Your Fairytale Engagement Ring
It’s often said diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but what if a girl loves color? I’ve got good news! Read on to discover the Do’s and Don’ts with color, so you can have the fairytale engagement ring of your dreams!
A few factors should be considered when deciding on what type of colored gem you want for a piece that will be worn every day, especially a ring. It is important to know the durability of a stone before choosing your engagement ring. Some tools that can help you determine this are a jewelry professional, Mohs scale of hardness, and the fracture toughness scale.
Mohs scale hardness is used to help classify the hardness of minerals. It runs from 1 (softest) to 10 (hardest) and is based on a mineral’s ability to scratch minerals rated on the lower end of the scale.
A gemstone’s toughness depends on its likelihood to break or chip and is based on the strength of bonding of the gem’s atoms. This is referred to as a fracture toughness scale.
Following is a list of gems I recommend and shy away from for engagement rings and why.
Do’s:
2.03-Carat Green-Yellow Particolored Sapphire Engagement Ring
Designed by Kayla Miller
Sapphire
Sapphire is an ideal choice for daily wear. This gem scores a 9 (Diamonds score a 10) on the Mohs hardness scale and also exhibits excellent toughness with no cleavage. Cleavage is the tendency to break when struck. Also, if you read my article on Sapphires in the September Construction Beauty Magazine, this gem comes in every color of the rainbow!
Ruby
Ruby comes in right beside sapphire with a 9 on the Mohs hardness scale. It’s stable under normal wearing conditions, which means it's resistant to the effects of heat, light, and common chemicals.
1.39-Carat Red Spinel Engagement Ring
Designed by Kayla Miller
Spinel
A lesser known gem, Spinel, registers an 8 on the Mohs hardness scale. Spinel also has a good toughness, making it a durable gem, and it comes in a variety of colors as well. In 2016, Red Spinel was named an alternate birthstone to Peridot for August. Red is my favorite color, so I chose Red Spinel for my engagement ring!
Morganite Halo Cocktail Ring
Designed by Kayla Miller
Aquamarine and Morganite
Aquamarine and morganite are both in the beryl mineral family. They are 7.5 to 8 on the Mohs scale and have a good toughness making them durable gemstones for jewelry. However, they should be treated with a little more care than a Sapphire or Diamond to protect against scratching and hard knocks.
Don’ts:
Emeralds
Mohs scale puts emeralds as an 8, however Emeralds are brittle due to their inclusions or imperfections. Emeralds are a beryl mineral and can rank 7.5-8 on Mohs scale, depending on how pure the beryl mineral is.
Also note that since most emeralds are treated with oil-filler for clarity, they can never go into a jewelry cleaning machine of any type. There is too much risk of damage. Further, any jewelry cleaning solution should be marked emerald safe. If you have your heart set on Emerald but are concerned about durability, you might consider a lab-created Emerald, as they are free of the inclusions and imperfections that make this gem more fragile.
Pearl
Pearl is ranked 2.5 on the Mohs hardness scale, which means it's very soft and easily scratched. Perhaps you’ve heard the ancient legend of Cleopatra and Marc Antony involving a pearl. As the story goes, Cleopatra bet Marc Antony that she could host the most decadent dinner in history. At the heart of the bet were Cleopatra’s hopes of impressing Marc Antony with the extent of Egypt’s wealth. In a spectacle, she crushed one large pearl from a pair of earrings and dissolved it in a goblet of wine before she consumed the concoction. Attention then turned to Antony to follow suit, but he declined to consume a matching pearl, thereby giving victory to Cleopatra.
Pliny the Elder, known as the world’s first gemologist, valued the two pearls at 60 million sestertii, or roughly $28.5 million dollars in today’s market.
Opal
Opal’s hardness varies, depending on its exact composition and formation conditions. It ranges from 5 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale. Its toughness is very poor to fair. That means opal is suitable for jewelry but requires care when wearing to not scratch or break the stone.
Moonstone
Moonstone has become a popular engagement stone in recent years and is very budget friendly. This gem falls between 6 and 6.5 on the Mohs scale and has poor toughness. Moonstone adds a beautiful ethereal look and is stunning when set in rose gold. However, plan to replace this gem a few times over the lifetime of your ring.
On another note, you don’t have to have a “Prince Charming” to create your own fairytale. Don’t wait until you get engaged, celebrate your story and who you are with a beautifully designed jewelry piece tailored to YOU! KM Jewelry Design, jewelry about YOU. For YOU.
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