The ring's setting is handmade of 15 karat gold, which at the time this rings setting was made the pure gold had an alloy of Platinum, so this makes the gold very strong. The rings shoulders are hand engraved with matt gold and polished gold plus small beading next to the diamond setting. The ring is set with nine natural Diamonds that are hand-cut. The center diamond is 20 points of a carat, and the eight surrounding round diamonds are 10 points each. The total carat weight is 1 carat. All diamonds are mine cut.
The old mine cut diamond is the earliest form of the modern brilliant cut. Also called the "cushion cut," it has a cushioned shaped girdle. This cut of the diamond is characterized by a high crown, small table, deep pavilion, and large culet.
The nine diamonds are graded for Clarity: VS1 -Very Slightly Imperfect These stones have small inclusions which are slightly difficult to difficult to see under a loupe with a ten times power magnification. Color is F, which is colorless! On all grading points of cut, clarity, and color, this diamond rates very nice quality by today's diamond standards and excellent for 19th Century standards.
History of Diamond Cutting:
Until the late fifteenth century, diamond cutting had been a primitive business. Diamonds were first "cleaved" by placing a chisel at the stone's weakest point of molecular cohesion and striking it with a mallet. If the precise point were located on the diamond's structure, the adhesion would be so weak that the diamond could be separated with a fingernail. If pressure were applied to the wrong point, or in the wrong direction, the diamond would shatter. After the medieval cutter succeeded in cleaving the diamond into the basic shape of the desired jewel, he placed it in an egg-shaped tin cup, called a dop, and attempted to remove any imperfections in it by striking it with another diamond, since only diamonds were hard enough to cut diamonds. This process, which was extremely slow and painstaking, was called bruting.
Even though the medieval cutter could eventually give the stone a jewel-like appearance through these methods, he was extremely limited by the natural shape of the diamond.
The situation suddenly changed at the end of the fifteenth century when a Jewish diamond cutter in Antwerp named Lodewyk van Berken invented the scaif. The scaif was simply a polishing wheel that was impregnated with a mixture of olive oil and diamond dust, but it completely revolutionized the art of diamond cutting. The rough diamond was clamped in a dop and held against this rotating disc, while the diamond dust on it ground away from the diamond to the desired angle. With the scaif, it became possible to polish symmetrically all the facets of the diamond at angles that reflected the maximum amount of light. As disciples of Van Berken applied the laws of optics to these angles, they created sparkling gems that fascinated the princes and aristocrats of Europe. Charles the Bold, Duke of Normandy, became the patron of Van Berken and commissioned him to cut a 137-carat diamond, which became known as the Florentine.
Diamond cutters from all over Europe came to Antwerp to study Van Berken's methods, and orders for these light-reflecting gems flowed in from all the royal courts, making Antwerp the pre-eminent diamond-cutting center in the world.
The symbolism of the diamonds is "Forever Thine" in the Victorian Language of Gemstones.
The ring and all Diamonds are in excellent condition and strong to wear. The rings band size is a size 6 and can be sized larger or smaller if needed.