Engagement ring advice

[BLACKHORSE 6]

Originally Posted by superdog

Go direct to a seller of diamonds. Pick the diamond first. And then get the setting.

For me, cut and clarity were primary. But the upper levels are basically unseeable to the naked eye. Get the highest level possible, that is seen without a loop.

This

[cramir]

I have been doing research for the past 2 months. I am in the market as well. Here is what I have for you:

- If you are going to do online, the best place you can go is www.whiteflash.com
- If possible, get an ACA diamond. "A CUT ABOVE" ( you'll the the best CUT, and CUT is the most important C of the four C's)
- Once you pick a stone, run it through this test. http://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca
- Stay under 2 on the results of the HCA test.
-Stay under the 1 2 3 carat mark. There is a huge price increase when you hit them and a 0.9 stone looks identical to a 1 carat
- There is lots of information on www.pricescope.com ( there are lots of very knowledgeable people there) you can ask people to give you feedback on a stone you picked.

I can keep going, believe me, I have spent hours doing research. I hate to buy stuff without knowing I am getting a deal.

PM me if I can answer any other questions.

Cheers

[Hairdude1]

Blue nile also reach out to a diamond wholesaler

[crew]

I've been in the market for a yellow diamond. Blue Nile seems pretty good but I'd prefer to see it live before I buy. However, with that said, Blue Nile has a very good return policy for full refund.
I just stopped at Costco and checked out their jewelry. I was very impressed and would consider buying there. Prices were much better than local jewelry stores. Unfortunately they did not have any yellow diamonds so I'm still looking.

[GB-man]

Just and FYI blue Nile is cool but I much prefer James Allen or ritani. You can see the actual stones unlike blue Nile. Bought my engagement ring from ritani and they had a gemologist go over 6 stones I was considering with me on the phone, then they ship it to a local jeweler who works with them and I was able to see the stone in person before pulling the trigger.

[Dr.Brian]

I'll give you my advice, but you won't take it.
For the money you will spend on a quality diamond ring you could get another far more impressive show stopper of a ring with another precious, and genuinely rare, stone.
Rather than upgrading my wife's diamond, though I did upgrade her setting and get another matching all diamond wedding band, I've spent the money on a couple of rings that stop traffic. A one carat stone looks a lot like a 1.5 ct stone which looks not a whole lot different at 5-6 feet than a 2 ct diamond. My wife's right hand rings don't have that problem.
Good luck.

[dera]

I bought from Blue Nile. 100% happy and I knew what I was getting (did my research, made sure it got good "scores" in the Tolkowsky calculators etc). A graded diamond is a graded diamond - It doesn't really matter where you get it from.

[Baco Noir]

Originally Posted by dera

I bought from Blue Nile. 100% happy and I knew what I was getting (did my research, made sure it got good "scores" in the Tolkowsky calculators etc). A graded diamond is a graded diamond - It doesn't really matter where you get it from.

Same here. Best price / quality ratio I could find.

[threemonkeys]

Originally Posted by rr-nyc

bluenile

X2. Their website is very search friendly and provides an easy education on diamonds.

[rouxeny]

Have not used blue Nile, but I did a lot of research on it fore buying my wife's ring. It gives you an idea of relative jumps in price for different levels of the 4 C's.

I ended up at Tiffany's. The prices were certainly a bit more than what I could have gotten on my own, but my wife wanted the Security of the name. And actually, the delta was not as great as I had feared. Plus every time we pass by a Tiffany's, she goes in and gets her ring cleaned.

[Rocket_Man]

Originally Posted by cramir

I have been doing research for the past 2 months. I am in the market as well. Here is what I have for you:

- If you are going to do online, the best place you can go is www.whiteflash.com
- If possible, get an ACA diamond. "A CUT ABOVE" ( you'll the the best CUT, and CUT is the most important C of the four C's)
- Once you pick a stone, run it through this test. http://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca
- Stay under 2 on the results of the HCA test.
-Stay under the 1 2 3 carat mark. There is a huge price increase when you hit them and a 0.9 stone looks identical to a 1 carat
- There is lots of information on www.pricescope.com ( there are lots of very knowledgeable people there) you can ask people to give you feedback on a stone you picked.

I can keep going, believe me, I have spent hours doing research. I hate to buy stuff without knowing I am getting a deal.

