Advice on first (and last!) engagement ring purchase

[The-Hellequin]

Hi all,

I've finally gathered up the courage to broach the PS forums after lurking on here for a while. So much knowledge and expertise!

I'm planning to pop the question to the hopefully future Mrs Hellequin in the next couple of months and after some trolling around Hatton Garden (I know, boo/hiss, but it's better than heading to a high street jeweller right?!) I've gotten a couple of quotes for the ring.

Through devious means I've managed to get a pretty accurate idea of what my beloved wants in a ring to last the ages and after doing some research myself I wanted to get thoughts, opinions, rants and pleas from the PS community because, to be honest, I'm still new at all this and a little help would be very much appreciated!

The ring:
I've had three quotes in from three places in Hatton garden. The mounting i'm after:
- Platinum
- Split shank (4 prong mounting)
- Pave set shoulder stones to 1/2 way 0.25 - 0.3 in total (princess cut, G/H VS2)

The three centre stones and quotes
0.83 Asscher, E, VS2, Cut: Very Good. GIA Cert. - £4,590
0.9 Asscher, F, SI, Cut: very good. GIA Cert. - -£4,730
.89 Asscher, D, VS1, Cut: Very Good. GIA Cert. - £5,564

Now from reading on here, I'm taking these quotes as kicking off points for some haggling, but am equally open to the online option, either just to source the central stone, or for the whole package.

I've had a look on Whiteflash, GoodOldGold and Blue Nile and while the stones they have are supremely tempting - If GoG had any smaller Octavia Asschers in stock... - none of them have the exact setting I want. Some are close, but given that the size of stone I'm after is quite small, and Asschers size up small in any case, I really want/need a delicate split prong setting.

The potential future Mrs H has very slim hands and fingers - J ring size and she's made it plain that she doesn't like larger pieces of jewellery that swamp her hands (Thank God ) so stone size has to be relatively compact and I just love the Asscher cut. Some of the settings I've seen would "only work with 1ct + stones". Does anyone know if that is merely guidance or a rule in terms of ensuring a stone is set properly?

Equally some feedback on whether it's still cheaper to buy stones from the US given the current US/GBP exchange rate and the VAT rise to 20%. Some of the stones I've seen are mighty tempting!!

Many thanks in advance for any help people might be able to provide. It's been a fairly rapid learning curve, and I think there's still a very long way to go!

Cheers

Nathaniel

 

[stone-cold11]

Post an image of the type of setting you like.

On Octavia, check with GOG to see if there are any new stones in the pipeline.

 

[Sparkly1982]

Good luck!

 

[The-Hellequin]

Post an image of the type of setting you like.

On Octavia, check with GOG to see if there are any new stones in the pipeline.

Thanks for the advice on checking with GOG Stone Cold.

Type of setting I'm after:



or


Quite minimalist, and pave on the top only, not the sides of the shoulders.

 

[farmer gal]

What about this one from BGD I'm sure he could find you a great stone within budget

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/home/ring-details/?product_id=5665

 

[farmer gal]

If you just wanted to get the diamond online you could look at JA. They will look at three diamonds for you and tell you which one is the best, I would also request asset images.


http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/E-VS1-Ideal-Cut-Asscher-Diamond-1378755.asp

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/F-VS1-Ideal-Cut-Asscher-Diamond-1336812.asp

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/D-VS2-Ideal-Cut-Asscher-Diamond-1247237.asp

 

[slg47]

if you wanted I am sure you could get a similar setting custom made. vetchecker has a ring with an octavia asscher and a custom made setting from wink jones that is very similar except that it has pave on the 'u'

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-new-ering-the-result-of-pricescope-forum-members.149668/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-new-ering-the-result-of-pricescope-forum-members.149668/[/URL]

 

[The-Hellequin]

What about this one from BGD I'm sure he could find you a great stone within budget

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/home/ring-details/?product_id=5665

Thanks Farmer gal, this setting is almost spot on! Do you think it would work with an Asscher and show the sides of the stone as well? I'll email the team at BGD to see what asschers they have that they would recommend with this setting. I've had a quick look on the site and have come up with the three below. I'd be interested to hear which stone would people go for and why?

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-details/?product_id=32304853

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-details/?product_id=32304854

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-details/?product_id=29652195

Thanks for all the thoughts and advice so far ladies and gents. It is very much appreciated.

 

[The-Hellequin]

if you wanted I am sure you could get a similar setting custom made. vetchecker has a ring with an octavia asscher and a custom made setting from wink jones that is very similar except that it has pave on the 'u'

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-new-ering-the-result-of-pricescope-forum-members.149668/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-new-ering-the-result-of-pricescope-forum-members.149668/[/URL]

Thanks for the tip slg47. That ring is really quite spectacular! Vetchecker should be very proud of getting that pulled together. I'll certainly drop a line to Wink at High Performance.

Do you know if a fully custom setting adds significantly to cost? Total Budget is around £5000 ($8000) all in, but living in the UK means that I'll have to pay VAT (20%) on anything I buy from the US so that means I can spend about $6500 on the ring and have enough to cover the VAT charge.

Thanks again for the link.

 

[stone-cold11]

All these are stones from the virtual inventories, not their in-house stones, so no images, additional info. Calling them in will incur extra cost if they recommend it but you decided not to go ahead.

Best course of action is to ask BGD to search for you, for your budget and specs. They could talk to the actual vendor holding to stones and determine which are promising to call in.

Talk to Wink about the custom if you are going to use something similar to Vetchecker's design, the cost might be lower. Wink should also be able to source you some nice asscher.