7 Trends in Jewellery Industry for 2008.

Its that time of the year when you cannot help but start crystal-ball gazing into the future. What lies ahead for you and me in 2008.

This post isn't about gold lovers only but also for all the jewellery retailers. Because businesses cannot ignore the strong winds of change in 2008

1) Hallmarking as the new force du jour: The fact most jewellers have to contend with going in 2008. We can tell from our personal experience as we see increasing footfalls asking hallmark jewellery. Consumers have started seeing the value hallmarking provides. Another bolt from the blue for the non-complying jeweller has been govt's mandatory hallmark from 2008 verdict.

2) Big Retailers at the doorstep: The organized or branded retailing is still a small fraction of the entire jewellery market in India. And this has made big players like Reliance and Rajesh Exports eye this lucrative and promising area. Tata with its Tanishq brand has already gained the faith of a lot of consumers. Reliance with 'Reliance Jewels' and Rajesh Exports with ' Shubh Jewellers' will certainly make their presence felt in 2008.

I have a few posts lined up next which will explore 'Blue Ocean Opportunities in the Jewellery Industry in India.' Keep clued in to this blog.

3) Marquise shape is the flavor of the year: Noticed the new DeBeers ad which shows an Indian wedding in which the bride shockingly says "You may now kiss the bride". The diamond set worn by the bride is made of Marquise shaped diamonds. Though the diamonds themselves have a regular shape but when put together in a bangle or necklace set they can form very interesting designs.

4) Colour diamonds: Pick up a magazine or visit any good jewellery forum and you can't miss it. Everywhere Color Diamonds are being talked about. Thats why color diamonds though reserved for the Uber rich finds a place in our predictions of 2008. India with its growing list of High Net Worth Individuals(HNWIs) will find quite a few takers. Yellow or Champagne color and pink diamonds are most favored.

5) Fashion Jewellery: Popularly known as Imitation Jewellery. This industry has seen high growth in the last couple of years. Largely fueled by career woman and younsters for both formal and casual occasions. This kind of jewelry has taken off from unorganized street-side vendors to malls and standalone dedicated shops.

6) Polki (Uncut Diamonds): Far removed from the fire that an ideally cut diamond radiates polki looks like glass cut thinly in irregular shapes. But the magic happens when Polki is teamed up with yellow gold. Traditionally used in indian bridal jewellery collections, its steadily finding its way into more casual wear kadas and bangles and delicate necklaces.

7) Custom Designed Jewellery: User generated designs (taking a cue from User generated content of the internet world) are changing the clothes people wear. So will be true for their accessories. Consumers of gold particularly the young generation can now design their own wedding bands, engagement rings and anniversary rings. We are particularly bullish on this one as we have forayed in this direction earlier this year. Trendylicious an online fashion magazine recently covered our offering of Custom Engagement Rings here.

What do you think will sway the businesses and fashionistas in the coming year?

Sensible Jewellery

Sometimes our customers drive us to come up with innovative ways to design jewellery which are glamorous yet elegant, stylish yet practical and serve more than one purpose. Recently one of our customer came in with a special request: She wanted a piece of jewellery which could be used in more ways than one. Now, I don't say that this was the first time something like this was being done, but the way finished product turned out it sure felt like multipurpose jewellery is the way to go!
Showcased here is the picture of a pendant cum ring.The attachments given along show the ease with which you can switch from one look to another in less than 30 seconds.

Here, the main body of the jewellery is a flower shaped pattern in gold embedded with diamonds and rubies. With it is a ring and a pendent hook which easily screws into the main body.

Complete it with a pair of matching earrings and you are all set for a super-glam look with a large chunky ring, or you can settle for a toned down, feminine look with your flowery pendant.

Just so I don't leave you wondering how it actually would look, I am attaching a couple of pictures for the pleasure of your eyes:






Priced between Rs.32,000 to 34,000, this is the kind of jewellery which goes really easy on your wallet!

Related Articles:
MultiPurpose Jewellery

New Offering: Loyalty Cards

At Kathana we have introduced a loyalty program. There is a free gold coin on a cumulative purchase of 1 lac. worth Diamond jewelry of any kind within a period of 1 year. The gold coin is hallmarked 22K worth Rs. 2000/- . In fact you can also redeem points from the purchase of your referrals. Of course the referrals then can't claim the points you have claimed.

Such Joy! in the times of shooting gold prices.

Madatory Hallmark from Jan 2008: The Fallout

As I had promised earlier I am covering the story of the BIS mandate to make Hallmarking cumpulsory from Jan 2008. It was pretty evident (to us) that this implementation will have its fair share of hiccups. For a preview of what the issue is about read our earlier post.

On 14th Decemebr 2007, we received a notice from the Karol Bagh Jewellers' Association (which we are a member of) to observe a 'bandh' against the BIS mandate. I am quoting the notice verbatim:

As per the decision of All Delhi Sarafa Association and Delhi Bullion Association there is a call for "Jewellers Bundh" on Friday 14th Decemebr 2007, against the implementation of "Hall-Mark BIS". As the law is very tough and will bring Babu Raj in the industry. Jewellers had asked for lots of amendments for which BIS & GOvt. has not responded positively, so this bundh is being observed. Kindly co-operate and unite together.

