1200 project and the Draken, the positive points are:
The drawbacks are:
In conclusion, I would like to point out that the new machine developed, the V4, is fully delivered with its mechanics, the frame and its electronic card, so that my comments only apply to the version of my machine.
This 3d printer kit review was first published in 2017 in French here and since then, it seems that Frédéric, the inventor and maker of this kit has stoped production or moved his website. I am trying to get back in touch with him.
We are in 2021 and I have now accumulated 4 years working with this printer without a single problem of software, printing due to this machine and I am more than satisfied with the quality and price of this 3d printer kit.
For more information:
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We have gathered the most complete list of 135 great proposal ideas.
Whatever your skills or the personality of your loved one, you will find here the perfect way to ask her: Will you marry me?
The proposal idea I prefer is number 17 and the craziest might be number 122 while number 124 was a buzz worldwide.
Check this out!
We have gathered the most complete list of 135 great proposal ideas.
Whatever your skills or the personality of your loved one, you will find here the perfect way to ask her: Will you marry me?
The proposal idea I prefer is number 17 and the craziest might be number 122 while number 124 was a buzz worldwide.
Check this out!
1- Hire a Chef to cook an incredible surprise dinner for both of you while you are having a romantic time in your place. Be sure to decorate your home in a cozy way. Cozymeal is a great website to find your private chef.
2- Bedroom proposal with glowing stickers on the ceiling asking the question once the light is off. Be sure to have the ring and champagne ready to celebrate after she saw it. Buy quality stickers that will glow long enough at night to give you time to propose her, here you have some.
3- In bed breakfast, let her wake up with a coffee smell, prepare fresh orange juice, her favorite foods, strawberries, and the ring.
4- Huge graffiti proposal on your wall with the "will you marry me sign" like Ryan did to ask his girlfriend.
5- Surprise morning proposal while your loved one is still in bed in the morning, slip the ring to her finger while she is still sleeping, and wait for her to wake up. Follow a breakfast in bed with a personal twist to make it unforgettable. Read the story of Michael who has done it this way.
6- Fortune cookie proposal you have made yourself, even better, you have made with her. You will find fortune cookie recipe here, insert your message and be sure to mark this cookie to put it in her hands then.
7- Set-up in your own living room: While she is out of the day or the weekend, quit all the furniture and redecorate your place with flowers, balloons, pictures, ribbons, make it a totally different and magical place with her favorite flowers, music and memories, surprise guarantee. Check out more proposal ideas at home here.
8- Helium balloon proposal: organize a surprise home delivery of helium balloon in a box with the question written on it. Obviously, you will have more surprises to celebrate as flowers and champagne...You can find such ballon online here.
9- Pastry proposal, you can surprise her with her favorite pastry to surprise her with the ring set on it or have a custom pastry especially made for her.
10- Post-it proposal, set up the room where you plan to propose to her with a full wall of post-its of different colors to write your message. Be prepared to paste thousands of post-its to get your message ready. Watch the story of this man who used 8000 post-its to write his message on his wall:
11- Telescope moon sighting If you have a telescope, invite her to see the full moon with your telescope while the telescope's eyepiece is printed with your question. Read this cute story of David proposing to his girlfriend this way.
12- Memory book: make your own scrapbook with unique pictures and your lovely comments with the ring inside inserted in the book. This is easy to do if you are a crafty person.
13- Cook for her an incredible meal, with champagne, wine, and candles. You, better than anyone knows what she likes or not. You can take cooking lessons for a while to scale up your level so you will totally amaze her with this unknown skill. If you think you lack the time to do so, it is easy to register for online cooking classes: Sur la Table.
14- Hire a local band to play a romantic song with her name in the street of one of our own events, propose to her when she asks if she heard her name in the song. If your band cannot write the song and you have no talent for this, consider hiring a professional musician to do so: Customsong
15- Night drone show: while having a walk outdoor with her after the sunset, she will think to see UFOs but it will be a night light show made by drones. Such a show can be made through this company or others. Have a look at what it looks like here:
16- Make a movie of your story with pictures and videos of you two with the question at the end, and your 18-karats gold wedding ring ready for her.
17- Hiding her engagement ring under her nose for one year: this sounds crazy and impossible, but that's what Terry did to propose to his girlfriend. He offered her a cheap wooden pendant to open it with her one year after, check out this amazing story here:
18- Have her favorite book signed by the author with the comment will you marry "boyfriend's name"? If this sounds too much for you, check the story of Gary who asks the creators of an online game to help him propose through the game.
19- Surprise weekend getaway: Organize a surprise romantic weekend for you two as a surprise for her, and propose to her the first day. Jules made it this way (check it here). He turned her alarm clock off on a business day, let her wake up, brought her by place to a special place where he proposed to her with intimacy while the whole family was hidden close.
20- Propose to her in her own language, this is a simple and romantic way to ask the question if you are both from different cultures as your accent will seem very cute to her.
21- Tipi proposal, set up your special place for your special event. The tipi proposal offers the flexibility to be set up inside or outside with sun or rain to create a unique decoration for a romantic moment for just the two of you.
22- Romantic beach set-up at the sunset with illuminated path will surprise her and allow you to enjoy this moment for several hours enjoying the view and romance. A lot of resorts and restaurants offer their help to do such a proposal, be it in Cancun or Puerto vallarta like The Kliff restaurant as an example.
23- Will you marry me sign in flames, let her discover the sign while you are both walking on the beach or assisting a fire show like this one:
24- Sailing on a boat, relaxing on a boat is a great experience when you are on the shore and so common that she will not suspect it. Rent a sailing boat with its captain and arrange for the crew to shoot the pictures of your experience and proposal. Most sailing boat renters offer photo packages. Check these amazing examples of sailing boat's proposals.
25- Around a bonfire, while being easy to do, fire is attractive to everyone and creates a magical atmosphere. Moreover, this is so common that you will totally surprise her, get the flowers, wine, and the ring ready close to the bone fire to make it a very special moment.
26- Scuba diving proposal. Scuba diving is a common activity on almost all the shores of the world. You can plan to write your proposal with stones on the seafloor, to propose her with a sign underwater, or give her the ring once diving together. Be sure your girlfriend has some experience in scuba diving as the emotion can make her lost her breath, check the story of Maxwel who proposed to his fiancée underwater.
27- Surf session proposal, ask her while surfing the wave with her like this man did, or get your question written on the surfboard you will unveil at the last moment before getting in the water.
28- Write it down in the sand or with rocks just to see it during your sunset walk. This can be easy to do, romantic, and can reach an unbelievable level as you can see with this story.
29- Seashell surprise, hide the ring in a seashell you are sure she will see or you will show to her, ask her to get it and wait for the moment she will flip it. This man surprised his girlfriend by proposing to her this way.
30- Sky lanterns proposal, there is no other way to achieve a more romantic atmosphere than being under the sky full of sky lanterns. This magical moment is perfect to propose as you can get on your knee while she is staring at the lights upward.
31- Baby sea turtles proposal, it is very easy if you are in the golf of Mexico or on the Mexican pacific shore to participate in a baby sea turtle release. This is an incredibly cute moment after which you can propose to her. Here you will have more information about turtle release in Nayarit, Mexico.
32- Sand sculpture, hire a sand sculpture artist to make your design she will discover while walking by with you. This seems too easy, but have a look at what can be done here.
33- Message in a bottle proposal, set the scene to make her find a bottle on the shore with a romantic message inside, you show the ring when she finishes reading. Check how such a proposal unfolds for this fiancé.
34- Private dinner on the beach only the two of you. You will usually require some help from local or from employees of your resort to set this up.
