City Beat news has proudly awarded M & M Jewelers - Birmingham, AL

Its coveted 2015 spectrum award for excellence in customer service

Based on Independent Research by CBN

Happy Holiday Monday! Have a fabulous Labor Day!

Halo Engagement Rings

A halo setting features a center stone, which can be either a diamond or a colored stone, encircled by twinkling small diamonds. Halo engagement rings can feature a center diamond of any shape, however round, square, and oval diamonds are the most popular.  The outline of small diamonds can also be of any shape but round and square are the most popular.

With so much customization and sparkle, halo engagement rings have become the preferred choice of brides-to-be. The unique thing about halo settings is, a smaller center diamond creates an illusion of a larger size center diamond, adding more sparkle, while a larger center diamond creates a striking balance of being both delicate and bold.

There are endless ways of customizing halo engagement rings. You can add double row of diamonds to add double sparkle; this setting is commonly known as a double halo. Choosing right setting for your halo will make lot of difference in how your ring will look. A prong setting (classic setting) or bezel setting goes well with halo. One of our designs includes pink gold weaving around the center to create an unconventional look. Our split shank halo engagement ring can be customized with two-tone gold to give it a distinct look.

Solitaire rings with a big center rock are every bride-to-be’s fancy but not everyone can have it; a halo engagement ring does the trick and provides a bigger and bolder look with a smaller diamond.

If you are looking for your dream halo engagement ring, browse our website or visit our store to browse our collection.

Knock Knock! Gold at new five year low and this is the time to buy your desired piece of jewelry

Gold along with Silver and Platinum are trading multiyear lows while we are writing this article. And we always see this as an opportunity for our customers to come by our stores and buy what they have either been planning or have desired to have.

Gold hit its lowest level since February 2010, after a low of $1088 an ounce yellow metal recovered a bit and was trading at $1105 an ounce.

Platinum was even worst hit and sunk below $1000, its lowest in the last six years. Reason sited for this is a perception that supply was increasing while demand was low. At day’s end it was traded at $980.

Silver was trading at $14.83 which is the lowest price for silver in the last six years. Silver seems to have been affected in general by the weakness of precious metal and commodities.

We are looking forward to seeing you at our store. We have a huge selection of bridal rings, engagement rings, earrings, pendants etc.

 

 

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Leap seconds

Did you know June 30^th was a second longer?

Yes, you read it right just like a leap year we had leap second on June 30^th, 2015. June 30^th ended day with GMT 23:59:60 odd time adding a second to earth’s atomic time. NASA stated this has been done to cope up with the earth’s rotating speed as its gradually slowing down.

And to your surprise this was not the first time that leap second was added to the world time. In fact it was started back in 1972 & this year was the 26^th time that we have adjusted our time with earth’s rotation which is managed by International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) which keeps track of time for the world. The last leap second was added on June 30, 2012. And it had many websites like Reddit, FourSquare, Gawker, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Yelp to collapse. It also had contributed for delay or cancelled flights. Google has been added up a fraction of second from past few years so they don’t face sudden shift of time.

By the year 2100 there would be a time difference of 2 to 3 minutes between earth’s actual rotations to our atomic time if we don’t add a leap second. So to keep our atomic clock synchronizes with the sun this practice has to follow. IERS informs 6 months prior to the time of shift. There is not periodic time regulation shift like leap year it has to be performed whenever the time difference 0.09 sec.

Since January 1972, timekeeping has, been maintained time in accordance with the atomic time scale. The Earth is currently losing about three-thousandths of a second per day, and, atomic clocks are just over six-tenths of a second fast on UTC right now. The addition of the leap second will keep the difference from exceeding nine-tenths of a second.

Leap seconds are inserted, when needed, either on June 30 or at the very end of the year, on Dec. 31.

Happy father’s day to all dad's in the world...

Gemstone Guide

Gems are like fingerprints: each one is unique. Each one tells a story.

Discover the Soul of Color with our fascinating gemstone guide: http://bit.ly/1C6j2bw

Gift your dad

Father's day Offer I hope you are still confused on what to gift your dad this Father's Day

A Rare Plant Might Transform How We Find Diamonds

There are many ways for exploration of the Kimberlite pipes for diamonds, but according to new paper by Mr Stephen E. Haggerty, a rare plant Pendanus candelabrum could serve as a signpost for diamond indicator kimberlite, which might eventually lead to easier and less expensive diamond exploration.

Pendanus candelabrum

The author of this paper Mr.Haggerty added that the plant only grew along the kimberlite and not over the adjacent ground. Mr Haggerty believes, this knowledge could make diamond exploration in West Africa a lot cheaper and this could dramatically change the exploration dynamics for diamonds.

Kimberlite is an igneous rock, best known for sometimes containing diamonds. Kimberlite pipes are the most important source of mined diamonds today.

Mr. Haggerty was uncomfortable with some press coverage of his paper, including headlines such as “There’s a Plant That Shows You Where Diamonds Are Buried.”

He stresses that, finding a kimberlite pipe does not mean you have found a profitable mine. Only 1 percent of kimberlite pipe discoveries result in economic diamond mines.