Lets analyze some of the demands of the jewellers:

• The jewellers want the year markings viz 'A', 'B', 'C'... and so on be made optional or done away with. This years markings is 'H' and soon its going to be 'I' for the next year. In 2008 jewellery of last year and years before that, might not necessarily be attractive to a customer.
• The Assayists bill a minimum of Rs. 350 even though individual items only cost as low as Rs. 50 to get hallmarked. So if a jeweller went to get just 1 item hallmarked, they would be charged the minimum amount. This amount cannot be passed to the consumer as making charges for a small item for e.g a earring, top or ring.
  
• Jewellers in other parts of the country like Gujarat claim the lack of enough hallmarking centres around them to enable easy and frequent hallmarking.
  

This is an initial list and we are sure there are many more.

On the other hand the govt's move is clearly aimed at helping the consumers who have been a 'cheated' lot. And such a standardization would give some peace of mind for the consumers.

Its clearly a battle of profits vs purity.

Updated: 17/01/08

Solitaire International( a Jewellery trade magazine ) has an article covering the hurdles for countrywide adoption of Hallmarking at http://tinyurl.com/2s6q6f

Understanding the price of 22K gold,wastage and making charges.

Note: If you are looking for gold rate please look in the right column under the heading Today's Gold Price.

Ok, back to the post.The question on 22k price, wastage and making charges often gets asked in jewelry forums and in "answers" forum across various portals. So here's our take:

An Example:Assuming the price of 24K gold is Rs.10,000/10 grams.(ah ! those were the days)

You will find the price for 22K gold = Rs.9,700( printed in newspapers as Abhushan jewellery).

Since the actual quantity of gold is 22 parts of the 24 parts. Actually the gold price should have been Rs. 10,000 X 22/24 = Rs. 9166.

So, how does one explain the difference. Lets see what happens at jewellers' end.

Wastage Charges:Once a jeweller commissions a Karigar(Craftsman) to manufacture a jewellery item. The karigar wastes some gold in manufacturing it. Yeah what you just read is true. The gold gets 'wasted' in the manufacture of a jewellery item. It depends on the jewellery item. For the pure gold items the wastage is around 6-8%, whereas for a diamond jewellery it goes upto 15%-25% of pure gold.

Now, ofcourse at a technical level it doesn't get wasted and the karigar meticulously collects it. But for all practical purposes the jeweller fraternity files that under wastage and passes that to the customer, albeit in a hidden manner.

Also remember that the karigar mixes alloys to gold to make it 22k pure. These alloys also adds up to the cost and is filed under wastage charges.

Hence, the price difference of actual 22K gold versus the 'Abhushan Jewellery' rate that you see in Newspapers.

Making Charges:Making charges are what a consumer pays above the price of gold(on a certain day) for crafting the gold into jewellery. This varies from item(viz. bangles) to item(viz. chains) and from one jeweller to another.

How we are bought and sold:

Dr.Robert Levine the author of 'The Power of Persuasion - How we're bought and sold' mentions in the chapter 'Learning to avoid stupid mental arithmetic' about a critical insight into the consumer psychology.

Consolidate the Losses and separate the Gains

He found that if a salesman clubbed the losses in a certain transaction and gave you a whole figure for the losses, while he separated the gains, A consumer would be more comfortable conducting the transaction than if it were the other way around.

Now look at it this way. For a 22K jewellery item you pay ( The price of 22K gold + Wastage Charges + Making Charges) . There are 2 losses, that of making charges and the wastage charges. So, by combining the wastage charges with the price of gold, a consumer now sees just
the making charges.

And my jeweller fraternity has taken heed to this very advice.

How to avoid the Low Making Charges Trap in jewellery

In an earlier post I had mentioned how much I disliked the idea of making charges in jewellery taking precedence over everything else. Especially my rant on how radio is being used to dish the "oh-so low making charges" tune.
Jewellers tend to gain from such 'positioning' as they can now "distract" shoppers from other real issues like Hallmarking.

The Trap: Jeweller advertises a low making charge of say Rs. 60/gm and sometimes even lower.

Gullible Shopper: Sees a deal at hand and goes happy hopping and cannot contain his/her glee.

Wise Shopper : Goes to check out what the heck is this deal about. Finds the jeweller is selling non hallmark jewellery, leaves the "deal" on the table.

What did the Wise Shopper know that the Gullible didn't?

Besides the common sensical thing that something that looks too good to be true is usually that. There's a rationale behind this.

Assuming the price of 22K gold is Rs. 9700.

Non Hallmark Jeweller:
Price of 22K gold is : Rs. 9,700.
Price per gram : Rs. 970.
Making charges : Rs. 60.
Total price per gram : Rs. 1030.

