In 1997, I saw an article (or maybe an ad) in Town & Country that featured beautiful Cartier rings made of chocolate and champagne diamonds.  It was love at first sight.  I tore out the page and posted it on the fridge where it stayed for ages. 

The picture has long since disappeared, but the love remains.  Yes, I know chocolate, champagne, and cognac diamonds are a gimmick – a marketing ploy to move lower-quality diamonds.  I really don’t care.

This ring isn’t really anything like the Cartier rings I remember which were less conventionally designed, but it was the best example I could find at the moment.  Few months ago, I spend the better part of an afternoon browsing chocolate diamond rings at my favorite internet sources, and there were quite a few that really caught my eye.  When I went back again in recent days to find the photos, it appears that all of the good specimens have disappeared and been replaced by some monstrosities of unspeakable proportions.  I present the following for your viewing displeasure:

Who would wear these? And what is with the animals?!

Talk about a gimmick.