PM me if I can answer any other questions.

Cheers

This is good advice. I had my wife's engagement ring custom made by Whiteflash. They happen to be located here in Houston and I've been to their location several times. Good people. They carry a nice collection of quality stones. Some are in-house, some are held by brokers and are on the open market. But you can research stones til your eyes bug out.

We sourced our stone from a jeweler in NY. We narrowed it down to three stones and they shipped them to a local appraiser and we went to her place to have her inspect the stones and for us to look at them. We got one with a 'Ideal Cut' and one with a proprietary cut with many more facets, and one with a lessor color.

In my opinion Cut is King. This is what gives the diamond a real visual impact. The least important C is Clarity. We bought a 1.2 ct with a perfect cut, E color and I1 clarity. Yes I1. The flaw is a crystal and very hard to see and with so much light coming off it, you would never know. But an I1 gets you a lot of stone for your money. A great way to save on the stone. After we saw it in person it was a no brainer. The Cut was Ideal and it really stands out from lessor stones that you see in the mall stores. The E color is near perfect but honestly hard to tell from an H color, and again with a lot of light from the cut I'd be happy with anything above an H.

GIA is a trusted grader. AGSL is as well but less known. AGSL is actually a little tougher than GIA and is usually used for highest grade stones. The graders you see in the mall stores tend to inflate the aspects of the stone to make buyers think they are getting a deal. I would never buy a diamond from one of these mall stores. A very few of them will offer quality GIA stones and often have a marketing name they put on them to justify the price. But you can buy Ideal Cut stones all day long from internet sources.

[al503]

I went against most of the accepted advice when I purchased my wife's ring.

My criteria were:
Color: D
Cut: Ideal
Clarity: VVS2 or better
Carat: Minimum of 1.00

After perusing the various websites and visiting several of my favorite jewelers, in and out of town, I ended up with a Hearts on Fire 1.08 carat, D, VVS2 diamond mounted in a platinum Steven Kretchmer Omega Round Channel ring.

I knew that there was significant premium for the HOF (and the Kretchmer) brand and I was honestly keeping my mind open to an unbranded diamond as long as it was cut just as 'perfectly.' However, looking at a few dozen loose 'ideal cut' diamonds under the HOF scope, there just weren't any other diamonds cut as well as the HOF (although there was one HOF diamond that had a very slight, but noticeable issue.)

I could have gotten a .98 carat, F, Ideal Cut, SI2 for a lot less $ and 99% wouldn't have known the difference. However, while .98 might mathematically be 1 carat and F is considered colorless, they are not, IMHO.

With all that said, I guess my advice would be to try and get what you really want even if its a little more $. Don't skimp if you really don't have to. Honestly, the total number of times I've thought about the cost of the ring since I purchased it? Absolutely zero.

[TheBluePrince]

Go synthetic. If you're still with her after 5 years upgrade it to the equivalent or better natural.

If she doesn't accept this then run a mile.

[GB-man]

Originally Posted by TheBluePrince

Go synthetic. If you're still with her after 5 years upgrade it to the equivalent or better natural.

If she doesn't accept this then run a mile.

you can't be serious? I can just imagine showing up to dinner at my in laws wearing my rolex and my wife with a cz

You've got balls.

[vitalsignsrn]

Originally Posted by crew

I've been in the market for a yellow diamond. Blue Nile seems pretty good but I'd prefer to see it live before I buy. However, with that said, Blue Nile has a very good return policy for full refund.
I just stopped at Costco and checked out their jewelry. I was very impressed and would consider buying there. Prices were much better than local jewelry stores. Unfortunately they did not have any yellow diamonds so I'm still looking.

John try these 2 sources for yellows...

http://www.diamondsbylauren.com
** David is a super guy & will talk your brains out. He's in NY & his stones are all in house. He also uses some good benches for his stones. The hand forged & pave work from his Uber bench is beautiful. DBL has been around a long time. Also, if you decide to got to Manhattan, David will set up an appt. with you & show you his stones. I'm not sure if the yellow diamond is a surprise or not but going to DBL would be a nice trip.
.
http://www.leibish.com
** Very reputable & their pictures are very realistic. They are a bit more accommodating than DBL if you want on the hand or if you want to compare a few stones (in a pic format). Not all their stones are in house, some are in other parts of the globe but Leibish is a safe company to deal with. I don't know many that have bought rings or finished jewelry from them so I can't comment on the quality of their pieces. They look nice but as I said, I don't know much about their bench.

