Aquamarine Rings: The Ultimate Buying Guide

Spare us a moment of technicality, but this is important. With a hardness of 8, Aquamarines are hard enough for daily use. Obviously, a diamond, with hardness 10 is ideal, but 8 is hard enough too.

The measure for hardness basically tells us how likely a stone is to get scratched. Hardness is determined on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the hardest and least scratch prone. We spoke to Sunil Sethi, our resident Gemologist about what this implies for your jewellery. “Generally, we recommend that you use a stone with hardness 7 or better in your rings. This will make sure they last longer, shine brighter and age more gracefully as time goes on”, said Sunil.

With a hardness of 8, your Aquamarine ring is unlikely to pick up scratches for years to come. What this means is that your stone will appear like new for many many years.

A lot of thought is put into the stones we use in our jewellery, and rightly so. Buying the perfect stone can be a confusing journey. There’s a lot to consider. But we try to make it as easy as possible for you. We scourge the market to see what’s available, and choose the stones that are just right for your ideal ring. Here’s what we look at while analysing Aquamarines:

When it comes to Aquamarines, the clarity of the stone is something we don’t compromise on. This is Choosing Aquamarines 101 as far as we’re concerned. The stones we select are 100% naked eye clean. This means the look of your piece will not be compromised by large inclusions or imperfections present in the stone. As a transparent, pastel colour stone, this is of utmost importance.

Considering the fact that Aquamarines are transparent, pastel coloured stones, the cut is also important. The cut dictates how the light plays off the surface of the stone. And as such, a well cut stone implies better, richer, more evenly distributed colour. Finding better cut Aquamarines was a very conscious decision we made. We gladly pay extra to our supply chain for this feature.

As mentioned previously, Aquamarines come in a variety of hues. From almost white with a tinge of blue to sea blue with a bit of green mixed in. We’ve seen all of these in person, and after much thought, we decided that for the rings we’re making, a pastel blue shade which showcases lustre and evenly distributed colour is the way to go.

It must be noted that the aspects mentioned above, these are not easy decisions to make. We’ve made countless trial pieces and after many mistakes and considerations, narrowed it down to the colour that goes perfectly with our designs. Same with clarity and cut. The process of selecting the perfect stone starts off along with the design of the ring. Right from the first sketch, we’re obsessive about what goes hand in hand with the design we offer to you. We’re not designing for now. Jewellery pieces are worn over a lifetime, and sometimes even longer. Our decisions and design choices reflect these realities.

The lighter hues of Aquamarine mean they go perfectly with some diamond accents. The Aquamarine complements the diamonds, and the diamonds accentuate the colour of the pastel blue Aquamarine. All of our Aquamarine rings comes with diamond accents that accentuate the design and also differentiate the rings. Makes them look trendy, and timeless at the same time.

The pieces we use in our jewellery are typically sourced from the USA, Brazil or Tanzania. These places offer some of the best quality Aquamarines in the world. While we aren’t particular where the stone is sourced from among these three mines, we always make sure the stone comes with a certificate or assurance of fair trade. Further, we get each and every stone vetted to make sure of its origins. Every piece of Aquamarine jewellery you buy from us comes with a certificate of authenticity from GIA, IGI or GJEPC.

It’s fairly normal for Aquamarines to be heat treated. Heat treatment is used to calibrate colour. Raw Aquamarine has a greenish blue or yellowish blue tinge to it. The heat treatment alters this to a more evenly spread out blue hue that’s more pleasing to the eye. This treatment is permanent in nature, so you need not worry about the stone getting unsaturated over time.

We’d recommend you care for this piece like you would any other piece of jewellery. Take it off before you enter the shower, or go for a swim. Also, keep it away from chemicals and oils. Like any transparent stone, Aquamarines may display oiliness over a period of time. This may dim the sparkle of the stone too. But worry not, it’s easy to get rid of the layer of oil on your stone. Simply use a soft tooth brush and some soap water to clean your ring.

We typically make Aquamarines available in our Ready to Order and One of A Kind Ring collections. It’s important to note that we do not recommend using Aquamarine sizes less than 5mm in diameter. Aquamarine stones are more colour dense when larger. It is very difficult to find small sizes with saturated, evenly spread colour: most stones below 5mm diameter typically display paler colours that are not suitable for centre stones. Rings with large Aquamarine stones are trending ever since Jessica Biel wore her engagement ring in 2011, and then Meghan Markle flaunted an Aquamarine Ring a few years ago.

Aquamarines are available in every shape and cut you can think of, like every other stone. However, most cuts may have to made on order. Rounds and Ovals look classic, and are by far the largest selling. But the allure of an Emerald cut Aquamarine can be enchanting too. The cut looks great with the pastel blue shades and high transparency. Here are a few more things to consider while choosing an Aquamarine Ring.

As far as our collection goes, we presently offer round cut and oval cut Aquamarines in our ready to order collection. Other shapes are possible too. However, they will be made to order, to your exact specification, and adhering to our standards of colour and quality. As such, these shapes are only available in our made to order collection.

This comes down entirely to personal choice. Personally, we believe White and Pink Gold look absolutely fabulous. White gold brings out the hues of the pastel blue Aquamarine a lot more. But pink provides some much needed contrast.

“I personally prefer our pastel blue Aquamarines with solid 18KT rose gold. The colours look stunning, and the contrast definitely helps. But a lot of our clients prefer it in White gold. White golds been trending for a while, so no surprises there”, says our founder Akshay Sethi.

Yellow Gold works too, just that it gives the rings a more traditional look.

At The Peacock, we carry a range of Aquamarine Rings in our Ready to Wear collection. Hand picked Aquamarines and exquisite designs brought together to give you amazing options to choose from.

You could also request a custom designed, bespoke Aquamarine Ring. In this case, we can guide you through the entire process, and make the ring to your specifications.

We love some nerdy facts, and there’s a reason behind it. Gemstones are a work of art, but the science behind them is equally important. For example, while Aquamarine and Emerald are essentially from the same mineral family, they exhibit different colours. That’s because Aquamarines contain trace amounts of iron. These iron molecules play with the light at a molecular level, to create the appearance of a pastel blue stone. It’s fascinating how these things work. Here are some more details for your reference: