Author Archives: Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers

04 May

Naledi Engagement Rings

Naledi has been designing diamond jewelry for over a century. The Naledi Engagement Rings current collection features styles that are specifically tailored to the tastes and sensibilities of the modern bride.  They are classically feminine and perfectly timeless.

Naledi Engagement Rings at Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers

The Naledi Collection appointed Belgium designer, Laurence Bruyninckx, as head designer in July 2013. I.G.C. Brand Services distributes the Naledi Collection. In addition,  I.G.C. Brand Services is a certified member of the Responsible Jewelry Council (R.J.C.). Furthermore, this international council brings together over 270 member companies from around the globe. The committee promotes ethical, responsible, social, and environmental practices within the diamond and jewelry supply chain.

Global Giving receives a donated portion of every Naledi item purchased.  This is an organization that funds high-impact environmental and social programs throughout developing countries.

Naledi Engagement Rings are exquisite, high-quality, stunning, and have uncompromising sustainability.  Schwanke Kasten Jewelers invites you to learn more about Naledi on the Schwanke Kasten website and by watching the video below:

13 Apr

Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers Wedding Bands

Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers presents the Dura Cobalt wedding band. It is completely hypo-allergic. Out of all of the contemporary wedding ring metals, cobalt chrome looks the most like white gold.  This makes it the perfect alternative to those who can’t wear gold.

Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers Dura Cobalt Domed Band

Source: Schwanke Kasten

Cobalt wedding rings are available in comfort fit wedding band styles and have a pleasing weight.  Another plus for using Cobalt wedding bands, is that they have an extremely high resistance to scratching and will maintain their original condition even under intense wear.

In addition, Cobalt is a pure element which – like platinum, tungsten, silver, palladium, and titanium. Goldsmiths will add Chromium to increase wear properties of Cobalt wedding bands.  Furthermore, Cobalt is a naturally magnetic material. Also, goldsmiths use chrome alloys to strip the magnetic property of cobalt wedding bands.

The Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers Dura Cobalt Band is 6 mm wide. This ring has a slight dome with a ridge and a polished finish. Moreover, it’s extremely durable and it will stay white without re-plating; it is sizable to 1/4 size.

Explore the Dura Cobalt Domed Band, 6 mm from Schwanke Kasten on the Schwanke Kasten Jewelers website today for more information.

 

05 Apr

Eternity Band with Black Diamonds

The Black Diamond Eternity Band is a beautiful masterpiece from Spark Creations.  It has a .59 ctw black diamond and is set in 18 karat white gold.  This wedding band looks fantastic with a white gold band, a band with diamonds, or with other colored stones.

Schwanke Kasten Black Diamond Eternity Band for weddings

Source: Schwanke Kasten

Spark Creations is a leader in the creation of beautiful, precious diamond jewelry and they have been industry leaders for over forty years.  The unique selling point of all Spark Creations designs is the cut of the diamonds and stones.  Spark Creations has its stones especially faceted for all of its designs.  (Read more about Spark Creations).

Furthermore, diamonds can come in different colors and, like with most colored diamonds, natural black diamonds are extremely rare. They appear opaque because of their “polycrystalline” structure which prevents them from reflecting light. In fact, the diamonds are real and are filled with dark inclusions (namely graphite) to give them the blackened look.

Black diamonds are extremely popular these days and are often paired with white diamonds.  While the price of black diamonds was fairly low in years past, they are now seen as more valuable.

Explore the Black Diamond Eternity Band from Schwanke Kasten on the Schwanke Kasten Jewelers website today for more information.

29 Mar

Mémoire Engagement Rings

In 1986 the French company Orest, expanded its distribution to the United States, and Mémoire Engagement Rings was born. Additionally, Orest named J. Douglas McDowell as CEO and Douglas’s mission was to cultivate a new level of quality in the US market.

Mémoire Engagement Rings at Schwanke-Kasten

In the 1980s, many jewelry manufacturers were promoting cast mountings and 14K gold. Douglas was a visionary who pushed platinum and extruded 18K gold. In fact, the quality of the fine French bands was so exquisite that a new standard of luxury emerged, and Mémoire Engagement Rings quickly became one of the most sought after fine jewelry brands in the United States.

Mémoire creates timeless and elegant pieces in a classic tradition.  Mémoire uses state-of-the-art laser engraving techniques which allow them to create personalized pieces that express the wearer’s personality. In fact, every gem in each Mémoire jewelry piece is inspected and certified by the Gemological Institute of America (G.I.A.)!

