Friday, May 25, 2007

A Little about CHAMPAGNE Diamonds


What do wine & diamonds have in common? Apart from the fact that yours truly is a fan & a little of an expert of both; in a word "Champagne". The French have banned others from using this word to describe their wine - after all Champagne is a region in France; & yes I have visited France twice, & contrary to what you sometimes hear the French are absolutely delightful people - but 'champagne' has become linked with Australia. We are ofcourse talking about CHAMPAGNE DIAMONDS.
Champagne diamonds are coloured diamonds that are shadys (according to me) of brown. To be technical their colour is graded by C's. C1 being the lightest, C3-4 medium, C5-6 dark & C7 being fancy Cognac diamonds - one of my favourite colours of diamonds. To check the colour of a champagne diamond view the stone in bright sunlight. What gives them their colours? Here is what the experts tell us. You may know already that Diamonds are carbon (soot!!!!) that is compressed over time under the earth till it becomes a diamonds. It is believed that since the diamonds formed over 3,000,000,000 years ago the compression of the Diamond lattice structure by tremendous forces deep beneath the earth is said to have caused the original clear diamonds to become coloured. This same process also causes pink & red natural diamonds. (To my way of thinking it is more strange that something that starts out black should end up clear! That it should finished up some shade of brown should seem less strange & should take less time according to my idea of conventional thinking. Perhaps that is why I am not an offical expert!)
Champagne diamonds are usually linked with the Kimberley region of Western Australia & while in fact most champagne diamonds you are likely to see do come from there, champagne diamonds have been found in other parts of Australia including Tasmania. (I have a nice story to tell you later.) Champagne diamonds have become quite popular with the rich & famous as anyone who closely follows the Oscars & what the Stars wear can confirm. My favourite Cognac diamond is not owned by anyone famous; it is owned by myself. About .5 of a carat it is a dark rich brown with just a hint of green through it. It is an I1-2, hence did not cost me an arm & a leg. That is my tip for saving you money this month. As a deep coloured diamond tends to hid its flaws easier than a clear one, a deep coloured well-cut coloured diamond will look okay in an I2 or even an I3 so you can afford to buy a larger stone.
Champagne diamonds are fashionable; also very popular, not only with the public but with jewellers. Why do we say this? Because champagne diamonds are used to create 'colour enhanced' diamonds of all colours. More about that later.........Meantime check out these great Champagne/Cognac earrings at http://www.thegemlovers.com/index.php?pr=Diamond_Earrings Also enjoy some French Champagne, I can recommend Pol Gessner used for many years by Formula 1. I am not get paid or re-imbused in any way for this recommendation. However complementary bottles of champagne by any great manufacturer will be gladly accepted for future recommendations by yours truly.

1 comment:

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