35- In a classic way, waiting for her at home with candles, rose petals playing her favorite love music, and champagne. You can create a magical and romantic atmosphere while she is out to surprise her when she comes back.
36- Personalized Champagne label, celebrate with her offering a toast in her honor with your question printed in a personalized label of your bottle of champagne. You can do it yourself or get in touch with this company that offers such a service (and the wine).
37- With a poem, write her a unique poem with your own word and references to your story with her, you don't need to be fancy, be true to yourself to touch her heart. Here you will find some word inspiration for your own poem.
38- Use her own words, propose her with the exact specific loving words she used with you 1,2 or 3 years ago...And the ring of course (champagne and flowers).
39- Make a cartoon movie of your proposal, you can hire a freelancer for that as this French girl did to propose her American partner, have a look at this nice cartoon proposal:
40- Piano proposal, the piano is known to be a romantic and symbolic instrument of love, ideal for your proposal. Wait for the story of Zack who not only played himself the piano to propose to his loved one but took lessons to be able to do so. Check this out here:
41- Romantic bathtub/jaccuzzi proposal, while she expects a romantic bath to relax with you, enjoy this opportunity to create a special atmosphere with candles, nice words, strawberries, and champagne to declare your love and propose to her.
42- In a castle, propose to her in a castle while having a tour in Europe. If you do not have the opportunity to go to Europe, you can also plan such a proposal in a castle in the US as Todd has done to propose Jenny. If you want to rent a castle in the US, you can find one Vrbo.com.
43- Backyard set up, this might be the simplest of all outdoor proposal, but still offer plenty of opportunities to surprise her while being creative. Gather lights/candles and pictures to accomodate your garden with your memories. Check out the backyard proposal of Chris here, which gives you an idea of a simple, warm and romantic outdoor proposal.
44- Scavenger hunt, organizing such a proposal will obviously give clues to your partner, anyway this is the occasion to marry romance with adventure to lead your loved one to the pinnacle of emotions. Have a look at Graeme's scavenger hunt for his proposal. This scavenger hunt guide will help you set up your own.
45- Hiking on the top of a hill or summit is a great way to find intimacy and transform an outdoor adventure into a life adventure. And if you are worried about the weather, be sure that the rain can be an incredible source of emotion and memories for such an event. Have a look at this rainy proposal shooting to give you an idea.
46- Rooftop proposal, at the sunset opening a champagne bottle with an amazing view, is a great way to create a unique experience for a unique event. While you can rent an amazing rooftop in a big city like New York, other places offer incredible views, like in Greece.
47- Intimate getaway, find an amazing place for an intimate getaway to propose to her while being in a fantastic outdoor place. This photographer is specialized in making proposal shootings in incredible places.
48- Theme park proposal, all theme parks offer activities with photo shooting while having fun together, this is the perfect way to immortalize your proposal while surprising her. Have a look here at some proposal ideas in Theme parks.
49- Hot air balloon ride, this proposal set up speaks for itself. Having a ride in such a hot air balloon is an adventure that will be all the more unforgettable with your proposal.
50- Easter eggs surprise, hiding the ring in the egg you are sure she will find will create the surprise you are expecting. Discover here Sonia's easter egg surprise proposal. These companies offer luxurious easter eggs to hide your engagement ring.
51- Picnic in a park, while being simple to set up, it is very romantic and can be done almost everywhere with little logistics with fine food, wine and the ring. While you can organize everything yourself, it can be easier to have someone help you or to plan it with a specialized company like this one.
52- Walking in a park or garden, casual lovers' walk is the perfect moment to pop the question, wait to be alone or find a special spot to do it. While Central Park may be the most famous park to do your proposal in New York, Kevin proposed to his girlfriend in the Chicago garden.
53- Gardening proposal, this is the ideal proposal if you share a passion for plants and garden decoration. Hide the ring or a loving card where you are sure she will look and take advantage of being already kneeled to propose to her.
54- Drone delivery proposal, it can be a romantic card or the ring that is delivered by a drone in the most unexpected place and moment while your are in the perfect spot. Jason took advantage of a simple photo shooting to propose this way.
55- Carved in a tree your proposal where you are certain she will see it while hiking together in the forest. This is so cliché and romantic and will last for years, printed in nature.
56- Full moon proposal, wait for a full moon after the sunset to propose her in a magic environment, get a set up close to where you will propose. Be sure to have a clear sky and a light on your ring box so she can see her ring.
57- Firepit proposal, fire has the power to hypnotize and transport you out of time. Take advantage of a relaxed and romantic firepit night to propose to her. Champagne, fruits, marshmallows, and flowers will complement the setup for showing her the ring. Check the story of Keith who proposed to his girlfriend around a firepit.
(source)
58- Golf course proposal, if your share this activity together, it is easy to hide the ring box in the hole of your choice to make her find it. This is what Phillippe did to propose, as you can see here.
59- Wall art proposal, get an artist to paint a street wall with your question personalized with the specific theme she loves. Sath is an artist who proposed this french girl french with an amazing painting. You can read his story here.
60- Photobooth proposal, while such a proposal seems cliché, it is still an easy way to surprise her while immortalizing the event with cool old-school photos. Elliot made his proposal in a photo booth and created cute memories.
61- Printed cup proposal, print your question at the bottom of her cup of tea or coffee, and bring it to her in bed in the morning. You can also buy this magical thermic cup that changes its appearance (and the message) with heat, have a look here.
62- Bookmark proposal, make a personalized loving card that you will hide in the book she is reading. You already know when she will open her book and be ready to show her the ring at the right moment. You can also attach the ring to the ribbon bookmark of her book.
63- In the mailbox, let her find her ring while opening the mailbox, be close to her when she does.
64- Kinder joy surprise with an engagement ring in it. Sure your loved one enjoys Kinder chocolate and will be surprised to find a ring in it. Watch this video showing you how you can open such a kinder egg to place your engagement ring in it.
65- Hire a proposal planner to help you with the ideas and setting up your plan of action or if you lack the time to do it. This planner explains the advantage of hiring a proposal planner.
66- Ferris wheel proposal and propose to her when you are on the top. Watch this man proposing to his girlfriend in a Ferris Wheel and her reaction. You will find here the list of the top 12 biggest Ferris wheels in the world.
67- Modified board game proposal. Proposing while playing a board game is intimate and will totally surprise her when the board is tricked as Justin did with this modified monopoly game.(https://www.theplunge.com/proposal-ideas/the-monopoly-board-proposal/)
68- GPS tracker proposal. Invite her for a walk or a run with your GPS tracker on and show her the GPS track that says Marry me? at the end of the walk. A few miles run should be enough, you do not need to trek 4000 miles through Japan to propose as Yassan did for his own proposal.
69- Plant a tree together in your garden, then propose to her once she gets up and you are still on your knee. Sharing the same activity with a tree planted in your garden that will last for decades is a very romantic move. Tree planting ceremonies are common and more formalized for marriages.
70- QR code proposal, make your own QR code online you will print and paste on a river walk or other where you plan to invite her to walk with you. Let her be intrigated and investigate this QR code that is all over the place like Jerry did to propose to his girlfriend.
71- Magic ink proposal, lemon ink is invisible to the eye but turns brownish once exposed to heat. Use lemon ink to write your loved words to propose to your loved one and let the heat reveal your message. Reveal with a candle flames or lightbulb at the appropriate moment. You find here the tutorial to make your own lemon ink.
72- Sweet notes sowing, place lovely notes in every corner of the places she used to stand or be in a normal day (mirror, drawer, bag, car keys, steering wheel, at the office ) and finish the day with your proposal.