Actual purity from such jewellers comes to about 16-18K( Our first hand experience). Averaging it to 17K.
Value of gold of 17K is Rs 7083 per10 grams.
Value of gold of 17K is Rs 708 per gram.

Jeweller's margin a whooping Rs 262 per gram + ( Rs.60 - actual karigar charges).

Hallmark Jeweller:

Price of 22K gold is : Rs. 9700.
Price per gram : Rs. 970.
Making charges : Rs. 150.
Total price per gram : Rs. 1090.

Actual purity from such jewellers should come to 22K. Your value is retained even though you feel you are paying more. You are actually getting more.

Since Jewellers' margins are under threat as hallmarking leaves no scope for manipulation in the purity of gold, they will charge more Making Charges. Be prepared for that.

Jewellers Margin = ( 150 - actual karigar charges)

So my little piece of advice next time you go jewellery shopping: Turn off your radios and look for the blue triangle.

Marketing Lessons Offline Stores Can Learn From The Internet

Internet stores realized the advantages of low operational costs, an unlimited audience and catering to their niches( yeah I am vaguely refering to the long tail). In this wake they also shed some old marketing techniques and developed new ones.

Since being entrusted with marketing for Kathana Jewellers ( and a pittance budget) I have often looked online for inspiration. Not just getting inspired but also borrowing from the online world and applying them offline.

Some of these out-of-the-box techniques were fairly easy to implement while others needed a whole new way of doing things.

The interesting lessons are:

• Customer testimonials : Websites love to put customer testimonials online we did the same at our offline store.

• Customized Jewellery : We borrowed techniques of Dell.com and Bluenile.com, to allow our customers to design and order Custom Engagement Rings. By custom making, customers save on the shelving cost and get a product of their liking and within their budget.
  

• Contextual Ads : These days Google and the likes allow you to serve ads contextually. So, a person living in India would see a different ad of the same product versus a person living in US. We are doing that offline as we serve different ads to different neighbourhoods based on the customers testimonials.

• Conversational Copy: We haven't tried this but this occurred to me recently. Isn't the web2.0 all about conversations? Make the copy of your marketing material a conversation.

Can you think of similar marketing/business lessons one can learn online and apply offline?

Hallmark Mandatory From Jan 2008...Really?

Any gold jewellery sold after Jan1, 2008 should be Hallmarked hence forth, says the Bureau of Indian standards. On the surface this looks like a good deal for the shoppers of gold jewellery but hold on there's a caveat.

This rule applies to Jewellers in the metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta for now which means people living in the rest of India will still have to hunt for the Hallmark jewellers.

Within the metros too I bet it will be a while before BIS can really implement it. It is largely because the BIS is severly understaffed to enforce this. Also the industry grapevine doesn't seem to prove me wrong. So the aforementioned metro shoppers: You need to be on your toes too.

I will update on this blog as and when I find more on this front.

Thank You ....Tolmolbol

Tolmolbol came up with Diwali Dhamaka as the feature for its first newsletter for all its users who have subscribed to it. Tolmolbol.com is a platform for user generated reviews on local businesses.

We were pleasantly surprised(no wonder its being written so many days after diwali) to see our name for the places to try during the festive season in the New Delhi edition.

This is how they said it:

The fashion-conscious Delhi-wallahs have a superb choice of both fashion and food!

Whether you want to dress up ethnic with Biba and Biba or casual; the options range from the good, the bad, and the ugly. Spykar Jeans, Pepe Jeans, Pantaloons, Unistyle Image, and more. You’ll find classic women’s wear at Bizarre and if you’re looking for something more unique try People Tree. And while you’re shopping for Diwali, why don’t you just pop in to Kathana Jewellers and tell us what you think about it?

No festival is complete without sweets, and the very traditional sounding Gulab Rewari Gajjak Sweets-Rohtak Wala is a great place to stopover for sweets.

Have a great Festive Season!

Thank You! TolMolBol

P.S. BTW Gulab Sweets is bang across the road from us.

Related Posts:
Thank You ....Trendylicious!

New Pics On The Blog

Monday has been rewarding even though the shutters of our store was down. Finally we managed to add some pictures of the products we have in our store.
We have been working very hard with getting the photographs right and have kept the touch ups to bare minimum. This was just a trial shoot and the results were much better than what we were getting from professional photographers who were charging us a fortune. We hope that you enjoy the pics.

Posted above is the "pendant part of" a diamond necklace. A mix of baguettes and round shaped diamonds have been used to create this necklace. The necklace has an appeal which is expected to strike a chord with modern women. Very classy and elegant.

The picture below (left) shows a craftsmen working on a diamond bangle. Every diamond is manually embedded inside its setting. This particular piece involved over 50 hours of labour from start to finish and has over 7 carats of baguette shaped diamonds. The finished product is presented along.



Next we shot antique-looking bangles(below), which have been quite popular in the market for the last few years. Going by the buying trend looks like its going to find its fair amount of takers this season as well. The bangle in the picture below is one of the classic example of the patterns women in India are fascinated about.

