Advice needed to avoid the retail buzz saw.

[twren71]

I have been lurking on this forum for the past month trying to establish a solid plan to obtain the best diamond ring for my future wife. I am a meticulous planner, even keeping an excel sheet tracking diamond prices in my price-range. Unfortunately, in a blink of an eye my plans seem to be ripped apart.

My girlfriend has been involved in the process because she wants an ornate, antique style, semi-mount. We have browsed jewelers row in Chicago, my hometown, and some of the better jewelers in Portland, OR, our current residence. We were resigned to the fact that we would need to have a custom ring created. We had detailed pictures of several rings that we wanted to combine to create the perfect ring. Now that I have the funds I was going to contact the local vendors and the internet vendors for an estimate on the setting, and an estimate of the setting + stone. I trusted most of the jewelers due to reputation on these forums and I was hoping to use one vendor for the whole process, even paying a small premium to local vendors if necessary.

Then it happened we were browsing jewelery stores in downtown Portland and we decided on a whim to check out Ben Bridge, the first maul type store that we frequented. Of course, she fell in love with a setting. The setting (picture attached) is $2200, platinum, .64 tcw, I1, and H-I. I had a brief phone conversation with the saleswoman about diamond prices and almost had a heartattack. I have a meeting scheduled with her tommorow, I plan on bringing print outs of diamonds that I was planning to buy online, and see how close they can come to the online price. Another thing I was possibly going to ask is if they will set a diamond I aquire from online for that $2200 price. The last question I will ask is if I can get the setting in 18k to reduce the price.

Initially I budgeted ~$1500 for the setting, and $4000 for the diamond. I was planning on
getting either a smaller AGS/GIA diamond, Ideal-Excellent cut, >=I,>=SI2 such as

Quality #1
Quality #2

or go with a larger EGL stone, using the AGS0 search criteria and tighter color >=H, >=SI2
since she has expressed that she would prefer a larger stone with medium quality over a smaller stone with high quality. Most of her friends have maul stones so that is the baseline. Examples are:
Size #1

Size #2

I also am going to contact Good Old Gold and Tradeshop.com (based in Portland, OR) to see if they have anything in that criteria.

I know this topic is long and rambling but the main sources of my panic is the following:

#1 The semi-mount at Ben Bridge is overpriced and, I believe, lower quality when compared to a setting such as
this one

#2 Can this ring be obtained from another source since I am sure that this is made from at a large vendor

#3 Do you forsee complications in obtaining a stone from the internet and bringing it in to have it set in a Ben Bridge band

#4 Could I get Ben Bridge to obtain the stone from the virtual inventory that the Pricescope vendors use at a similar price?

#5 If I obtain the stone from Ben Bridge should I use an outside appraiser?

Thanks so much for any help that you can provide. I am 25 years old and $5500 is a lot of cash to part with. I feel that it is my duty to get maximum value with those dollars because my future fiancee deservers the best.

 

[jaz464]

Welcome

! It sounds like you are doing a great job of trying to maximize your budget (which is great BTW). Does your GF have to have this ring? Would she be happy with a custom setting based on this design? If so, I would go the route of having WF make up something similar. The quality will be much better and you can most likely get the diamond from them also.
I would NOT get the center diamond from a mall store (just my opinion here). If you must, look for GIA and get some sort of return policy set up to allow you to take the diamond to an independent appraiser and have it looked at. If it doesn't come out as it should, make sure you can return it with a specified number of days.

Ben Bridge may or may not set a diamond from elsewhere for you. You will have to ask them what their policy is. Make sure they will insure your diamond while setting it in case anythin would happen to it while they are working on it. Maybe you could send the setting out to the vendor you get the diamond from. You will have to see if that will void any type of warranty on the setting. Do you know who the maker of the setting is?

I would not expect BB to be able to match prices with online vendors too well. They are a different type of business with more overhead bills to pay.

Bottom line: try to get it made by WF or another online vendor with similar credentials. Both the diamond and the setting will be much, much higher quality.