73- Family gathering proposal, it can be a total surprise or planned gathering with another pretext (photoshoot or other). Anyway, the idea is to surprise your loved one and celebrate with all your relatives soon after. This family proposal gives you an idea of how to plan your own:
74- Pet proposal, this can be made in several manners, with your question attached to his collar or making your pet hold the ring or a sign with the question on it. Check here how Jerad proposed to his girlfriend with a cat collar printed with the question.
75- Children proposal, let them help you to propose. They can hold the sign, have their t-shirt printed with the Will you marry me? or even bring the flowers with the ring to her. This man received some help from his 5 years old son to propose to his girlfriend.
76- Fortune teller proposal. You will have to hire a fortune teller to meet both of you during one of your activities (shopping, walking...). Let him do his magic and reading your fiancée's hand...He will predict her happiness in the near future if she can make the right decision...propose to her then.
77- Photoshoot proposal, organize a family photo shoot out in a nice place that turns out to be her proposal. You can have your family or friends hidden close to celebrate with them.
78- Puzzle proposal, you will have to make your own personalized puzzle to amaze her. This man must have made the best puzzle proposal ever building a piece of enginery, and shared this work here: (https://imgur.com/gallery/ZSxCl )
79- Ask her singing, it can be a cover or your own song if you are a musician. This is pretty easy to set up, look how this man proposed to his girlfriend singing:
80- At a wedding, while you are thinking of proposing to her, you must have friends getting married soon. Take advantage of the bouquet toss moment to propose to your loved one, with the help of the brides.
81- Chocolate box surprise with the ring and a card in the middle of the chocolates. As it is common to offer chocolates for Christmas, surprise her with a nice chocolate dressing with your question written on the chocolates or the ring nicely presented with them.
82- Christmas light illumination, while it is common to decorate your house with strings of lights for Christmas, use them to write your proposal outdoor and light on the strings just before you invite her for a walk in your backyard.
83- Ring box bauble, hide your engagement ring in a ring box bauble hanging in the Christmas tree, make it visible to her and wait for her to see it. You will find such bauble on Etsy or get personalized bauble ring boxes here.
84- Mistletoe proposal, as the tradition commands kiss her under the mistletoe, then get on your knee and propose to her. This can be made in the privacy of your house or outdoor like this man did. She surely expects the kiss but will be surprised by your proposal.
85-Christmas tree decoration, propose to her while decorating the Christmas tree, let her found the ring hanging to the tree branch while she is hanging the baubles.
86- Christmas cracker proposal, as Christmas crackers are a tradition you have your chance to surprise her with a personalized cracker. Learn how to make your own Christmas cracker with this 2 minutes tutorial.
87- Valentine's day proposal. Valentine's day is always the occasion to do a romantic celebration of your love, surprise her by going one step further with your proposal. Usually, this is made in a restaurant while having a nice meal. Here are some examples of such happy proposals.
88- New year's eve's night proposal, this is THE night for a new beginning, and you can enjoy it to share your loving thoughts with your loved one.
89- Write it in the snow with salt, find the perfect location for her to see it in the morning and write it down with salt in the snow. Let her discover your proposal in the morning.
90- Advent calendar proposal, especially if you use to offer one each year, this is the perfect way to surprise her with your proposal. Moreover, it is very easy to find tutorials to make your own advent calendar that will fit your needs. Check these creative advent calendar ideas to help you out.
91- Halloween proposal, the jack-o-lantern carving contest is a classic way to propose to her using a pumpkin to surprise her. Place a candle inside your pumpkin and create a romantic atmosphere with candles in the room.
92- Corn Maze proposal, corn maze can be a great activity to do together and a way to surprise her with your proposal. Check the story of Travis who made such a proposal in his family cornfield. A corn maze is a popular activity to propose your fiancée, and as you surely do not have your own corn maze, you will find some close to you here.
93- Umbrella proposal, you want to propose despite the rainy days, the umbrella proposal is perfect to pop up the question. Gather some friends you will have your question written on their umbrella they will show on the last moment.
93- Football game proposal, as she loves to be in public and football games, you will easily propose to her during the game and make her happy. Set it up to be on camera if you are sure she loves public events.
94- Thanksgiving proposal, as a family event, you will surprise her with your relatives to share this special event with you. Bring the question with the ring hidden in her champagne or set it on the cake.
95- Winery proposal, for wine lovers, wine tasting and vineyard visit create the perfect atmosphere for the proposal, outdoor with a great panorama. This map of US vineyards will help you to find the closest/best vineyard to plan your proposal
96- Piñata proposal, if she is of Latin origins or loves festive parties, plan a piñata with the ring inside. This video shows why a piñata smashing is perfect for a proposal. Moreover, it is easy to have a custom-made piñata here.
97- Party proposal, propose to her while you are having a casual party with your friends. Obviously, everybody knows except her. Plan the date for an event that will not be linked with your love story to make the proposal a surprise.
98- Make your own movie. Project your own movie in a theater with friends and relatives inside, hidden, while she thinks to be watching a commercial movie. This is not the easiest proposal to plan but you will love this sleeping beauty movie proposal:
99- Birthday cake proposal with the question on it and the ring. It is better to do it while you are celebrating your own birthday and not hers as she could see it coming.
100- Accident simulation, be sure she will not faint. You can simulate a police arrest or fire fighter intervention or simulate a fall from a roof top to propose her as this man did:
101- Hidden clues photos, it consists in taking picture of you two with the proposal clues (ring, cards or other) on them for weeks or months before showing her all the pictures at once and proposing her. Edi did such a thing to propose to his girlfriend and his pictures are both cute and funny, especially for her.
102- Make her organize her own proposal. Contact your mother-in-law so your loved one organize a surprise party for you (birthday, event) with your fiancée. Meanwhile, plan the real proposal party with even more surprise for her. Have a look here at such an emotive proposal.
103- Hire a magician to play some trick at your party/family or in the street, with an engagement ring as a magical surprise. This man set up such a proposal to his fiancée:
104- Giant ring proposal, in spite of hiding the ring, you can choose the opposite way and go big. This man chose a giant inflatable ring to propose. (photo source)
105- Flash mob proposal, you will have to choose the best song for her and decide if your want to hire professional dancers or make this flashmob with parents and relatives. You are sure that she is not shy and at ease in public.
106- At work proposal, you will have to set it up with the help of her boss and colleagues and bring your clothest friends to the event. Check how this man organized his proposal on his fiancée's workplace:
107-Rent a billboard to ask her the question. This is pretty easy to organize as some companies are specialized in such rentals, like this one. Did you know you can even rent the Times Square giant billboard to propose to your loved one?
108- Fairytale proposal, set up a show inspired by her preferred classic movie. This is a lot of work but surely amazing fun for all the participants.
109- Propose with flowers, with the ring in it. You can choose the classic roses or the flowers she prefers the most. This is by far the simplest proposal to do, but with the right works and your love, the story begins.
110- Flower delivery, every two hours. Send her flowers at work with a love note all day long, she will call you to understand why and pretend this is an error from the florist. Go for her at the end of her day with more flowers and the ring to propose to her.
111- Flower arrangement proposal, with your question written with flowers. This is easier than you can imagine and your florist should be able to recommend your the best flowers to do so.
112- Helicopter ride proposal, obviously this kind of proposal is an option if your loved one loves the air or likes to fly with you if you are a pilot. The helicopter is the perfect machine to fly and fit to the special romantic place you wanted to be with your fiancée to propose to her. This video shows you what can of special proposal you can think of with the help of a helicopter:
113- Airplane ride proposal, while being less flexible than a helicopter, you can still have a great experience in the air to propose. Look at this man proposing in the air while piloting on its own the aircraft.
