She likes this setting, but...

[Jelly]

How about this one from Solomon Bros? Link
Ladies Pave Diamond Engagement Ring with Split Shank Diamond .22cttw (Center Stone Not Included)

Metal
18k White Gold

Diamond Wght
0.22

Color
H

Clarity
VS2

Price
$745.00

 

[kcoursolle]

Hi there,
I looked for split shanks on a budget as well...so these are my two bits... $1400 isn''t bad, but you can do slightly better. That 745 soloman link is about the cheapest I''ve seen. I would get a well cut .9 and it will look similar to full 1.0, it seems like the setting is important to her. I ended up going semi-custon which is where instead of putting together a completely new ring with molds and casting (expensive), they put a ring together with your design with parts they already have. This cost me about 1k after it was all done and the bands of the ring are 14k white gold and the basket is platinum...I thought that was a good compromise between cost and quality. I love my split shank, and I''m very glad I have this instead of a slightly larger solitare! I posted a couple of pics so that you can see it. It''s a radiant rather than a round, but you get the idea of what a semi-custom setting looks like. Also, you might want to consider talking to her about it and asking her whether size is more important than the setting, etc.

 

[kcoursolle]

another side pic

 

[mrssalvo]

If she fell in love with that setting, I think you should definitely get her that setting. My suggestion was just waiting on the setting for a few months so she could have both by getting the stone now and setting later, but if she wants the whole package now, i''m sure you can find a great stone just under 1 carat and do the setting too..

 

[asscherisme]

I would spend most of the 5K on a really nice 1ct stone and get a simple solitaire setting. Then tell her for your first wedding anniversary you will reset the stone into any setting she wants. The stone in my opinon is the symbolism, NOT the setting. This way everyone will be happy. She gets the 1ct, you get high quality, and you won''t have to worry about what to get for your first anniversary gift By then you could get platinum if you wanted also. And plus by giving her the ring, she will have the concrete committment she wants also.

I think going to a G color would give you more for your money than F and unless someone compares it to a D or E, G looks pretty darned great in an ideal cut.

 

[togal]

I would definately suggest that you buy her the 1ct diamond that she desires, and worry about the setting later. The main expense is the diamond. I believe it will cost you more in the long-run if you buy her an .80 and upgrade the stone later. The setting is the easiest thing to change as your budget allows. Ring styles come and go, but the main stone is the key, to my mind. Most women, I believe, if given a choice between a 1 ct engagement ring vs. a .80 plus .27 points of diamonds, would go for the 1 ct every time. Having said that, the setting she likes is very nice....but perhaps the two of you can look around at various settings when you go diamond shopping, and she might spot something she likes better, perhaps with a better price tag, if you buy the 1 ct diamond from the same vendor.

 

[decodelighted]

Date: 3/28/2006 8:23:53 AM
Author: mrssalvo
If she fell in love with that setting, I think you should definitely get her that setting. My suggestion was just waiting on the setting for a few months so she could have both by getting the stone now and setting later, but if she wants the whole package now, i'm sure you can find a great stone just under 1 carat and do the setting too..

DITTO. If she was so SPECIFIC about the setting it means a lot to her. She's probably one of those "I don't want a plain solitaire" "Overall look more imp. that actual value" kind of people (like I am).

ALSO - with stones you have some room ... some .8-.9 stones can face up almost as large as less-well-cut 1cts (which is mostly what people see anyway). If she wants to say "1ct" it WILL be 1ct tcw ... so not even a fib really.


ETA:: Though I would remind her that a split shank e-ring like that won't necessarily lie flush with a wedding band. Many people forget that when choosing only to regret it later. Msssalvo tried on a nice Daniel K set that DID look good ... but you might want to suss out her ideas on bands & see if she wavers on split shank.

 

[SoonIHope]

Date: 3/28/2006 12:13:49 PM
Author: togal
Most women, I believe, if given a choice between a 1 ct engagement ring vs. a .80 plus .27 points of diamonds, would go for the 1 ct every time.

