Budget newbie needs help!

[Jesbo]

Hi all,

I''ve tried to read up on the forums for the past few weeks to answer most of my questions, now I need some recommendations. I will have a budget of only around 2k for the total ring. I want a princess cut stone, and the setting can be a simple solitaire white gold or similar, so most of the $ can be put toward the diamond. Sparkle is more important than size, but somethig close to 5mm squared. I''m not too concerned with carat size - just something that looks nice. Anyone seen a diamond that fits?

Thanks in advance!

 

[AChiOAlumna]

Jesbo..

Welcome to PS! I don''t know anything about Princess Cuts, so I don''t want to recommend a stone, perse...but I did go up to the "Prices" link at the top of this page and typed in your $2000 budget. 6 pages of diamonds came up!! You may want to check there and see what you can find....

Good luck!

 

[valeria101]

Tis sounds like a 0.6-0.7 cts H-I / SI1 princess cut.

Perhaps like this one: link (0.7cts, 5mm, I-Si1)

Actually, between 4.5 and 5mm square of size, allot of difference in grades does not make allot of difference for the price tag. So... here's one 4.6mm E-VS2 as well.

There is no shortage of white gold solitaires in the right price range, and some platinum pieces as well. Assuming a dainty setting s preffered, perhaps one like THIS will work. It appears quite elegant with the stone in the picture, which cannot be larger than what you have in mind. A "temporary" setting could be less than $100 and work just fine at least for a while.

How about a round cut ? For the same weight, it would be larger than the princess cut (about 5.8mm for a .7 round versus a bit less than 5mm for a princess). Rounds also have a reputation of being more brilliant and better at obviating color and the enevtual clarity marks. Not that this round needs any excuses

It could get into an $80 setting for the ocassion.

Hope some of the 0.2 worth helps

 

[Jesbo]

Thanks guys,

About the setting, I want to go with white gold, will I have a lot of choices for around $300? Can anyone recommend a good site to view a few different types in my range for a princess cut? Also, do you usually have to buy the stone & setting from the same vendor - or how does the whole process go of getting it set, and what will this cost me?

Thanks for helping!!

 

[AChiOAlumna]

I don''t know what kind of style you''re looking for, but here''s some that might meet your needs...

Good luck!

 

[valeria101]

Date: 4/20/2005 7:9:31 PM
Author: Jesbo

do you usually have to buy the stone & setting from the same vendor - or how does the whole process go of getting it set, and what will this cost me?

It could go either way. IMO, it is cheaper to have the setiing from the same seller - especially the "generic" models that comes from catalogs of semifinished jewelry parts (look for adwar.com or stuller.com to see what these catalogs look like). Such pre-made settings only leave to seller / jeweler to apply the finish and set the stone. The pre-made settings are not usually sold to the public, but to jewelers (some models even end up sold under jewelry designer brands!) and it is better this way, since the jeweler would know to order the matching setting of appropriate size and decent quality.

If you do get a setting and the stone to have them "assembled" afterwards there are some more problems to take care of:

#1 making sure that the setting fits the stone and

#2 that it can be sized for the needed finger size.

#3. Also, if the diamond gets dammaged during setting, you are responsible for it unless the seller of the stone and the setter are one and the same business (or the jewelry business is a nice one - not all cover this risk). And...

#4. ...it may be that your local jeweler does not want to set the diamond unless it comes from him (there are a couple of stories on pricescope about this).

Just IMO.

There shouldn't be much of a problem to find a wg solitaire for about $300. You may want to ask the relevant seller for some more options. Few would post / display everything off the bat.

Some options are not hard to find for starters:

Wink Jones gives links to several jewelry catalogs to choose from (here).
Blue Nile lists several on this page .... most are below $300 except a crossed-prong Lucida style think that comes at about $800. Something rather close is listed by DCD for half that - which makes more sense.

 

[AChiOAlumna]

Date: 4/20/2005 8:34:10 PM
Author: valeria101

It could go either way. IMO, it is cheaper to have the setiing from the same seller - especially the ''generic'' models that comes from catalogs of semifinished jewelry parts (look for adwar.com or stuller.com to see what these catalogs look like). Such pre-made settings only leave to seller / jeweler to apply the finish and set the stone. The pre-made settings are not usually sold to the public, but to jewelers (some models even end up sold under jewelry designer brands!) and it is better this way, since the jeweler would know to order the matching setting of appropriate size and decent quality.



If you do get a setting and the stone to have them ''assembled'' afterwards there are some more problems to take care of:



#1 making sure that the setting fits the stone and



#2 that it can be sized for the needed finger size.



#3. Also, if the diamond gets dammaged during setting, you are responsible for it unless the seller of the stone and the setter are one and the same business (or the jewelry business is a nice one - not all cover this risk). And...



#4. ...it may be that your local jeweler does not want to set the diamond unless it comes from him (there are a couple of stories on pricescope about this).

There are some good points here!! I can tell you myself that I almost had a nightmare with my new setting. I bought the setting first because I fell in love with it, but I didn''t take into considerations whether the type and size of diamond I wanted would fit into the setting properly (although the jeweler I bought it from assured me it would)...

I also didn''t consider that the ring would need sizing....

When I bought the stone from another dealer, he first told me that the ring could be sized and the diamond would fit....until...

I got a call the next morning stating that the whole ring would need to be reset because the resizing would cause the baguettes to break and/or fall out. The jeweler was not happy about this, but because they were taking on more responsibility than they had anticipated when they accepted the job, but they completed the job, as to uphold their integrity. I wanted them to set it as I was purchasing the center stone from them and I knew they would take care not to chip it....

Ana is correct in that purchasing the setting and diamond from the same vendor can help reducing or eliminate many of these problems...I absolutely l

ve my ring now and wouldn''t change it for the world!! But if I knew then what I knew now......