As mentioned in this thread, Whiteflash.com is a great vendor.

***** Do not buy a yellow or fancy shape diamond without seeing a picture or having it evaluated for light performance from a reputable vendor that will do it. You cannot buy one of these kinds of stones by numbers alone. *****

[Hpozzuoli]

It really doesn't matter what store you purchase the stone/setting at. You need to feel comfortable. Kay's, Costco, or the local Jeweler can all get some great stones. Your price is in line with what I would sell that package for. The appraisal they give is good for insurance, but not assurance.

Keep in mind women like big rings. I thought I got a big one the first time, but my wife was nice enough to tell me she wanted a larger one. Granted it was 10yrs later and she was kinda joking, but I did step up and get her the large one she always wanted.

[AK797]

A coloured diamond would be nice. Yellow or pink, and if you've got a house or two for sale get the Fancy Deep.

http://cdn.leibish.com/media/mediaba...1642.e205e.jpg

[jatco]

Originally Posted by cop414

This is what I did, from my AD. He sourced 5 different diamonds, I immediately narrowed it down to three, the owner of the store put all three in those little diamond holders (not sure what they're called) and walked me outside in natural light. Bam, I knew instantly which one, this thing looks like it has its own power source, 1 1/2 CT . I knew what setting she wanted, 6 prong, white gold with the diamond seated a little deeper than normal.
I wouldn't go to Kay for something like this. I went to Kay first, bought a mediocre ring that I really didn't feel good about. They sized it and when I got it back it looked like someone had taken steel wool to it, just terrible. I got my money back and went to a real jewler. This is much to big of a purchase to go to a run of the mill mall type store in my opinion. Oh, almost forgot, congratulations in advance!
This is Holly's engagement ring.

.
A beautiful ring there Tim. Holly's going to love it.. ( has she seen it yet..??).
.
Tho not having bought a diamond ring for Jannet, I did have our weddiing bands redone (more gold and resetting of diamonds has the gold rings have worn down over 25years..) and a custom 'engagement' ring (after 25yrs..haha).. So I would definately go with a jeweler..!

[uscmatt99]

I've thankfully not had to do this more than once, and purchased my wife's engagement ring and later wedding band from Union Diamond. They are located in Atlanta, and have a large variety of stones across the price spectrum available. The settings options are pretty good as well. Service was really top notch, from shopping with a lot of questions, purchasing, and follow-up. My wife ended up wanting a different setting a couple years later and they essentially credited us the value of the old setting towards the new one. Looking at their website, they have joined the trend of branding super duper awesome ideal cuts now.

I agree with other posters that cut and size are the most important factors to the naked eye appearance of a mounted stone. I went with a GIA graded 1.25 CT ideal cut, then narrowed it down from there based on my budget and comments on particular stones. If memory serves me, on a ring it's hard to differentiate color down to H, and difficult to see inclusions and their effects on reflectivity (location dependent) down to VS2. So that's what I set as my low points. Now that I have a bigger budget, if I was doing this again I'd still probably go ideal cut, H, VS2, and get a bigger rock. Given how often my wife has hand lotion smeared all over the diamond, I could probably go I and be okay!

[cop414]

Originally Posted by jatco

.
A beautiful ring there Tim. Holly's going to love it.. ( has she seen it yet..??).
.
Tho not having bought a diamond ring for Jannet, I did have our weddiing bands redone (more gold and resetting of diamonds has the gold rings have worn down over 25years..) and a custom 'engagement' ring (after 25yrs..haha).. So I would definately go with a jeweler..!

Thomas, yes, she's got it! And yes, she said yes!

[jatco]

Originally Posted by cop414

Thomas, yes, she's got it! And yes, she said yes!

Right.. Of course. Now I remember 'The Story'.. ahem...!!

[cop414]

Originally Posted by jatco

Right.. Of course. Now I remember 'The Story'.. ahem...!!

[murph145]

I gotta add a vote for BlueNile. Great inventory, no sales tax, free shipping, GIA cert, 30 day money back and customer service was awesome. Searching for a engagement ring can be fun but a lot of choices that is for sure!

Got my wife this 1.6 VS1, Ideal, I with a nice platinum/ diamond setting for a great price IMO