$6K for a 1.01 ct F/SI-1 center stone???

[snk]

When the jeweler told me that a 1.01 ct F/SI-1 center stone was $6K, I thought he was out of his mind.

The ring in question is the "Micro Pave Engagement Ring" listed for $12K on this page. http://www.ebhorn.com/jewelry/show.php?item=rings_engagement

That makes the setting $6K. He said the setting has 0.36 ct worth of diamonds.

Granted, I haven''t been researching engagement rings for months and months but from what little I know so far, $12K for that ring is insanity! Notice that it is 18K white gold, not platinum either.

I searched on Blue Nile and on this web-site as well, and cannot find a 1.01 ct F/SI-1 stone that costs six-thousand dollars. Is the jeweler out of their minds, or am I missing something horribly obvious?

 

[valeria101]

Date: 2/11/2006 6:03:52 PM
Author:snk


I searched on Blue Nile and on this web-site as well, and cannot find a 1.01 ct F/SI-1 stone that costs six-thousand dollars. Is the jeweler out of their minds, or am I missing something horribly obvious?

Well, they are not crazy... maybe just trying to make a quick kill

or something... If this shop can command such a premium, long life to them.

The micropave setting of the F/Si1 princess (is that one you mention, right?) looks suspiciously familiar - it may be one of the ''Michael B'' designer line. Those are rather expensive. But that doesn''t mean similar ones cannot be had for way less. Some ore less delicate or slightly different in another way. Other times, I too get to wonder how crazy the world is.

My 2c

 

[snk]

Date: 2/11/2006 6:16:20 PM
Author: valeria101


Well, they are not crazy... maybe just trying to make a quick kill

or something... If this shop can command such a premium, long life to them.

The micropave setting of the F/Si1 princess (is that one you mention, right?) looks suspiciously familiar - it may be one of the ''Michael B'' designer line. Those are rather expensive. But that doesn''t mean similar ones cannot be had for way less. Some ore less delicate or slightly different in another way. Other times, I too get to wonder how crazy the world is.

My 2c

The ring in question is the one to the right of the princess cut ring. The price on the web-site is $12,000. It is a radiant cut center stone.

The jeweler did quote me a lower price with platinum, but the fact stands that he told me that the stone was worth $6k. I think he is trying to "kill" me, as you said...

 

[valeria101]

Date: 2/11/2006 6:27:57 PM
Author: snk

The jeweler did quote me a lower price with platinum, but the fact stands that he told me that the stone was worth $6k.

Well, even here prices go from $4500 to $5700 or so... at least among the rough database listings. And prices in local shops are reputed to be higher. It isn''t clear to me at all whether these differences ever reflect some hard quality facts - sometimes the same stone gets vastly different prices online and off (the same lists available on the net are also accessed by local shop... so such things can easily happen). You may find some older posts with folk finding listed online the same stone their jeweler was showing - sometimes at comparable prices, sometimes not.

About the setting - well, this jeweler is not the only one asking 6k for such a thing: if this is any consolation - here''s another and another and... there''s more of the like.

Which doesn''t mean that relatively similar stuff doesn''t come for way less. As far as I remember, these did: Link to thread

There are more of the sort posted by sellers in the ''Gallery'' here. You may want to take a look.

 

[valeria101]

Here''s an interesting bit:

Does this look familiar?

Description: "18 k white gold, 0.74cts diamonds F/VS" The listing comes from a very reputable sapphire shop: Walter Arnstein''s Natural Sapphire Company. Price? $1600

A more intricate version with diamonds set on the undercarriage - $2600...

And if you wondered with what these guys fill the 7k/ring setting slot... Here it ise: way more diamonds, of course:

Now, unless you wanted to buy a sapphire with one of these settings, this isn''t going to help much because this shop does not sell them empty and, as far as I know, does not deal with diamonds either. But if the lowest cost represents ''value'' of a thing, this at least is way less than where this thread started. It would probably be difficult to find the exact CC of a designer setting, but it is up to you to decide what is ''different'' and ''different enough''.


Another thing... if the setting on that website is MichaelB and they quoted a lower price off the record... I wonder if that is also for a setting by the same designer, or done at comparable standards. It sounds like a good sales idea to put an expensive thing in the window and then make just about everything else sound like a bargain, wouldn''y you agree?

My 2c

Well, this is just a hunch. Chances are I could be very, very wrong - because there is no way I could see the rings at your jeweler''s.

Hope you don''t mind the long-winded post...

 

[snk]

Date: 2/11/2006 7:15:19 PM
Author: valeria101
Here''s an interesting bit:

Does this look familiar?

Description: ''18 k white gold, 0.74cts diamonds F/VS'' The listing comes from a very reputable sapphire shop: Walter Arnstein''s Natural Sapphire Company. Price? $1600

That setting looks very nice! I''m sure my fiancee would approve...

Another thing... if the setting on that website is MichaelB and they quoted a lower price off the record... I wonder if that is also for a setting by the same designer, or done at comparable standards. It sounds like a good sales idea to put an expensive thing in the window and then make just about everything else sound like a bargain, wouldn''y you agree?

My 2c

Well, this is just a hunch. Chances are I could be very, very wrong - because there is no way I could see the rings at your jeweler''s.

Hope you don''t mind the long-winded post...

The fact that he came down quite a bit (think more than $3K, but less than $5K

) made me a little suspicious. I''m pretty sure that the ring in question is not MichaelB, because I went to his web-site (http://www.michaelbjewelry.com/massachusetts.html) and did not see the jeweler in his list of MA retailers.

I don''t mind your long-winded post at all. In fact, I really appreciate the time you''re taking to help me out!