Lab diamonds for engagement- would you?

basscadette

In a suprise moment my boyfriend proposed to me last week and now we have the problem of finding a ring. We don't have much money at all (i'm green from reading through here at how much people would spend). I would love a 1ct diamond of course, however, we have more important things to spend money like that on atm such as the wedding, our mortgage etc.

So my questionis this - i've seen lots of lab diamonds on ebay for very good prices. From what I have read up on them, they are hard to distinguish from real diamonds, even by experts. I'm just wondering if this is true and if a lab diamond could pass for a real one? We could save a firtune by just buying the lab diamond then getting it set into a design of our choosing.

By budget, we're looking at £200 max. I'm also very fussy about jewellery - I don't like cheap looking stuff and wouldn't wear it if it looked cheap or gaudy.

Can anyone advise or has anyone got any experience of these 'diamonds'? Alternative suggestions of where we could get a nice, cheap ring in the north east area also appreciated.

MoaningMyrtle

I've no idea about the created diamonds, you would get most value for your money with an antique/vintage ring. Try antique fairs/shops.

Congratulations on your engagement by the way!

morwenna

You can get a real diamond for that budget if you want
http://www.diamond-heaven.co.uk/buy-diamonds.php?cat1=1&cat2=2&item=3294

My ring came from here, it's the web page of a shop in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter and my marquise cut diamond ring is beautiful and came promptly with all it's paperwork in a beautiful wood presentation box.

IHTH

student_advisor

congrats!

I got my ring from an antiques shop in York (Cavendish Antiques) - we had the same budget as you and it was one of only two shops we went in which didn't make us feel uncomfortable about spending so little.

The shop looks really naff - you'd walk straight by, but the staff were so helpful & pleasant. They listened to what we wanted and there was no hard sell for the more expensive stock. In fact we all agreed that one of the cheaper ones I tried on looked the best.

We paid £146 for a 20-30 year old ring, but a similar style new would be £500 ish and it's truly beautiful

Good luck with the search x

frannyann

How about pawn brokers?? The one near us has a stunning 1/2 carat just on your budget!!

basscadette

Wow thanks for the suggestions.

We're going second hand/antique hunting on Saturday. We live in Newcastle so if anyone knows of any small places around there suggestions would be most appreciated :-)

basscadette

morwenna wrote: »

You can get a real diamond for that budget if you want
http://www.diamond-heaven.co.uk/buy-diamonds.php?cat1=1&cat2=2&item=3294

My ring came from here, it's the web page of a shop in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter and my marquise cut diamond ring is beautiful and came promptly with all it's paperwork in a beautiful wood presentation box.

IHTH

This website is excellent, thanks. Really good value.

Tigerlilley1980

My H2B got mine from Ebay for the pric you are looking at! We had it valued and it's worth over £1000. The size he got was wrong but we just got it resized for £20. Mine is a quarter carat 18ct white gold solitaire and I love it lol! Tiger x

Primarni_Princess

In Newcastle we went to Herbert Brown and got a second hand ring. It wasnt my size but it only cost £15 to get it re-sized. Definitely worth a look and they get new stock in all the time too

Bufger

Check out an internet site called Blue Nile. They're real diamonds and you can custom build your own ring, it actually works out as expensive or cheap as you want and more importantly, its completely personal to you! You choose the exact diamond you want from the vault, they list the clarity, cut, colour etc (so it may be worth learning something about them first). Once selecting the diamond it gives you a choice of type of ring you want it on and how you want it fixed.

Its a nice process for you and your fiance to go through and makes it completely personal. I did a square cut large ring for my fiance and its exactly what she imagined and because i put in the time and effort it means more to her. (i still wasnt allowed to use the back door but a man must try..)

basscadette

Primarni_Princess wrote: »

In Newcastle we went to Herbert Brown and got a second hand ring. It wasnt my size but it only cost £15 to get it re-sized. Definitely worth a look and they get new stock in all the time too

Ooh thanks very much for this one. Really close too.

They have some real beauties there - now where did my htb leave his credit card and does it have £20k credit available? hmmmm....

Seriously though, very good shout.