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Diamonds are the hardest known precious stones on Earth. They record a 10 on the standard Mohs scale of hardness, a scale that peaks at 10. Their extreme hardness originates from the combination of heat and pressure deep within the Earth over long periods of time. Ultimately, when a diamond is mined, it is mined in a rough form and in various shapes, colors and sizes.

Diamonds are mined primarily through pipe mining. Volcanic eruptions deep within the earth bring diamonds close to the surface where they can be mined. Pipe mines run far down, the deepest of which are up to 100 miles down. Large rocks containing diamonds are blasted out of the Earth, and brought up to be crushed and processed. The chunks are then sent to refineries to be screened for rough diamonds.

Mines located around the world in India, Russia, Canada, and Australia drill deep into the Earth and produce about 27,000 kg of diamonds a year. Of this, only about 20% of the rough diamonds mined are deemed good enough to be cut and polished for use in jewelry, while the rest are used for industrial purposes.

The rough diamonds that are good enough for jewelry are distributed by large companies, the largest of which is the De Beers Central Selling Organization. These rough diamonds are priced and sorted into over 5,000 categories, and traded to private buyers. These buyers ultimately send the rough diamonds to a cutting center to be cut and polished, after which they can be placed into a piece of jewelry.

Up Next: How is a Diamond Cut?

So you just bought an exquisite his and her trio ring wedding set from MyTrioRings.com. You’ve just been happily married and can’t stop admiring the gleaming diamonds on your finger. You feel like you never want to take them off your hand because the beautiful rings remind you of the one you love. However, as difficult as it may be, it may be in your best interest to take your rings off once in a while this summer.

In order to help preserve the shine and beauty of your trio ring wedding set, it is important that when entering a hot tub or swimming pool that you take all your jewelry off (and store it in a safe place!) This is because chlorine can have a damaging effect on gold and platinum and has been known to slowly erode the finish and polish of gemstones. Chlorine has also been known to slowly damage and discolor precious metals, especially gold and platinum.

Similarly, we recommend that you take off your wedding rings before jumping into salt water, since it has been known to have a very similar effect on gold jewelry. Another reason we recommend taking your rings off when our in the sun this summer is that applying lotions and sunscreen can also damage your rings. These products have a tendency to form a thin coating on your jewelry, which can take away much of the shine and vibrance of your rings.

Likewise, to preserve the optimum shine, it’s important that you take your rings off before showering and cleaning. While it may seem that it only happens in movies that a ring slips off while cooking or cleaning, or slips down the drain by chance, it could happen to you! Not only are your wedding rings valuable financially, they are also an important emotional symbol of your love. When it comes to your rings, it’s better to be safe than sorry, which means taking your rings off when they are in danger of getting tainted or of slipping off.

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There are some who when looking for a wedding ring set for their upcoming wedding decide that they want simply the most affordable wedding ring they can find. There’s nothing wrong with that, and especially with the troubled economy of the past few years, this is extremely justifiable. Even though a wedding is a presumably once in a lifetime event, it is becoming more acceptable today to try to find cheaper alternatives to traditional rings that cost over $12,500. However, it is generally agreed upon that an engagement ring should have real diamonds, and not fake stones such as cubic zirconium. Even though there are a few who believe a Cubic Zirconia diamond is good enough and indistinguishable from a real diamond, there are many differences and ways to tell them apart quickly and easily.

Diamonds have been a staple of wedding rings for over a century now, and a diamond ring is almost synonymous with a wedding or engagement. A diamond is the hardest and toughest stone in the world, and nothing can break it. The only way to scratch a diamond is with another sharp diamond. However, many who are looking for cheaper alternatives tend to look at cubic zirconium diamonds as a cheaper alternative. While the price difference is huge, Diamonique and other fake diamonds have been known to cloud up or scruff up, and many consider fake diamonds to be bad luck for a wedding. More so, most jewelers and others familiar with diamonds can immediately tell the difference because a fake diamond will have a tell-tale rainbow like sparkle from it, while a real diamond has a trademark white shine, also known as its brilliance.