Rubies, polki diamonds (uncut real diamonds), emeralds and other semi precious stone find their home in this bangle . Weighing over a 70 grams of gold, each of these bangle demand almost 60 hours of labor to be done and had to be outsourced to craftsmen in Calcutta.



If you are wanting to get a better view of the products, please click on the pictures. I am sure you would appreciate the detailing of each of these products.

How is Gold Price related to US Dollar?

Note: If you are looking for gold rate please look in the right column under the heading Today's Gold Price.

With gold prices touching the sky and putting a dampener on gold sales. See the poll results on the right. A lot of you must be wondering how the heck in the world is a weakening dollar affecting the price of gold.

Let me come to this in a simple grandmom explanation.

Its all about the hedge against inflation. People invest in assets where they can gain more than inflation.

Consider the dollar starts weakening due to various reasons. Which means the dollar cannot buy as much anymore. People start moving their money to other assets like stocks, land, gold etc. This spurt in gold purchases with supply remaining constant, pushes the gold price up.

I think I got that right. Whoops this does look like a jalebi.

Diamond trade: An Indian perspective.

Trawling the ocean of weblogs I stumbled upon a few "pearls" today. One of the blog post caught my particular attention because of the simplified and yet insightful narration of the Diamond trade with respect to India.

The post by Ajay Shah ( looks like an economist by his other writings) is a little long for the average reader who has limited attention span. The narrative keeps you pinned to your seat though.

In his post Ajay talks about the origins of diamond trade in India and its value add through the process.

Then you get to fly to De Beers in London (or to the market in Antwerp) every five weeks, where you get shown a pile of diamonds sitting on a brightly lit table. The price of the consignment is non-negotiable. The quality of rough diamonds in the pile is heterogeneous. The prospective buyer gets around 15 minutes to make a decision: to take it or leave it.

And finally explains why this business has been a family feifdom.

Second, the need for globally dispersed elements of the family. One brother sits in London, visits De Beers, buys a batch of rough diamonds (which requires making a judgment about whether the batch is a good deal). One brother sits in India and does the polishing (which requires making judgments about optimality of cuts, and handling issues of theft). One brother sits in Antwerp and sells the polished diamonds (which is pure bargaining).

If this has got you curious indeed go visit his blog post here.

Kathana Finds A Home In Facebook Pages

This weekend was busy gorging Diwali Mithais and meeting near and dear one. But I did find some time to work on the blog a little bit more.

SO now you would notice that the Feeds are up. You can spot the orange button somewhere down the right column. And so is subscribing to the blog through mails.

Another interesting feature I came across was Facebook's introduction of Facebook Pages. Although there has been talks about how social networks allow businesses to reach potential customers. Unless I am really ignorant about the current Web2.0 scene it looks to me that Facebook has cracked it right.

Excited I have now opened a store front for Kathana Jewellers. It is still in the process of being updated. And I am actually waiting to look at some more examples of people doing it right.

Exceptional Customer Service: Every Business Can Implement It.

One of the most indelible memories of US has been its customer service at department stores big and small alike, restaurants, coffeeshops and everywhere else. So naturally when I came back after a 4 year stint there I tried to imbibe this culture at our jewelry store.

I am fortunate to have a family which supported me all along when I wanted to implement ideas I learnt from the west to the jewelry store. But there were voices of dissent among relatives, customers who wished us good and friends who thought Indian customers are too untrustworthy to place the trust on.

The customer service I am talking about ranged from 30-Day Money BAck at Targets,Nordstorm etc, free dessert because we made you wait for it a little too long at Applebees in Salem, Oregon, or dont worry about the wallet you forgot you can pay us next time at Starbucks, Wilsonville, Oregon. I was bound to get infected and bound to give this a try in its own flavor back in India.

Besides Customer satisfaction, there is a business case for it:

Joel Spolsky puts that in words what we had all along known and I quote from his blog

The no-questions-asked 90-day money back guarantee was one of the best decisions we ever made at Fog Creek. Try this: use Fog Creek Copilot for a full 24 hours, call up three months later and say, “hey guys, I need $5 for a cup of coffee. Give me back my money from that Copilot day pass,” and we’ll give it back to you. Try calling on the 91st or 92nd or 203rd day. You’ll still get it back. We really don’t want your money if you’re not satisfied. I’m pretty sure we’re running the only job listing service around that will refund your money just because your ad didn’t work. This is unheard of, but it means we get a lot more ad listings, because there’s nothing to lose.

Over the last six years or so, letting people return software has cost us 2%.

2%.

Similarly, Over the last 11 months since we implemented a '30-Day 100% Money back' in our store we haven't had a single return. And I am not kidding.

Wishing You a Happy Diwali

Wishing all the readers of this blog, A very HAPPY DIWALI.

May this joyous occasion bring peace, prosperity and purity to your family and loved ones.

Making Charges In Gold : A Classic Overhyped Marketing Gimmick!