114- Skydiving proposal, allows you to mix the thrill of skydiving with the emotion of the proposal once on the floor. Your question can be printed on a sign on the floor where she will land and wait for her with the ring.
115- Air banner proposal, pulled by an airplane with your question and her name on it. You will find companies online offering such services worldwide.
116- Giant banner in the street, set on the building in front of your window asking will you marry me?
117- Bungee jump proposal, propose her after her jump with a large sign on the floor so she can see it while landing.
117- Make a show with your friends inspired by her preferred movie. Look at this show inspired by Peter Pan this man set up to propose to his girlfriend:
118- Firework proposal, this is the go big or go home formula. This requires a lot of planning, you can check this tutorial on how to do it or hire a professional to help you do it. This man hired an Opera singer and fireworks to propose:
119- Time capsule proposal, this proposal requires a lot of planning as you will have first to bury your capsule together, get back there alone before the proposal to change the content of the capsule, and then come back again with your partner to dig up the capsule together. Check the amazing story of Troy who proposed to Jennifer this way.
120- Celebrity proposal, ask your preferred star to help you propose while assisting to one of his events as those people did for their own proposal.
121- Set your house on fire, and be sure to surprise her! While this can be funny for others, this is what happened to Albert who accidentally set their apartment on fire while trying to create a home proposal set-up with candles. Be sure to handle candles with care.
122- Airplane failure proposal, you need to be a pilot to be able to propose that way and be sure your loved one handles the stress. Look how Anthony proposed while simulating a failure while flying:
123- Building lighting message, you will need to plan well your proposal and to speak with a lot of people but the result will amaze her. This man proposed to hisgirl friend with a 10-story building's light message. Read his story here.
124- Lip dub proposal, this requires a lot of friends, relatives, and planning but is such an emotional proposal. Wath how Isaac set up such a proposal that went viral:
125- Make your own surprise proposal with the help of the staff of a stunning hotel, on a balcony, pool, restaurant, or breakfast in bed. Ask for help while reserving your hotel and check if they are experienced with such a proposal.
126- Room makeover proposal, set up a romantic proposal while she is away (pool, spa, or shopping) with flower petals on the floor, balloons and flower arrangement, champagne, and the ring and propose her while she enters the room.
127- Terrace or rooftop dinner, a private dinner with an incredible view will create the perfect romantic experience to propose.
128- Spa proposal, after a massage session and manicure, propose to her while she is relaxed and zen to finish her day with your proposal and romantic dinner.
129- Get a hotel proposal package with all services included, view, champagne, chef, and decoration. This kind of package gives you quality and freedom of mind.
130- Public place or monument with a romantic meaning for her, it could be Paris, Venice, Rome...Montmartre in Paris or Machu Pichu in Peru. Here are some examples of romantic places where to propose in the world.
131- Magical place proposal, if your trip was not planned for the proposal, you can take advantage of your holidays to find the perfect spot to propose to her while you are on vacation. Here are some examples of the best places to propose in the US: https://theplunge.com/guides/the-best-places-to-propose-in-all-50-states/.
132- Surprise trip to her favorite place in the world, and propose to her once you arrive there. Read the story of Adam who organized a fake trip to NY to reveal at the last moment that the destination was Paris, and proposed in front of the Eiffel tower.
133- Day off proposal, arrange a day off at her office, and plan a surprise gataway in a lovely place. This will be so obvious that you will have to propose to her at the beginning of your excursion.
134- Champagne toast proposal, ask for a champagne toast to celebrate your love. Talk with the waiter to put the ring in her glass she will see while sipping her champagne.
135- Ring set on the desert, after a good meal, surprise her with her favorite desert with the ring set on top of it. Hiding the dessert with a cover up to the last moment will help you to surprise her. Read the story of Jose who proposed to his girlfriend with the desert.
So, what do you think?
Have you proposed with one of these ideas. Do not hesitate to comment and share your experience is you have proposed in a different way, we could include your idea to this list.
For more information:
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There are still synonyme of durability and in most of the case are an heirloom to the future family generation.
We mary ancient craftmanship with modern jewelry tools as 3D rendering and 3D printing to get amazing results. We detail here below the way we proceed and the making process used to craft your bespoke signet ring.
We offer the best customizable experience as your are free to choose:
There are still synonyme of durability and in most of the case are an heirloom to the future family generation. They can be personalized in every aspect and become a unique touch of personnal style.
Our jewelry workshop specialize in custom signet ring that can be:
We mary ancient craftmanship with modern jewelry tools as 3D rendering and 3D printing to get amazing results. We detail here below the way we proceed and the making process used to craft your bespoke signet ring.
We offer the best customizable experience as your are free to choose:
Before starting your project, check out how to wear your signet ring and what can be the price of a personalized signet ring.
Those rings are made from the family crest design of our clients without any change for the top engraving.
Our work consist in giving advices about the best ring shape and size to get the most details of the crest depending on the finger and ring size. Raised engraving give more depth and detail to the coat of arms and can be used to make wax seals.
Many raised engraving allow to add more details to the crest that are visible on the ring without having to make a wax seal to see them.
While this kind of ring seems obvious, there is a lot of way to make such a ring stand out with a unique design.
You can choose the ring style and dimensions that you please, any metal from silver to 22k gold (or event 24k for specific designs) and find the unique customization you please.
You can also mix silver and 18k gold to get a unique design for a very competitive price.
Your crest or monogram can also be engraved in a gemstone, giving a stunning result and unique ring style.
Commonly, the gemstones that are most used for such a work are:
Back in the middle age, Nobles and Religious leaders lead the people and both had distinctive rings to show their rank, with religious symbols in the case of bishops.
Nowadays, anyone can have its own custom religious ring following his own design. Take a look at these examples.
Military units still use emblems that are often severa centuries old, and many soliders wear the coat of arms of their unit on a signet ring.
Here are some exemples of custom military rings.
Traditionnaly, family crest signet rings were (and still are) made only by hand, engraved by master engraver on a die-stamped signet ring made of silver or gold.
In the past, all family crest signet ring were made this way. Die-stamping ring implies that you can only choose from a limited number of ring designs, for which a die-stamp tool already exists.
Nowadays, new techniques as 3D modeling, 3D printing and lost-wax casting allow us to make such rings as you saw above without the same amont of hand engraving (except for the gemstones engraving).
This technique offers several advantages compared to the traditionnal hand-engraved technique:
It is important to say that the traditionnal hand engraving technique is the best in details for classical heraldic family crest rings. We can help you out if you need our help to find such a service.
Here, we present to you how we proceed to make a custom family crest ring for our clients, your own project would follow the same steps.
From the family crest or Blason and following the specification of our client (ring size, shape of the top, open of closed back) we make CAD model of the project to give an idea of the final result.
This CAD design allow us to show some rendering pictures of the project showing the signet ring as it will be. This step allow the futur owner to check the details of the project or see deviation and ask for a correction.
Once the design validated, we can start the making process.
From the signet ring's CAD file we made before, we can now 3D print our file to obtain a wax master of the signet ring project.
This is done with a bottom up 3d printer, printing 25 micrometers layers one another during 3 to 5 hours depending on the ring size.
This wax master is a good preview of the final rendering of the metal signet ring.
Next follows the lost wax cast process.
We use the wax master to make a plaster mold. Once dry, this latter is burn out to destroy the master, the wax being sublimated into gas without ash contamination inside the plaster mold.
The footprint of the ring is now ready to receive the liquid metal in fusion inside the mold.
