How did diamond fall out of ring?

This article was orginally by:
Elaine Yeo
544 words
21 November 2008
The New Paper

Couple upset because engagement ring bought only last year

LADIES, beware. Without tender loving care, diamonds may not always be a girl's best friend.

Mr Alex Ng and wife Ng Guo Sijia, both 26, found this out recently.

The couple were looking forward to their first wedding anniversary next month.

Instead, they made a surprising discovery - the diamond on Mrs Ng's wedding ring had fallen out.

The couple were collecting movie tickets at the Golden Village cineplex in Jurong Point Shopping Centre on 2 Nov, when she noticed that the 0.05 carat diamond on her wedding ring was missing.

They never found it.

Mrs Ng last saw it in the late afternoon that day while waiting for husband to pick her up to go to the cinema.

With a discount, her white gold diamond ring cost $484.

They had collected their pair of $790 rings from the Suntec boutique of Lee Hwa Jewellery on 10 Nov last year.

They bought them as engagement rings, but Mrs Ng's ring was the only one with a diamond.

'Embedded'

She said: 'It's not the type that protrudes, but the kind that is embedded in the band. How can it fall out?'

Two days later, they took the ring to the Suntec boutique.

After investigation by the quality control department, a staff member informed the couple that the diamond had fallen out due to 'wear and tear'.

But Mrs Ng, a product development executive, objected.

She said that although she had worn the ring every day, she had a desk-bound job that involved typing on a computer keyboard.

She said: 'I don't work with machines or chemicals the way my husband does as a senior technical officer, so how can this be due to wear and tear?'

It will cost the couple an extra $240 to replace the diamond with one of the same size, colour and clarity.

A similar case was reported on the Straits Times online media portal Stomp on 5Jul.

In that case, a woman allegedly lost the diamond from her ring six months after her wedding.

Lee Hwa Jewellery said in a statement that the cause was probably mishandling. It offered the woman some form of redress.

Delicate due to setting

On the case of Mrs Ng's ring, Lee Hwa Jewellery's senior brand manager, Ms Irene Ling, said that the way the diamond was set into the ring (called the gypsy setting) made it more 'delicate and sensitive to any physical contact that comes with daily wear'.

She recommended extra care for rings with such settings. (See report below.)

Added Ms Ling: 'Even accidental rubbing or light knocks may cause damage over time.'

Mrs Ng said it was possible she had hit the ring by accident when she knocked on doors at work.

She said: 'Still, I can accept that explanation if the diamond fell out two years after we bought it, but it hasn't even been a year.'

The couple are now deciding what to do.

Their formal wedding ceremony is next year.

Said Mrs Ng: 'We don't really want to spend on a replacement diamond, so we may just get new rings.'

Amethyst Lion Heads

I bought this pair of Lion Heads carved out entirely from amethyst! Met this dealer of fine quality gems today and out of the whole lot of gems he had, these really caught my eyes..

They do really have a Rome like feel to it, right?

The carvings are very intricate and a lot of detail can be seen on the pieces. Have already gotten some ideas in mind to use these as jewellery. So stay tuned.. Metamorphosis in progress!

Hugo Boss Cufflinks

This is one of my favourite cufflinks.

Crafted out of brass, this pair of cufflinks from Hugo Boss eludes a kind of classy elegance through its display of spots on its metallic brassy surface. I bought this pair when I was in transit at Frankfurt Airport Duty Free on my way back to Singapore from New York in the middle of the year.

Platinum: What exactly is it?

Platinum is a chemical element with the atomic symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. It is in group 10 of the Periodic Table of Elements.

Its nearest stimulant 18karat purity white gold is often rhodium plated (it is a technical misnomer to be called white gold anyway), and as such, after a period of wear, the plating would yield to scratches and might reveal a pale yellow layer, which is really the alloyed gold, beneath the coating.

During periods of sustained economic stability and growth, the price of platinum tends to be as much as twice as the price of gold. Platinum is an extremely rare metal, occurring as only 0.003 ppb in the Earth's crust, and is 30 times rarer than gold which is why it is more expensive. It is sometimes mistaken for silver (Ag) but platinum is whiter in appearance. Also, silver tends to oxidise easily on exposure to air and sulphur and readily turns a blackish colour!

With so many advantages over metals like gold and silver, it therefore makes sense to get a ring out of platinum. After all, a ring is meant to evoke all the precious and wonderful memories, so what could be more appropriate other then a platinum engagement ring?

Doesn't that just reminds you of my precioussssss in the movie "Lord of the Rings"?

Is a certificate forever??

Being on several mailing list by several jewellers, I recently got this advert with a huge, screaming slogan that read: "A Certificate is Forever - Accept no substitutes"

Diamonds are the only precious gems with a clearly defined, internationally recognized evaluation process that allows for independent verification. The value for each individual gem can therefore be retained.

As creators of the 4Cs and the International Diamond Grading System™, the G.I.A. is known for unbiased, scientific information that has guided Diamond buyers for generations. It is regarded as the "Supreme Court" of Diamond grading. G.I.A. certificates add to the liquidity of your Diamond and should be accompanied with every purchase you make. Accept no substitutes.

At XYZ shop, we always provide G.I.A. certificates. This report gives the most technologically advanced Diamond evaluation possible. It is a unique blueprint of your Diamond’s attributes, and illustrates an indisputable record of its quality - thereby providing the world’s most comprehensive analysis of a Diamond.

What puzzles me most is that how can a certificate be forever???

Another smart marketing ploy? While it can be true that in today's technological advanced era, back ups of such certificates can be stored easily on a server, and accessed can be granted 24/7, we should not forget the fact that gradings of a diamond is done as of the point when it was sent to the lab, and over time, due to frequent wear and knocks, there could be little stress fractures that form within the stone and are generally classified as inclusions. Diamond is the hardest substance on earth, but it is not unbreakable!

Learning how to shoot photos better

For all those who have been following my blog, you would probably have seen how the pictures have improved over time, from those taken by a handphone camera to those taken by a digital camera...

Of course, photography is really a skill that I still have not mastered completely...

But today, John from Jam Creations taught me some tricks on how to capture close up shots easily...

Here's a pic:


Looks good enough?

Astronaut Space Pen

Got this Astronaut Space Pen recently!

Made by Fisher, its pen cartridge is made under pressure with a tungsten carbide tip, and therefore, according to the manufacturers, it is able to write under any conditions, which was probably the reason why it is marketed as a space pen!In terms of aesthetic design, this pen comes with the words Apollo 11 on it, to commemorate the use of such pens on the space ship!

Rose Cut Diamond Cufflinks

Got this pair of 14k Rose cut diamonds cufflinks yesterday at the JewelFest 2008.

The rose cut was first introduced in the early to mid 1500s by jewelers experimenting with unique geometrical diamond shapes. The rose cut is unlike any other diamond cut – it has a completely different anatomy to its facets and planes. Rose cuts are flat bottomed without the distinctive tapering body; instead, the crown of the gem is elevated in a faceted dome where triangular facets mimic the progressively tighter spiral of a rose. As the between 3 and 24 facets come together they mirror the central focal point of a rose bud and offer a unique perspective of diamond beauty

I really like the antique enthic feel to it. It doesnt give the overly bling factor that normal cut diamonds have!