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Wow I would love to have friends like that! I''d spend all my time drooling and trying on HUGE diamonds!Date: 5/25/2008 3:50:55 PM
Author: diamondfan
I am in Suburban Philadelphia. I have friends with rings around a carat or two, and I have friends with rings up to 10 carats. It really depends. My three closest friends have around 4, around 4 and 7 carats (pear, radiant and asscher respectively)...
Date: 5/25/2008 4:06:59 PM
Author: Delster
Like bee, I''m in Ireland. In everyday life I never see big diamonds. My mother has by far the biggest diamond of anyone I know and hers is .80ct. Most rings I see on a daily basis are around .30ct to .50ct. At work I regularly see larger diamonds but nothing over 1.5ct. I took a course in uni with a minor Irish celebrity and her diamond was the biggest I''ve ever seen on someone''s hand here, maybe 3cts.
Date: 5/25/2008 4:15:27 PM
Author: NeverEndingUpgrade
Yes. I live in North Dallas, Texas, and most of the moms at my son''s private school live in Plano and Frisco. These ladies wear BIG diamonds. They also live in BIG houses, drive BIG SUVs and carry BIG Louis Vuitton handbags. I guess if you can afford it, do it.
I agree with Your observation about Europeans, BUT people here (in Sweden) usually raise eyebrows when they see someone wearing something "extravagant" or expensive-looking and they start to comment it. A girl in my uni-class got married, and she received a 0.9-1.0 ct diamond ring with sidestones, and the other girls went gaaah over her ring, asking if it was real, and that it must've cost loads of money, and that they wouldn't risk wearing a fortune on their fingers. (Who says that to a newlywed woman?) Anyway, I don't know what it's like in Germany, but I can imagine it's pretty similar to Sweden when it comes to certain things (kind of a European thing I guess), and people here usually don't appreciate luxury items such as jewelry and don't spend much money on them.Date: 5/25/2008 4:37:31 PM
Author: mandielee
Like IrishBreakfast, I live in Germany, and can confirm that diamonds over 1ct are rare, even on American women's fingers on-post. My .90 ct got big eyes from the jeweler I brought it to to do the 'diamond/not a diamond' test to make sure nothing happened in transit (Whiteflash I trust; the many hands the package had to go through to get here, not so much).
Germany really doesn't have much of an expensive engagement ring tradition; it's more common for the pair to wear what will be their wedding rings on their left hands as kind of his/her engagement rings - they switch them to the right hand at the ceremony. Because of that, I plan to wear my plain wedding band on my right hand. I'm just pleased that my German fiance understands how important sparklies are to Texas girls He was prepared to spend a lot more than what we (read: I) eventually decided on; Whiteflash and comparable are WAY cheaper than jewelery stores here when you can even find comparable stuff, even accounting for the VAT.
My high school friend who ended up in London reports similar. Her friends and their guys are quite well to do, and tend to get engaged and married around age 30-35, but her .91 princess is the biggest rock of them all - .4-.5 is more common, even among that set which tends to own 300,000-500,000 GBP apartments and take fantastic vacations.
Only rocks I've seen bigger than mine off-post are on the hands of rich old ladies at the opera in Nuremberg.
Big engagement rings = American thing. Europeans with that kind of money on-hand would rather spend it on spiffy trips. Different luxuries for different folks
Date: 5/25/2008 5:12:53 PM
Author: diamondfan
Feeling a bit upset over here...
I am 42, have a large stone, which is a second upgrade from two years ago. The first upgrade, which I wore from 35-40 was sizeable too.
I hope nobody sees me out and looks and thinks ''old lady with a big stone''!!!
I mean, I do not think I look 42, so maybe I am in the clear!
Date: 5/25/2008 5:09:48 PM
Author: Lill_The_Thrill
I agree with Your observation about Europeans, BUT people here (in Sweden) usually raise eyebrows when they see someone wearing something ''extravagant'' or expensive-looking and they start to comment it. A girl in my uni-class got married, and she received a 0.9-1.0 ct diamond ring with sidestones, and the other girls went gaaah over her ring, asking if it was real, and that it must''ve cost loads of money, and that they wouldn''t risk wearing a fortune on their fingers. (Who says that to a newlywed woman?) Anyway, I don''t know what it''s like in Germany, but I can imagine it''s pretty similar to Sweden when it comes to certain things (kind of a European thing I guess), and people here usually don''t appreciate luxury items such as jewelry and don''t spend much money on them.
I was looking in different jewelry stores for a future diamond engagement ring, and the SA''s would actually steer me away from diamond rings, saying they don''t look like engagement rings (WTH?).
yes,everything is bigger in Tx.Date: 5/25/2008 4:15:27 PM
Author: NeverEndingUpgrade
Yes. I live in North Dallas, Texas, and most of the moms at my son''s private school live in Plano and Frisco. These ladies wear BIG diamonds. They also live in BIG houses, drive BIG SUVs and carry BIG Louis Vuitton handbags. I guess if you can afford it, do it.
Yes! I think Youäre right about that, the "big" diamonds are usually given as gifts later on or weddingbands. It kind of might have something to do with the fact that an engagement isn't taken very seriosuly maybe? not here atleast. Many people here get engaged at a very young age, or stay engaged for several years 5-10+ yrs, and don't usually follow the 1-2 yr rule (not that there is anything wrong with that). Most people here don't plan for a wedding when getting engaged, they donät even call each other "fiance", so it might not be the same type of commitment (canät seem to find a better word for it), hence the plain bands???!!Date: 5/25/2008 6:02:42 PM
Author: mandielee
Date: 5/25/2008 5:09:48 PM
Author: Lill_The_Thrill
I agree with Your observation about Europeans, BUT people here (in Sweden) usually raise eyebrows when they see someone wearing something 'extravagant' or expensive-looking and they start to comment it. A girl in my uni-class got married, and she received a 0.9-1.0 ct diamond ring with sidestones, and the other girls went gaaah over her ring, asking if it was real, and that it must've cost loads of money, and that they wouldn't risk wearing a fortune on their fingers. (Who says that to a newlywed woman?) Anyway, I don't know what it's like in Germany, but I can imagine it's pretty similar to Sweden when it comes to certain things (kind of a European thing I guess), and people here usually don't appreciate luxury items such as jewelry and don't spend much money on them.
I was looking in different jewelry stores for a future diamond engagement ring, and the SA's would actually steer me away from diamond rings, saying they don't look like engagement rings (WTH?).
I think Bavarians around here are used to American women and our ostentatious (relatively speaking!) jewelry, so it's not something they'd feel the need to dwell on.
Yeah, I ran into the same thing when I went into jewelry stores to figure out the German diamond market. When *pressed*, salesladies brought out .2-.25ct rings, stones already set. German jewelry stores (at least in my mid-sized city) do not do loose stones, it seems, and are incredulous about couples looking to sink a few thousand Euro into something given before the wedding. Diamonds are mostly used as an accent to the overall design, not as the main purpose of the piece.
I think most larger (over .5 ct) diamond rings are given as later gifts, thus the 'rich old ladies at the opera' observation - when I say 'old', I mean 70+.
Not that there's anything wrong with being a rich old lady at the opera, wearing a big diamond ring - I'm sure much of PS aspires to this, myself included