I'm shopping for an engagement ring. I like the solitaire princess round cut. I'd like to know if anyone would recommend any certain jewelers to purchase from based off of experience, quality and pricing. And am I crazy for giving eBay a thought?

I'm looking to spend a good $1500 and want to get every bit of my money's worth.

Quoted: ...I'm looking to spend a good $1500 and want to get every bit of my money's worth.

Is that a typo, or are you a cheapskate?  $15,000 would be more appropriate.

You've got a huge project ahead of you.  Picking a ring and diamond isn't like car shopping it's much more complex than that and much easier to get screwed.

First you need to learn about and understand the 4Cs.  Google diamond and 4Cs you'll get overloaded with info.  Next there are several sites out there that list unmounted diamonds.  Using what you learned about the 4Cs you can figure out what will be in your price range.  Only then should you actually start shopping for a ring.

If there are no jewelers on the board, I'd look for an old-skool independant jeweler in your area.  Look at "Estate Pieces". These vintage diamonds look great and can usually be had at a discount.  Depends on how your future fiancee feels, though. Some like the idea of an "antique", while others demand new.

Good luck with that.

Wait, hold-on.....WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY? you will regret it!

You're gonna need to spend a wee bit more to get something decent. Sorry for pissing on your parade, but that's the ugly truth.


ETA
$15,000 is a whole lot of cash California Kid, he could get something very nice for $5,000 IMHO if he does his homework.
Just break the carat (get her at least 1 whole carat center stone), and don't buy a cloudy POS diamond or the "football". Shop around.

STAY AWAY FROM MALLS.

That's my best advice. I bought one about 2 years ago, and been married since the end of Sept. I spend around 2300 on the ring. 1900 on the diamond. I hand-picked the diamond, and then picked a ring to set it in. Its a .5 carrot diamond, and we're both happy with it. You don't need to spend a boat load of money on it, especially if she doesn't want a HUGE rock. My diamond was 1 step from colorless, and 1 step from flawless. You'll learn about all that with the 4 Cs. Each step in the scale can make a huge difference on price. I would rather get a smaller better diamond, than a larger, crappier diamond with visual flaws. I need a 10x microscope to see the ones in the diamond I picked.
I would try to find a place that will sell you the diamond, and then the ring to go with it. It meant so much more to my wife that I handpicked the diamond first, then the ring to go with it, instead of just dumping $5000 at the mall on one. (The EXACT same size and less quality diamond was $4999 at our mall in town, where I paid $2300 and some change).
Thats where I would start if I were you. Feel free to IM me if you want more details.
Curt.

Quoted: Quoted: ...I'm looking to spend a good $1500 and want to get every bit of my money's worth. Is that a typo, or are you a cheapskate?  $15,000 would be more appropriate.

Maybe he's just smart.

He'd be smarter if the figure was around zero.

Four words.

Diamonds are for suckers.

I spent less than 500 on the ring I bought for my now ex-wife. We were both happy with it.

You don't need a big ring to make her happy- you should be doing that.

Quoted: Quoted: ...I'm looking to spend a good $1500 and want to get every bit of my money's worth. Is that a typo, or are you a cheapskate?  $15,000 would be more appropriate.

Is my sarcasm meter malfunctioning today or are you retarded?

Quoted: Four words. Diamonds are for suckers.

+1 on that.

Welcome to the world of debeers marketing.

"You NEED to get your woman a diamond ring. If you don't, or you get something else, YOU REALLY DON'T LOVE HER!!!!"

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: ...I'm looking to spend a good $1500 and want to get every bit of my money's worth. Is that a typo, or are you a cheapskate?  $15,000 would be more appropriate. Is my sarcasm meter malfunctioning today or are you retarded?

None of the above.

Quoted: STAY AWAY FROM MALLS.

Good advice.  Mall stores charge twice what things are really worth.

While not a cheapskate, I'm not wealthy.

Quoted: You're gonna need to spend a wee bit more to get something decent. Sorry for pissing on your parade, but that's the ugly truth. ETA $15,000 is a whole lot of cash California Kid, he could get something very nice for $5,000 IMHO if he does his homework. Just break the carat (get her at least 1 whole carat center stone), and don't buy a cloudy POS diamond or the "football". Shop around.

