Hello everyone!
I have a budget of $5k. I am looking for eternity bands with U-shaped prongs for my fiance with a total carat weight of around 4.0~4.7. She's a size 6 so we'd probably have 16 stones each being .25 ct+.
We are both relatively young, so we've decided to skip the engagement ring in order to save some money -- While the budget is a concern, she wants a diamond ring and not synthetics such as moissanites.
We live in NYC so she and I went to the Diamond District the other day and visited multiple shops to do some first round research. I've looked at several rings that the sellers claimed to be F-G, VS-SI with the total weight being within my interest range.
I've got quotes at multiple places (tried to haggle and told them I'd pay in cash), and most of them seemed to be around my budget range -- which gave me a relief. However, some shops told me that it is impossible to make anything with that total carat weight range for the budget of $5k.
One shop quoted me at $9.3k for a 4.7 ct TW, F-H, VS ring while another shop quoted me at $4850 for a 4.25 ct TW, F-H, VS-SI ring. One thing I am now thinking is that the shop with the lower quote may have been using a different grade scale since I never specifically asked for GIA. (I guess I was assuming they were all using GIA since most of them had GIA certified written on their cards).
So my first question is, is it impossible to get a ring that my fiance wants with my budget that is GIA certified?
My second question is, where could I then get the best offer? I think she is open to pre-owned rings as they could be reset if it was cheaper that way.
Any help / advice would be very much appreciated.
Thank you!
I have a budget of $5k. I am looking for eternity bands with U-shaped prongs for my fiance with a total carat weight of around 4.0~4.7. She's a size 6 so we'd probably have 16 stones each being .25 ct+.
We are both relatively young, so we've decided to skip the engagement ring in order to save some money -- While the budget is a concern, she wants a diamond ring and not synthetics such as moissanites.
We live in NYC so she and I went to the Diamond District the other day and visited multiple shops to do some first round research. I've looked at several rings that the sellers claimed to be F-G, VS-SI with the total weight being within my interest range.
I've got quotes at multiple places (tried to haggle and told them I'd pay in cash), and most of them seemed to be around my budget range -- which gave me a relief. However, some shops told me that it is impossible to make anything with that total carat weight range for the budget of $5k.
One shop quoted me at $9.3k for a 4.7 ct TW, F-H, VS ring while another shop quoted me at $4850 for a 4.25 ct TW, F-H, VS-SI ring. One thing I am now thinking is that the shop with the lower quote may have been using a different grade scale since I never specifically asked for GIA. (I guess I was assuming they were all using GIA since most of them had GIA certified written on their cards).
So my first question is, is it impossible to get a ring that my fiance wants with my budget that is GIA certified?
My second question is, where could I then get the best offer? I think she is open to pre-owned rings as they could be reset if it was cheaper that way.
Any help / advice would be very much appreciated.
Thank you!
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