diamond halo Archives - Knox Jewelers

August’s Custom Engagement Ring Spotlight

1-1 Unique Engagement Rings — Knox Jewelers Custom Design 3520

2-1 Unique Engagement Rings — Alternative Views of Knox Jewelers Custom Design 3520

This new custom created engagement ring is brightening up everyone’s outlook here at Knox Jewelers. This recent custom creation features an extraordinary 2.00 carat round yellow sapphire. An unusual scalloped diamond halo and dramatic double claw prongs frame the center gemstone. This chromatic yellow sapphire reminds us how extraordinary colorful engagement ring can be!

The profile view of this custom design is not forgotten. Bead-set diamonds, milgrain edging and elaborate scroll relief engraving don either side of the ring. A top view band of matching bead-set diamonds finishes this design to perfection.

Knox’s ability to flawlessly incorporate colored stones into any custom piece is demonstrated in this and several other recent commissions. A perfect pairing of vintage detailing, glittering diamonds and a stand-out center stone makes Design 3520 a custom ring that is sure to attraction attention. Knox hand finishes and outstanding craftsmanship will ensure that this platinum and fancy colored sapphire engagement ring will last a lifetime.

3-1 Unique Engagement Rings — Production Photos for Knox Jewelers Custom Design 3520

4 Unique Engagement Rings — Production Photos for Knox Jewelers Custom Design 3520

Every ring at Knox Jewelers is made by hand from the ground up. We are extremely proud of our in-house design team that works tirelessly to add even the smallest details to your perfect custom engagement ring. We document the creation of our custom piece with jeweler’s eye view production photos, allowing you the chance to see your beautiful ring come to life.

This distinctive golden hued diamond halo ring engagement ring design can be recreated to accommodate any type, shape, or size center stones. Contact Knox Jewelers today to custom tailor this design to your preferred precious metal and central gemstone selection to create your own one-of-a-kind engagement ring!

Aquamarine – March’s Glittering Jewel

There are a lot of reasons why having a March birthday is awesome: Firstly, you’re born right on the cusp of spring and the warm weather (especially for those of us in northern environs). Secondly, your birthstone is the lovely aquamarine, a gemstone which derives its name from the Latin term aqua – meaning water – and marine – meaning of the sea. Water of the sea. Stunning, no? And for those lucky individuals with a March birthday, Knox Jewelers offers an outstanding selection of handmade aquamarine jewelry to celebrate this special month. Now, let’s take a look at the history of aquamarine, how to pick the best possible gemstone for your jewelry, and some examples of custom engagement rings we have designed and crafted for our clients in the past.

Aquamarine Background

Even in its natural, unrefined state, aquamarine is one of the most visually awe-inspiring gemstones in the world, and these crystals are widely renown and valued very highly on the market. To be specific, aquamarine is a blue-hued variety of beryl, a mineral from which we also derive emeralds. Sometimes, a heat treatment is applied to increase the intensity of blue, though many instances found in the wild are often perfectly suitable as-is for use in jewelry making.

Choosing the Right Gemstone

The quality of a given aquamarine gemstone depends on a number of individual factors, including color, clarity, cut, and carat weight. Let’s break down each factor one at a time to get a good feel for how these stones are valued in the marketplace. The color range for aquamarine tends to be confined to the spectrum of intense blue to greenish-blue. A general trend in color valuation is that more intense blues tend to be worth more in the open market, though this rule does have its exceptions. For clarity, most specimens have few if any visible inclusions. Stones that have inclusions of this sort tend to be worth less. As for cuts, any and all can be used, though ones that are used for emeralds are also widely used for aquamarine. Finally, larger stones tend to have less demand.

How to Care for Aquamarine Jewelry

In general, aquamarine is a hardy stone. However, it is susceptible to physical damage and heat, so it is very important to ensure that you keep it out of situations which could result in these forms of damage. As for cleaning, it is a relatively simple procedure to keep your aquamarine jewelry in tip-top shape: Simply use warm, soapy water to gently rinse and clean the surface. You should not expose your aquamarine jewelry to harsh chemicals or other invasive cleaning methods, as this could cause serious and irreparable damage.