BUT...there are a lot of us out there who would FAR FAR FAR prefer the setting!!! Several have posted in this thread, and from what I''m hearing about linvillegorge''s girlfriend, I think she might be one too! For me, the whole effect of the ring is wayyyy more important than the exact carat weight!! I know that she has specifically said "1 carat" but I''m betting that is more of a nice figure to be able to tell her friends, whereas the ring itself is what she''s going to be looking at every day. I personally wanted to love the way my ring LOOKS more than to be able to say "it''s a carat" so I repeatedly told my boyfriend that if it came down to one or the other, to please get me a setting of the style I wanted and get a center stone less than a carat. I know not all women are like this, but I am extremely sentimental about my setting because it creates such a huge amount of the "effect" of the ring when you look at it. I would have been extremely upset if my boyfriend ignored my requests for a beautiful setting just so that I could have a larger center stone, and gotten me a solitaire to upgrade later, because while it is socially acceptable to show off your engagement ring as a symbol of your engagement when you get engaged, it''s not so much to show it off a year later when you get a new setting...and I wanted everyone to see my ring the way I wanted it to be, not with a temp setting that I neither liked nor intended to keep!!! Plus I don''t think I would ever be comfortable changing my setting anyway, even if it were intended to be upgraded, because it would ultimately be The One I Was Proposed To With, which would eventually lead to me resenting him for not just respecting my wishes in the first place...

That said, I recommend you compromise a little bit more on quality than you were hoping to, and get a stone just under the carat mark. Then she can say "the ring is a carat" (including the pave) if she wants to impress her friends with that

. I know that you want to get the best quality stone you can within your budget, but don''t lose sight of the fact that this is ultimately a gift for HER to wear, so try to put her preferences ahead of yours. If you can find a custom made setting extremely similar to the one she loves, then go for it, but if not I think you really need to get the exact setting she fell in love with and just go as big on the center stone as you can without getting a really poorly cut diamond. I also think if you laid out the options to her, you might want to see if she was interested in a CZ for future swapping out...

 

[linvillegorge]

Wow. First of all, let me just say - Thanks! You guys (and girls!) have been great! I really appreciate all the great advice I''ve received. abicocca is right. If it comes down to it, my GF would rather hedge a bit on the carat weight of the center stone in order to get the setting she wants. She''s made it very clear that the setting is very important to her! I need to do some more research on diamonds now. I''m really uncertain about ''I'' colored stones. I''ve seen some that look good and then again I''ve seen some that look the color of lemonaide. I would prefer to stay with a ''G'' or ''H'' stone, but if an ''I'' passed the "look" test, I''d get it. That''s the thing, my GF isn''t big on how the diamond "scores" - just on how it LOOKS. I really want to stay with an ideal cut as I want the diamond to look as good as it possibly can. Is it alright to downgrade a bit on polish and symetry, perhaps down to a VG? How big of a difference does that make? Also, with clarity... Is an SI1 or SI2 acceptably "eye clean"? I don''t care if you can see a few inclusions under magnification as I don''t think many people are going to be inspecting the ring that closely!

Thanks again!

For what it''s worth, this is the diamond I''m eyeing right now:
http://www.whiteflash.com/round/Round-cut-diamond-2325457.htm

 

[SoonIHope]

Yay, glad to hear you''ve decided to get her the setting she wants!

As for the specs, I''m not sure about most of what you''re asking (but I''m sure the experts will chime in shortly) but the popular opinion here on PS is that there are A LOT of eye clean SI1''s and some SI2''s too! Most vendors are really good about telling you up front of a stone is really eye clean (esp. the trusted PS vendors), and from personal experience, I still have not been able to locate any of the inclusions on my SI1 diamond, even when I''m looking at the GIA plot!! I hiiighly recommend finding a good eye clean SI1!!!

 

[valeria101]

Date: 3/28/2006 1:03:01 PM
Author: linvillegorge

I really want to stay with an ideal cut as I want the diamond to look as good as it possibly can.

Cool. I''d look for proportions (angles, perhaps some degree of ''pattern'' but not necesarily H&A) and little else to achieve that.


Is it alright to downgrade a bit on polish and symetry, perhaps down to a VG? How big of a difference does that make?

IMO? None. Anyway, it isn''t quite an arbitrary opinion. You might want to search for older threads with the same questio - there''s plenty on that.



Also, with clarity... Is an SI1 or SI2 acceptably ''eye clean''? I don''t care if you can see a few inclusions under magnification as I don''t think many people are going to be inspecting the ring that closely!

Most of the time, especially SI1. And around one carat. SI2 should fare quite well too.




For what it''s worth, this is the diamond I''m eyeing right now:
http://www.whiteflash.com/round/Round-cut-diamond-2325457.htm

I don''t see any info about proportions... or what th inclusions are. Since this looks like a virtual lsiting, I doubt WF has any more info than what is listed.

 

[Pixie]

VG for polish and symmetry are perfectly acceptable. I just saw AngelainJapan''s Harry Winston cushion, and it is beautiful. Symmetry on that stone was only a "Good" while polish was "Excellent." I''m just saying that if Harry Winston is selling stones with "Good," it means that "Good" can still generate a beautiful diamond. That has definitely made me rethink my requirements for polish/symmetry as well. I''ve done searches on this topic before, most say that the human eye cannot discern VG vs. Excellent. Some even say Good+ is acceptable since you cannot really see the difference. You might want to try a search on polish symmetry like I did.

