Before all this technical, 'scientific stuff in the form of grading reports came along, diamonds were purchased by wholesalers and sold to their clients, the jewellers, on the basis of their beauty and ability to seduce the customer.

The parameters used by us all, in those days, some 30 years ago were sparkle or life, brilliance or scintillation as it can also be put. But also the 'spread' or 'face-up' or if you like the 'show' factor.

Our jewellery clients wanted primarily and justifiably a diamond which would both sparkle and face up very well when set in an item of jewellery, they also paid more for this more 'attractive' and more easily saleable stone.

Around 65 years ago a certain Mr Tolkowski, being in the business, wanted to see, as a mathematician, if it was possible to establish a scientific basis for the most perfect cut, based on the diamond's ability to refract light.

Certain parameters were established and are today the basis of what we, diamond cutters have known for over 100 years. they were as follows:

Table diameter: 53 to 66%
Crown height : 11 to 16%
Pavillion depth: 42 to 45%

There is a difference from what the human eye is able to perceive and what certain specialised scientific instruments are able to determine.

In Tolkowski's time some 65 years ago, using the instruments he had developed, he determined that the perfect parameters were between those as set at above.

These were based on human observation, using scientific means to prove the point and at the time Tolkowski was praised by the industry for his work in this field.

As time went on, equipment developed and it was then possible to determine, to a more precise level a more precise degree of scientific correctness for the diamond crystal's light refractive capabilities.

This presented to us, diamond cutters, no real interest as we did not firstly have the precise technical polishing equipment and most importantly, the market did not require it either as all was well and customers satisfied.

Again time went on and our technical tools developed, mostly to help us cut more quickly and efficiently.

Diamond laboratories opened in Europe in 1974, may I say at this point, that we opened the very first European laboratory in Europe, 'Diamexpertise' and at one time even employed Mr Margel, President and founder of the internationally re known laboratory EGL, as our director, he later left in 1976 and started up, very successfully, the EGL laboratory operation, he was and is still a good friend of mine.

Also 1976 saw the birth of the HRD and IGI laboratories.

To get on with the facts, from these days onwards the 'investment' diamond business started to take off. Many individuals, not in our industry, started to gravitate towards it seeing profit as they too, being able to 'read' a diamond report could start selling diamonds to the public as 'investments' and not necessarily only for jewellery purposes.

The demand, through slick marketing and advertising, grew and grew and at a time, in 1982/83 went to silly heights and then crashed.

Many lost enormous amounts of money, and today prices still reflect those of after this crash plus maybe an added 20 to 25%, by the way at their height prices were 300% higher than they are on average today on better quality goods.

1987 brought about the far eastern market climb and during those post crash years there was a type of glut of unsaleable diamonds waiting for a buyer, the Japanese wholesalers, at least the clever ones did not wish cheaper stones to be brought in by competitors so had to do something, they decided to up the parameters and through marketing and advertising let it be known that special, 'better', more perfect cut stones, were available.

This 'perfection' thing appealed to the growing Japanese diamond consumer who could not get enough of it and prices following demand, grew.... the problem was SUPPLY.

That's where we came in, indeed we were approached by a top Japanese wholesale dealer with whom we entered an exclusive manufacturing partnership in order to cut these very exclusive diamonds.

For years we had a near monopoly on their manufacture and the world's biggest workforce exclusively cutting to these high parameters so we know what we are talking about.

This demand was artificially created in order to control the Japanese market, not through a beautifully cut diamond but through a perfectly, over precisely cut diamond offering nothing else to the consumer than perfect light refractive capability only perceptible by using highly sophisticated equipment and sold with a certificate mirroring these facts to anyone who could read.

In 1994/95 the Japanese market started to fall, many of these diamonds did not find buyers and were being expensively stocked in the hope of a return to better times, unfortunately until today the market is still flat.

Then in 1995/96 came the Internet, the perfect solution was available, lists or virtual stocks of diamonds could be offered to the public, who could read what they were buying, all that was needed was for the public to do their research to get information in order to make an informed choice amongst the diamonds on these 'lists'.

No easier task for the internet putting the answers online, over informing the public so they would think that they were getting something better when in fact they would be purchasing something that the jewellers, who have always been purchasing diamonds but not the so called 'ideal' ones, did not really want. Their idea of the 'ideal' cut, is the cut which offers BOTH excellent light refraction and perfect 'spread' to the consumer and can be 'visually' appreciated, in an item of jewellery by the customer. They have been purchasing this cut for the past 70 odd years, diamonds cut 'intelligently' saving weight when necessary thus reducing the price and offering perfect 'sparkle' and 'spread' as well, this to the benefit of all concerned especially the consumer.

This is why 'online' dealers have been talking up the value of an over precisely cut diamond and have financially profited from it.

Today misinformed clients online, perhaps similar to yourselves are asking for these stones, we can supply them no problem but I feel that as one of the first true diamond cutting companies to have a presence online, some nine and half years ago, that we must inform properly, hence the reason we spend so much time corresponding with our customers.

Hopefully you will have learned something from this explanation of the facts as we see them and will apply these facts to a better judgement of the situation and make an informed decision of what is required, after all your diamond ring is an important purchase so you deserve real value for money.