Diamonds, Engagement Rings, Help....

[RPB67]

As long as its certified (GIA ) and you have the papers you are all set.

Mark-up on diamonds are incredible. I see people paying double what some people pay. Especially if you go to a retail mall store.

As always its buyer beware and its what you feel comfortable with. I bought diamonds form India before. My friends dad is a buyer for Town & Country. I cant tell the difference. I went all on him and the paperwork that was given to me.

Like cigars, know your source and be comfortable with him before buying.

[partagaspete]

Originally Posted by 4WheelVFR

That's not too bad at all. My wifes diamond was 1.02 carat, colorless, and internally flawless, and I picked it up for less than 10k.
She made me swap it for a smaller one though, and she didn't even know how much it was. She's not a jewelry person, and just didn't want a stone that big. Hell, I'm more of a "jewelry person" than she is considering my watches.

I'll say this and I am done here.

I am glad my wife doesn' read this site!

T

[4WheelVFR]

Originally Posted by partagaspete

I'll say this and I am done here.

I am glad my wife doesn' read this site!

T

Heh, my Wife has very small hands, and she just didn't want a big stone. We ended up needing a little cash down the road, so it all worked out for the better. If she's happy, I'm happy.

[dyj48]

Yeah, the markup is unbelievable with diamonds. I've never purchased from Blue Nile but have heard they have a very good rep. The fact is, I'd would'nt go with a SI rating but would definitely move up to a VS2 with slightly better color as Monte 2 is suggesting.

The color and the imperfections really are key in the diamond's "look". Anything over 5K for a SI is way too much. If you've got 6K to spend, Blue Nile should be able to give you close a carat with a F or G rating at VS2. Once you go over one carat, the prices go up substantially. So if you go for .95 carat, the costs are lower but the diamond will certainly look a lot bigger than .80.

Finally, make sure the table is sufficiently wide at whatever carat you buy, some diamonds are odd shaped so that they're cut more narrowly, which reduces the table area even tho it's a carat or more.

Congratulations, it's an important event and worth the time and money spent to figure out what to buy.

[par]

The cut really matters. To get that "sparkle" effect you really need to pay attention to the cut to make sure you get the ideal proportions. I don't know how many ladies rings i've seen with a "dead" stone (that often was too big for the hand).

and if you don't mind me asking. The ring will be around 2K:
"the ring setting is gonna be about 2k, since it has 8 princess cut sapphires and 8 small round diamonds."

What material in the ring and what's the sizes of each of the saphires and each of the diamonds?
Jewelers has most of their markup on the smaller diamonds, i've often seen them quote the price of the diamonds based
on collective weight (ie. telling you "this is 8 diamonds totalling 1 carat" when you should be looking at 8 diamonds each being 0.12 carat in size).
I just went and looked up the current wholesale prices for .1 to .2 carat diamonds (D or F color with Vs1 or Vs2) and the current whole sale pricing should
be $60-90. I've seen many of those diamonds in far worse clarity than Vs1 or Vs2 which can make the price per stone go down to $30 or so.
The point i want to impress you with is to not only pay attention to what you are paying for the big stone, also look at the ring itself.

so to give full disclosure: i designed my wifes engagement and wedding band. I chose not to go with diamonds and i had it setup with a 1.2ct ruby as the centerstone flanked by .2 carat diamond baguettes. The wedding band is a thin band with alternating rubies and diamonds in a channel mount all the way around. each stone is about .15 carat and go around the whole band (for a total of about 20 stones). the metal was custom cast of gold and palladium (18karat gold) to make it heavier. I much prefer the color of palladium to the platinum bands but that's more of a question of taste than anything else (lt's a bit more money but mostly for the mold and the work).

anyway, just wanted to share with you some friendly advice!

also... Check out tanzanite -i think it's an awesome stone. Considering using it as hour indicators on a watch that i'm redesigning (my other hobby, watch making and design).

[Seanohue]

Damn! I dread the day when I will have to buy one of these rocks!