Vuey

hey Austblue

it really depends on how much you want to spend.
The best way to know your not getting rorted is to do your shopping before hand, as they can range from $4k to $20k for the same size rock .

I can give you some pointed on colour/cut/clarity/carat.

Colour - They range from A-Z .
A being the most white and a sliding scale to slightly yellower shades . You probably dont want to go any lower than G or H rating . But if you plan to set it in yellow gold then its not a factor .

Cut
The round cut or brilliant cut is always more expensive and sought after . They give the best sparkle , hence the princess or square cut diamonds are slightly cheaper .

Clarity
this is where it gets tricky .
A pure/clear diamond is rated as a VS1 - only though a mircoscope you will be able to see the tiny specs of imperfection , but not visiable to the human eye .
thens there VVS1 - VVS2 and so on .
It then moves to S ratings .
S1 - not visable with the human eye , but can be seen thru an eye piece. With perhaps 1-2 specs max
S2 - Same again but with more specs
S3 - these are just visable with the human eye .

We move to the lower end now with P or I ratings ( Asian spots would use the I as prefix)
These ratings are given to diamonds which have tiny black carbon spots that are visable with the human eye .
P1 - 1 or 2 visable carbon spots
P2 - Same but with more visable spots
and so on .

Carat
This is pretty much on how big you want to go

for example , a A colour ring with VS1 , round cut and 1 carat will set you back about $25-30K Add $5-8k if its from Tiffany .

however say a F colour , Si1 , round cut , 1 carat , your looking at about $13-$15k .

And so on . Like cars , if they come with original certification expect firmer prices .

If you want to know some places to shop let me know , i can point you in the right direction .

RS4will

best investment ever, it's a sure thing.

has to be fisty's lock of the week.

Austblue

Thanks guys keep it coming.

Wil, if you could get me the details on that shop that'd be great.

RR, I thought that was the case I'll do another search and see if I can find it.

Cheers.

wilch

Spoke to my mate today. He has the details at home and will email me. I'll PM you when I get them

Mrs. Ding is a bit funny though, e.g. "Dis wan is more bargain!"

hehe. But very good prices, and certified diamonds.

Austblue

Hmm that makes me nervous. My maths lecturer couldn't even count to ten in english and it's scarred me for life

Would it be naive for me to ask my Dad's cousin if he's ripping me one on the diamond

Austblue

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showt...&#entry10832326

Bumped it thanks, rr.

Blackie

Hiya all. Been crook the past week so haven't had much time/energy to log on. Anywayzzz, Austblue if you're going to buy a diamond, simple answer is, don't. Unless you HAVE to. Simply because as is talked about at length in the other thread, is a rort and not worth nearly as much as what we pay for them, but then again I could say the same thing about iPods.

But if you HAVE to or NEED to buy a diamond - and the only reasons for doing so are you're getting engaged, buying for a big anniversary, or releasing a new rap album - then be prepared.

Do your research. There are many websites which teach you about the four Cs, hearts and arrows, level of blue luminescence and so on. But do NOT get hung up on them. I talked to my mates who had proposed before or looked at diamonds and all they cared about was what specs the rock was. It was more about buying a certificate of specs rather than a nice looking rock on a ring. That's the other thing you need to be careful about, a good quality rock will still look crap if it isn't set properly in the ring, as the reflections off the setting and ring can affect the dazzle of the diamond. The quality of the cut and ratios of cut are important as well to acheive a good looking stone. And finally different certification companies have different standards. Tiffany's use their own in-house certification. So in a nutshell a good spec sheet does not necessarily make a good looking diamond.

Wholesalers and so on are good places to get a comparatively cheap rock and you can view before buying. You need to find a good ring setter but the wholesaler will usually have their own in-house one or refer you to whoever they get commission off. You just need to decide whether you want to go the unbranded cheaper way to get a bigger rock or go a with branded jewellery maker like Tiffany's, George Jensen, Cartier, Harry Winston, etc.

Anyway, in the end, I went with Tiffany. Why? Because after inundating myself with research and advice from friends, I came to the following conclusion: Diamonds are overpriced by a ridiculous amount by the industry and to be fair, if buying from a branded jeweller (I'm talking about the above marques, not your Bevilles or Goldmarks) at least you're paying a fair portion of that money for the brand, the engineering, innovative design and pedigree, regardless of the spec sheet of the four Cs, etc. In 50 years time, it will still be a Tiff ring and a designer piece of jewellery. There is no separate rock and ring and swapping of parts like a PC. The ring is one standalone piece of created jewellery and you buy it as such. The rock really is worthless because hopefully by then the De Beers cartel will be compromised by new technology. The other problem with buying a rock and ring separately (i.e. from a wholesaler) is that you don't know how it will look in the final setting. Too high a setting, too low a setting, a bad base, etc. might compromise your shiny rock.

In the end, I bought her a Lucida from Tiffany's (Tiff trademark cut, looks like a Princess cut with round Brilliant cut base), a few shades under a carat (she has small hands...my excuse), colour can't remember, clarity VVS1 from memory, (Tiff have minimum standard rocks and grades they won't supply below). Anyway, it ended up costing nearly as much as a small Korean car. If you want to go the full 1 carat, depending on the rest of the specs it's around $35-50k. Each tenth of a carat point up is an exponential jump in $$$.

You don't need to go my route, and I advise you not to if you know what you're doing or can trust someone who does. You can save a lot more cash in the end.
I went with the safe route where the boyfriend says "Prada? I've heard of that somewhere. Must be good, it's so damn expensive. I'll buy her this and I might get a bit of action tonight."

Good luck Austblue. It's a minefield out there.

Austblue

Thanks blackie

I'm not shooting for as big as I can afford just know roughly what size I'd like and don't want to pay too much unnecessarily. I think I'll just go see my Dad's cousin and guage my actions from there.

Cheers guys

jayesse

I have a good jeweller in the city (Sydney) - diamand wholesaler and does some amazing pieces.

He has done rings for my wife and just finished one for me. He has also done plenty of jewelery for friends over the years as well as some high profile people.

His work is top-notch and prices are very reasonable.

Let me know if you want his details and I'll PM them to you and he'll look after you

Austblue

I'd appreciate that, jayesse. I'd like to see some different ideas too since I have no imagination when it comes to jewellry.