Blah... are you guys working for DeBeers or something?

Ok, here's what it comes down to... what type of woman are you thinking of proposing to? There are the typicals:[list=1]
[*]I want the biggest rock I can find
[*]I want the shiniest stone
[*]I want the most expensive thing in the case[/list=1]

Luckily, my wife is a fourth type.... We both wanted something unique and non-traditional. I ended up buying a ring that was designed and made by a local jewelsmith. It's not a production line piece, and god-forbid it doesn't have those damn cheap looking prongs. The stone is a rather small (.73 k I think) yellow diamond. Yellow is my favorite color and it "looks like something I would buy". In fact, she never saw the ring ahead of time and she wanted it like that.

The downside is that 99% of the people that see it don't even know that a yellow diamond exists, much less that it's much more expensive than white. They also have no clue what a hand-made, one-of-a-kind platinum ring costs either. We're both fine with that though. It was expensive, and worth it, but not for the sake of being expensive, or to impress anyone else.

To conclude, it's all about the woman. If she can't tell the difference between a VS2 and a VVS2 stone then why spend the money? Buy to her likes and you'll be good. You can find many discount stone places on the net. Even if you're not willing to buy from them it will give you a good idea of a fair price. As for the ring size, take a ring she has and get it sized. You can always buy some type of cheap novelty ring and see how well it fits and adjust from there (like the kind you see at a souvenier shop).

 

Sunchild is right here. The mark up on jewellery in any high street store is horrendous, probably as much as 300%, more at the very swish shops. Makes a nonsense of the investment idea We are lucky over here in that we have 'The Jewellery Quarter' a region of Birmingham heavily populated with manufacturing jewellers. A lot of them sell directly to the public. You must surely have similar people you can deal with? You don't get the deep pile carpet and the "Certainly Modom" treatment, but there's a price to be paid for that

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by baked
[B]Blah... are you guys working for DeBeers or something?

 

Just got engaged 6 months ago, here is what I went by for rankings. I got it on line somewhere. Just compare and DO NOT BE IN A RUSH!!

GIA Color Rankings
Description
D, E, F Colorless
G, H, I, J Near Colorless
K, L, M Faint Yellow
N, O, P, Q, R Very Light Yellow
S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z Light Yellow

FL Flawless. Shows no inclusions or blemishes of any sort under 10X magnification when observed by an experienced grader. Extremely rare.
IF Internally Flawless. Has no inclusions when examined by an experienced grader using 10X magnification. Very rare.


VVS1, VVS2 Very, Very Slightly Included. Contains minute inclusions that are difficult even for experienced graders to see under 10X magnification.


VS1, VS2 Very Slightly Included. Contains minute inclusions when observed with effort under 10X magnification.


SI1 and SI2 Slightly Included. Contains inclusions that are noticeable to an experienced grader under 10X magnification.


I1 Imperfect. Obvious inclusions. Visible without magnification, but not at a quick glance.


I1 and I2 Imperfect. Obvious inclusions. Visible without magnification, and without having to look very hard to notice them.

 

Stop the presses:

http://www.niceice.com/

I bought mine there 3 years ago. Awesome.
Great info. Great Service. Great Prices.

PM me if you want details, etc.

If you call, ask for Robin (owner) . . . she's cool.

-Josh