Engagement Rings (merged)

crow99

Hi All,

Looking for a bit of help - planning on popping the question in a few weeks and need the ring. Looking to spend about £1300 and after the following:
White Gold, Round Cut, Single Stone Setting and a thick band.

Planning on going to Hatton Garden on Monday for a look see and also happy to shop at Blue Nile or other established UK online retailers, anyone point me in the direction of a good ring. The difficulty is she wants a thick band, I'm thinking 3-4mm?

Kavanne

hatton garden will have loads, don't worry. or you could always get someone there to custom make it, i am sure your gf would love to know her ring is unique!

stumpjumper

I would also make an appointment to visit Indira at http://www.bestdiamonds.co.uk/

she has her offices at Royal Exchange, and stocks excellent diamonds (and is a stockist of Cut by Infinity diamonds.

If your happy to shop online, i would also speak to Lesley and Brian Gavin brianthecutter.com/ they have 2x 0.54ct G VS2 stones, that with the whitegold ring, would come in under budget (they also specialise in custom rings)



the diamonds are £920 each inc VAT.

crow99

Thanks for the advice so far!
Spent some time looking at hatton garden today and am looking to buy the following

0.51ct colour f si1 cut Vg Vg Vg Gia number 1106753045
it's loose but they will do it on the platnium mount I want for 1315

Any thoughts? Seems like a lot of rock for my money and the right trade off interns of 4 C's?

Kavanne

crow99 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice so far!
Spent some time looking at hatton garden today and am looking to buy the following

0.51ct colour f si1 cut Vg Vg Vg Gia number 1106753045
it's loose but they will do it on the platnium mount I want for 1315

Any thoughts? Seems like a lot of rock for my money and the right trade off interns of 4 C's?

Is 1315 with any haggling? you can definitely get them down from that

crow99

Kavanne wrote: »

Is 1315 with any haggling? you can definitely get them down from that

It's without haggling unlike every other store they wouldn't come down in price.

It also seemed cheaper than my best haggling elsewhere

stumpjumper

personally i'd keep looking - if your after maximum sparkle for your buck.

you can check the angles by looking up the cert at the GIA website here

which gives:
Depth 62.7%
Table: 56%
Crown Angle: 33°
Pavilion Angle: 41.8°

which if you put all those numbers into the Holloway Cut Advisor http://www.pricescope.com/cutadviser.asp you'll get a score of "Good - Only if price is your main criterion"
compared to the diamonds above which get an 'Excellent' rating - yet are not costing any more really.

the visual difference would be noticable.

Like i'd say, before putting money down - make an appointment in Indira at Best Diamonds, and see the kind of diamonds i'm talking about.




read more about the cut adivisor - the pros and cons, and its limitations here

crow99

stumpjumper wrote: »

personally i'd keep looking - if your after maximum sparkle for your buck.

you can check the angles by looking up the cert at the GIA website here

which gives:
Depth 62.7%
Table: 56%
Crown Angle: 33°
Pavilion Angle: 41.8°

which if you put all those numbers into the Holloway Cut Advisor http://www.pricescope.com/cutadviser.asp you'll get a score of "Good - Only if price is your main criterion"
compared to the diamonds above which get an 'Excellent' rating - yet are not costing any more really.

the visual difference would be noticable.

Like i'd say, before putting money down - make an appointment in Indira at Best Diamonds, and see the kind of diamonds i'm talking about.

Wow thanks for that help :T
Sadly Indria has replied to my e-mail saying her diamonds only start at £2.5-£3K so a little out of my budget to say the least!

How do I find the designs and diamonds on Brian the Cutter?

stumpjumper

At the moment it is best to email them - Brian recently left Whiteflash.com (a company he started way back in 1999ish) for new challenges. so his new website is currently under build. but you can read his blog at brianthecutter.com/ which shows his current stock, as well as a lot of his recent work. another poster on here (i wont say her Username, incase she doesnt want it boardcasted) bought her diamond from Brian, and had a custom platinum setting made by Mark Morrell - the pictures are on Brian's Blog.

Brian is a 5th generation cutter, and very well respected with in the trade. I bought my own DW's diamond from him when he was part of Whiteflash back in 2004.

He and his wife Lesley can be contacted at: [EMAIL="info@briangavindiamonds.com"]info@briangavindiamonds.com[/EMAIL]


It is a shame that Indira couldnt help you tho.

retepetsir

My post got removed? How odd, I'm not from this particular website! I used Blue Nile (Google it), next day shipping and proper certified diamonds. Very happy with the purchase, and a fantastic search engine on their website.