 

[mrssalvo]

Cut is key. you can skimp on color and clarity in rounds if you have an ideal cut stone.

check out this thread with pictures of J stones set in platinum/whitegold

and here's one with I colored stones..

even after hearing all the J owners here say how great they looked when the stones are well cut, i admit to still having my doubts. i had the opportunity over christmas to visit Pearlmans and Bill showed me these J colored earrings. I was a convert. they were gorgeous. If you and your gal aren't super color sensitive you might be able to find a great deal on an I or J colored stone..

 

[jimhwu]

How about this one:

http://www.whiteflash.com/round_ideal_cut/Round-Ideal-Cut-cut-diamond-1948518.htm#

It''s smaller in carat weight at .8 but has the same if not slightly better spread. Much better color, but it is an SI2, however, you can contact whiteflash too see if it is eyeclean. I can see an inclusion right towards the middle, but that is at super magnification. The medium blue flor should not be a big deal either.

Jim

 

[linvillegorge]

^^^^
That''s not bad at all.

 

[linvillegorge]

I''m getting ready to call and ask about this one:

http://www.whiteflash.com/round/Round-cut-diamond-2328217.htm

 

[jimhwu]

You can do a search by cut here in pricescope (under the PRICES menu on the top) and you can see the slightly discounted prices also. For that diamond, it''s actually lower cost than your original one.

Here is another good one from Good Old Gold:

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/1547/

It also shows a .92 G SI2 from Winfields that is a little pricier ~$3450, but closer to your 1 ct. mark.

Jim

 

[Small]

Date: 3/28/2006 2:14:49 PM
Author: jimhwu
You can do a search by cut here in pricescope (under the PRICES menu on the top) and you can see the slightly discounted prices also. For that diamond, it's actually lower cost than your original one.

Here is another good one from Good Old Gold:

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/1547/

It also shows a .92 G SI2 from Winfields that is a little pricier ~$3450, but closer to your 1 ct. mark.

Jim

The .92 from Winfields is sold to me LOL...I have it on my hand as we speak. I think they just haven't taken it off yet for some reason.

I really like the suggestion from GOG though...that one looks

http://www.whiteflash.com/diamonds/diamond_Details.aspx?itemcode=AGS-6747201

Here's a nice .90 from WF but it may be just a tad over budget due to how much your setting costs. If you can find something in the .90s range that's a great compromise since it's just under 1ct and like I and others said it will face up as big as many other people's mediocre cut 1cts anyway!
Happy shopping

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I am so glad you are listening to your GF and getting her the setting of her dreams. I would have been so disappointed if my FI proposed with a different setting, even if the diamond was twice the size. I know it might sound silly to me but I have always liked the total look of something rather than a few of the elements. Like Albi, I feel in love with a designer ring. I suggested that FI get it custom done in WG to save me money but it really touched me that he wanted me to have the "real" ring. She is going to be thrilled!

 

[diamond_quester]

I think your gf will be happiest that you''re getting the setting she loves.

Buying the diamond from a site with good upgrade policy makes it easy to later upgrade to a 1+ carat.

 

[linvillegorge]

Yeah, she wanted platinum also. But, I was able to sit her down and let her know that with all of the expenses we will have in the next couple years, we really just cannot afford to buy a platinum, multi pave set diamond setting with a 1.0+ quality diamond. $5k is pushing the budget to the max. I was able to explain to her that the ring she was requesting would probably cost at the very least $7500 if not more. She''s finally realized that we can get her a ring VERY similar to what she wants that will also be within the budget. I''ve let her know that we can always upgrade later. But, I have a feeling once she gets it, she''ll fall in love with it and not want to change it. In my honest opinion, there simply isn''t a big enough difference between a 0.9 ctw diamond vs. 1.0 ctw diamond and a platinum setting vs. a white gold setting to warrant the massive price difference - at least not at this time at our budget.

 

[linvillegorge]

Alright, I''ve called virtually every major jewelry vendor I can find. I found out that the setting she has picked out is made by Danhov and is part of their Meno line. The actual item number from Danhov is ME-22. James Allen carries this line. Their price is $1700, but they will take 15% off to get it down to $1445, which is only $20 more than Novori.com. Whiteflash is supposed to give me a call in about an hour to let me know what they''ve come up with.

Here are the diamonds from James Allen I am considering. Keep in mind, max budget is $5k.

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamond.asp?cid=130&item=773599

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamond.asp?cid=130&item=825261

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamond.asp?cid=130&item=812806

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamond.asp?cid=130&item=811767