Now that I got your attention... Do girls go around gloating about the size of the rock on their finger? Or, do all their friends actually give a damn and it's a game of 'who's is bigger?'
I only ask as I was a bit of an amateur when I bought my soon-to-be-wife a 1.20 total carat princess cut ring (center rock 1.05 E/VS2). Anyways... She took it to get appraised without the certificate ( to put her jeweler to the test) and he thought it was more around the 3/4 mark by his eyesight. Then the calipers came and he said: yes, at an estimate would be 1 carat. Slightly more depth. He agreed with clarity, color he graded as an F. The ring cost me about 300 hours of work which I think was a fair price.
Now that I'm a bit of an armchair expert with diamonds (this even sickens me how much I've learned) I realize it probably 'should' have been GIA certified, but my stubbornness at the time overwhelmed any advice I had then. We both are happy with the ring and I think that is all that matters. We are both the joking sort of type however, so if she says it's too small, then I will be like we are upgrading
Hard for me to get some pics of it as she lives over where it snows and I live down under.
Short time reader, First time poster. Thanks for all the interesting reads on here.
I only ask as I was a bit of an amateur when I bought my soon-to-be-wife a 1.20 total carat princess cut ring (center rock 1.05 E/VS2). Anyways... She took it to get appraised without the certificate ( to put her jeweler to the test) and he thought it was more around the 3/4 mark by his eyesight. Then the calipers came and he said: yes, at an estimate would be 1 carat. Slightly more depth. He agreed with clarity, color he graded as an F. The ring cost me about 300 hours of work which I think was a fair price.
Now that I'm a bit of an armchair expert with diamonds (this even sickens me how much I've learned) I realize it probably 'should' have been GIA certified, but my stubbornness at the time overwhelmed any advice I had then. We both are happy with the ring and I think that is all that matters. We are both the joking sort of type however, so if she says it's too small, then I will be like we are upgrading

Hard for me to get some pics of it as she lives over where it snows and I live down under.
Short time reader, First time poster. Thanks for all the interesting reads on here.