Unique Engagement Rings at Knox Jewelers

At Knox Jewelers, we’ve been crafting – by hand – stunning and unique aquamarine jewelry and engagement rings for our customers for decades, and we’ve always striven to provide only the best customer service and attention to detail in the industry. Whether you’re looking for, whether it’s an engagement ring for that special someone or just a surprise for their birthday, you’re bound to find what you’re looking for at Knox Jewelers.

Stunning Combinations

Aquamarine center stones look absolutely great with just about any combination of metal and design. On our website here at Knox Jewelers, you can browse through all of the designs that we have crafted for our customers in the past. Although the samples shown in their preview images will have different gemstones, we would be more than happy to customize your preferred piece with a beautiful aquamarine center stone – all you have to do is ask! As for what combinations work best, we think that white gold and platinum look great for those who are interested in a clean, elegant design. Yellow gold and rose gold can also be used to create a contrast effect that looks modern and sophisticated. Regardless of the direction you’re leaning toward, we have you and your aquamarine needs covered!

Have Any Questions?

Are you interested in aquamarine engagement rings or other jewelry? Great! We’d love to chat with you about your interests and get a feel for what you’re looking to create. Get in touch with our friendly staff soon, and we’ll get started on making your dreams a reality!

Emerald Cut Engagement Rings – Reflecting Nobility and Elegance Throughout the Ages

Emerald cut engagement rings are stunning, beautiful, and unique, and we are proud to offer them at Knox Jewelers. Why should you consider an emerald cut center stone over the plethora of other options available to you? For one, rings with emerald cut center stones are popular among the powerful and famous, including Camilla Parker Bowles (wife of Prince Charles), Grace Kelly (fiancée of Prince Rainier), and Melanie Knauss (fiancée of Donald Trump). The emerald cut is an elegant cut which incorporates a stepped square stone with cropped corners in order to reduce light dispersion and brilliance. Let’s take a closer look at this cut now and show you just how versatile and lovely it can be in any context or design.

The History of the Emerald Cut

Originally, the emerald cut was designed – unsurprisingly – as a special way to cut emeralds in order to address the issue of inclusions that emeralds naturally have. However, as time progressed, the emerald cut found its way into use with other stones, too, including diamonds. Today, the emerald cut is widely regarded as bold, elegant, and striking- all of which are attributes we strive to imbue within our own designs at Knox Jewelers. And, as we’ll discuss shortly, we’ve taken this classic cut in innovative new directions.

The Advantages of the Emerald Cut

The emerald cut has a number of valuable properties which make it a great and versatile choice for those customers looking to incorporate elements of nobility and boldness in their engagement ring for that special someone. What makes an emerald cut stone so versatile is its ability to be placed in almost any context and still look amazing and harmonious with the other elements of the ring. For instance, it is not rare to see an emerald cut center stone crafted in conjunction with such features as micro pave and halos, to name a couple.

Customization Options

To that end, we offer an almost unlimited variety of customizations options for your emerald cut engagement ring at Knox Jewelers. To best show you the variety of options available to you, let’s take a close look at some of the engagement rings we have designed for our customers.

Emerald Cut Whisper – Hand Engraved Emerald Cut Beauty

A stunning example of a hand engraved solitaire we have designed in the past is our Emerald Cut Whisper ring. This beautiful design features a hand engraved pattern reminiscent of wheat that gently guides your eye to the luxurious .65 ct emerald cut center diamond.

Design 1158 – A Stunning Emerald Cut Sapphire

Naturally, you are not limited to emeralds or diamonds when it comes to the emerald cut. Our lovely Design 1158 is a striking variation of our Lucille design which swaps the center diamond for a gorgeous sapphire that truly gets the spotlight on this platinum-based ring.

Design 1857 – An Exquisite Combination

We are quite fond of micro pavé stones, here, and Design 1857 takes our fondness for them to an entirely new level. This exquisite ring evokes a sense of nobility and pride due to the .80 ct emerald cut diamond that is framed in a four prong setting. Micro pavé stones are present all along the exterior of the 14K white gold band. This design truly exemplifies the versatility of an emerald cut stone.