Seth Godin would have loved to point this in his book All marketers are liars. The case in point is the making charges in jewellery of any kind be it gold, diamond or semi-precious stones.

Making charges are what a consumer pays above the price of gold(on a certain day) for crafting the gold into jewellery. This varies from item(viz. bangles) to item(viz. chains) and from one jeweller to another. Usually the going rate starts upwards of Rs.60/gram.

Somehow for some marketers this parameter is the most important thing to consider when buying/evaluating gold from a retailer. You cant miss this fact especially on different radio channels where every other jeweller is trying to beat the competitor on just this parameter.

Infact so intense is the competition and so unmeasurable the delight of consumers that I recently came across a customer who boasted of Rs.10/gram of making charges from another jeweller.

Why has this parameter stolen the limelight when there are parameters more worthy to consider or highlight?

This stems from the basic instinct in humans: To get a good bargain for the deal at hand.

So whats wrong with that?
This takes me back to what said earlier. There are more than just one parameter to consider when buying gold. FInd out the return policy on your jewellery. You should ideally get a trial period of atleast a month beyond which expect to lose only making charges when you return your jewellery. The diamonds should be certified by reputed houses like GIA,EGL and IGI. The jewellery should be BIS hallmarked. It should indicate all the 5 signs BIS recommends.

On prompting more the customer pointed that his low making charges were on unhallmarked gold jewellery. Here rests my case.

Related Posts:
How to avoid the Low Making Charges Trap in Jewellery

Thank You... Trendylicious!

So the news of our unique offerings and services is reaching places. I want to thank the trendylicious team for doing a wonderful job of covering our offerings and bringing us in front of their readers.

FOr the new readers of this blog, spend some time around on this blog and leave comments on how you like this blog and what you would like to know about jewellery.

Our website is getting revamped,It will sport a new look by the end of this week. So bookmark it to visit again.

For those of you who haven't read the article its here.

Related Posts:
Custom Made Engagement Rings

Tip # 1: All Gold Is Not Created Equal

I have been thinking of starting jewellery tid-bits in a digestible format for the readers of this blog.

Once I have a decent number of them I will make an e-book out of these.Here's my first one.

Gold used in Diamond jewellery is 18K whereas in Gold sets, Kanthi Sets the gold is 22K pure.

Why so? The reason is pure gold(24K) is very soft and cannot be used in jewellery of any kind as it is. So alloys are mixed in gold to make it stronger.

Prongs used in diamond jewellery to hold the diamonds need to be strong. Hence it is 18K( more alloy). Gold used in necklaces containg semiprecious stones, kanthi necklace sets and antique design gold sets are made in 22K gold(less alloy).

Save Money! GO Custom!!!

Yes this can be true. Sounds counter-intuitive so Let me give you 2 examples.

Dell: The famed computer giant from US has become huge by offering customers the option to customize their laptops for virtually any configuration.

Bluenile.com : For the uninitiated this is the largest online retailer of jewelry in US. Here you can custom make rings that fits your budget, style and occasion. All this at prices well below any offline store can offer.

Alright but how do they actually save money?

The answer lies in the economics of shelving cost. Simply put every item you find in the shelves (or jewelry boxes) of a retailer carries an overhead attached to it. This overhead is the interest money a retailer pays to its investors, banks or whomever they might have borrowed the money from. This cost is directly passed on the customer and the retailer adds some of his own margin to the final MRP.

So your final price tag looks like this: Actual cost of the product + Interest Cost + Retailers Margin.

These giants have very cleverly eliminated the "Interest Cost" part in the equation effectively bringing down the prices.

How do we do it?

At Kathana Jewellers we have effectively emulated this strategy at our offline store. This allows us to give our customers virtually any kind of ring they desire within a budget determined by them.

With a back office in the diamond city : Surat, Gujarat, we are well connected with the diamond manufacturers . After an order is placed we order your diamond directly with the manufacturer and set in the design of your choice. All this in 2 weeks time.

And yes we have more than a dozen satisfied customers. You not only get a ring of your design , You actually save some money in the process.

Please note this is not an e-commerce initiative. You can find our exact co-ordinates here

Related Posts:
Custom Made Engagement Rings
Thank You ...Trendylicious!

Color:

Theory teaches us that diamonds are allotrope of Carbon and hence diamonds composed of pure carbon are colorless. However such stones are extremely rare. Rather, most of the diamonds found in nature have slight shades of yellow or brown. The color in diamond is attributed to the presence of small traces of other elements such as Hydrogen, Boron or Nitrogen, all of which are known to impart color. The shades of yellow or brown are in particular attributed to the presence of Nitrogen.

Scale to Grade Color of a Diamond:

To grade the color of diamond, the entire diamond industry now uses the color grading scale introduced by GIA in 1950. This scale goes from D to Z, where D stands for colorless diamonds, while Z implies the presence of light yellow color.

