moocowdairy
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2007
- Messages
- 3
Hello everyone. My first time posting and I havent slept much at all so I hope I dont ramble too much.
Im an american living in Sweden. My boyfriend and I were engaged about 6 months ago but he didnt have a ring when he proposed because he knows that I am very particular in my tastes. Since that time I´ve been debating with myself what type of ring to get. In Sweden the norm seems to be a very small solitaire or a plain band. When we looked at jewelry stores, the largest that any carried were 1 carat, the most popular size seems to be quarter to half a carat. This is really adding to my guilt of wanting a larger stone. I was actually a bit embarassed when my boyfriend described to the jeweler we wanted an "American style engagement ring". I suppose they see us as a bigger is better culture! I decided against getting a ring in Sweden because the pricing is insane and the quality of some of the stones was terrible.
We´re now vacationing in Paris and happened to walk into a store called Korloff. My favorite cut is RB and I was leaning towards a simple solitaire or maybe a little something in the band as well as long as it was clean and not cluttered looking. I do not like the look of other cuts for myself. When we walked into Korloff the jeweler showed us something called their Korloff cut. The shape is between a Princess and Emerald cut and reminds me of a radiant cut with all the facets. She really pushed the fact that the stone has 65 facets rather than the regular 57 of a brillaint. I will admit the stone had more sparkle and fire than any other ring I had ever seen but I wasnt interested in anything other than a round. I also wanted a platinum setting and this was white gold. But my boyfriend asked me to try it on and the more I wore it the more I began to love it. It looked lovely in the store and even better in the sunlight. My boyfriend wanted to buy it on the spot but I always like to sleep on it before I make any large purchase so we told the jeweler we would return the next day (today). Going to another jeweler a few stores down cemented the Korloff stone for my boyfriend. The 2nd jeweler had a 2 carat round brilliant, E, VS1 for 18,500 with a VAT rebate, bringing the ring to 15,500 € or 21k USD. My boyfriend insisted the stone looked flat and lifeless compared to the Korloff and I agree. In the sunlight this ring looked even worse than the store, it had no sparkle at all. I am a diamond newbie and never realized until that time just how important the cut/polish/symmetry can be. Before I only thought carat, color and quality mattered; using that guideline the RB should have blown the Korloff away but it was the other way around hands down.
When we got back to the room I started to do price conversions. (If I hear prices in Euros or Kronor, its a bit like Monopoly money and it the value doesnt sink in yet). The price was 30k € or about 41k USD. My jaw dropped and I told my fiance absolutely not. As I said before the setting is a simple band (bow shaped) of white gold with a solitaire in the Korloff cut. The stone is 2 carats, G, SI1. The colour and quality of the gem are not jaw dropping and I showed him many sites online where we could buy a much better quality or the same quality for MUCH MUCH less. He is adamant that he will not purchase a stone online. I was a Costco freak when I was in the states, so I showed him their diamond section and how nice the prices were, 1/3 less and better quality but he seems embarassed about getting a ring where you can also buy toilet paper and frozen pizza.
Help, I dont know what to do! On the plus side: getting this ring would make my boyfriend happy, the ring IS beautiful, it´s well within our budget, even though I know there´s a lot of improvement room for the color and clarity I can´t imagine a stone looking nicer (I´m not sure if it´s the cut or why it is but when I compared the G stone to an E we could barely see a colour difference side by side. I normally see it right away with brilliants) and it is romantic that we got a ring unexpectedly while vacationing in Paris. On the negative side: I think I could get much better for much cheaper (am I wrong?), will I tire of a novelty cut when I originally wanted a classic round brilliant?
My fiance is asleep right now and we are supposed to go back when he awakens. I guess I am hoping that someone here will give me peace of mind with either choice. Saying not to purchase that the ring is a rip off or saying it is an ok price. I''m sorry I dont have the numbers for the all the other stats, they are useless to me since I dont know what they mean and when we were looking at the diamond I hadn''t thought about posting here and asking.