Design 2754 – A Lovely Halo-framed Emerald Cut Stone

The final ring we want to showcase is our brilliant Design 2754. As we said before, an emerald cut center stone can be used in just about any kind of context, including within a halo arrangement. In this piece, a 1.00 ct emerald cut emerald is embedded within an Art Deco-inspired micro pavé halo and shoulder detail. No matter the surrounding elements, an emerald cut stone is guaranteed to both enhance those elements as well as look fantastic all on its own.

We’re Here to Help!

If you are interested in incorporating an emerald cut center stone in an engagement ring for that special someone, then please do not hesitate to contact our friendly staff here at Knox Jewelers. We would be thrilled to discuss the options available and how best to utilize this remarkable cut in a stunning piece just for you. We’ll explore different customization options, including band types, engravings, and more. We look forward to working together with you to design a unique emerald cut engagement ring!

Orange Garnet – January’s Radiant Jewel

For those lucky individuals with January birthdays, there are a lot of options from which to choose when it comes to garnet stones. An oft-overlooked color of garnet is the radiant orange garnet, also known by its mineral classifications hessonite, spessartine, and mandarin. Hessonite, also known as Cinnamon Stone, is a type of grossular, which is a species of garnet. Hessonite has a very distinct red hue which gravitates toward orange and yellow, though hessonite is often heavily included and is rarely used in jewelry. Spessartine, on the other hand, is another species of garnet with characteristic orange and light-red color tones. Finally, mandarin garnets are a specific type of spessartine with a fiery and radiant orange color. We know that’s a lot of different terms to throw around, so let’s take a look at the history of these beautiful stones, how you might use the orange garnets to create unique engagement rings or wedding bands with a stunning and innovative look, and what to look for in a high-quality orange garnet.

Hessonite-Garnet-300x168 Gemstones — Hessonite Garnet

Spessartite-examples-300x169 Gemstones — Spessartite/Mandarin Garnet

The History of Orange Garnets

The garnet stone has a rich and detailed historical legacy. Emperors, kings, philosophers, generals, and famous individuals of all kinds have worn jewelry adorned with beautiful garnet stones for centuries. The garnet has been exceedingly popular in Europe, especially throughout the 1700’s and 1800’s, wherein they were prized for their rich hues and tones. In fact, Spanish astrologers once used the garnet to signify the sun – indeed, the orange garnet is almost perfect for representing the radiant beauty of the sun. We have only seen the garnet in present in a variety of mythological and literary works, thus lending credence to the fact that the garnet is one of the most desirable gemstones in the entire industry and has been for some time.

What to Look for in an Orange Garnet

As with all gemstones, your primary considerations with orange garnets are going to revolve around clarity and color, as well as durability. Most spessartines, including mandarin garnets, have excellent Mohs hardness and durability while also sporting strong and deep colors and excellent clarity. At Knox Jewelers, we will help you to select the perfect orange garnet for your piece and ensure that it passes muster in all aspects to ensure that your engagement ring or wedding band is absolutely perfect and stunning.

What Makes Garnet The Perfect January Birthstone

Orange may not be the most popular color when it comes to gemstones, but don’t be too quick to write off orange garnets. Spessartine and mandarin garnets can be combined with a variety of different metals to create a truly beautiful piece which is both exciting and elegant. For centuries, orange gemstones have been used to create jewelry with evocative and rich feelings, images, and patterns, all of which have contributed to the uniqueness and fashion of these orange garnets. For individuals seeking to integrate a powerful red gemstone into their jewelry, and especially for those individuals with January birthdays, an orange garnet is the perfect choice.

Garnet Engagement Rings and Wedding Bands

At Knox Jewelers, we have crafted a rich and varied collection of unique engagement rings and wedding bands for our customers in the past. All of the designs we have created for our customers can utilize any gemstone you can imagine, including orange garnets. A stunning combination is to utilize a white gold or platinum band in conjunction with an orange garnet setting – the contrast of these two elements creates a stunning and exciting synthesis of color, elegance, and beauty, all of which contribute to making your custom engagement ring or wedding band a one of a kind piece of jewelry.

