This pear-shaped, D-color, flawless diamond of 50.52 carats was just sold for $9.5 million at a Christie's auction. At 50 carats of diamonds, it's not clear what you'd actually do with such a massive gem, but I'm pretty sure the new owner isn't worried about that right now. A diamond like this is so absolutely rare and speaks to the fundamental reason why we humans have this fascination with diamonds. Rarity.

Take it down a notch and speak of 1 carat diamonds for a second. Do you know that you need to mine up to 20 tons of rock to find just one carat of gem quality diamond? (The majority of the diamonds that are unearthed are of a brownish color and are spotted with inclusions. They are used for industrial purposes.)

So really what I'm saying is that the same driving force that drives millions of Americans to buy 1 carats is what propels someone to own a 50 carat diamond for almost $10 million. It's just heightened and at a different scale due to the latter person's financial abilities. They want the same thing --rarity, status among their social peers, etc. -- just on a different level.

Just came across this great photo of Ronnie Mervis, Jonathan Mervis, and the DC legend, Gheorge Muresan, of Washington Bullets glory. We bantered about a promotion where the tallest NBA player, at 7'7", would rock the biggest diamond for a photo shoot. It never happened...but maybe one day!

Many people have thought about upgrading their diamonds, and some just upgrade on their spouse. When it’s time to upgrade your diamonds and your other half gladly entertains the idea, you know you’re with the person of your dreams.

When my husband and I first started dating I trained him early with the earring upgrades. Yep, that’s right ladies – when you buy Mervis diamond studs you can actually upgrade them at any time and you get exactly the price they were sold for towards the next pair! Guys, are you listening?? You can start smaller, because they can always grow larger. There is always an option to fit your budget. I have personally gone through three upgrades with my earrings.

This policy is also applied for solitaire diamond pendants and the center diamond for the engagement ring. So why wouldn’t it make sense to purchase a Mervis diamond? There are plenty of places that offer upgrade policies, but nothing like ours. Trust us, we have done the research!

The other great thing about our trade in policy is that you can apply it to whatever you would like. Say you have a solitaire pendant and never wear it. Why not trade that in towards a pair of studs, a bracelet, or that anniversary band you have always wanted?

When you are first starting out, it may not be the first idea that pops in your head that you may want to upgrade, but after 5, 10, 15 or 20 years of being married you may just want to do it. After all, I’m sure she deserves it. So the next anniversary, birthday, promotion or special moment, take a minute to think, is it time for an upgrade?

Those buying diamond engagement rings for the first time can feel a bit intimidated. There are a lot of things to consider beyond just your budget. Every diamond is unique, as is the person purchasing it and the person who will be wearing it.

My husband purchased my diamond engagement ring about 15 years ago. He did it secretly all on his own and bought the most brilliant and romantic diamond that, in my eyes, is something Wonder Woman could have used as a secret weapon to temporarily blind her opponents.

A few years later, we had to have the ring appraised to renew the insurance policy. My husband pulled out this certificate (who knew diamond engagement rings came with certificates?) and he told me how nervous he was back then to venture out and make this big purchase all on his own. It was his first foray into what he thought would be an intimidating diamond purchasing adventure. He went to the Mervis location in downtown DC and said he had to walk through a special doorway and worried briefly that he wouldn’t pass muster to go further. But they welcomed him in, sat him down and put him at ease by giving him a little intro on what to look for in a diamond.

The 4Cs -- Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat Weight

CUT:

The cut is the most important of the 4Cs. The cut of the diamond affects how much light it refracts and reflects. A meticulously cut and polished diamond will manipulate the light to make for the utmost beauty and brilliance, as light reflects from facet to facet and pours out of the top (or “table”). A poorly cut diamond, on the other hand, will be less brilliant as light spills out of the bottom and sides. The cut goes way beyond the shape alone -- oval, princess, round brilliant, emerald, etc. The cut is the only factor of the 4Cs that is not dictated by nature, so it is important that you seek a diamond that was cut by the hands of a master craftsman. Gemological Institute of America (GIA) assigns grades to the cut: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.

 


 

COLOR:

“Aren’t all diamond engagement rings the same color?” you ask. No, they aren’t. The ideal diamonds are colorless, like water. They are the most expensive, because they are the rarest. The color of diamonds range from colorless to yellow, and each diamond is assigned a color rating from D (colorless) to Z (yellow). But remember that the 4Cs work together. Just because a diamond is not completely colorless on the scale, it does not necessarily mean it can’t be beautiful. Again, a meticulously cut diamond can make all the difference in the world.

Another factor in grading the color is fluorescence, or the emission of visible light when exposed to ultraviolet radiation. On a diamond certificate, you will see fluorescence exhibited as none, faint, medium, strong, and very strong. Flourescence can have a positive or negative effect on the beauty of a diamond, depending on where the diamond is on the color scale I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

 

CLARITY:
Most diamonds have tiny imperfections or “inclusions.” The fewer and less detectable those imperfections, the more valuable (and rare) the diamond. Like the previous Cs, there is a grading scale for clarity, ranging from internally flawless to imperfect:

IF - Internally flawless
VVS1, VVS2 - very, very small inclusions, category 1 and 2
VS1, VS2 - very small inclusions, category 1 and 2
SI1, SI2, SI3 - slightly included, category 1, 2, and 3

 

CARAT WEIGHT:
This seems to be the factor most people emphasize and remember when they talk about diamond engagement rings. “How many carats?” Carat weight is indicated by points, with each carat being 100 points. If a diamond is 150 points, it weighs 1.5 carats. But don’t go by weight alone. As you just learned, there are many factors that affect the beauty of a diamond and it is about so much more than just the number of carats. The 4Cs will help you determine the diamond that sings to you.