We can see the details of the rough metal signet ring just after the casting operation.
Then, the signet rings are finished with the figures of the coat of arms detailed by hand and the rings polished to get this result.
For more information:
In the menu that follows, you can click on the model that interests you to go to the related chapter, or see our summary poster at the end of the article.
1 English chain | 11 Spiral chain |
2 Curb chain | 12 American chain |
3 Anchor chain | 13 Mirror chain |
4 Jaseron chain | 14 Rope chain |
5 Venetian chain | 15 Bean chain |
6 Snake chain | 16 Gourmette chain |
7 Palm chain | 17 Polish chain |
8 Horse chain | 18 Rice grain chain |
9 Coffee bean chain | 19 Royal or Peruvian or Byzantine chain |
10 Figaro chain | 20 Industrial production of gold chains (video) |
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Example of a chain with large links made to measure, the details of its manufacture is visible here (fr)
In the menu that follows, you can click on the model that interests you to go to the related chapter, or see our summary poster at the end of the article.
Free Bonus : Download our complete guide to silver jewelry (fr).
You'll discover everything you need to know to shop online or in store.
This jewelry chain is directly inspired by the rendering of the English chain maille used in knitting.
The forçat chain is a classic style of chains, the angles of its links can be round or square.
As the name suggests, this type of link is inspired by the design of boat anchor chains. It can vary in being round or flattened. This chain is also known as Marine chain.
This type of chain consists of an alternation of round links and smaller oval links.
Here is an example of a gold jaseron chain.
Example of a jaseron chain from our chain collection (fr)
Venetian chain maille weave is generally used for fine chains. It's an alternation of cubic links, small and imbricate in other larger ones. They are in the form of straight chains. When in gold, the Venetian chains can be 0.5 mm in diameter, like the ones you can see here (fr).
Example of a Venetian chain bracelet manufactured by a machine :
Here is another example of Venetian chain with a hand-made bracelet and not a machine, the link is 10 x 6 millimeters with a lobster clasp.
Venetian chain bracelet from our collection
The snake chain strongly reminds the rings of a snake, which explains its name. A snake chain can be either flat or round. This chain is also known as Brazilian chain.
A palm chain is obtained by braiding in 3D of several gold or silver threads. This type of gold chain is very expensive since it requires a large amount of metal for its manufacture.
During its manufacture, each link passes through the penultimate link, giving it this particular design.
Below, we can observe the detail of a palm chain, seen from a bracelet of our collection visible here (fr).
Horse chains have simple, elongated and flat links. They have a design similar to Figaro chain.
They can also be alternating, presenting a long link alternated with a long link.
This 18-karat yellow gold bracelet is handmade, this is a gold horse link chain. You can check here the different stages of the making of this bracelet (fr)
Each link represents a coffee bean. These links are usually quite large. Thus, from a certain size, they are hollow, in order to lighten the jewel and also the budget. This concerns both gold and silver.
Here is the example of a coffee bean chain bracelet which you can discover the manufacture steps via this article here (fr).
Coffee beans chain bracelet from our chain collection (fr)
Figaro chain is very similar to horse chain with an alternation of 3 small links between each large link.
A chain of twisted links can be both flat and round. Links are then of different manufacture. The flat link is made by interlocking very thin strips of metal; while the round chain is the result of the nesting of rings in each other, at an angle giving the effect of rotation of the chain. When the twisted link is round, it is called rope chain (see below).
Also called flat chain.
Mirror chain necklaces are flat and wide chains with very fine and polished links to give a mirror rendering to the silver or the gold constituting the jewel.
Example of flat chain necklace from our collection (fr) :
The Rope chain gives a 3D effect similar to a twisted link chain but it's made differently. In this picture we can see the small rings constituting the chain.
The shape of the links is at the origin of his name. It's a fairly thick flat chain, relatively heavy, and therefore expensive when it's gold.
The gourmette chain is made of simple rings slightly flattened. It is also known as curb chain. This type of airy link allows the making of gold chains wide enough for a weight and therefore a reasonable price. That's why it's a common model.
A variant of this type of chain is the double or triple chain, as we see this bracelet consists of 3 rows of curb chain.
The manufacture details of this bracelet is visible here (fr)
Polish chain is the result of winding a thread around an axis. This thread is oriented right then left to give this regular alternation that we observe on the next picture. This winding around an axis is the reason why the chains with Polish link are rather thick and therefore heavy. Therefore, if they are made of gold, they are quite expensive.
Another variant of the Polish chain is the Milanese chain, with the winding threads all oriented in the same direction, photo of a Milanese chain bracelet from our collection visible here.
This type of bracelet is much more common than Polish chain bracelets.
Small grains of gold are connected to each other by an invisible axis. There are many variants of this chain varying the size of the grains and their number in a row.
Here is an example of realization of a rice grain chain bracelet in our jewelry workshop:
Discover our chains collection here (fr).
This type of chain consists of two-by-two nested rings. The complexity of the final pattern contrasts with the simplicity of the rings used to make it. We invite you to watch this video (fr) showing how these types of chains are made manually.
Here is an example of a necklace that we had the opportunity to realize (see the article here (fr)) :
Finally, we invite you to discover this video that shows how are manufactured industrially gold chains trade. If all the machines are satisfied to reproduce what the silversmiths have done manually for centuries, they allow however to reduce the costs of the gold chains of the trade. The video (fr) shows how are the Venetian chains, Figaro, etc ...
Free Bonus : Download our complete guide to silver jewelry (fr). |
For more information :
The purpose of this article is to explain what are the cost factors when making a signet ring in gold or silver and help you to mature your project.
Note that there is no more beautiful signet that the one that makes you want. A beautiful signet ring is one that brings together a style that suits you with the decorative elements that make you vibrate.
Whatever the design of your project, it will be feasible in both 18-karat gold and silver.
Of course, your gold project will be much more expensive than silver for several reasons.
Sterling silver |
18-karat white gold |
If you plan to make a silver signet ring weighing 15 grams, the cost of the silver for your project would be around 8 dollars.
This same signet ring design, however, weighs 22.5 grams in 18-karat gold, for a fair gold cost of around 670 dollars.
To make an assessment of the gold weight required for your signet ring, you must first know which finger you will wear it so you can then determine your finger size by the method described in this article and summarized in this video.
Once you know your fingertip, just apply this formula to get an idea of the gold weight of your project :
TxLxexD = estimate in grams of the 18-karat gold weight of your signet ring project
In jewelry, we use numerical modeling tools to get a much more accurate estimate of gold weight.
For the manufacture of a custom design in one piece, two options are possible :
In general, as you can imagine, the more complex the design, the higher the price.
There are so many possible designs that it's difficult to make an estimate without knowing the particular design of your project.
To get an idea, here you can see a wide range of gold and silver signet rings of very different designs (fr).
Manufacturing consists of a block of solid gold that is laminated and shaped to give it step by step the desired shape.
A good example of this method is illustrated by the work of this jeweler craftsman : Scarffadi Alberto
This is the traditional method, which has proven itself, but is also the longest and therefore also the most expensive in countries like France where the hourly rate of a jeweler varies from 30 to 150 euros per hour. in general.
Why such a gap will you say to me ?
And this hourly rate depends indirectly on the quality of work, the speed of execution and the cost of living in the city where your jeweler is located.
For centuries, jewelers have turned to production methods that are made to facilitate the manufacture of jewelry, make it faster and more economical.
Let's mention among other methods:
Computer-aided manufacturing is the most recent method in jewelry shops.
CAD model |
Virtual rendering |
It consists in creating or carving as necessary a numerical model of signet ring in order to obtain a digital file.
