Engagement Rings (merged)

brownbabygirl

Thanks guys. I am finding it hard to find a decent ring that is within the £400 budget. To be honest I am a LITTLE frustrated at the limited budget especially as he told me if I upgraded later, he would feel slighted! I offered to top up the buget by a couple of hundred to get a better ring and that too would offend him! Geez........... Price is not my concern as I am a very moodest person I just want a ring that will last for many many years and I can pass down to my kids.

He has a friend who got his missus a £300 engagement ring and she got the receipt and upgraded it a few days later (to a £700) and the husband is still seething to this day as he saw it as disrecpectful and wasteful lol. He rataliated by spending only £100 each on the wedding bands!lol

Puttytat

Has anyone tried www.purelydiamonds.co.uk ? They seem to have very reasonably priced rings.
HTH
Putty

stumpjumper

IdealD wrote: »

Amost all online vendors have access to the same stones even if it is not listed on their site.

If you are taking taking an example of a G SI1 stone these maybe worth looking at. You will have to stretch the budget a little further, but totally worth it in my opinion.

The first stone is a signature cut and classed as a Super Ideal Diamond

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/Whiteflash-ACA-cut-diamond-1848260.htm with a 5% discount for bank wire

or this one

http://goodoldgold.com/diamond/4613/

IdealD

IdealD,

While i totally agree with you sentiments - indeed, my wife's Engagement ring has a 0.3ct ACA from Whiteflash, - i love Whiteflash's stones. the current exchange rate of $1.3~ = £1 is working against us. It was great when things where closer to $2=£1.
But from your examples Brownbabygirl would be paying £620 for the diamond along, before a ring and tax is added -and nearly £1000 for those diamonds to be set in a 18k white gold 4 prong tiffany setting (at $250 for the setting)
in terms of buying from the US, you'd have to keep things under about $150 for the diamonds, since rings start at $250, which would give a deliered price of £400 once import duty, VAT and postage had been added.

i think in general terms, BBG, your going to be looking at a stone that about 0.15-0.25ct E-H VVS-SI depending on the vendor.

The advantage of the US vendors, and certainly Whiteflash and Good Old Gold is that you can upgrade the stone - getting what you paid for the origonal stone credited towards the new stone, but if your other half is against the idea then its a non issue.

IdealD is correct that vendors often sell diamond that are available to all.

You'll find the same diamonds are listed via Blue Nile, Quality Diamonds, Cool Diamonds, USA Certified and many others (even including Whiteflash on their general lists)

that is except the signature lines - like the Whiteflash A Cut Above and Expert Selection (which are stones they have in their own vaults) or the Blue Nile Signature Collection (again inhouse stones)

Your best bet is possibly to visit either a small independant local jeweller, or make the trip to one of the diamond districts like the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter or Hatton Gardens where you may be able to haggle and get a good diamond.

stumpjumper

jonny_power wrote: »

hi again,

does anyone have any ideas/suggestions for a cheap 'pretend' ring for about £50? I want to get something nice, maybe even a bit different as it would be nice for her to wear on her other hand on occasions.

Any help would be much appreciated. thx

try the QVC dimonique range, or other Cubic Ziconia rings. Its a sythetic diamond, very cheap - for instance i have 2 grading Cubic Ziconia diamond which are 1ct stones - but the pair cost $5

*Louise*

jonny_power wrote: »

hi again,

does anyone have any ideas/suggestions for a cheap 'pretend' ring for about £50? I want to get something nice, maybe even a bit different as it would be nice for her to wear on her other hand on occasions.

Any help would be much appreciated. thx

Get on ebay and look for a lab created diamond ring. It looks the part and would be good for proposing with.

kiltrunner

Stumpjumper and others - excellent advice throughout this thread. Many thanks. Am looking for a modern style platinum ring and have about 3K max to spend. Anyone have any suggestions? The whole thing bewilders me somewhat despite taking half the day to read all the advice. Plus I want it to be a surprise so need to have done my homework. Have a trip to London next month so can visit Hatton Garden; would it take long to have something made there now that I have figured out the ring size on the QT?

Thanks in advance - Kiltrunner

stumpjumper

if your going to be visiting Hatton Gardens, then i suggest you make an appointment with Best Diamonds here they are a vendor of Infinity Diamonds - a super ideal diamond cutter - an equal of the likes of Whiteflash and Eightstar - that is among the best cutters in the world.