Sorry for the novel sized post, thanks in advance for any advice or wisdom you impart!
Im an american living in Sweden. My boyfriend and I were engaged about 6 months ago but he didnt have a ring when he proposed because he knows that I am very particular in my tastes. Since that time I´ve been debating with myself what type of ring to get. In Sweden the norm seems to be a very small solitaire or a plain band. When we looked at jewelry stores, the largest that any carried were 1 carat, the most popular size seems to be quarter to half a carat. This is really adding to my guilt of wanting a larger stone. I was actually a bit embarassed when my boyfriend described to the jeweler we wanted an "American style engagement ring". I suppose they see us as a bigger is better culture! I decided against getting a ring in Sweden because the pricing is insane and the quality of some of the stones was terrible.
We´re now vacationing in Paris and happened to walk into a store called Korloff. My favorite cut is RB and I was leaning towards a simple solitaire or maybe a little something in the band as well as long as it was clean and not cluttered looking. I do not like the look of other cuts for myself. When we walked into Korloff the jeweler showed us something called their Korloff cut. The shape is between a Princess and Emerald cut and reminds me of a radiant cut with all the facets. She really pushed the fact that the stone has 65 facets rather than the regular 57 of a brillaint. I will admit the stone had more sparkle and fire than any other ring I had ever seen but I wasnt interested in anything other than a round. I also wanted a platinum setting and this was white gold. But my boyfriend asked me to try it on and the more I wore it the more I began to love it. It looked lovely in the store and even better in the sunlight. My boyfriend wanted to buy it on the spot but I always like to sleep on it before I make any large purchase so we told the jeweler we would return the next day (today). Going to another jeweler a few stores down cemented the Korloff stone for my boyfriend. The 2nd jeweler had a 2 carat round brilliant, E, VS1 for 18,500 with a VAT rebate, bringing the ring to 15,500 € or 21k USD. My boyfriend insisted the stone looked flat and lifeless compared to the Korloff and I agree. In the sunlight this ring looked even worse than the store, it had no sparkle at all. I am a diamond newbie and never realized until that time just how important the cut/polish/symmetry can be. Before I only thought carat, color and quality mattered; using that guideline the RB should have blown the Korloff away but it was the other way around hands down.
When we got back to the room I started to do price conversions. (If I hear prices in Euros or Kronor, its a bit like Monopoly money and it the value doesnt sink in yet). The price was 30k € or about 41k USD. My jaw dropped and I told my fiance absolutely not. As I said before the setting is a simple band (bow shaped) of white gold with a solitaire in the Korloff cut. The stone is 2 carats, G, SI1. The colour and quality of the gem are not jaw dropping and I showed him many sites online where we could buy a much better quality or the same quality for MUCH MUCH less. He is adamant that he will not purchase a stone online. I was a Costco freak when I was in the states, so I showed him their diamond section and how nice the prices were, 1/3 less and better quality but he seems embarassed about getting a ring where you can also buy toilet paper and frozen pizza.
Help, I dont know what to do! On the plus side: getting this ring would make my boyfriend happy, the ring IS beautiful, it´s well within our budget, even though I know there´s a lot of improvement room for the color and clarity I can´t imagine a stone looking nicer (I´m not sure if it´s the cut or why it is but when I compared the G stone to an E we could barely see a colour difference side by side. I normally see it right away with brilliants) and it is romantic that we got a ring unexpectedly while vacationing in Paris. On the negative side: I think I could get much better for much cheaper (am I wrong?), will I tire of a novelty cut when I originally wanted a classic round brilliant?
My fiance is asleep right now and we are supposed to go back when he awakens. I guess I am hoping that someone here will give me peace of mind with either choice. Saying not to purchase that the ring is a rip off or saying it is an ok price. I''m sorry I dont have the numbers for the all the other stats, they are useless to me since I dont know what they mean and when we were looking at the diamond I hadn''t thought about posting here and asking.
Sorry for the novel sized post, thanks in advance for any advice or wisdom you impart!
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