This is then used to print a wax model of our ring project using a SLA 3D printer.
This technique makes it possible to produce unique pieces or small batches at a reasonable price.
The advantages offered by this process :
Out of foundry |
Finalized signet ring |
Different types of engravings exist for signet rings.
Remember that the most beautiful heraldic engravings are those made by hand by a master engraver.
It's also the most expensive method.
For such an engraving count between 1500 and 2000 dollars, price including the signet ring in forged gold. Note that this price also depends on the gold weight of the chosen ring model.
You'll find different professionals on Google for this kind of service that offer on their site to choose the design of your signet ring.
The limitations of this technique are as follows :
Many people want stones set on their signet rings.
What is the impact on the final price of signet rings ?
Here too, it depends on the stone and its shape.
Usually the price of stones goes from semi-precious stones (amethysts, turquoises, onyx, lapis lazuli ...) to precious stones whose diamond is usually the most expensive.
This is valid if these stones come from wholesalers who cut the stones according to standard shapes and geometries.
But, because there is always a but.
If you want a fine classic stone cut specifically (in size and shape) to your needs, it will be much more expensive than a small diamond trade.
Here are some examples of stones mounted on signet rings that we made in our jewelry workshop.
This amethyst of 36 carats costs more than 600 dollars while the price of this tanzanite cabochon 8 carats exceeds 1000 dollars.
The price of this convex clover-shaped onyx stone exceeds that of the gold signet ring diamonds shown on the right.
Although onyx stone is very economical, the time required for the particular shaping of the stone explains this difference.
On the right, a signet ring for man set with a black diamond and two small white diamonds. Check here how much is a black diamond worth.
As you can see, the price of a signet ring depends on many factors.
Generally speaking, for those that we make to measure, the prices are:
Of course, this will also depend on the amount of gold needed for your project and its complexity.
For more information :
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Silver ring with noble opal custom made |
Gold ring with fire opal and diamond |
While scientific knowledge and technical means make it possible to produce diamonds, sapphires and synthetic emeralds in the laboratory, the industrial reproduction of synthetic opals remains difficult and the copies are easy to differentiate from natural opals.
The opal of fire is remarkable among all opals by its color ranging from yellow to dark orange almost red.
Mexico is the main producer of fire opal, found in volcanic areas of the country.
Fire opal is an emblematic stone of Mexico because it was already used by the Aztecs with jade and turquoise for the making of symbolic artifacts and jewelry.
This photo shows the rich variety of colors that opals from Mexico can take.
Among the opals in this photo are the three types of opals used in jewelry : common opals, fire opals and noble opals characterized by their play of lights.
Opal differs from other gems in two major points : it's not a crystal and has no precise color.
It's an amorphous or poorly crystallized silica that contains water.
Moreover the formula of its chemical composition: SiO2, nH2O clearly shows that the water content of opals is very variable, it can range from 1 to 21% for extreme values and remains between 4 and 10% in general.
The water content of an opal can be an important factor in its appearance.
Thus, an opal exposed to heat can dry and lose its appearance (phenomenon called "bleaching" or "destabilization", there is no known rule, it varies depending on the stones and extraction sites).
Likewise, Wello opals (originally from Ethiopia) once wet become transparent and lose their appearance as they recover when they regain their optimum moisture content for the play of light.
Welo opals, noble opals from Ethiopia
Also, hydrophane opals are known to be opaque opals without iridescence when dehydrated, but show color patches after rehydration in a fresh water bath.
Nevertheless, they are not considered as noble opals.
Mexican fire opal characterized by its color and transparency. This one, a raw fire opal, is 22 carats and was extracted from a mine in the Magdalena region.
Unlike crystalline gems forming clusters, opals are formed in the crevices of the rock, thus marrying the cavity of the rock.
This explains the complex shapes taken by opals released from their rock matrix.
The chemical composition of the opal, as well as its mineralogical structure, influence the behavior of the light passing through the stone.
There is an infinite number of chemical and structural combinations, thus explaining the vast diversity of appearance of opals.
If the opal of fire stands out among all the common opals because of its transparency and its color, it is the noble opal which is the most appreciated of the world of the jewelry.
Its light effects called "color games" or "iridescence" are sought for the making of jewelry unparalleled.
However, a fire opal can be noble if in addition to its color of fire we can observe an iridescence.
It is then called noble fire opal, much sought after, as you can imagine, which is the finest opal stone that Mexico can produce.
This is possible because the color of the stone and the iridescence each have their own origin.
The color in the mass of an opal comes from colored mineral inclusions while the play of light is due to the diffraction of light caused by an ordered network of silica spheres constituting the stone.
The creation of this ordered network depends entirely on the mechanism of opal formation.
Raw fire opal stone
The previous photo allows to see the color games of this opal that vary from yellow, orange to green.
As a result of the diffraction of the incident light on the ordered network of silica spheres, these color schemes vary in position and hue according to the orientation of the light.
This stone also offers blue and red lights that do not appear in this picture.
In general (because there are exceptions /0: Austrian and French opals) the opals are formed either in sedimentary medium or in volcanic environment, the most typical of which are respectively Australia and Mexico.
Opal is a secondary element of alteration, which means that it is formed from the dissolution of other phases and re-precipitation of the chemical elements mobilized.
Once translated, this means that an opal results from a dried soup, a soup in which the chemical elements of the surrounding environment have mixed.
Silver brooch with fire opal made in our jewelry workshop (fr)
The mechanism of opal formation meets these criteria:
It must be added that a source of heat is also involved in this training process.
Two mechanisms are known from gemologists: the first is a cooling from 170 ° C, hot source of volcanic or hydrothermal type as is the case in Mexico.
Or cooling from 45 ° C, hot source due to tectonic movements, as was the case in Australia during the formation of Australian opals.
The extraction of fire opals or noble doesn't differ from that of common opals.
It's indeed when we release the opal of its gangue of rock that we discover the type of opal we are dealing with.
Its extraction is manual, rarely using machine tools (which could damage the opal) and consists (at least in Mexico) of fragmenting the rock by blasting and then manually crushing the pieces to find the light bursts that betray the presence of opals in the rock.
View of a Mexican opal mine near the municipality of Magdalena in the state of Jalisco
If the exploitation of the opal in Mexico dates back to the Aztecs, the extraction sites fell into oblivion during the Spanish conquest.
It was not until the 19th century that the fortuitous discovery of opals revived its exploitation.
Currently, opals are found in the Mexican states of Querera, Guanajuato, Chihuahua, San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Nayarit, Guerrero, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Durango, México, Tlaxcala, Coahuila, Puebla, Zacatecas, or 16 of the 32 entities federal government.
Which explains why Mexico is the second largest producer of opal after Australia.
The map below shows the distribution of Mexican states producing opals. Not all of them produce fire opals or noble opals. The states of Queretaro and Jalisco appear in orange.
All these states don't produce the same quantities and qualities of opals.
The state of Queretaro remains the cradle of Mexican opal where it was mined in 1840, producing most of the fire opals of the country, while the state of Jalisco produces most of the noble opals of Mexico.
Noble opal in its gangue on the counter of a lapidary workshop in Magdalena. The angle of the photo and the flash can only see part of the reflections of the stone, mostly blue, while the stone reflects green and red reflections.
The same stone being cut
A few green sets of light can be seen on the upper part of the stone.
The cut phase affects the color play of the stone, this is due to the use of water for polishing so as not to overheat the stone that is fragile could split.
The opal takes again its color and its games of light afterwards.