Schwanke Kasten Jewelers invites you to explore our full collection of engagement rings on our Schwanke Kasten website.

21 Mar

Introducing A. Link Engagement Rings

A. Link and Schwanke Kasten

Source: A. Link

A. Link is known for creating timeless, beautiful and elegant diamond jewelry since 1904. The jewelry manufacturer began, when Adolph Link, son of a goldsmith, apprenticed with New York’s preeminent jewelry manufacturers, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels in 1894. They celebrated their 110th anniversary in 2014. Adolph’s sons, Seymour and Marvin continued his passion for jewelry. One son studied the fabrication of diamonds and the other, the craftsmanship of platinum jewelry. The unique combination of these two skills would become the benchmark of A. Link.

The family still owns and operates the company today. A. Link takes classical European designs and marries it with remarkable diamonds to create unparalleled pieces. They create jewelry that is both timeless and fashionable, and A. Link continues to be viewed as a master in the diamond jewelry world. The world’s most gifted artisans cut their diamonds. Moreover, A. Link diamond jewelry incorporates consistency and spectacular beauty that give their pieces their remarkable brilliance.

They achieve their excellence by utilizing diamonds of a consistent size and quality. Known as the “60/60” because the depth and table percentages are almost exactly the same, these diamonds maximize weight and diameter, emitting optimal brilliance. A. Link diamond jewelry is a testament to longevity, quality, and craftsmanship for the woman who adorns each unique piece. In fact, experts say their jewelry’s brilliance gives it its beauty. In addition, they work with Forevermark.

Schwanke Kasten Jewelers invites you to explore our full collection of engagement rings on our Schwanke Kasten website.

15 Mar

Spark Creations – Wedding Bands

Diamond Band by Spark Creations on Schwanke Kasten

Source: Schwanke-Kasten.com

Spark Creations has been a leading creator of beautiful, precious jewelry for over forty years, including wedding bands.

Spark Creations began with in New York, NY with two brothers (Eli and Beny Aviram). The brothers focused on colored gemstones and fashion jewelry. With its unique collection of jewelry and  versatile designs, Spark has emerged as one of leaders in the fashion industry.  While every season their innovative new collections take signature jewelry icons into a modern dimension, they continuing to offer classic, timeless, pieces for the sophisticated woman.

Moreover, Spark Creations’ unique selling point is how they cut their diamonds and stones. They facet their stones solely for their unique designs, unlike many others who use stones off the shelf.

Schwanke-Kasten invites you to learn more their wedding bands on Schwanke-Kasten.com. In addition, Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers is a proud to retail this impressive brand.

01 Mar

The 4 C’s of Engagement Rings: Carat

The final post in our Schwanke-Kasten series exploring the “4 C’s of Engagement Rings,” we now turn our attention to “Carat.”

The weight of a diamond is measured in the unit called carat weight. As the weight of a diamond increases so does its rarity, and its price.  Fewer than one in one million mined rough stones are large enough to produce a finished 1 carat diamond.

Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers Carat Chart

Source: Diamond Council of America

A metric “carat” is defined as 200 milligrams and every carat can be subdivided into 100 ‘points’ so a one carat diamond equals 100 points and a diamond of 75 points weights .75 carats.  A diamond’s carat weight is written in decimal numbers, but it’s often expressed in fractions (a .70 – .83 is expressed as 3/4th of a carat).

Carat weight is often the most objective grade of all the 4Cs.

Read about the other “C’s” in our series:

  1. Cut: Schwanke-Kasten Explores the 4 C’s
  2. Clarity: Schwanke-Kasten Explores the 4 C’s
  3. Color: Schwanke-Kasten Explores the 4 C’s
15 Feb

The 4 C’s of Engagement Rings: Clarity

Schwanke-Kasten encourages you to consider the third installment in our 4 C’s series, a diamond’s clarity.

In fact, the diamond clarity refers to the presence, or absence, of tiny inclusions or birthmarks which occur during the forming period of the diamond. A lot of inclusions in a diamond can result in less light passing through, which reduces sparkle.

schwanke-kasten-jewelry-4-Cs-clarity

The G.I.A. created an 11-point clarity scale to grade diamonds, meaning they take into account size, color, number, and position of every flaw that is seen under a 10 x magnified lens:

FL: Flawless – No inclusions or blemishes. Extremely rare, in fact, the G.I.A. rates less than 1 in 5,000 diamonds as FL.

