Costco...

[Joeys Minx]

Hello everyone. I am new to the board. My fiance and I are getting married in April and although we already have a bridal set, are still looking for a wedding band. We didn''t have too much money when he proposed and wanted to get something nicer for the actual wedding band. We had found a 1/2 ctw channel bridal set white gold set at Sears. It was normally $890.00, we got the sale for $270.00 which wasn''t bad for what it is. It is J-K in color and I1 to I2. We really are looking for something with better quality for the wedding and have done our homework on the 4 C''s. We do have a budget to keep(roughly $2,000.00) when we get our income tax check. We have looked every where online and have seen some of the best deals at Blue Nile. We found a ring yesterday that we would really like to get at Costco and are hoping it stays in stock so we can get it next month. It is a 3 stone princess cut in platinum. It will be minimum of VS2 clarity and I in color. It is $1999.00. I have checked online at many places and for comparable pieces this is the best price. Most places your are looking in the $3,000.00 range on up. Even at Blue Nile it would cost $3,300.00 for something similiar.

Costco 3 stone ring

3300 ring at Blue nile

A few of my concerns with Costco though are that the ring comes in a size 7 and we would have to have it resized to a 9. They do not do that there. Also, since they do not do that there, where would I go to find a reputable local place when I need it maintained? We have never dealt with platinum before and am seiing alot of conflicting things at different boards. Does white gold really have to be replated often? What about if it''s 18k? How much would it cost to resize this ring? Any comments and opinions are welcome.

 

[koko]

Our local financial advisor here in Atlanta, Clark Howard, purchased his wife''s e-ring at Costco. I believe it was on his website at one time & he was very pleased. From what I understand, Costco works with local jewelers who do the buying for the individual stores. Maybe you can find out which local jeweler your Costco consults with. I have 14k WG. which has to be re-plated about once a year, but it depends on individual body chemistry, and how thickly the rhodium was plated to begin with, from what I understand. My dtr. got her e-ring from a mall jeweler & it was yellow after about 6 mos. There is a 14k white gold that has alloys which keep it white, but most 14k gold rings don''t have the more expensive alloys. I would think any trusted local jeweler would be happy to develop a working relationship with you to care for your jewelry.

 

[Rod]

I have a friend who purchased his engagement ring at Costco and it''s a beautiful diamond. It was what they wanted and fit their budget.

On your question about Platinum, it''ss not difficult to have resized. You don''t mention where you live, but if you live in a town large enough to have a Costco, you live in a town large enough to have jewelers who work with platinum. Personally, I would never own a ring in white gold again. I had a white gold ring and having it replated often was expensive and a royal pain. Platinum is forever, doesn''t wear out and can be buffed to look like new in a matter of minutes. Koko also mentions above that white gold needs to be replated. The metal Koko mentioned that makes white gold not need to be plated is called Palladium, but it does not seem to be widely used. From what I''ve read, Palladium is an expensive metal in the Platinum family.

If you like the ring at Costco, it sparkles the way you want it to sparkle and it''s in your budget, enjoy it!

 

[plg_cp]

Date: 1/16/2006 7:00:09 PM
Author:Joeys Minx
It will be minimum of VS2 clarity and I in color.

Hi Joeys Minx,

I checked the link you provided. It does indeed say that they guarantee a min. of I/VS2 but there is absolutely no mention of CUT quality that I see. This is generally thought around here to be the most important C as it has the biggest impact on light return and sparkle. How do you know what you''ll be getting?
Also, does the ring come with any type of lab report to back up their claim for the clarity and color?

I do not mean to sound negative since I have seen some threads with good opinions on Costco, but just want to emphasize the importance of Cut in the overall beauty of the diamonds.

Good luck,
Mark

 

[Rebemdee]

When we were looking at e-rings we looked at Costco. I emailed the address on the brochure to get more information on cut, as the people in the store couldn''t tell me. Despite multiple emails, they could never tell me the specs or cut, from ideal to poor. I wasn''t happy with that and decided to buy the diamond from Blue Nile, because I had more information and could make a better decision as to what I wanted. Now that I know even more about diamonds, I think I would have looked at some of the online vendors, especially some of those mentioned here often. We went with Blue Nile in part because they had the setting I wanted, but now I know it isn''t hard for places like Whiteflash to make a setting very similar to what you see elsewhere.

 

[E B]

Hi Joey's Minx! Welcome to PS!

You'll find that all of us here feel pretty strongly about cut as the MOST important of the 4 C's. If Costco doesn't give you that info, how are you going to know if your diamond sparkles as brilliantly as it could? Have you considered other options?

This setting looks similar to the one you liked at Costco:

Princess-Cut Channel Setting

With this center stone, one of James Allen's "Signature" Diamonds:

.44, G VS2 Princess (Look at that idealscope!)

Total= $1880.00

I've never worked with James Allen before, but the company has several happy customers here on PS. The key to keeping the cost low is to have a white gold setting, as platinum costs much more. If you look around, you might just find deal after deal with your choice of a beautiful center stone!

 

[blodthecat]

Hi there, and welcome to PS.

