Articles

Good Old Gold's Jonathan Weingarten walks consumers through the cushion cut diamond buying process.

Unlike many other Fancy Shape Diamonds (Asscher, Radiant, Emerald, Ovals, Princess-Cut, Pear Shape, Marquise, and Heart Shape), Cushion Diamonds offer to the consumer various options that involve different patterns of facet alignment cuts and ratios. The aim of this tutorial is to present to the reader the gemological knowledge necessary with which to make an intelligent decision in regards to their eventual choice. Diagrams and explanations of the cushion cut diamond along with videos and photos will be highlighted.

I am often asked about the process for creating a custom designed piece of jewelry with the use of CAD (Computer-aided design).

CAD has been a great innovation for helping people see what they are going to get before they actually commission a piece of custom-made jewelry. The cost is minimal, and many revisions can be made until it is clear that both the customer and the jeweler understand what the other wants.

Of all the diamond instruments and analytical devices on the market today possibly the most valuable is the ASET (Angular Spectrum Evaluation Tool). It is simple in concept, easy to use and to understand, and forms the graphical portion of the sophisticated light performance grading system used by the American Gem Society and its Laboratory. The cut quality analysis performed by the AGSL is widely considered to be the most comprehensive and critical of any lab in the world.

Afghanistan is a country blessed like few others in its mineral wealth. By some estimates the untapped gemstone deposits in this country are estimated to be $300 billion USD. However, the geological surveying of the country has been less than 10% of the area! Precious minerals, oil and gas have been estimated to be in the 1 trillion to 3 trillion ranges. It’s no wonder why Afghanistan is quickly moving to try to mine and develop so many of these resources.