2.5 to 3.5 carats is HUGE and I think too big. In the world of diamonds, size isn't everything. Get educated about the three C's - cut, color, clarity. A 2 carat, with the right cut, color and clarity will look much nicer than a 3.5 carat diamond that doesn't shine. Even a 1 carat is better with the right qualities.

And I agree with NFRs2000NYC, a ring from Tiffany will be worth its full value in twenty, fifty, a hundred years from now. I almost brought a Tiffany myself for my wife for our engagement. But I choose a family diamond that I inherited from my Dad instead. It had more sentimental value.

You might also want to look at the engagement rings from Movado. The design is very unique and modern, if that is what she likes.

Finally, I recommend a platinum setting.

 

Damn, I'm feeling like a cheapwad for only buying my girlfriend a 1 carat. I guess I'm not a true balla like some of you. I couldn't imagine paying $25K for a ring.

I do have to agree that there's much more to a diamond than just carat weight. The cut is huge and makes a big difference. A lot of jewelry stores will try to pass off diamonds with crappy cut to catch the people who are just interested in size. A diamond with a great cut really does sparkle in light.

I was able to get a good hookup through a friend of my roommate that is a diamond broker. There's another place in town here that sells diamonds a lot cheaper than the average jewelry store. The markup on jewelry is huge so do some research and you can probably get a lot better stone for a better price than if you just walked into the average jewelry store. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to propose now that I have the ring.

 

[QUOTE=NFRs2000NYC,Mar 22 2006, 08:39 AM] This is wrong.

 

Don't be man. Mine is a 1 carat too.

My wife is small and petite and anything over a 1 carat would look too enormous on her finger anyways.

 

saluki9 - I never said that my girl NEEDED a 2-3 Carot ring, I WANT her to have a 2-3 carot ring.

Wickerbill - Don't feel bad, I am 30 years old and have to work 80 hour weeks

Mav - Dude, I have been looking at diamonds of different clarity/color and I cant tell for the life of me the difference.

FusionDynamics and NFRs2000NYC - Thanks for your opinions. I will def. have to do more thinking.

Any websites that anyone can recomend? Hehe you guys dont know how tempted I am to just slap a downpayment on a new Z06

Thanks for the help,
Bobby

 

I've never been a big fan of the idea of dumping a lot of money on jewelry, but if you can afford it good for you I am sure she will appreciate it.

 

I would recommend MA Jewelers in the West Belt Mall. We've purchased all our jewelry from them and they give an excellent deal. Their diamonds are always appraised higher from outside appraisers. The engagement ring I got for my wife 3 yrs ago gets constant compliments. It's a 1.5ct in solitaire in a platinum setting.

I know you said 2.5 - 3ct, have you seen those in a setting? If you're talking 2.5/3ct for a single rock, IMO it looks too big and verging on the side of gaudy. It all depends on the size of you're significant other's fingers. If she has larger fingers then it may look proportional, my wife has tiny (skinny) fingers and anything bigger than 2ct would've been overkill.

I also side with those that say avoid Tiffany's, Harry Winston et al. You pay a premium for the name only, they are NOT better diamonds. Kind of like would you buy a Honda S2000 or an Acura S2000. Car's the same, you just get more "perceived" prestige from the brand.

In the end it's your money, get what you feel comfortable with. Just note, marriage brings ALOT of future expenses .

 

You are right. When I was at the jewelry store the guy told me if I bought the diamond, he would put it in a very simple band and after I proposed I could bring my little lady back with me and she can pick out a band she would like.

Now this place was very cool and let me design the entire ring from scratch. So I decided to do my own design and not do the temporary band deal.

The ring is beautiful and she loves it. I think it could have been made of dog poo and she still would have loved it because I designed it for her. She loves me and that's obviously more important than how big the diamond is or how much money the ring is worth.

Also, size is definitely not everything. She explicitly told me that she would prefer a very pretty small(er) diamond and does not want a big honkin rock. I decided to do a very high quality 1 carat in the middle, 2 smaller dark blue sapphires on the side and 3 very small diamonds in the band on the side of each sapphire. So I went for 7 smaller diamonds and 2 sapphires instead of 1 big one. Again, (her) personal preference is the most important.

Good luck! It's good fun.

 

Take $1000 of your engagement ring savings and use it to have a lawyer write up a rock-solid prenup agreement for you.

No, seriously. Do it.

Andrew

 

I would have said Diamond.com I know someone who used them and got a high quality GIA stone (its really nice) of about one carat for 60% of retail price. Online retailers (reputable ones anyway) will sell GIA stones and no sales tax (usually).

As far as buying something at an estate and having it appraised higher does not mean much. I bought through a diamond broker and had a custom setting from a local jewler. It then needed an independant appraisal from another jeweler for insurance purposes and they appraised it for twice what I paid. All that says is two people found a way to posses a ring at less than some retail snook would sell it at full inflated price

My only advice is by the big stone if you think you want to and to show love and appreciation. No problem with that. If you have one of those girls that NEEDS the big stone to be happy, they are the hardest to keep happy. In other words, the two guys I know who shelled out $30 plus for engagement rings are out $30k and wifeless. (but much better off IMHO) If its the former, congrats and many happy years. If its the latter, run good man, RUN!