RSS Feeds: Cubic Zirconia Then and NOW
I remember the first cubic zirconia I ever saw. It was given to me as a promotional gift with something I bought at a department store about 30 years ago, and I didn't know what to do with it. I couldn't throw it away because it sort of looked like a diamond and yet I couldn't use it to make a ring because it felt like plastic. I tossed it into my jewelry box and there it stayed.
How many people were passing up the opportunity to have affordable imitation diamonds?
Many years later, while cleaning out my jewelry and sorting through everything I owned while preparing to move, I re-discovered this CZ gemstone and laughed. I now had plenty of cubic zirconia rings and earrings and bracelets to compare it to and realized how cheap and useless the old one really was. I threw it away without hesitation, but then got to thinking that there must be a lot of people out there who still remember their first cubic zirconia encounters but don't have an old one and new one side by side to make the comparison. I wondered how many people were passing up the opportunity to have really great affordable imitation diamonds because all they knew of were the old CZ lab created diamonds that had turned them off because they were so plastic and artificial looking.
If you haven't taken a serious look at synthetic gemstones over the last decade then it could be time that you give them another shot. For those of us who love to wear jewelry but don't have the cash to purchase the genuine diamond rings, necklaces and earrings sported by the rich and famous, this is a great affordable alternative.
Cracker Jack Prizes and Bubble Gum Machine Rings
Naturally there are still the CZ rings that look like Cracker Jack prizes or bubble gum machine rings but they are not the rings I'm fascinated by or want to write about. What intrigues me are the CZ rings that are set in sterling silver, white gold, titanium, and yellow gold; the rings that have CZ rubies and emeralds and sapphires and even imitation canary diamonds that mimic some of the world's great gemstone masterpieces. Some of these cubic zirconia rings are so well made and so authentic that it's hard to tell a CZ from a diamond. Yes they're fake, no they have no investment value, yes a jeweler will know in a second that they're cubic zirconia, but at a wedding ceremony or a cocktail party, when I see glamorous women tastefully adorned with a gorgeous rings or earrings or bracelets and don't have a jewelers loupe with me to inspect, I can't say who has paid thousands and who has paid less than a hundred to look so chic. And that's what impresses me about the newest cubic zirconia styles – they are tasteful and elegant.
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