You guys are both crazy. I got my wife a very nice ring for $1800. 30pts center stone with 15pt side stones. Both round cut, white gold band, custom made by a very reputable jewler in town.  I came up with the design, he made me a wax model and made sure it was just how I wanted it before he made the ring. Then he mailed me the ring for inspection to make sure I liked it. After I approved, I came in a paid for it.

My advice is don't get all hung up on the "numbers". In other words, pick a diamond that looks good to you. It may not have the "best" specs, but if you can't tell then how will she? And if she cares about the specs then maybe you shouldn't be marrying her. I mean, how often is she really going to look at that thing through the microscope? Or does she plan on carrying around the certification in her purse and showing it off to her friends? If either of those is true, run the hell away.

Bottom line, IMO the only woman worth giving a ring to is one who doesn't even care about the ring. My wife would have been happy with a lifesaver. Of course she was thrilled that I got her a diamond ring, but she didn't need it.

Stay away from the chain and mall stores. Your best bet is to go to a custom jewler. Ask older women in your area, who have lots of jewelry and husbands that spend lots of money on it for them, where they go to have their jewelry made.

ETA: IMHO white gold is the way to go too. It makes the diamond look bigger.

Find a Shane Company near you, or go to www.shaneco.com.  Best diamond buying experience i've had, plus its one of the only companies that doesn't support the DeBeers monster.  Good Luck!

Don't listen to people telling you to spend ungodly sums of money on rings.  The bottom line is that if your girl makes a stink about how much it cost you she is probably the wrong girl.

I bought this ring for my fiance on ebay for $2,000.00.  After I recieved it in the mail, I had it sized and appraised.  It appraised for $7,800.00.




Her ring is a
round cut.  It is just over a carat with a platinum band.

Just be careful on ebay.  Set up a good dialogue with whomever you are buying and just make sure you can get your money back if you are not satisfied or it appraises for like $100.00.

My wife's engagement ring was $149.95, it has a small but beautiful diamond in it. She loves it so much I had trouble getting here to take it off for the larger more expensive diamond ring I just bought her. (we were poor when we got married.)


Don't get hung up on the price, materialism is killing marriages and this country.

Quoted: My wife's engagement ring was $149.95, it has a small but beautiful diamond in it. She loves it so much I had trouble getting here to take it off for the larger more expensive diamond ring I just bought her. (we were poor when we got married.) Don't get hung up on the price, materialism is killing marriages and this country.

Great advice and sounds like you have a good woman.

If this isnt going to be a surprise ask the little women what she likes, she's the one who will be wearing it.
The two reasons married people fight is money and sex. It may not be the LACK of money but one partner is a spender and the other a saver this spells TROUBLE.

This is a perfect time to get to know her a little better before you legaly co-mingle too much and make a huge mistake.

A man can find out a lot about a woman while shopping for rings. You find out what stone cut makes her happy. If the ring she wants is too expensive in your eyes dont over look this key sign. You could end up fighting about money for the rest of your life. If her idea of what is expensive and your idea's do not mesh now what hope is there for the future. If at the start of your life together she knows you will need to go into debt to make her happy do you really want that type of person ?
On the other hand if she points out rings that you think are well within your price range thats means your chances of living happily ever after are better.
I wouldnt buy of the ne without awhole lot of checking.

We do have a few members who know the diamond game sooner or later one should show up.

Dont miss this chance to find out what really lurks behind your girls outward demeaner.

Check With Winston_Wolf!

He gets engaged once every year!  Maybe he has a group buy on rings going or something!

Quoted: Quoted: My wife's engagement ring was $149.95, it has a small but beautiful diamond in it. She loves it so much I had trouble getting here to take it off for the larger more expensive diamond ring I just bought her. (we were poor when we got married.) Don't get hung up on the price, materialism is killing marriages and this country. Great advice and sounds like you have a good woman.

Thanks, and I have the BEST woman in the world. (no offense to those that had to settle for second place )

Focus on what is important to HER!!

My wife is all about family.  So before we got engaged I approached her two oldest daughters who are very artistic.  They designed her ring.  I then had a jeweler custom make it for her.  It was smaller, but knowing her daughters designed it made it very special for her.  Knowing that I recgonized that, won me bunches of brownie points!

ETA - the ring was $1350

First of all, round and princess are two different shapes entirely. A princess cut stone is square

* Buy quality before size.