IF: Internal Flawless – No inclusions; blemishes are only visible under a 10 x microscope. Shockingly, the G.I.A. rates less than 3% of diamonds as IF.

VVS1/VVS2: Very, Very Slightly Included – Inclusions are very difficult to detect, even under magnification. Their appearance to the naked eye is extremely similar to IF graded diamonds

VS1/VS2: Very Slightly Included – Inclusions are clearly visible under 10x magnifications but are very hard to detect with the naked eye.

SI1/SI2: Slightly Included – The lowest grade of flaws that are typical invisible to the naked eye.

I1/I2/I3: Included – Inclusions are almost always visible to the naked eye. They are very obvious under 10 x magnification and often affect transparency and brilliance.

Anyways, Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers encourages you to come to our Whitefish Bay location to view our full selection of diamond engagement rings.

08 Feb

4 C’s of Engagement Rings: Color

With the second article of the 4 C’s series, Schwanke Kasten would like you to explore a diamond’s color. Diamond color refers to the presence of any color at all. A perfect diamond is completely colorless, allowing the most amount of light to pass through creating a wonderful effect. Along with being completely colorless, diamonds can also have a slight cloudy appearance or can contain some yellow color. The more color a diamond has the lower its quality and the less valuable the diamond is.

4 C's - Color | Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers

An alphabetical scale was developed by the Gemological Institute of America (G.I.A.) to represent a diamond’s color. The scale ranges from D – Z. (According to the G.I.A., the scale starts at D in order to differentiate itself from other scales at the time, all of which started with A)

D-F: Colorless

G-J: Near Colorless

K-M: Faint Yellow

N-R: Very Light Yellow

S-Z: Light Yellow

Obviously, it is ideal to purchase a diamond rated D-F. However, even though a diamond rated G-J might contain a minuscule amount of color, it is almost always invisible to the untrained eye, so it is perfect for someone whose budget doesn’t allow for them to purchase the highest rated diamonds.

Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers has a great selection of diamond engagement rings.  Visit our diamonds on the Schwanke-Kasten website.

 

 

 

04 Feb

Unique Wedding Rings

Unique Wedding Rings

In the age of the computer, unique wedding rings have become a commonplace. However it wasn’t always like this. The very first wedding bands were made of braided plant material, ceremoniously given and worn, and most frequently from the same type of materials. The symbolism of the rings took preference over appearance and style.

Unique Wedding Rings - Schwanke-Kasten JewelersThroughout the ages, wedding rings had their moments of being lavish, most notably among royalty and the elite.  Other periods focused on humble and muted looks, such as during the 1700’s in America.

Until recent decades, there has been a certain continuity of this humble approach to wedding rings in America. The only real decisions to be made were about the metal used to construct, and if there were a particular desire to have matching bands, bands which reflect the other’s taste, and the ring size.

In the computer age of big dreams, strong visions, and unlimited creativity people aspire for uniqueness. Today we are now seeing some absolutely incredibly original ideas.

Here are some of the unique wedding rings we have found out in the wild:

The Decoder Ring

The CEO of website BoingBoing has fashioned an unique wedding ring inspired perhaps by both the Lord of the Rings series and the comic book favorite – the decoder ring.

Built of three or more segments, wearers can rotate the ring to reveal a secret message. There’s nothing in the rule book that says that a decoder ring can’t be a wedding ring!

The USB Ring

Crystal masters Swarovski have been commissioned to produce a one-off ring for a couple of tech enthusiasts with an incredible and timeless utility. In fact, these rings feature a tiny USB drive surrounded by Swarovski crystal and, although they don’t conform to the traditional circular band, they allow the wearers to exchange data, photos, poems, etc. with each other through the very rings with brought them into the unity of marriage.

Couples can populate the USB drive with wedding photos or videos, photos of the kids, to share and cherished by the other.

The Gamer’s Ring

That’s right!  Internet/game themed rings!  Some of these rings stay close to the traditional circular ring. However, other rings will inlay jewels to represent the different buttons on a PlayStation or Xbox controller. There are rings which represent aspects of Super Mario Brothers, Portal, or even simple keyboard emoticons such as “ <3 <3 <3” (these are “hearts” as written in keyboard-speak).  There’s even a Lord of the Rings band of platinum, complete with Elvish writing.

Furthermore, Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers understands that these rings are unique and quite personalized.  They’re not for the average couple!   Visit our Schwanke-Kasten website to see a wide selection of beautiful, traditional wedding bands. Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers has a number of non-diamond engagement rings too.