As has already been mentioned, the cut is the most important of the 4 c''s.

I would stay away from Costco and have a look at the online vendors.

Blod

 

[Joeys Minx]

Thank you for your questions/comments everyone and please keep them coming. I noticed that as well about Costco,the cut not being mentioned and was hoping they could tell me.Unfortunately unless you are already a member it is hard to get any help, they won''t even let you email them on their website. I have no problem purchasing membership soon but will be mad if I do that and then can''t find out info like Rebemdee, or find out it is a poor cut. I will try to find out more info from Costco. No decision has been set in stone yet and we are willing to still look. I also think that cut is very important as well. I have had many diamond rings in the past with poor quality and have learned alot and that is why it is so important to us to get it right for the wedding. I want it to be a symbol of how awesome our relationship is. Ebree, the first link isn''t working for some reason. I know white gold would keep it cheaper initially but it would probably cost more in the long run with the constant replating. That sounds annoying. lol I have gathered a few links from the boards here already. Please post more! Thanx again.

 

[Joeys Minx]

Ok I got that link to work finally. TY. That setting is gorgeous! Plus it already has the sidestones and what not. I need to see if they have that in plat.

 

[Joeys Minx]

Okay I am still on the hunt for the ring search and probably will be for about another month. I am keeping my eyes open and thinking about the solitairre settings again as well. My fiance fell head over heels for the H&A''s over at whiteflash and we are seriously looking in that direction. I noticed one of their reporting agency''s is EGL. Is this the same EGL that everyone else is having problems with falsely reporting diamond stats?

 

[Kaleigh]

You are probably thinking of EGL Israel. They are softer on their grading than EGL USA.

 

[researcher]

I would DEFINITELY get a better stone (WF H&A) and a plain solitaire setting. In fact, you can get a cheap (in price) WG setting from WF (they sell some that are much less than those on their website (just email Lesley)) and upgrade it later if you''d like. Or, there was a thread recently for a fairly cheap platinum setting: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/settings.38679/.

After the setting you would still have about $1600 for the stone!

 

[blueroses]

I think the difference in price between the nicerings and WF stones is more than likely related to cut. Lots of vendors throw around the term "ideal cut, " but who knows, it could be a deal. I''ll wait for the experts to weigh in.
I''m pasting the information here on both.

Stone #1
The nicerings stone has the cert. info but not the photo.


Stock Number: 9124525
Shape and Cutting Style: Round
Measurements: 5.71x5.74x3.56 mm
Weight: 0.71 carats
Proportions:
Depth: 62.10 %
Table: 57.00 %
Girdle: medium
Culet: None
Finish:
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Excellent
Clarity Grade: SI1
Color Grade: I
Fluorescence: None

Stone #2:

Item Code: 5843141
Price: $1,960.00
Report: EGL
Shape: Round Ideal Cut
Carat: 0.70
Color: I
Clarity: SI1
Depth: 60.5
Table: 56
Girdle: -
Polish: Very Good
Symmetry: Excellent
Culet: None
Fluorescence: Medium or Moderate
Measurements: 5.63-5.71X3.43

 

[blueroses]

Here''s the thing: now that I look at stone #2, that''s not a stone that WF has in house, and they have comparable stones in-house in their "expert selection." I would definitely consider an in-house stone over a virtual stone so that you could have one of their staff check it out and tell you more. Here''s one that''s similar to the one you were looking at in price, but up one color (H) and is AGS vs. EGL, so that''s probably going to be whiter than the nicerings one (since an EGL I could be more like a GIA/AGS K.) If it were me, I''d want a stone from a vendor''s in-house inventory.

Item Code: AGS-5129803
Price: $1,995.00
Report: GIA
Shape: Round
Carat: 0.70
Color: H
Clarity: SI1
Depth: 63.4
Table: 54
Crown Angle: 34.7
Crown %: 15.8
Pavilion Angle: 40.9
Pavilion %: 43.2
Girdle: Slightly thick to thick faceted
Polish: Very Good
Symmetry: Excellent
Culet: Pointed
Fluorescence: Negligible
Measurements: 5.64-5.67X3.53

/images/site/d_lostF.jpg

/images/site/d_lost.jpg
/images/site/d_lost.jpg


Now this is just ONE example--I''m not too well versed in RB stones, I just wanted to show you an example of what is out there for almost the same carat weight and price, but with substantially more cut information and probably better cut and clarity. (Obviously, I''m comparing this to the WF stone not the the nicerings one.)

 

[Joeys Minx]

Thanx for the advice. That one looks really nice as well and I was also kind of hoping to stick with their expert selection or aca stones. I do think there is something funny going on at nice rings. How do you tell if they have a ring "in house" (wf)?

 

[blueroses]

The easiest way is if they have photos/idealscopes of the stone vs. just a stock "sample" photo.

 

[Joeys Minx]

Is it true that princess diamonds do not sparkle as greatly as rounds? because I am really loving these square settings! This one is really nice I found although a bit out of my price range. Maybe I should start lookiing at sol squares with sidestones.

 

[koko]

Have you checked out Radiants? They''re pretty sparkly!!