* A round diamond will sparkle and flash more than a princess, emerald, pear, heart, etc.

* Buy from a small family type place that specializes in diamonds that you can pick out loose and have mounted in the store.

I bought my wife's 1 carat, very high quality ideal cut round. VVS-2 in clarity, and G in color for about 1/3 of what it would have cost from one of the big chains in the mall. Many of the mall places told me that they didn't carry the quality of stone I was looking for and tried to sell me some shitty diamond for much more than it was worth.

Do you homework and know what you are looking for and how much it should cost before you think of buying anything.



You should be able to buy a 2/3 carat stone in I-J color range and VS-1 in clarity for around $1500.

I think that Hatebreed is a jeweler or a broker or something like that. He's in MO.

What does your soon-to-be fiance like?  When I was getting engaged, we had our first fight over the ring.  He wanted something big so that everyone would be impressed with how much money he spent.  I wanted something small that I could wear comfortably all the time, no matter what I was doing.

Good luck!

Look in the newspaper. Better deals on used ones.

bluenile.com

Quoted: Quoted: ...I'm looking to spend a good $1500 and want to get every bit of my money's worth. Is that a typo, or are you a cheapskate?  $15,000 would be more appropriate.

Wow, aren't you a little bit elitist...

Quoted: Don't listen to people telling you to spend ungodly sums of money on rings.  The bottom line is that if your girl makes a stink about how much it cost you she is probably the wrong girl. I bought this ring for my fiance on ebay for $2,000.00.  After I recieved it in the mail, I had it sized and appraised.  It appraised for $7,800.00. tinypic.com/kduyb7.jpg Her ring is a princess round cut.  It is just over a carat with a platinum band. Just be careful on ebay.  Set up a good dialogue with whomever you are buying and just make sure you can get your money back if you are not satisfied or it appraises for like $100.00.

can't say I have ever heard of a princess round cut.

As for what to get for $1500, I have to agree with California Kid, it won't be much. A solitaire is the best way to go because you can take the diamond out and put it in another setting later if you want. Round diamonds are the most expensive per carat because they are the most popular and they lose a lot of weight when being cut from rough.

If you really want a round, you want to find one with a table at about 55% of the diameter and a depth of about 60% of the diameter. Depending on the color of the metal you will want around a G color for white gold/platinum or around I-J if yellow gold. I wouldn't go with a clarity of anything less SI1.

This stuff might not make sense to you now, but when you start looking at diamonds it will. I am a jewelry appraiser and about 85% of the stuff I do is diamonds. Blue Nile is one of the most reputable internet diamond dealers out there and has good prices. Appraisals are kinda tricky now, a lot of places used to way overestimate what the piece is worth for insurance purposes, but now insurance companies don't cash you out, instead they just replace the ring. So an inflated insurance estimate will only cost you more for insurance. Look for a good GIA certified appraiser to take it to

trap
pooper pics
don't do it
get both

Quoted: Look in the newspaper. Better deals on used ones.

Same for the dress.

Diamond prices are dropping steadily. There is no intrinsic value to a diamond like there is to a loaf of bread or a gun, so the high prices are purely a product of marketing and monopoly.

I used to be an insurance adjuster and paid a lot of jewelry claims. In short, jewelry isn't worth it, and what it was worth was marked up a few thousand percent. They count on your good sense going out the window when you are in love. Notice that jewelers generally live a very comfortable life on pitifully few sales. What does that tell you about markup?

If someone offers you an appraisal of the value, they are probably trying to con you. Appraisals aren't worth the paper they are written on. Almost invariably, they are an attempt to flatter the person requesting it. I settled lots of claims where the insured had submitted an appraisal. I don't think we ever had a case where we couldn't have replaced the item from a wholesale jeweler for less than one-third of the appraisal.  I have one ring that was appraised at $8,000 in 1980. Similar rings sell on E-bay for about $4,000 now -- and at that price 99 percent of the people who reply are scammers from foreign countries.

Diamond prices look like they are going to drop in the future, too. DeBeers doesn't have the control it once did, so diamonds may become little more valuable than any other pretty stone.

If it was me, I would spend a limited amount on one of the new synthetic diamonds. They will probably be cheaper and even a jeweler will have hard time telling the difference.

In any event, expect that you will get maybe ten percent of what you paid if you ever have to sell it in an emergency. It is a toy, not an investment.