• D (Colorless) – This is the highest color grade your diamond can be. D stands for colorless which means that the diamond is absolutely white. This color emits unequaled brilliance, and is extremely rare.
• E (Colorless) – This color grade suggests that diamond contains some minute traces of color. E-colored diamonds too emit unsurpassed brilliance and are very rare.
• F (Colorless) - Diamonds falling under F-grade of color have minute traces of color which can only be detected by a trained gemologist. F-color diamonds qualify as a high-quality color grade diamonds.
• G, H (Near Colorless) – Diamonds under G and H color fall under noticeable color category. The color is prominent only when the diamonds are compared to higher color grades diamonds. To the untrained eyes the diamonds still appear to be colorless.
• I, J (Near Colorless) – Color grade I and J imply that the diamond has a slightly detectable color. But these diamonds are great value for money as they appear colorless to the naked eye yet doesn’t cost as much as higher color grade diamonds.
• K, L, M (Faint Yellow) – Diamonds falling under K,L and M category have noticeable color. Despite the presence of color, these diamonds can still be brilliant and emit fire.

Though colorless diamonds are deemed expensive, there is a whole range of fancy colored diamonds which are just as rare as exquisite. A color more intense than the “Z” grade on the color scale stands for a yellow colored diamond and falls under the class of fancy colored diamonds. There are other rare colors such as blue, pink, purple, or red which tend to be very expensive and just as beautiful!

Quick Fact: Compared to other shapes, brilliant round-cut diamonds, regardless of color, look brighter because of their ability for greater light dispersion.

Moissanite Or Real Diamonds?

Moissanite: Another interesting topic I have been so long wanting to write about. Hindustan Times ran a very interesting and thought provoking article about Moissanite on August'27'2007. Copied are its contents in the quotes below:

" Are your diamonds for real?
The diamond that you bought may be a moissanite far cheaper than the real thing, but with properties that could fool an expert. A diamond lookalike, moissanite (silicon carbide), has been in India for two years now. And a random check by HT revealed that well known jewellers in Delhi, even after a couple of checks, declared it to be a diamond. "When I started dealing in moissanites, many small-time jewellers suggested I market them as diamonds," says Niraj Johri, a Gemological Institute of America (GIA)-trained gemologist. Nidhi Jain of Sital- dass and Sons in Connaught Place adds, "One dealer said the profit margin is huge in this business, but we refused." GIA India director Deepak Bagai says that it's very tough to figure out a moissanite, especially in mounted jewellery, as most jewellers don't possess a moissanite tester.

STONES APART: Moissanite has a refractive index (brilliance) of 2.65-2.69, while a diamond's is 2.42.
Moissanite's hardness is 9.25 (on the Moh's scale) diamond's is 10.

Reference: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/Default.aspx?selpg=2035"

A quick research into the subject helped me find these facts, which I hope is going to be very informative to you all. Let me list these as dot points so that we have a cleaner interface of understanding:

1.) Moissanite is a naturally occuring mineral. It was first discovered in fragments of the meteorite at Diablo Canyon or Meteor Crater in Arizona. Natural moissanite is very rare.

2.)Moissanite are also synthetically created in laborateries. This Silicon Carbide mineral is popularly known by its trade name "Moissanite" in the jewellery world. The name moissanite is interchangably used for both naturally or synthetically occuring mineral.

3.) Though very similar in its properties (eg. refractive index, hardness and physical appearance) to diamonds, Moissanite can still be distinguised from diamonds using the following dissimilarities:

a.)Structure: Diamonds have an isometric structure while Moissanite is hexagonal. Owing to its hexagonal structure, Moissanite is doubly refractive.

b.)Edges: The face of a moissanite stone shows double facet edges whereas a diamond's edges are single in appearance.

c.)Density: Moissanite is slightly less dense than diamond.

d.)Color: Moissanite is rarely colorless. It very often has pale shades of green.

e.)Clarity: Unlike diamonds, natural flaws are absent in moissanite. Simply stated this means that Moissanite often has clarity: "Internally Flawless". What Moissanite does have are tiny, unnatural, white, ribbon-like structures caused during the growing process.

Using these guidelines and the right tools many jewellers are able to differentiate between the two stones. Yet, there are quite a few, who in the absence of information and awareness are tricked into buying and selling Moissanite as real diamond rings .

As a customer, I can understand your inability to distinguish the real diamonds from their syntheic counerparts. And, the best advice I can pass on at this stage is to buy your diamond jewellery from a Jeweller who is not only into trading diamonds, but is also professionally trained in this arena. A diamond merchant with a diploma/ degree or course under his belt is more likely to distinguish diamonds from Moissanites, than some one who has been in the business for years. Sometimes, we need to back up experience with knowledge. Additionally, you can also insist on certification of your diamonds from institutions like GIA, IGLS etc.

If you have any questions or concerns on this subject, you can post them on the comment section, and we would get back to you. Alternatively, you can call us at: 91-11- 27353489/ 91- 11- 27354284, Tuesdays through Sundays from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM IST. You can also reach us through email on info@kathana.in

Custom made Engagement Rings.