Mystery Diamond Color Treatment Stumps GIA

Even GIA doesn’t have the answer of Mystery Diamond Color. There are around 500 diamonds with uncommon color which is marked as Mystery Diamond by GIA.


The Gemological Institute of America reported that “as many as 500 diamonds may have been subjected to a new mystery color treatment that temporarily improved the stones’ color as much as three grades.”


GIA believes that the treatment temporarily masks diamond’s body color, resulting in a color grade that can be up to three grades higher than it would be normally.

According to spokesperson Stephen Morisseau, GIA first became aware of the tricky treatment after grading some 500 stones submitted by Israeli manufacturers over a series of month.

Mr. Morisseau says that “We reasonably believe these stones were treated in some way” and he also added that “We don’t know what the treatment is, we are actively researching it?”

GIA said in lab alert “We ask anyone who has purchased or holds these diamonds to please resubmit them to any GIA location for review. GIA will expedite the service, and no fee will be assessed.”

L.Y.E Diamonds, E.G.S.D. Diamonds, Romok Abramov, and Yair Matatov these four companies are banned by GIA. After this action by GIA only one company replied which was Romok Abramov? Abramov says ““All the stones mentioned in the GIA report are not mine, I Never saw any of those stones and don’t have any idea if they were treated.”

The World Federation of Diamond Bourses involved and sent statement expressing concern about the incident. The president of WFDB Mr Ernie Blom said that “This is clearly unlawful behavior, we will have no tolerance whatsoever for this type of alleged illegal activity. We are pleased that the GIA publicized this development so that diamantaires can be on their guard.”

Pearls

Pearls have been around for decades. They are a staple of fashionable women and one of the hallmarks of what is traditionally considered “elegant” and “sophisticated” style. The strand of pearls which were once defined as classy, are they still in fashion? The answer is YES!

Unlike most other gemstones which are mineral, Pearls are organic and are formed by living organisms.A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. The finest quality natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries. Though Pearls occur naturally in the wild, their occurrence is very sporadic and limited.

 
You may find them in the form of fresh water pearls, akoya saltwater pearls and south sea pearls.

Freshwater Pearls- are not the rarest pearls but they are the finest and preferred by jewelry makers.

AkoyaSaltwater Pearls-have been synonymous with classic beauty and elegance.

South Sea Pearls- have an exceptional smoothness and roundness. These are the rarest and most extraordinary pearls you will find in jewelry.

Freshwater Pearls

Cultured freshwater pearls are pearlsthat are farmed and created using freshwater mussels.The quality of cultured freshwater pearls is evaluated through a grading system of a series of values, based on luster, shape, surface, colorand matching.The process begins by choosing a suitable donor mussel and cutting a strip of tissue from the mantle is known as GRAFTING.This strip of tissue is then cut into 3mm squares. These squares are delivered to a technician who performs the operation. Unlike saltwater bead nucleation, this process is not considered difficult, and technicians need minimal training to perform the operation.After the maximum numbers of grafts have been performed, the mussel is flipped, and the procedure is performed once again on the other valve of the shell.

Freshwater pearl harvests are typically bought while still in the shell. After harvest the pearls are delivered to a first-stage factory, which is responsible for cleaning and sorting the pearls by size and shape.After the pearls are treated, they are drilled and then polished with a mixture of cornmeal and wax.

AkoyaSaltwater Pearls

If you're looking for the classic set of pearls, look to Saltwater Akoya cultured pearls. These pearls were first to ever be cultured in the early 1900s. For the past 100 years, Akoya pearls have been synonymous with classic beauty and elegance. They are the roundest of all pearl varieties, and are known for their sharp luster and pink overtones.

The Akoya oyster is the smallest pearl-producing oyster used in pearl culture today, so Akoya pearls also tend to be small, ranging in size from just 2 mm to about 11 mm in size. The average pearl size is harvested at about 7.5mm in diameter.

Almost all pearls available in the market are cultured.  Most natural pearls are odd-shaped because the irritants that caused the oyster to begin creating the pearl are not round.  Beautifully round, lustrous natural pearls would cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars a strand.

South Sea Pearls

South Sea cultured pearls are exceptional quality pearls with a whitish, almost silver color. The South Sea Pearl is much larger than the average pearl. The smoothness and roundness of these pearls are exceptional. These are the rarest and most extraordinary pearls you will find in jewelry.

South Sea pearls come from the white-lipped variety of the pinctada maxima oyster. This oyster is much larger than the oysters that produce Akoya and Freshwater pearls, so the pearl that it produces is much larger as well. Because of the rarity and sensitivity of this type of oyster, cultivation of these pearls is much more difficult, making them more expensive.

South Sea pearls are among the largest commercially harvested cultured pearls in the world. The average size of a South Sea pearl is 13 mm, with most harvests producing a range of sizes from 9 mm to 20 mm. The South Seas lie between the northern coast of Australia and the southern coast of China. These waters are the native habitat of a large oyster known as Pinctada maxima. This oyster grows up to 12 inches in diameter, and can be nucleated with a much larger bead than other saltwater oysters such as the Akoya.

These types of Pearls are very precious and the most prestigious treasure you can ever give. Visit our store to shop our pearl jewelry or visit us online at
mmjewelersbirmingham.com