Have Any Questions? We’re Here to Help!

If you are thinking about utilizing an orange garnet gemstone in a custom jewelry piece, then please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have. Here at Knox Jewelers, we have long worked with orange garnets and have crafted some truly exquisite pieces for our customers, and we would be happy to help you design a unique ring which uniquely describes you or your loved one. We are not only available to answer your questions, but we would also be glad to walk you through the entire process of designing a unique piece of jewelry just for you, from start to finish. We look forward to meeting you and working together with you soon!

Full Bezel Set Engagement Rings and Wedding Bands – An Elegant Setting Style Throughout Time

Bezel settings – that is, settings wherein the metal of the band encompasses the edge of the gemstone – have a long and rich history in the metal smithing and jewelry-making professions. As a matter of fact, the use of bezel settings was one of the first ways in which metal smiths would set gemstones or diamonds into jewelry, as evidenced by many ancient heirlooms in public and private collections. But, bezel settings have practical advantages for the modern jewelry we design here at Knox Jewelers, too. While prong settings are the most common and popular settings for most modern pieces, they have a number of issues. In particular, prong settings allow for their stones to be more susceptible to accidental rubbing or damage; furthermore, these settings tend to be less secure overall. While the possibility of stone dis-lodgement through even intense activity is minimal, bezel settings make this risk practically nonexistent. These are just a few of the reasons why our handcrafted full bezel engagement rings and wedding bands have been supremely popular with our customers.

The History and Evolution of Bezel Settings

Some of the very first settings in the history of the profession used the bezel technique to perfectly fit and protect the beautiful gemstones of the eras past. For thousands of years, the bezel setting served as the one and only setting used by jewelers due to its feasibility with the tools and implements of those times. Essentially, an ancient jeweler might have fashioned a bezel setting by taking a piece of metal, whether gold, silver, or other, and fabricating it so that it matches the outer shape of the center stone. Then, the jeweler would place the stone within the bezel and “push” the metal over the stone so as to encompass it. This technique has largely remained unchanged throughout the ages, and it still requires many years to master the pushing of the metal to just the right amount over the center stone so that it is not only secure, but also concealed as little as possible.

The Advantages of Bezel Settings

As stated previously, bezel settings offer a variety of advantages. Here are just a few of them:

* Protection: Due to the seamless nature of a bezel setting, the stones contained therein are protected from many types of accidental damage.
* Versatility: Bezel settings look great with a variety of different band styles and stone cuts, as evidenced by our examples below.
* Snag-proof: Unlike prong settings, when a bezel setting gets damaged it is not likely to move away from the stone in a way that will leave the metal exposed to accidentally scratch someone or snag on things.

Examples of Bezel Settings Crafted By Knox Jewelers

At Knox Jewelers, we have crafted many unique engagement rings and wedding bands with bezel settings. Our metalsmiths have trained for many years to master this art, and we are proud to offer them to our customers. Those customers who have opted for a bezel setting have loved its elegance, durability, and sophistication, so much so that we could not help but tell you about them. Here are three of the unique and beautiful rings we have crafted for our customers in the past:

* Radiant Enchantment: With micro pavé stones stones forming a stunning halo around the center bezel setting of this beautiful ring, Radiant Enchantment surely lives up to its name. This piece in particular shows how bezel settings can be combined with halos and other silhouettes to create truly stunning jewelry.

* Monarch: The proud, noble Monarch ring showcases the exquisite combination of a round center stone, round bezel setting, and a lovely micro pavé band. Truly, this 14k white gold band is fit for nobility of the highest prestige.

Here are some custom, Monarch Variations:

* Bezel Step Eternity: Our innovative and elegant Bezel Step Eternity band takes the classic bezel setting design to a new level. A seamless, interlocking 14k white gold band of bezel round brilliant diamond settings makes this ring a truly unique and novel design not seen elsewhere.

Choosing a Bezel Setting for Your Wedding Band or Engagement Ring

A bezel setting is a fantastic choice of setting for the center stone of your wedding band or engagement ring. If you would like to learn more about using a bezel setting in a band for that special someone, please get in touch with us today. We look forward to discussing your plans with you!