In our constant endeavor to serve you better and meet your expectations, we have come up with yet another offer on our palette: Custom made Diamond Engagement and Wedding rings.

So, if you have been eying a particular design in some magazine, online or someplace else, bring it to us and we will gladly replicate the ring for you. And yes, all this can be done within your budget and at no additional labor cost. For more details, drop by and speak to our in-house jewelry expert :Ankur, who always has some very valuable tips to give.

As of today, we have over a dozen customers beaming with joy with their custom made finished products. Of these, many have confessed that though they were apprehensive initially, the finished products have far surpassed their expectations!

Doing business with you has always been a pleasure, but to be a part of your life's celebration....well thats a real reward!

The Trinklet of the Hour...

For all you fashion divas, here is the "in thingy" of the moment: Large pendants on a beaded string. Combine diamonds with other precious or semi precious stones like rubies, emeralds etc. on a white gold base and you are all set to rock the party!
By the way, do you know that silver color is going to be really big this season...and what would compliment silver better than platinums with diamonds studded. On a more sombre note, if you prefer the contemporary and a more classy look, then intricate kundan work pendants with real uncut diamonds and other stones is the accessory for you. Do you know that Nicole Kidman was sporting a beautiful bracelet with over 300 carats of uncut diamonds (kundan) for the academy awards? So don't just stash away your Kundan Sets yet! For all we know its going to be the next big thing in the fashion world.

100% Lifetime Buy Back vs. 30-Day 100% Money Back

100% Lifetime Buy Back guarantee is one of the most prominent trade practices in the jewelry industry. This practice stands for an unwritten promise made by the Jeweler ascertaining that if at anytime you want to return your gold jewelry & diamond engagement rings, the Jeweler will buy it back from you at the rate of gold or diamond on the day of transaction. The benefit of this policy is that your gold jewelry can be considered as a form of investment and on any given day it is worth its price in weight! The fallout of this practice is that your final jewelry price constitutes: making charges and wastage in addition to the gold cost and as a customer you stand to loose 15-20% of your investment in the form of these charges.

In comparison, a 30-Day 100% Money Back guarantee is a relatively new and unheard concept in the nation. This practice promises you a “trial period” of 30 Days to decide if you are completely satisfied with your purchase or not. In the event of dissatisfaction or any confusion at all, you can return back the jewelry and get ALL of your money back. If instead, you decide to go ahead with the purchase, then beginning 31^st day, your jewelry is covered under the “Lifetime buy back guarantee”.

The benefits of 30-Day 100% Money Back guarantee are many:

1. You have an entire month to think over whether you would like to go ahead with your purchase or not.

2. You have the time to discuss with your family and friends in the comfort of your own home if you are satisfied with your purchase.

3. Finally, in the event of any doubt, this also gives you a fair chance to get the jewelry inspected for its quality and price by others.

What is Hallmark Jewellery?

As news of naive customers taken for ride by jewellers makes news headlines in prominent newspapers like this Gold not as pure as claimed, finds BIS survey, this Customers lose over rs.10000 Crore annually and this wonderful article by Shailendra Kakani Hallmarking to increase gold consumption in India point it becomes increasingly "smart" to learn a little more about hallmarking expecially if jewellery shopping is imminent.

Now coming to the title of this post.

According to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) "Hallmarking is the accurate determination and official recording of the proportiante content of precious metal in jewellery. Hallmarks are thus official marks used in many countries as a guarantee of purity or fineness of gold jewellery".

BIS is a regulatory body of the Govt. of India which has standardised various products consumed today.
It is very important to understand the benefits provided by ensuring Hallmark Jewellery. As pointed out on top , A BIS survery found 90% of the smaples below state dpurity. Some as low as 44%. Consumers lose more than Rs. 10,000 crore annually due to this fraud.

So how can one identify Hallmarked Jewellery?
There are 5 visible marks on the back of your jewellery which are mandated by BIS (more here).

1. BIS Hallmark Logo
2. Purity of Gold '916' -22ct, '875' - 21ct and so on.
3. The Hallmarking centre's Logo.
4. The jewellers' identification mark.
5. Year of Hallmarking 'A' -year 2000, 'B' -year 2001 .... 'H' - year 2007.

So armed with this knowledge and a magnifying lens( the marks are usually very small to be legible with naked eyes) you are ready to give your local jeweller a hard time:)
Related Posts:
Hallmark Mandatory from Jan 2008...Really?

Mandatory Hallmark from Jan 2008: The Fallout
Hallmarking Jewellery NOT mandatory after all
TrustMark : Is it better than Hallmark?
Diamond Engagement Rings

Related Articles:
Hallmarking: Need of the Hour

Cut: The most overlooked detail of a diamond

As a shopper when you go out looking for that perfect piece of diamond, what are the details that you pay attention to? Of course the much talked about 4 C's: Carat, Clarity, Color and Cut. I am sure many of us here at least know how the first 3 C's adds on to a diamond's value.Owing to the readily available information on what a particular color,clarity or carat weight implies it has become very easy for a first time diamond shopper to make a smart purchase. But wait, the often over looked 4th C of the diamond called "Cut" can make a huge difference to your purchase. How? Read on to find out more.