While most jewelers and people who are familiar with real diamonds can almost immediately tell if a diamond on a piece of jewelry is real or fake, there are many objective methods to tell if a stone is genuine. Many jewelry stores will perform a free heat test to your diamonds. During this test, they will heat it up for a few seconds and see if it holds the heat. A real diamond disperses heat quickly and won’t heat up during such a test. There are also tools available such as a is with the use of a diamond tester and a hardness test.  Also, a cubic zirconia and most other fake diamonds typically weigh 40-70% more per carat than a real diamond, a difference that is immediately obvious when you weigh the stone in question and compare it to what a real diamond of that carat size should weigh.

Since the above methods may be difficult for most people to check the diamonds in their rings personally, there are some easier ways to check if a stone is real. For example, a simple fog test can help you figure out if a stone is real. This can be done by fogging the diamond with your mouth. If it’s a real diamond, the fog won’t stay very long and will evaporate almost immediately. Another way to test a diamond is by placing it under a UV light or a black light, since a real diamond will reflect medium to dark blue fluorescence. Finally, fake diamonds tend to seem dull when looked at from the side, while a real diamond will have equal shine and brilliance from every angle.

There are many other ways to test a stone, but the best and most certain way to test if a diamond is real or not is to ask the retailer to give you a certificate of authenticity for the diamonds used in the item. Most prominent jewelers will provide a detailed certificate from a diamond lab such as GIA, the Gemological Institute of America, or EGL, the European Gemological Laboratory. Both are independent and unbiased and will give you a proof without a doubt whether the diamonds in question are authentic.

MyTrioRings guarantees its diamonds are authentic, and is happy to provide a diamond certificate of authenticity upon request, for a standard fee. Simply call or email us to request a diamond certificate for a new purchase or a trio rings purchase you have already made. A Trio Wedding Ring Set is the perfect way for you to save money on gold wedding rings yet have the satisfaction of owning real diamonds. Check out our large selection of Diamond trio ring Sets, as well as our Yellow and White gold trio ring sets. When the Ladies Engagement ring, Ladies Wedding band, and Men's Wedding band are together in a matching set - this is called a Trio Wedding Ring Set.

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One question that we at MyTrioRings get very often is whether the diamonds used in our diamond trio ring sets and other jewelry such as our diamond necklace specials include any conflict diamonds, which are often referred to as blood diamonds. Our answer, displayed on every product page, has consistently been our guarantee that “Our diamonds are all authentic naturally mined diamonds and guaranteed to be from reputable and conflict-free mining sources.” Blood diamonds or conflict diamonds have been a point of concern for decades now, but there is very little proof that most diamonds available in the United States today are funding bloodshed in Africa.

The United Nations defines conflict diamonds as “diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council.” The popular movie titled Blood Diamond, which came out in 2006, shows the horror and bloodshed that is associated with diamonds mined in Africa. Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War of 1999, the movie shows the RUF rebel group of Sierra Leone enslaving villagers to mine diamonds that they would then trade directly for guns.

In 2001, in response to outcry from many about the news about the wars in Africa raged over diamonds, the UN called for the creation of an international certification scheme for rough diamonds. The result was a piece of legislation titled, the Kimberly Process, which enforces rigorous requirements on diamond producers to certify shipments of rough diamonds as “conflict-free” and actively prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate market. For example, when the UN deemed that Liberia was being used as a vehicle for exporting conflict diamonds by the RUF rebel group of Sierra Leone, the country was banned from the Kimberly Process, and its exports of diamonds were forbidden.

Today, diamond holding company De Beers controls about 35% of the world’s supply of diamonds, and is the direct distributor of the diamonds that are used in the trio wedding ring sets and jewelry available on MyTrioRings.com. De Beers commits fully to preventing conflict diamonds and only distributes diamonds from its own mines. This way it can guarantee that its diamonds are completely conflict free. De Beers has a highly regulated and restricted process for distributing its diamonds, and not ever jeweler and diamond distributor is granted access to its diamonds.

This means that you, as a retail customer of diamonds today, can shop with complete confidence that the diamonds on MyTrioRings.com are 100% conflict free. In your search for the perfect wedding ring set, however, it is important for you as a consumer to ask questions and ask the vendor if they know whether or not the diamonds they sell are in fact conflict free. While actions such as the Kimberly Process are helping make the world’s diamond supply safer, for the effort to be a success, it requires diligence from everyone involved in the process, ranging from diamond producers, all the way to consumers. To help the cause, do your part so that you can purchase your diamond rings with a clear conscience.