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$2.5k budget e-ring (halo)

yourwhiteshadow|1324945441|3088908 said:
that is a beautiful ring, but too bad its way outta my budget. at $3k i would buy it in an instant, but at $4k i just don't have the cash and i got explicit orders from the SO not to overspend. if i had to go with a smaller diamond in her dream setting, but upgrade later on, i will go that route.
Click to expand...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260920881241
 
i checked out a local store in our "diamond district" aka scottsdale arizona,$1850 0.60 ct SI1 H 1.04 ratio, i think it was an IGI cert. total out the door is $3167.00 after tax and stuff for the center and setting. i think i'm going to pass on them. they had the same setting i wanted at the same price as idjewelry, but it seems the center stone is just way too overpriced. for what its worth though, i thought the 0.60 ct looked great in this:

setting:
http://idjewelryonline.com/product_info.php?products_id=9472&osCsid=jakgluk4in0isrpop45lcc4554

same exact setting at local store?
http://www.shaneco.com/Catalog/ProductDetail.aspx?X=27297

alternate setting that she explicitly showed me (over at shaneco):
http://idjewelryonline.com/product_info.php?products_id=11351

so i'm springing for the following center. i know she'll be happy, and she'll eventually find out what it was worth, either through the appraisal paper for insurance or just by asking. in all likeliness she will ask. if i spend too much i'm in trouble and if i spend too little i'm in trouble...

center:
http://idjewelryonline.com/diamond_details1.php?id=33837552&shape=PR&pricefrom=0&priceto=500000&caratfrom=0.58&caratto=0.61&colorfrom=G&colorto=I&clarfrom=VS2&clarto=SI1&polish=ANY&cert=Any&symmetry=ANY&depthfrom=&depthto=&tablefrom=&tableto=&cut=Array&item_id=

also talked to JbEG, and will definitely go for that if we can negotiate the price, but with the setting and center from ID, i think i'll be under budget and that would be great because i can spot my significant other some money for her interview expenses.
 
NOT specific to you OP but there are about a billion ways to get ripped off in the jewelry industry.

I don't think you will do a nice 2.5k halo. I mean seriously I think that's really, really, really low. You could get a high quality (a totally certed known quality diamond) and a plain setting for 2.5k and end up with a nicer ring. If you try to do too much for too little it's just going to come out looking like what you paid combined with the fact you put many, many requirements on it. People show us $9 halo that they hate (and for good reason). I hope you'll decided to save more money or make your expectations such that you can get the most quality for the budget you have. I'm sorry to be blunt but you know what they say sometimes you have to be cruel (figure of speech, people, relax) to be kind.
 
Imdanny|1324969887|3089094 said:
NOT specific to you OP but there are about a billion ways to get ripped off in the jewelry industry.

I don't think you will do a nice 2.5k halo. I mean seriously I think that's really, really, really low. You could get a high quality (a totally certed known quality diamond) and a plain setting for 2.5k and end up with a nicer ring. If you try to do too much for too little it's just going to come out looking like what you paid combined with the fact you put many, many requirements on it. People show us $9 halo that they hate (and for good reason). I hope you'll decided to save more money or make your expectations such that you can get the most quality for the budget you have. I'm sorry to be blunt but you know what they say sometimes you have to be cruel (figure of speech, people, relax) to be kind.
Click to expand...

I think this is a great post. And in line with this, you said your lady doesn't want you to go over budget. So you have talked about this. I suggest you start another conversation about the ring and give her three very honest options and allow her to chose what she would rather wear, since it is for her.

A simple solitaire with a lovely .70 center stone right now. And you can upgrade the setting later on, when you have more funds. And even upgrade the stone depending on where you buy.

Or

A beautiful sapphire center stone in a halo right now. You can trade out the sapphire for a diamond later on and put the sapphire in a right hand ring or a pendant if you want. Or just keep it as is (sapphire engagement rings are good enough for the royal family so why not?).

Or

A .50 point diamond in a halo. But if you upgrade later, you will not be able to use the same setting. You can set the setting with a colored stone and she can wear it as a right hand ring if you go this route. And you will need to get a new setting, as well as upgrading your diamond.

Here's the sapphire and the setting I suggest if you go with this path: http://www.simplysapphires.com/html/imagesblue2006/bluerns122a-sm.html Beautiful sapphire the same size as a one carat diamond (6.5 mm) so whatever setting you get can be reused with a one carat diamond down the road.

Setting options:
http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/ring/item_412-8325.asp prong set halo so you if you want to change the center it is easy, and the shank and gallery design allow for a flush fit wedding band.

