The Impossible New Diamond Setting

(idexonline.com) - Back in 1886 Charles Tiffany introduced his game-changing six-prong solitaire setting to a diamond industry that was still in its infancy. Diamonds had, until then, been set in a bezel so that only the crown was visible, and much of the main attraction was obscured by metal. The Tiffany setting changed all that, exposing far more of the stone than ever before, while still retaining a firm hold. This was at a time when Cecil Rhodes had yet to launch De Beers (that was to happen two years later) and long before diamonds became the go-to gem for a gentleman proposing marriage. Nonetheless the Tiffany setting has endured, and remains a popular choice 135 years later. With all of that in mind, it will be interesting to see how future generations of jewelers and consumers judge the launch last week of a new solitaire diamond setting that appear to achieve "the impossible". It has no prongs, no clasp, no bezel, no visible support of any kind. There have been so-called floating diamonds in the past. They never truly floated.  But this patented invention from New Zealand - Floeting Diamonds - does what no setting has ever managed before.