The color of the rock containing Mexican volcanic opals is characteristic of opal rock veins in the Magdalena region.
Archeological studies have shown that the Aztecs knew the opals and used them for making jewelery and ceremonial utensils.
The opals they used came from mines located in the state of Queretaro and they named opal Vitzitziltecpal, which means "hummingbird" in reference to the many colors that can take the plumage of the hummingbird.
The most famous and probably the most beautiful Mexican opal is the one exhibited at the Gainger Field Museum in Chicago.
This 35-carat fire opal adorns a brooch depicting the God of the Aztec sun.
It is an exceptional piece for more than one reason, on the one hand it is an exceptional jewel and especially an Aztec archaeological remains dating back 500 years.
Fire opals are fine stones, but their price may be close to that of certain precious stones.
We can find them cut in cabochon or with facets. Their price will depend on their size and the intensity of their color.
Prices range from 80 euros per carat for the cheapest to 500 euros per carat for the most beautiful.
Here are some places where you can shop online :
For more information about opals:
France has a team of experts on the theme of opal stone, team working at the faculty of Nantes and coordinated by Dr. Emmanuel Fritsch.
Although his studies are not available online, you can get them by contacting the university.
For more information :
This African wedding ring is composed of two welded V connected by their ends.
Numerical modeling allows us to better understand the design of this ring seen from several angles.
African deep V shape ring in gold from the Vivalatina collection
This African wedding ring for a woman is made of solid gold, it is a simple design with an incredible rendering. It is composed of two welded V gold shapes connected by their ends.
CAD modeling allows us to better understand the design of this ring seen from several angles. This simple design makes it harder to get the good ring size than a normal band ring, but with some experience everyrthing works fine.
View from 3 different angles of the ring
The computer tool also allows us to obtain a virtual rendering of the gold ring before manufacturing. This ensure the width of the gold band is adapted to the design we are looking to make.
This kind of visual rendering makes it possible to avoid any misunderstanding between the sponsor of the jewel and the jeweler before starting the manufacture of the jewel.
Our work begins with the rolling of an 18-karat yellow gold lingot into a gold plate of the desired thickness.
Our lingot of 18-karats gold after passing through the rolling-mill
This plate is then put to the correct dimensions for the ring size being longer and larger than the final ring size of our client.
In the case of this particular ring, the size of the finger is 50 (French size which is equivalent to a US size of US5 1/4), the plate of which should measure 50 millimeters in length + twice the thickness of the laminated gold plate in order to take them into account when shaping the ring.
The geometry of our ring is then traced with a scribe on the gold plate, cut to the correct lenght and width, as you can see below.
Unrolled flat, our V sahpe ring takes the form of triangles juxtaposed one close to the other
Using a jeweler hand saw, the V shape ring is cut out off the plate. A jeweler hand saw has a very thin blade giving a perfect adjustment of the different parts once cut.
Our ring is then shaped around a ring mandrel, wrapped around the mandrel it takes its final circular form. Because of the measurements made previously, both extremities adjust perfectly one to the other.
A single point of welding allows to close the ring. Minor size adjustements allow to get the exact ring size required for this ring.
Here, you can see the particular ring shape we got just before polishing it.
Our African V ring
Here you can see the ring after thorough polishing.
Close look on our ring, that is available here in our boutique here under
Here is an overview of other jewelry on the theme of Africa manufactured in our jewelry workshop. Most of them refet to the shape of the african continent of the fauna as elephant or lion.
For more information :
To choose an original text to engrave, you must look for an event that has marked your relationship, the common base of your memories together.
We can try to make originality but it's especially the engraved texts that have a common sense that will be the most durable.
Originality is subject to fashion and your environment.
However you'll find very good ideas of texts to engrave described in this article of the Zankyou webzine.
Engraving names on this gold mexican fire opal ring with opal and diamond made to measure
Examples of custom engraved wedding duos rings made in our jewelry workshop:
To choose an original text to engrave, you must look for an event that has marked your relationship, the common base of your memories together.
We can try to make originality but it's especially the engraved texts that have a common sense that will be the most durable.
Originality is subject to fashion and your environment.
However you'll find very good ideas of texts to engrave described in this article of the Zankyou webzine.
On this white gold skull ring, a simple wedding date is engraved
This other ring below is engraved with a strong message following a milestone life event.
Engraving of a date and names of the spouses on this other silver corset ring.
You can also refer to variants of the writing mode, whether by changing the font, the language :
Here is an example of a wedding ring (fr) engraved with the date of marriage in Roman numerals and the phrase "until death", that is 29 characters.
Engraving silver skull ring, names on the outside, custom engraving on the inside
On this duet of Celtic alliances, the names were engraved, that of the woman on the ring of the man and conversely, of a simplicity all the more significant.
Celtic engraving on the outer circumference and engraving of the names made with diamond inside the rings
This Roman wedding ring is engraved through the wedding date of the couple.
Roman wedding ring of the Vivalatina wedding rings collection (fr)
The engraving of your wedding rings can be done in several ways, each impacting what is possible to do and the cost of engraving.
The most commonly used machine is used to engrave only the inside of wedding rings.
View of the machine allowing diamond engraving of wedding rings
A diamond tip scratches the metal to make the engraving.
This point is connected to a mechanical arm that captures the jeweler to describe a stylet on a metal alphabet letters or numbers to engrave.
This process works very well and it's economical.
Its limitations are :
This is the same process as before except that we change the type of machine.
Here, a diamond tip mounted on a 4-axis machine controlled by a computer will scratch the metal to achieve the engraving of wedding rings.
View of the wedding ring mounted on a robotic axis, it turns while the arm on which is fixed the diamond engraves the date of the wedding
The advantage of this process is that one can (in theory) burn all the fonts without investing in new tools.
You can also engrave drawings or logo.
It thus offers more flexibility.
The advantages of this process are :
Enlarged view 6 times of engraving made at the computer-controlled diamond tip
Engraving view of this women's wedding ring, 0.9 mm high only
Here is a preview of the engraving in video.
Laser engraving offers the same possibilities as cnc diamond engraving.
The difference is that instead of having a diamond tip that engraves the material, it is a laser that will sublimate the metal and make it evaporate, leaving its mark.
The appearance of the metal is then dark, as burned.
Weddings rings engraved with laser by the company Cbijoux
You'll be able to realize the steps of this engraving method by watching this video :
The traditional technique that offers an inimitable rendering.
We don't practice in our jewelry workshop, but I offer a preview of this technique and its video rendering.
Although you have chosen the font style that suits you, we must also take into account the available space on the wedding ring for the achievement of engraving and readability.
In general, your choice of font will be limited with a mechanical engraving machine, according to the fonts available at your jeweler.
The cnc, laser and manual engravings will give you all the freedom to choose the font of your engraving.
In a general way, this calligraphy site (fr) will help you find the best font for your engraving project.
This is variable depending on the jeweler you are addressing.
In most major retailers that sell standardized wedding rings and offer classic engravings, engraving will be mostly available.
In the case of independent jewelers, it will depend on your project if you have your custom wedding ring and the complexity of achieving your engraving.
For a standard engraving (names and date) count between 25 and 50 dollars in general.
For a more complex engraving (custom font requiring a cnc machine or a laser engraving machine) count between 40 and 60 dollars.
For a manual engraving, the price is around 80 dollars, but also depends on the length of your engraving and the rates of the city where the work will be done.
For further :
Its name comes from the Latin "lapis" which means "stone" and Arabic Andalusian "azul" itself from Persian "lasaward" which means "blue".
