Hello Pricescope,
(Sorry for the long post, but I would greatly appreciate any advice that any of you could offer. I'm just beginning my educational journey in the world of diamonds)
Sometime in the next 6 months I'm going to propose to my girlfriend and we've been out trying on different rings to get a sense of what she likes and what she doesn't. Her major concern is for the ring to "sparkle so that people notice when I walk into a room", although she works in an industry where women rock some good sized carat weight. I'm looking at 2.5 ct total.
She tried on every solitaire engagement ring at T&CO and decided that a solitaire in that size sits too high for her. Then she tried on a 5-stone ring (5 x 0.31 ct) and liked it, but wanted to see it in 5 x 0.5 ct to hit the 2.5 ct total weight. T&CO didn't carry one, so we tried Birks. While at Birks, she saw a 7-stone ring (7 x 0.34) that she fell in love with. She really loved the setting of this ring, mostly because there prongs were very understated, the diamonds sat low, and she couldn't see any of the platinum on the sides of the ring. She also mentioned that it was very comfortable and her fingers didn't rub against the corners of the diamonds. She is a size 6.75 (wearing a 6.5 in the picture).
Birks told me that they don't get GIA reports for their diamonds because they were "rating substandard diamonds as excellent". This seemed a little dubious to me. The salesperson gave me the following facts on the diamonds:
7 x 0.34 = 2.38 ct
G-H colour
SI clarity
Cost: $15,500
He assured me that all of the diamonds were "excellent cut" but didn't have anything to back it up. He kept mentioning that no Birks stones have black inclusions. To be fair, I thought that the ring sparkled beautifully in the store.
After looking at BlueNile and White Flash it seems that I can get a lot more bang for my buck. It looks like I can spend between $700 and $1,200 for a single stone at the ~0.36 weight, and end up with ~2.5 ct of nearly perfect diamonds at most $8,400. Depending on the cost of setting, I could save nearly 33% and get a better quality product.
I have a few questions:
1. Although the Birks ring sparkled and looked very nice, how much better could it look if I opted for 7 top-of-the-line cut rated stones from an online retailer (like White Flash's ACA or the signature Ideal from BlueNile?)
2. Does buying a higher clarity rating in stones of this size make sense from a cost/benefit perspective? Perhaps clarity matters more at higher ct weights?
3. While I couldn't discern any colouring in the G-H diamonds (I didn't look at the ring against a white background), would moving to an E-F make a describable difference?
4. How difficult would it be to find a skilled jeweler to set diamonds purchased online in the Toronto area? Any idea of what a fair price would be to set 7 stones in a setting as described above?
5. Would moving to 7 x 0.36 make a very big difference in the total length of the diamonds around her finger? Like I said, I couldn't get any stats on the individual stones, so I don't know the sum of the 7 diameters.
Note: In the attached picture, she's wearing a 1.11 ct 30-stone wedding ring that she wants to get to go along with the 7-stone engagement.
(Sorry for the long post, but I would greatly appreciate any advice that any of you could offer. I'm just beginning my educational journey in the world of diamonds)
Sometime in the next 6 months I'm going to propose to my girlfriend and we've been out trying on different rings to get a sense of what she likes and what she doesn't. Her major concern is for the ring to "sparkle so that people notice when I walk into a room", although she works in an industry where women rock some good sized carat weight. I'm looking at 2.5 ct total.
She tried on every solitaire engagement ring at T&CO and decided that a solitaire in that size sits too high for her. Then she tried on a 5-stone ring (5 x 0.31 ct) and liked it, but wanted to see it in 5 x 0.5 ct to hit the 2.5 ct total weight. T&CO didn't carry one, so we tried Birks. While at Birks, she saw a 7-stone ring (7 x 0.34) that she fell in love with. She really loved the setting of this ring, mostly because there prongs were very understated, the diamonds sat low, and she couldn't see any of the platinum on the sides of the ring. She also mentioned that it was very comfortable and her fingers didn't rub against the corners of the diamonds. She is a size 6.75 (wearing a 6.5 in the picture).
Birks told me that they don't get GIA reports for their diamonds because they were "rating substandard diamonds as excellent". This seemed a little dubious to me. The salesperson gave me the following facts on the diamonds:
7 x 0.34 = 2.38 ct
G-H colour
SI clarity
Cost: $15,500
He assured me that all of the diamonds were "excellent cut" but didn't have anything to back it up. He kept mentioning that no Birks stones have black inclusions. To be fair, I thought that the ring sparkled beautifully in the store.
After looking at BlueNile and White Flash it seems that I can get a lot more bang for my buck. It looks like I can spend between $700 and $1,200 for a single stone at the ~0.36 weight, and end up with ~2.5 ct of nearly perfect diamonds at most $8,400. Depending on the cost of setting, I could save nearly 33% and get a better quality product.
I have a few questions:
1. Although the Birks ring sparkled and looked very nice, how much better could it look if I opted for 7 top-of-the-line cut rated stones from an online retailer (like White Flash's ACA or the signature Ideal from BlueNile?)
2. Does buying a higher clarity rating in stones of this size make sense from a cost/benefit perspective? Perhaps clarity matters more at higher ct weights?
3. While I couldn't discern any colouring in the G-H diamonds (I didn't look at the ring against a white background), would moving to an E-F make a describable difference?
4. How difficult would it be to find a skilled jeweler to set diamonds purchased online in the Toronto area? Any idea of what a fair price would be to set 7 stones in a setting as described above?
5. Would moving to 7 x 0.36 make a very big difference in the total length of the diamonds around her finger? Like I said, I couldn't get any stats on the individual stones, so I don't know the sum of the 7 diameters.
Note: In the attached picture, she's wearing a 1.11 ct 30-stone wedding ring that she wants to get to go along with the 7-stone engagement.
you can put together a ring from WF or BGD for a lot less with AGS lab reports.
I wear it with a plain band, I get people commenting on it every single place I go, way more than when I wore a 1.7ct solitaire. I also wear a 6.5. My ring has five 32-point stones and eight 10-point stones in a garland pattern. It is from BGD and would cost almost half what Birks quoted you.
oh... I'm pretty sure that Dreamers ring would fit that bill!!!! 
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