Diamonds - Antique
Engagement Rings 

By Teri Champigny

There is something so special about antique rings and especially antique engagement rings. They are more beautiful than modern day rings can ever hope to be and certainly more unique. Today diamonds are cut with lasers but lasers are a modern invention. The diamonds in antique engagement rings were all cut by hand.

**A ring that is 50 years old or older is considered an antique. Rings less than 50 years old are called estate rings.

Since lasers have only been used in the last 20 years to cut diamonds, though, you can find beautiful rings that have hand cut diamonds in them that are not true antiques.

Before you go in search of an antique engagement ring or even one that is old enough to have diamonds that were hand cut, you need to educate yourself. You need to know what the 4 C’s are and what they mean.

The four C’s of diamonds are: Carat, Color, Clarity and Cut. These are the things that determine the value of a diamond.

Carat: The term denotes the weight of a diamond. The higher the carat number, the more valuable the stone is.

Color: Although diamonds appear to be colorless, they are not. And there are diamonds that are naturally different colors...yellow diamonds, for example. But the value based on color is determined by it’s comparison to color standards.

Clarity: The clarity of a diamond refers to the flaws contained in the stone. Although you can’t usually see flaws with the naked eye, they exist and the fewer and smaller the flaws in a diamond are the more valuable it is.

Cut: The cut refers to the number of surfaces on the cut stone and the pattern of the surfaces. Some common cuts are round, Emerald cut, Oval cut and princess cut.