Precious Metals Guide:
Silver
Silver was once called the 'lunar' metal – its appearance being cold and luminous, similar to the moon's reflection on water. It has always been a valuable metal, ever since it was discovered and first mined in Anatolia (now Turkey), more than 6,000 years ago. Classed as a 'Noble' metal, silver has a stable chemical structure that resists oxidisation and corrosion from acids.
At Hot Diamonds we're proud to use quality sterling silver in our silver jewelry collections. Sterling silver is an alloy – 92.5% fine silver and 7.5% copper. Copper is added to fine silver so that it becomes more workable and durable, whilst retaining all of its beauty.
Vermeil
Vermeil is defined as a product made of sterling silver (.925) that is plated with gold of at least 10 karat fineness and at least 2.5 microns thick. All Hot Diamonds products made with vermeil exceed these legal requirements. We use 18 karat gold and exceed the thickness requirement of 2.5 microns.
Gold
The chemical symbol of gold is 'au' from the Latin aurum, which means shining dawn. This relates to the exquisite and uniquely warm, yellow glow radiated by gold - an attribute that has helped make it the most desirable precious metal ever known to man.
Gold is the most malleable of all metals and in its purist form is considered too soft for use in jewellery. Consequently, Gold is often alloyed with other metals, usually silver and copper, to make it more durable. The purity of gold is measured in karats, with 24 karat gold being 100% pure, 18 karat gold 75% pure, 14 karat gold 58.3% pure and 9 karat gold 37.5% pure.
White Gold
White gold is gold that has been carefully alloyed with a mix of nickel, zinc, copper, tin and manganese, to give it a stunning platinum-like white sheen.
Rhodium Plating
Rhodium is the hardest of all precious metals and is extremely expensive. At Hot Diamonds, we plate all of our sterling silver jewelry with rhodium to ensure that our products have the most wear resistant finish possible, and that our sterling silver reflects light beautifully.
Diamond Guide:
Most diamonds are thought to be between 1 billion and 3 billion years old, formed deep within the earth's crust and bought to the surface through traumatic volcanic activity – little wonder they're considered rare and precious.
Diamonds are the hardest natural substance found on earth, and consequently cannot be scratched by anything but other diamonds. This incredible resilience allows diamonds to take a superior polish and project more brilliance than any other natural colourless gemstone known to man.
Diamond Classification – The 4 C's
The quality of diamonds can be graded using the 4 C's, namely: carat; cut; colour and clarity.
Carat
Carat refers to the weight of diamonds. One carat (0.2 grams) is often divided into 100 points, so that a diamond's weight can be easily and accurately measured. For example, a one point diamond is a diamond that is 1/100th of a carat in weight. We use both one and two point diamonds in our jewelry collections. Where Hot Diamonds jewelry is set with two point diamonds, this will be noted within the product specifications section for the product on the website.
Cut
The cut of a diamond is often considered to be the most important attribute. Even diamonds with perfect colour and clarity can lose brilliance if cut poorly. Our diamonds are always brilliant cut to maximise on reflection and sparkle.
Most brilliant cut diamonds are round in shape, and have a total of 58 facets, from the table to the cullet (or from the top to the bottom in non-technical terms). These triangular and kite shaped facets are carefully positioned so that light coming through them interplays to greatly enhance brilliance. This attention to craftsmanship ensures that our diamond-set jewelry will always be beautifully reflective.
The brilliant-cut diamond design looking from the top onto the table of the diamond
Colour
The colour scale of a diamond refers to how white a diamond looks. The alphabetical scale is graded from 'D' which is the whitest, to 'Z', which is very brown. Why not consider 'A' to be the whitest colour rather than 'D', we hear you ask? This is in case a diamond even more white than the current whitest diamond is ever found!
Clarity
Clarity refers to the lack of internal flaws and inclusions within a diamond. The scale of clarity for diamonds runs from FL (meaning flawless) to I3 (meaning clearly visible imperfections to the naked eye).