Also prong set, but this one has a bright cut pave style and will not allow a flush fit band: http://www.jamesallen.com/designer-engagement-rings/meno-collection-by-danhov/18k-ME11y-Designer-Eternity-Engagement-Ring.html

Bright cut pave halo with prong set center stone and a plain shank, will allow for a flush fit band. http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/ring/item_412-8951.asp
 
Options for a solitaire.
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-SI1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1445240.asp This is an GIA Ex/Ex with a good HCA score of 1.3. I color and SI1 clarity. I would ask them to have their gemologist pull it to find out if it is eyeclean. 2,240 plus 400 for a setting.

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-VS2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1436446.asp I color and Vs2 clarity. AGS 0 ideal light return diamond. $2,443 plus 400 for a setting.



Finally:

IF you want a halo and MUST have a diamond center here's my recommendation:

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/J-VS2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1436457.asp Center stone. 1,399 AGS 0 light return J color Vs2 clarity .55 carat diamond.

with one of these settings:

http://www.eternitydiamonds.com/engagement-rings/diamond-engagement-ring/Evangeline-Round-Bezel-Set-Diamond-by-Eternity-%28.39-ctw.%29-155.htm

Prong set plain shank halo setting with a design that allows for a flush fit wedding band: http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/-18k-White-Gold-Pave-Set-Diamond-Engagement-Ring.html

http://www.eternitydiamonds.com/engagement-rings/diamond-engagement-ring/Pave-Diamond-Halo-Ring-397.htm

http://www.eternitydiamonds.com/engagement-rings/diamond-engagement-ring/Diamond-Halo-Ring-394.htm

http://www.eternitydiamonds.com/engagement-rings/diamond-engagement-ring/Anya-Halo-Setting-with-Diamond-Band-Shank-%28.50-ctw.%29-207.htm
 
yourwhiteshadow|1324968515|3089087 said:
i checked out a local store in our "diamond district" aka scottsdale arizona,$1850 0.60 ct SI1 H 1.04 ratio, i think it was an IGI cert. total out the door is $3167.00 after tax and stuff for the center and setting. i think i'm going to pass on them. they had the same setting i wanted at the same price as idjewelry, but it seems the center stone is just way too overpriced. for what its worth though, i thought the 0.60 ct looked great in this:

setting:
http://idjewelryonline.com/product_info.php?products_id=9472&osCsid=jakgluk4in0isrpop45lcc4554

same exact setting at local store?
http://www.shaneco.com/Catalog/ProductDetail.aspx?X=27297

alternate setting that she explicitly showed me (over at shaneco):
http://idjewelryonline.com/product_info.php?products_id=11351

so i'm springing for the following center. i know she'll be happy, and she'll eventually find out what it was worth, either through the appraisal paper for insurance or just by asking. in all likeliness she will ask. if i spend too much i'm in trouble and if i spend too little i'm in trouble...

center:
http://idjewelryonline.com/diamond_details1.php?id=33837552&shape=PR&pricefrom=0&priceto=500000&caratfrom=0.58&caratto=0.61&colorfrom=G&colorto=I&clarfrom=VS2&clarto=SI1&polish=ANY&cert=Any&symmetry=ANY&depthfrom=&depthto=&tablefrom=&tableto=&cut=Array&item_id=

also talked to JbEG, and will definitely go for that if we can negotiate the price, but with the setting and center from ID, i think i'll be under budget and that would be great because i can spot my significant other some money for her interview expenses.
Click to expand...

Looks like you have a plan of action. If you are happy with it, then we are happy for you! Please post pictures when you have them!

Congratulations on your upcoming engagement! And best of luck on the interviews.
 
can anyone recommend a person that i should speak to over at ID? i spoke to someone earlier today and she was not very helpful at all.
 
so many options. is the light return on a round stone much better than a princess cut? because, i think i'm going to take the advice of some of the more experienced people here and maybe i should go for a 0.70 ct round with good light return and then this summer upgrade to her ideal setting?
 
yourwhiteshadow|1325027080|3089604 said:
so many options. is the light return on a round stone much better than a princess cut? because, i think i'm going to take the advice of some of the more experienced people here and maybe i should go for a 0.70 ct round with good light return and then this summer upgrade to her ideal setting?
Click to expand...

There are better-established standards for how to measure light return from a round stone than for a princess cut. The end result tends to be that it's easier to shop (especially virtually) for a high-quality cut stone when you're looking at rounds. Whether they're actually the best light performers, many would say yes, most would simply state that it's a personal preference. But from the perspective of offering advice on how to make this kind of expensive purchase virtually, it's easier to ensure that you're getting a good performer from a round, because of the HCA tool and things like AGS's light performance grading.

Did you see the simple, $850 James Allen halo that I posted earlier? You could get about a .6 round with that at your budget, and could get closer to .7 if you could fudge your budget just a bit. It's a more modern take on a halo, but especially if you go into it with the idea that you might upgrade the setting one day, it could give her the look of a halo now without the major investment in the setting that you're looking at.

