Engagement ring buying advice: Online / UK / Abroad

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  • LilElvis
    LilElvis Posts: 5,835 Forumite
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    typeractive wrote: »
    Interesting - thank you. An thank you for sharing your story on how you bought yours. It's nice to hear that sort of customer service.



    Looks like that advice is recommended a couple of times.

    My budget is around 3.5k give or a bit.

    It seems as most of the advice on here so far is to visit the jewellers in Birmingham or London. I'm based in the North East so that's a bit tricky, and then I would probably become overwhelmed ensuring I found the 'best' place as I'd imagine there would be quite a few of them.

    From my experience you are going to get better value from an independent, manufacturing jeweller. They can take your requirements and source the stones for you for a better price. The price of diamonds jumps in price when you go to certain size points - 1/2, 3/4, 1 carat - hence my suggestion that you look at a couple of points less than the 1 carat rip-off point as you will only notice the difference in price. 1 carat, E, VVS2 might not be realistic at your budget but it will definitely buy your fiancee a beautiful ring.
  • typeractive
    typeractive Posts: 914 Forumite
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    LilElvis wrote: »
    From my experience you are going to get better value from an independent, manufacturing jeweller. They can take your requirements and source the stones for you for a better price. The price of diamonds jumps in price when you go to certain size points - 1/2, 3/4, 1 carat - hence my suggestion that you look at a couple of points less than the 1 carat rip-off point as you will only notice the difference in price. 1 carat, E, VVS2 might not be realistic at your budget but it will definitely buy your fiancee a beautiful ring.

    So far this one seems to meet most of the requirements and about on budget, though I still like to look around. Am I missing something extra (please slap me in the face with it! lol)?
    "The future needs a big kiss"
  • selement
    selement Posts: 518 Forumite
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    Do you know that she'd like princess cut? I chose round brilliant because it looks more sparkly, although some think princess cut looks more modern. (although mine is a lot smaller than 1 carot! The price reflected that though, it was a good quality diamond on a platinum ring for £1000). When first engaged seeing that ring sparkle is very exciting :)
    Trying to lose weight (13.5lb to go)
  • caprikid1
    caprikid1 Posts: 2,134 Forumite
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    I get what everyone says about the 1 Carrat Rip off point , I know when my Ex lost her engagement ring (Washed) the replacement was just over a carrat. Whilst she was not materialistic it certainly mattered to break the magic number.
  • CRANKY40
    CRANKY40 Posts: 5,761 Forumite
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    An independent manufacturing jeweller (the late MrC made my ring himself) will usually obtain a choice of diamonds for you to make your selection from. Even if they are all the same size, exclusions etc may vary so it's worth a look through a loup. To give you an idea of how much the difference is, the raw materials for my ring 17 years ago including the platinum band cost £625.

    Upon completion it was sent for hallmarking by the assay office which in our case included my husband's initials as he was the goldsmith (priceless that part, especially as he's no longer with us). After that we had it valued - £2500!!! I can't imagine that we would have paid nearly £2k for someone to make it so...... The other advantage is that when it came to making my wedding band, he took my engagement ring with him when he made the wax mould so my wedding ring fits neatly around my engagement ring in a sort of small groove.
  • Gloomendoom
    Gloomendoom Posts: 16,550 Forumite
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    CRANKY40 wrote: »
    so my wedding ring fits neatly around my engagement ring in a sort of small groove.

    My wife's does the same. We got it made to her specification in the Jewellery Quarter in Brum.
  • Fireflyaway
    Fireflyaway Posts: 2,766 Forumite
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    A family friend bought his wife a fairly pricey ring on holiday ( somewhere in Caribbean but don't recall which island). After a few days the platinum started to yellow. Yep it was spray painted! When they got home he took it to a jeweller who valued it at £40. It was a fake!
    You could try second hand rings. There are some lovely antique rings. Being the cautious type of probably stick to a high street retailer. Go and have a browse. Some rings that look virtually identical vary in price a lot because of the clarity when in reality the naked eye will hardly notice.
  • Browntoa
    Browntoa Posts: 49,300 Forumite
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    Another vote for vintage rings (sounds so much better than 2nd hand :) )

    Jewellers near me called kaizens specialises in them , has some fantastic stuff and quality is much higher than modern stuff
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  • Gavin83
    Gavin83 Posts: 8,749 Forumite
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    I'm guessing you have no preference between natural and lab made stones? In which case you shouldn't have an issue finding something within your budget.

    I also wouldn't get too hung up on details, I'm sure she'll love the ring you get her.
  • John-K_3
    John-K_3 Posts: 681 Forumite
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    Years ago I did my research about clarity, colour etc, and went to the diamond district in New York to get some stones for stud earrings for my wife.

    I browsed a decent selection of the same sort of quality that the big name jewellers use in their rings, and picked a couple out.

    I then asked him to show me the really good stones, the top of the range, assuming that they would be indistinguishable, and the difference was like night and day.

    Unfortunately it was reflected in the price, too, so I ended up buying none of them, as I was not happy with the look of the cheaper ones or the price of the good ones.
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