Here is a short summary about lapis lazuli and its geographical and historical journey :
Real lapis lazuli stone cabochons used for jewelry creation
Its name comes from the Latin "lapis" which means "stone" and Arabic Andalusian "azul" itself from Persian "lasaward" which means "blue".
Here is a short summary about lapis lazuli and its geographical and historical journey :
Examples of custom made jewelry in natural lapis lazuli stones
Its main component is lazurite, which gives it its intense blue color very popular until the 19th century in painting mainly.
However, lapis lazuli contains other minerals, such as calcite, a white mineral see colorless, also pyrite, which gives the stone this illusion of starry sky, sometimes also sodalite or micas, ...
Raw Lapis lazuli : Blue Lazurite, White Calcite and Golden Pyrite
Its hardness is ranked between 5 and 5.5 on the Mohs scale.
It is a very friable stone since porous. Its contact with chemicals or even some cosmetics a little aggressive is to banish, to preserve the quality of the stone.
If you want to clean it, water and mild soap will do the trick, you can also use a cloth previously rubbed with beeswax, which gives a little sparkle to your stone.
The quality and price of lapis lazuli depends on its more or less sustained ultramarine color and inclusions of other minerals.
A lapis lazuli must contain at least 25% lazurite to be named as such. The more it contains calcite, the more it will be clear or translucent, and therefore lose value (stone right below photo).
Three quality lapis lazuli
The most sought-after color is ultramarine blue, with few inclusions of calcite or not at all, but with many inclusions of pyrites for the glittery effect (left stone above).
There are three colors of lapis lazuli according to Persian writings :
However, it sometimes happens to find this ornamental stone in reconstituted form. In a case like this, the falls of this stone have generally been reduced to powders and then mixed with resin to give it shape.
Example of reconstituted lapis lazuli stone
Synthetic lapis lazuli is made of the same process, except that this base powder is itself synthetic at the beginning.
The stone is sometimes also simply tinted, in this case, a touch with a little acetone partially dissolves the bluish colors.
Note that it is very difficult to differentiate by eye or photo a natural lapis lazuli stone natural reconstituted lapis stone or imitation.
Our article on turquoises and their imitations will certainly interest you for the same reason.
The means of test that I give you are destructive, I do not know others unfortunately, they will help you to test a sample of the stones which you wish to buy.
Acetone test
If your stone is a vulgar imitation of a tinted stone, then rubbing it with a cloth soaked in acetone will cause the stone to fade and your cloth to turn blue.
Fire test
If you stone is a reconstitution made of a mixture with lapis powder and resin, then it will burn with the flame and will be destroyed, but you will know :).
With this blue torch flame test (which indicates a temperature of nearly 1400 °C), the real lapis lazuli stone doesn't burn, doesn't disintegrate and doesn't completely lose its color as does the natural turquoise.
However we can notice that it loses its ultramarine color to take a night blue color, this test is therefore destructive.
In general, to avoid buying toc, avoid the purchase of the ebay of a stone from a Chinese or Indian supplier and the price is ridiculous, there you can be certain that it is not a real lapis stone.
Of course, if the price offered is ridiculously low, you can doubt that you do not buy a fine stone.
To give you a vague idea of the price of this stone, here are some examples :
I invite you to browse this website of gemstones suppliers to give you an idea of the market prices.
Lapis lazuli is found in several countries around the globe: Russia (Siberia), Chile, Canada, United States, Pakistan, ...
Map of the mining countries of lapis lazuli
But the main deposit, which is also best known for the quality of its stones is in Afghanistan, in the province of Badakshan, in the north of the country.
Badakshan province and the lapis lazuli mine of Sar-e-sang
It is in the mine of Sar-e-Sang located at about 2500 meters of altitude that one finds the most beautiful lapis lazuli stones, of an intense blue and containing little calcite.
However, getting there is very complicated and even dangerous in these high mountain areas. Be it from Kabul, its capital or any other part of the country.
It takes on average 4 days to get to the entrance of the mines, with a vehicle, on a donkey, on foot, ... All in dangerous conditions due to the rough terrain and possible aggression.
The lapis lazuli mines are exploitable about 4 months in the year depending on the extreme climatic conditions at the top.
Afghan miner from Badakhshan province
Extraction of lapis lazuli blocks from the Sar-en-Sang mine from the article by Philip Poupin visible here (fr)
The lapis lazuli blocks are then sent to the four corners of the globe to be worked by lapidaries for figurative decoration, litotherapy or jewelry for example.
It's possible to find crude in mineral markets like for example here in Ste Marie aux Mines where the stone can be bought by the kilo.
Lapis lazuli rocks for sale by the kilo at the mineral market of Sainte Marie aux Mines
The lapis lazuli has been exploited in many artistic fields for millennia. But not only in its stone aspect.
Indeed, lapis lazuli has long been transformed into pigment for pictorial works and for some very well known.
True ultramarine blue pigment from the lapis lazuli rock
Used in the Middle Ages, for example, this pigment was used for illuminations in religious manuscripts.
In the Italian Renaissance, Michelangelo will have demanded it for his interpretation of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, just like Johannes Vermeer, who, in the seventeenth century, knew how to handle this pigment for his famous paintings, Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Milkmaid for example.
The Last Judgment of Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, 16th Century, Vatican
Girl with a Pearl Earring, Vermeer oil on canvas circa 1665, Mauritshuis, Netherlands
Its ultramarine blue was very popular in the art world though very expensive. This is why a synthetic pigment was created in the 19th century to make the price more accessible.
But only the pigment coming from the lapis lazuli rock bears the name of true ultramarine blue.
Lapis lazuli sculptures are visible all over the world. Some of the most impressive of them are at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Table in bronze and lapis lazuli of the Hermitage museum
The Louvre museum houses some magnificent sculptures mainly from Egypt but not only.
You can also admire the famous nave of Marie Antoinette lapis lazuli and silver enamelled silver about 40 cm in height.
Nave of Marie Antoinette in vermeil and lapis lazuli preserved in the Louvre Museum
Lapis lazuli is omnipresent in artistic circles, mainly jewelry.
In the craft of jewelry, we find this blue rock in a large number of civilization for millennia.
Although lapis lazuli is accessible to all today, it was not the case in Mesopotamia where it was reserved for princes and deities. The stone symbolized then the attributes of the Gods, the life force.
She accompanied the powerful into the grave, as here this Sumerian finery found in the ancient city of Ur, present-day Iraq.
Replica of a Sumerian finery from the following of a Queen, British Museum
The supposed Sumerian queen, Pu-Abi, possessed the famous headgear of nearly 10130 tiny lapis lazuli beads preserved at the Penn Museum.
In ancient Egypt, lapis lazuli, called "the eyes of the Gods", was also reserved for elites.
Considered sacred, it served as a talisman to ward off bad luck and was a sign of political and religious power.
Egyptian jewelry of princess Sit-Hathor-Yunet's breastplate: gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian and turquoise preserved at the Metropolitan Museum in New York
Whether in Tuareg or Kabyle handicrafts, Berber jewelry also uses lapis lazuli for ornaments, although enamel is most often used for bright blues.
Example of Berber jewel of Karuni, site of ethnic jewels
In North America, Navajo goldsmiths still use this stone as in Nepal, where many jewels contain lapis lazuli, sometimes reconstituted.
Navajo crafts in silver and lapis lazuli
As we understand it, lapis lazuli is a stone that pleases a lot and has been for a long time in the artistic field. It remains timeless and for all styles in jewelry-goldsmith.
One of Faberge's Easter eggs is also made of lapis lazuli and gold : the egg of the Tsarevich.
Tsarevich egg, lapis lazuli shell, decorated with gold and diamonds. Preserved at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
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