One other option is to consider one of the ebay setting vendors from China, especially if you would consider resetting at some point in the future. Many PSers have purchased from them for colored stone rings, sometimes for diamond rings. It would be a way to really max out your diamond budget while getting the halo look now, as long as you go into it thinking that this is probably not a "forever" setting that will hold up to decades of wear. They are generally the same quality as you'd get at the mall, so I wouldn't rule them out completely because of quality concerns.

The generally well-respected ebay halo setting vendors include:
Lord of Gem Rings
lan.b04
beyondjewelry3
leejewelry
jewe2004
jewelryhoo

You should probably consider "upgrading" the quality of the stones in these to VS clarity, which can be done by a customization request. If you think you will go this route, you may have the vendor from whom you purchase the diamond hold it and send the setting to the diamond vendor for setting. Local jewelers can charge $100 to match a diamond to a setting when they didn't sell you either.


ETA: Lord of Gem Rings is commonly known as LOGR. If you search the PS forums, you will see many examples. lan.b04 is sometimes mistyped as lan.bo4 (letter "o" instead of number "0"), and you can search for both variants to see some examples on here, too.

ETA2: Here are some setting examples:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-5-6mm-ROUND-CUT-14K-White-GOLD-Pave-DIAMOND-ENGAGEMENT-Halo-SEMI-MOUNT-RING-6-/270881366255?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f11c9a0ef
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gorgeous-6mm-Round-14K-Gold-Diamond-Semi-Mount-Ring-/250958562049?pt=US_Fine_Rings&hash=item3a6e4bc301
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Round-6mm-Solid-14Kt-White-Gold-0-46ct-Diamond-Mounting-Setting-Ring-/200692134256?pt=US_Fine_Rings&hash=item2eba2ef170
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Round-5-5mm-Solid-14Kt-WG-White-Gold-Natural-Semi-Mount-Diamond-Ring-/200683131291?pt=US_Fine_Rings&hash=item2eb9a5919b
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ROUND-8-5-Solid-14KT-White-Gold-Diamond-Semi-Mount-Ring-/110796327533?pt=US_Fine_Rings&hash=item19cbf9ca6d (this can probably be made to fit a 5.5-6mm round stone, which is about where you'll be in the .6-.8 realm)
 
One other possibility, in terms of managing the budget, would be to pay for the diamond in cash and maybe finance one of the ebay settings on a credit card? That would be fairly minimal debt to carry, and just for the short term. Doing so would allow you to get, for example, something like this (newly added, so pics are in the works): http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-SI1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1444986.asp

.77 carat, I SI1, $2,500 PS price.
 
i was thinking more along the lines of just a plain ol' solitaire for around $300-400 right now and then $2200 on the center, is that doable? and then upgrade the setting later on?
 
Sure. But if you look at the links I posted, you could do a halo for under $500, and it would be the look she likes now, with plans to maybe upgrade the setting to a more custom vendor's work in 5 years or so.
 
milton333|1325028354|3089620 said:
yourwhiteshadow|1325027080|3089604 said:
so many options. is the light return on a round stone much better than a princess cut? because, i think i'm going to take the advice of some of the more experienced people here and maybe i should go for a 0.70 ct round with good light return and then this summer upgrade to her ideal setting?
Click to expand...

There are better-established standards for how to measure light return from a round stone than for a princess cut. The end result tends to be that it's easier to shop (especially virtually) for a high-quality cut stone when you're looking at rounds. Whether they're actually the best light performers, many would say yes, most would simply state that it's a personal preference. But from the perspective of offering advice on how to make this kind of expensive purchase virtually, it's easier to ensure that you're getting a good performer from a round, because of the HCA tool and things like AGS's light performance grading.

Did you see the simple, $850 James Allen halo that I posted earlier? You could get about a .6 round with that at your budget, and could get closer to .7 if you could fudge your budget just a bit. It's a more modern take on a halo, but especially if you go into it with the idea that you might upgrade the setting one day, it could give her the look of a halo now without the major investment in the setting that you're looking at.

One other option is to consider one of the ebay setting vendors from China, especially if you would consider resetting at some point in the future. Many PSers have purchased from them for colored stone rings, sometimes for diamond rings. It would be a way to really max out your diamond budget while getting the halo look now, as long as you go into it thinking that this is probably not a "forever" setting that will hold up to decades of wear. They are generally the same quality as you'd get at the mall, so I wouldn't rule them out completely because of quality concerns.

The generally well-respected ebay halo setting vendors include:
Lord of Gem Rings
lan.b04
beyondjewelry3
leejewelry
jewe2004
jewelryhoo

You should probably consider "upgrading" the quality of the stones in these to VS clarity, which can be done by a customization request. If you think you will go this route, you may have the vendor from whom you purchase the diamond hold it and send the setting to the diamond vendor for setting. Local jewelers can charge $100 to match a diamond to a setting when they didn't sell you either.