 

[ChooChoo]

I would NOT buy a diamond from Ben Bridge. The setting quality leaves much to be desired, too (I1 clarity?!) If what she likes is just the idea of pear-shaped side stones with an antique setting, you can find a better deal for a better quality setting online (the one from Whiteflash is a good example). Even if she is set on that exact setting, I doubt that Ben Bridge would sell it without the center stone, and I think that buying the whole ring from them just to get the setting doesn't make sense. You would probably still come out ahead having the setting made.

Incidentally, the ring looks like a copy of the Tacori setting that I actually have - pear-shaped side stones with a pave knife edge band.

 

[Sundial]

You are right $5500 IS a lot of money and you are so sweet to want to research this and get the best possible ring for your fiance. Ben Bridge has nice mercandise, but you can undoubtedly find a better deal from one of the online vendors. If it were me I would choose the diamond quality #2 (as long as the vendor says it is pretty much eye clean) and have it set in that lovely Whiteflash setting you''ve shown. It is visually very similar to the one you have been looking at for a better price. Your girlfriend says she wants a larger diamond with a lesser quality, but has she really seen an ideal cut diamond compared to an average stone? An ideal cut stone can appear a little larger to the eye than a poorer cut stone of the same size. I would also check out Good Old Gold as they have a very good reputation on this forum. Good luck!

 

[ChooChoo]

Check out http://antiqueengagementrings.com - they have some nice ornate antique-style settings for less money, which will allow you to spend more on the center stone. There''s a beautiful setting on that site for $755 dollars, which would allow you to spend almost 5K on a center stone.

 

[twren71]

Thank you all for your prompt replies. I feel a bit better knowing that my apprehension was warranted. For those that responded to have a ring custom made, what would you expect a custom setting similar to either the ring I attached or the WF ring with pave-set diamonds on half of the band to cost. In my experience custom = big money, but it seems implied here that it would be within the same cost of the retail ring, is this true?

Also should I be concerned with going the larger size route and picking a virtual EGL stone from a trusted vendor such as WF? I would love to get the large carat size that those virtual diamonds afford, but would I be able to get the crown and pavilion angles before purchase to make sure it is at least a very-good cut on the HCA. Is there some risks involved in going with these types of stones? The fact that WF does not offer the buyback guarantee on their EGL stones makes me a bit worried.

I suppose I am in the not-so-unique position of having a girlfriend that loves to spy others engagement rings. Since she is accustomed to her friends'' engagement rings that were purchased at mall jewelers, I think that she would likely be knocked out by an EGL USA H SI2 at ~1.1 ct, found with the AGS0 option selected. I personally think that if I placed a smaller WF expert selection stone next to the larger EGL that she would want the larger EGL. Of course I welcome any opinions on this assumption.

 

[belle]

if a stone were cut well enough to make ags0, then it would not be sent to egl for grading. you don''t just ''happen'' upon a well cut stone. cutters know what they are cutting and where to send them for grading. it is not the color/clarity that will impress your gf (or her friends) it will be the performance. focus on getting a well cut stone and everything else will come together.

 

[jaz464]

WF, GOG, and some others can definitely get you the crown/pav. angles that you will want. They can also get you pictures and will send the diamond you are interested in to an independant appraiser in your area so that you can see the diamond before you decide if you want to purchase it. Custom does not have to =big bucks. I would call WF and see what they can do for you. You can save a little $$ by getting a band with pave diamonds just on the top (not on all 3 sides). This way, you can more easily put a w-band next to it.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Another nice source of antique style rings is here:

http://www.timelessdesigns.com/jewelry.htm

I agree that you probably won''t find a great cut diamond with an EGL certificate. But you can get a well cut GIA or AGS stone that is not hearts and arrows and that would save you some money. James Allen is a good place to look at a comprehensive list of diamonds (look for Ideal cut, not signature ideal), and I have also found some of the best prices at Quest Jewelers. Quest has also done some beautiful custom settings for people on this forum.

You have passed our two main tests of a successful ring buyer: you have sought your girlfriend''s input into what she really likes and wants, and you are doing your homework prior to buying!