What does the "CUT" in the 4 C stands for:

Often times people confuse the cut of a diamond for its shape. Of course the cut does lead to the shapes eventually, but to a gemologist cut of a diamond refers to something more complex than the round, princess, pear or marquise shape.Generally stated, the cut of a diamond is the physical measurement of; various proportions of diamonds such as its width and depth; and the uniformity of its facets. The play of the light with the cuts of the diamond is what makes it come alive.



For instance, the depth of a diamond can be deep, shallow or ideal; and based on this the dazzle of the diamond is determined. A diamond which is too shallow looses the light travelling through it from its bottom, and since the light doesn't get reflected back the diamond appears to be lifeless. Similarly, a diamond which is cut too deep causes the light to escape from its side and hence results in darkening of the diamond or parts of it. But in case of an ideal cut diamond the light gets reflected and refracted back from its many facets and bounces back out of the top of the stone creating sheer brilliance!

It is important for you as a shopper to understand that this much over looked detail of diamond is often the most important factor in bringing out the fire in a diamond. It is very much possible that a lower clarity and color diamond can have much more spark and fire in it than a higher clarity and whiter diamond, because of the way it is cut. Unfortunately, unlike carat, clarity and color there are no clear cut guideline to pick up the right cut. There does exist a scale for cut used by the diamond graders where in the "cut" is classified into categories such as: Ideal, Excellent, Very Good, Good and fair. Though these categories sound self explanatory yet they may not work the same way for one and sundry! Many a times the beauty of a cut is a personal opinion of the customer. Some one may prefer the "good cut" over the "ideal cut" based on his personal liking of the play of the lights. Hence no hard and fast rules can be applied.


Final Note:

Due to the complexities of the explanation of what a cut means and also what the various dimensions of a diamond implies, many jewelers do not educate their customers about it. Likewise many customers do not insist on knowing about it. Consequently, they end up purchasing diamonds which sparkles and shines under the lights of a jewelry shop but when brought home looks lifeless! Be advised that as a smart shopper you must insist on knowing about all the 4 C's of diamond so that the brilliance of your diamond is maintained regardless of the light it falls under.

Golkunda Diamonds: India's gift to world.

Contribution of India to the world of Diamond's:

Many of you would be surprised to learn that India was one of the first countries to mine diamonds and that the diamond mining in India is dated back to almost 4th century BC. Diamonds in India were mined in various locations such as Borneo (Landak), Golkunda, Hindustan, and Raolconda.

Off these locations, Golkunda is of special significance since some of the world's most famous diamonds such as Hope Diamond, Kohinoor, Darya-i-Nur Diamonds and Orlov Diamonds were mined here.For many hundred years the word "Golkunda" became synonymous with big and beautiful diamonds constituting the kind of transperancy, whitness and clarity that can only be associated with the rare Type IIa natural diamonds.Even today the term "Golkunda" is used generically to describe very high quality diamonds possessing antique cuts.

The journey of diamonds to Golkunda Region

The Golkunda region is located between the lower reaches of the Godavari and Krishna rivers, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The diamonds found in the Golkunda region are believed to be created from the enormous forces generated by the "Tethys Oceanic Crust" colliding. The collision of the massive continental plates for over hundreds of millions of years created the Himalyan Mountain range, and also caused volcanic activity to create diamondiferous igneous rocks called Kimberlite. Rainfall and snow-melt for over millions of years caused erosion and unearthed the diamonds from their Kimberlite source. These diamonds were then washed downstream to the alluvial river gravels of the Golkunda region where they finally rested.

Today, the exact source of the 'lost mines of GolKunda' are unknown, and the India's only remaining diamond source is the Majhgawan pipe near Panna .

An Introduction to Kathana Jewellers

Greetings Reader,

Welcome to the online blog of Kathana Jewellers. We hope this blog will be a useful source of information and insight into precious gem stones,various metals, Indian handicrafts and the latest trends in the jewelry. Before we share our experience and wisdom with you, we would like to share our mission about Kathana Jewels.

"Kathana": the word finds its origin in Sanskrit and when translated in English, means a "story". The name was chosen to resonate the many beautiful stories, that gets crafted unintentionally yet as beautifully into every piece of jewelry; as it exchanges hands. We at Kathana, want every enticing piece of jewelry in your case to have a beautiful story behind it: some which brings back memories of past, some that tingles an anticipation of future and some that lets you bask in the sheer warmth of present.

We, at Kathana want to take your passion for jewelry into an entirely different level. A much more meaningful level. We want to add soul to your jewelry so that when it touches your body it comes alive! At Kathana, jewelery is not merely a tool to adorn you but in itself a complete narration of beauty and its timeless existence. Come bejeweled with us as you discover the many untold tales of your priceless creations of beauty.