Can you buy Daniel K setting & buy center stone seperately on your own?

Date: 5/31/2005 9:55:48 PM
Author:suntravelgirl

I've seen some other places have a similar design (such as the split shank ring at Cartier, which wouldn't save any money!), but nothing quite as beautiful as Daniel K.

Date: 6/1/2005 5:38:26 PM
Author: printer

... if you used that 12k price for the setting, the price of the center stone wasn't bad - [...] say 5-10% premium.

Date: 6/1/2005 5:38:26 PM
Author: printer
I recently purchased a daniel k ring, and i can say that even if you could get the setting separately, it wouldn't necessarily save you that much - the settings used to be quoted separately (6-9 mos. ago or so) and they were like $10-12k. i bought a ring with an asscher center, and if you used that 12k price for the setting, the price of the center stone wasn't bad - his asscher's were significantly better cut than the others i saw. i'm sure many here would disagree, but i didn't really have the time or inclination to look at 100 different stones, but every one of his i looked at was much better than similiarly certed rings and about 1-2k more (we're talking 2 carat or so centers) - so say 5-10% premium.

Date: 6/1/2005 6:28:16 PM
Author: printer

...in my experience, that $70k is not realistic 

Date: 6/1/2005 10:16:57 PM
Author: suntravelgirl
Hello again!
Thanks for all of the wonderful information!

I've looked at the Daniel K website a lot and from the pics there, I believe I tried on the 'Dimple Pave' setting over the weeked (the one where the ring cost $69,000). The center stone was a Radiant cut and it was 2.03 carats. I didn't look at the price tag myself, but after I took it off and we had walked away I asked my boyfriend if he had seen a price on the ring. He told me it was $69,000. He said that he had seen the numbers $690 -- and the rest was obscured, however, he figured it must have been $69,000 because there was no way that ring was only $6,900.

I'm not saying it was a fair price by any means, but that's what it seemed to be. Of course I was at a super fancy jewelry store in Newport Beach, so I'm assuming that was the reason for the ridiculous markup. :)

Even with my limited knowledge of diamonds thus far I figured that was a very overpriced ring, so I was curious as to whether others who have bought a Daniel K ring found a *decent* deal at a jeweler somewhere.

Thanks also for the helpful comments about how a wedding band will not fit flush with the Daniel K 'Union Square' setting. The salesman at the jewelry store pointed this out to me, and he helpfully offered that the store could make a custom ring that *would* fit exactly flush with the ring. I didn't even bother to ask how much that would cost!

So I think my best bet now is to look into getting a similar setting done as a custom ring, and also I'll keep looking at similar styles already in existance from other jewlers/stores. I'd also appreciate any more advice about specific stores where people bought Daniel K rings where they were happy with their experience. Perhaps I can get a much better deal than with the store I visited this weekend and end up with the Daniel K after all! I'm not sure how much is the max my significant other will go, but I think he'd go for something around $18,000-$20,000 -- and maybe be some miracle I could go a bit higher for the Daniel K -- but I would imagine somewhere around $25,000 would be the max (if I can even get him that high).