I know it can be bewildering, but it doesnt have to be.

Have a read of this article. It may help - a diamond purchase is an emotional one - your heart should rule. Yes, with todays technology, sure we can quantify and give endless data on many aspects of a diamond - but the end of the day, it is the one which speaks to you which is the one you plum for.

Sure if you state your desires then 'experts' can guide you to a selection of stones they feel meet your criterior, but in the end it will come down to your opinion on what you like, on how the stone performs.

Diamonds is my hobby, and i have spent alot of time learning, and visiting different cutting houses, and chatting with cutters and vendors and industry experts and enjoy learning from their combined experiance - yet their is still alot of debate on whats 'ideal' - it always comes down to the consumer liking what (s)he sees.

My advise would be kiltrunner, Visit Hatton Gardens - BUT leave your wallet at home. see alot of diamonds of all different grades, visit someone like Best Diamonds which can show you diamonds which are cut to a higher ideal - to cut for light return, rather than weight retention (the heavier the diamond, the more it sells for) and see if you like what you see. get an idea of whats available within your budget. come home and think about it.

Maybe get in touch with the likes of Whiteflash (in house cutters), good old gold (selects the best on the market for in house stock), Wink Jones (a vendor of Infinity Diamonds like Best Diamonds)

One thing i would say, is that while your are dealing with an online company, you can get a very personal service - i have personally talked with several folks at whiteflash over my own diamond purchase, and other projects for custom designs i've been working on, but cant afford ATM, and have also work with Wink on another project. as well as talking with Jon, who owns Good Old Gold - they are all very hands on and honest in their assessment of the diamonds they hold - if you ask are the inclusions eye visable - they will tell you, as they dont want the hassle of a dissapointed customer having to send a diamond back to them if they havent discribed the diamond properly. Just in the same way when your at a jewellers shop and he lays several diamonds out in front of you, you can discard the ones you dont like.

As for what you can get within your budget...

As an indication, for a top cut, i would say your going to be looking at around the 0.5-0.6ct, F-H, VS stones
this is a 0.56 G VVS2 stone, and matched with a platinum 4 prong Tiffany setting would set you back just under £3000 all in, delivered to your door.

you should be looking at a stone that has a depth around the 60% mark (59.8-60.3%) and a table of around 55-58% as a basic thing getting a stone that has a higher depth than this means your starting to loose the visual size of the diamond - its diameter - for greater depth, which, while retaining weight in a diamond, it is weight you can not see.

For instance a friend of mine purchased a stone in Dubia - it was a a 1.5ct stone, but its depth was around 62% and its diameter was around the same diameter as a 1.2ct ideal cut stone - ie he had paid for 0.3cts he couldnt see.

ok, i'm whittering now

IdealD

stumpjumper has given good advice.

Additionally to start your search by looking at the following 3 types of stones for comparison.

1. GIA - EX symmetry EX polish
2. AGS 0 - unbranded Ideals
3. All others - ACA, Eightstar, Infinity and other branded cuts.

Any well cut stone rating under 2 on the Holloway Cut Advisor would be a keeper.

"The Holloway Cut Adviser, (HCA). (U.S. Patent 7,251,619) estimates a round diamonds appeal based on its potential Light Return, Fire, Scintillation and Spread".

Please refer to the links below to read a detailed description of the benefits of referring to the HCA when purchasing diamonds. I love this tool!

http://www.diamond-cut.com.au/
http://www.pricescope.com/cutadviser.asp

IdealD

kiltrunner

stumpjumper and IdealD, many thanks for taking the time to reply. Much appreciated.Will make the appointment recommended and see what happens from there. My only concern is that of time: I'd like to propose a week after my trip to London (we are planning to head off on a short break). I could delay this due to other committments if it would help with the "cause"?! Would rather get these things right, but at the same time need to trade this off against the fact that I could take months to get a half-decent level of expertise... Saw the following online - http://www.serendipitydiamonds.co.uk/detail.asp/sku=Offer%2026 .Any thoughts on it welcome. Thanks again - Kiltrunner

IdealD

Please do take your time as your are parting with your hard earned cash...there is nothing worse than buyers remorse!

I'm not sure about the website you mentioned as I have only dealt through vendors recommended on pricescope.com

Learning about and purchasing diamonds should be a fun exercise.:j

IdealD