buying guide
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 jewellery 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.
Rhodium Plating
Rhodium is the hardest of all precious metals and is extremely expensive. At Hot Diamonds, we plate all of our sterling silver jewellery with rhodium to ensure that our products have the most wear resistant finish possible, and that our sterling silver reflects light beautifully.
Hallmarking
A hallmark is an official stamp engraved into a precious metal to confirm its quality. There are 3 elements required in a stamp: the precious metal purity; the assay office it was hallmarked in and a sponsors mark (the mark of the company requesting the hallmark).
At Hot Diamonds we hallmark all of our silver jewellery that exceeds a weight of 7.7 grams.
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 jewellery collections. Where Hot Diamonds jewellery 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 jewellery will always be beautifully reflective.
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! The diamonds used by Hot Diamonds are classed as 'good commercial white' in colour.
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).