ETA: Lord of Gem Rings is commonly known as LOGR. If you search the PS forums, you will see many examples. lan.b04 is sometimes mistyped as lan.bo4 (letter "o" instead of number "0"), and you can search for both variants to see some examples on here, too.

ETA2: Here are some setting examples:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-5-6mm-ROUND-CUT-14K-White-GOLD-Pave-DIAMOND-ENGAGEMENT-Halo-SEMI-MOUNT-RING-6-/270881366255?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f11c9a0ef
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gorgeous-6mm-Round-14K-Gold-Diamond-Semi-Mount-Ring-/250958562049?pt=US_Fine_Rings&hash=item3a6e4bc301
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Round-6mm-Solid-14Kt-White-Gold-0-46ct-Diamond-Mounting-Setting-Ring-/200692134256?pt=US_Fine_Rings&hash=item2eba2ef170
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Round-5-5mm-Solid-14Kt-WG-White-Gold-Natural-Semi-Mount-Diamond-Ring-/200683131291?pt=US_Fine_Rings&hash=item2eb9a5919b
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ROUND-8-5-Solid-14KT-White-Gold-Diamond-Semi-Mount-Ring-/110796327533?pt=US_Fine_Rings&hash=item19cbf9ca6d (this can probably be made to fit a 5.5-6mm round stone, which is about where you'll be in the .6-.8 realm)
Click to expand...

I own quite a few settings from these aforementioned ebay vendors, in which I've set my colored stones. You pretty much are getting what you paid for because they are a bit "light", and in my opinion, not suitable for every day wear.

I recommend speaking to Yekutiel at ID Jewelry. He has helped many Pricescopers, and is quite wonderful! Plus, he has an upgrade policy, which is always great to have for the future, since it sounds like you plan on upgrading your setting. Ask if the upgrade policy applies to settings as well.
 
Ask Yekutiel at IDJ about Henri Daussi Halo rings. Although some don't like their look, they do face-up MUCH larger because of the shallow cut on the stones. My friend purchased a 3/4 center (1.5 ctw) and it looks HUGE on her hand and the setting was very nice. It's worth considering because of your limited budget. A Daussi on their website to consider: http://idjewelryonline.com/product_info.php?cPath=87_89&products_id=15793.. That one is a bit over your budget . . . but . . . IDJ does offer a discount for Pricescopers.
 
I see alot of advice already being put forward on this thread, and 90% of it is good, the other 10% is great, but unfortunately to make use of those suggestions you need to figure whether or not you can live with a second hand ring at this point. No right or wrongs, just personal choices.

Rather than confuse yourself further, with the present sensible for your life stage budget that you have right now, since you have a few set criteria, why don't you try going over all the suggestions again and crossing out the ones that won't go?

You may end up with a stellar choice from whatever remains.

Sometimes with the budgets that we have, we make do. You can always use a setting with a half carat stone for now, then upgrade the stone to a natural blue diamond in the future? :Up_to_something:
 
setting was $800, and i think the center came out to $1300 ish for a total of $2300. yekutiel is an interesting guy, maybe i'm just not used to NYC diamond district. anyways, i found a nice halo pave setting that i was satisfied with, and i'm positive she's gonna be happy. the center stone was nice as well, eye clean and it looks good to me.

report on the center:
https://myapps.gia.edu/ReportCheckPortal/getReportData.do?&reportno=2145141409&weight=0.70

good deal?
 
im excited to see the finished product!!
 
SO you bought from ID and are expecting the ring finished soon? That's great news. Congrats.
 
called yekutiel and asked for pictures:

pic3.jpg

pic2.jpg

pic1.jpg

picking it up tomorrow or thursday.
 
STUNNING :love: :love: Absolutely STUNNING! :love: :love:

You did an AMAZING job! :love: :love: :appl: :appl: :appl:
 
It looks beautiful, you will have to come back with more pictures when you get it :love:
 
That's a fabulous ring for the price for sure! She'll be thrilled!
 
WOW-WEE! :appl: :appl: :appl: That's gorgeous! What a perfect choice - can't wait to get hand shots after the proposal!
 
hand shots as requested. she loves it, i love it, its awesome. can't wait to go wedding band shopping in a few months, and then shopping for other gifts.

IMG_20120112_234715.jpg
 
It looks stunning on her :love:
 
Oh it's just perfect!
 
well done :)
 
It looks beautiful - so glad you are both pleased! Would love to see some more handshots and congrats!!
 
WOW. WOW. WOW. Looks perfect on her hand. A split shank halo and a 70 point center to boot.

All that for 2,300! You and Yekutiel really knocked it out of the ballpark.

That ring is GORGEOUS and any woman (myself included) would be thrilled to own it!

Congratulations on your engagement! :wavey:
 
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