Funny you should say that.....they offered her 90K in store credit for it. When she brought the ring in at first, no one at the store (mind you this is on 57th street and 5th avenue in NYC) thought it was real Bvlgari. Noone has ever seen that ring (the manager has been a Bvlgari employee for quite some time, and they said it was NOT Bvlgari's normal style. My mom insisted it was a Bvlgari. Finally, the store agreed to have it shipped to Italy, and have it verified. When they got the ring back, and realized what it was (exceptionally rare)....they offered my mom the money. My Dad still refuses to tell us where he got it, only that it was from someone's estate.

 

The color differences will not showtoo much difference in the jewelry store lighting as they will in natural sunlight. I personally think colorless is key.

As far as the inclusions (clarity) most you can not see with the naked eye and need 10X magnification. Meaning no one will really no the difference except the appraiser, so that would be secondary to color IMHO.

As far as cut, round will sparkle more but at least to me, princess (square) appear larger in size for the same carat weight because the corners are not rounded off. I bought the fiance a 1.25 princess which looks much bigger than the same weight round.

I (and she) also find a fancier setting with more side design and stones to be more attractive that a giant solitaire. If your budget it fixed, I would recommend that you go from the giant stone, to semi giant with more design and complimentary stones in the ring itself. They use lower quality stones int the background and really are not that expensive to add to punch up a ring.

 

[QUOTE=kadeshpa,Mar 22 2006, 11:51 AM]

 

Tiffany's is a giant waste of money. And buying a diamond online is just plain stupid if you ask me. Diamonds that are certified the same look different sometimes. If you are in the tri-state area, go down to manhatten and go to 47th st (diamond district). You will get the best deal here.

 

Wait... So your mom finds out that her wedding ring is worth $86,000. AND she knows it is old and irreplacable, nevermind the sentimental value. AND then she nonetheless argees to let some store take her $86,000, rare, irreplacable wedding ring and ship it to Italy and back??!?

Hmmm... Interesting.

Andrew

 

[QUOTE=blastr17,Mar 22 2006, 01:28 PM] Tiffany's is a giant waste of money.

 

Ummm...not sure if you just skimmed my post...so here are cliffnotes...

1)Ring was a BVLGARI for their 25th wedding anniversary.
2)It was brought to BVLGARI on 5th Avenue for appraisal.
3)The BVLGARI store employees couldnt identify it.
4)Ring was shipped directly to BVLGARI HQ in Italy for authentication and appraisal.
5)Ring was sent back and returned to my mom.

 

Apparently you can get an old $86k ring for $35k.

 

Yes you can. However, thats a bad example. That was from an estate (I believe someone passed away, and had it appraised by a local jeweler, who just factored in the weight of the gold and diamonds, not accouting for what it was)

Listen, you can always find a deal, even on Tiffany rings. My uncle bought his wife's Tiffany from ebay. Had them authenticate it, and its holds full value. Many women, after a failed engagement, sell their rings, and MANY dont care that they get full value for them. However, this sometimes creates a little pickle, because a lot of women dont want a used ring.

If you look hard enough, you can always find something, but for most people, the *safe* way to buy a good diamond is through a fine retailer.

 

Tiffany's buys their diamonds from the same siteholders as everybody else, they don't mine their own diamonds.

Basically, you're buying into the hype. No skilled gemologist would know that a diamond is from Tiffany unless you tell them that before looking at the stone. You can accomplish the exact same thing buy buying a quality stone from a dealer. Of course the value of your engagement ring should be sentimental, not monetary

Also, don't forget that Tiffany was fined about 3-4 years ago for selling Rubys that had been repaired.

Of course, as long as you're looking for a scam, the entire diamond industry would qualify. The Rhode family (owners of DeBeers) has enough diamonds to give every man woman and child several one carat stones but due to a legalized monopoly is able to keep prices high.

Now that there are companies making 100% authentic manfactured diamonds that even gemologists can't spot, look for some even more interesting marketing that you have already seen