Epic-length post filled with epicness:
My boyfriend and I are planning on getting engaged in a couple of months, so this means diamond shopping! Like all major purchases I make, I research things obsessively. I skimmed some very basic guides... 4 C's and all that... then we went to a no-name mall store while we were out of town for the day. We figured it would be less pressure if we went somewhere we knew we would never buy from and we could get a basic education and have a little fun looking. Well... it wasn't completely terrible, I'll give it that. The sales clerk was low pressure, admittedly knew little about gems other than what was printed on a tag. I asked him about cut and he had to pull out their company brochure and basically told us that what was printed there was all he knew. He also told me that there was no way to grade cut... yeah.
Unfortunately I really couldn't see much since they had a pretty poor quality inventory (many I1 and I2's, S3's), no information on cut whatsoever, and their grading was done by some lab I'd never heard of and can't recall now: Not GIA or AGS in any case. I got to play with some diamonds under their microscope and learn all about inclusions though.
After that I spent some time researching here on Pricescope. Very helpful, especially when describing the finer points of cut. Some of the info is a bit technical and complex but I happened on GOG's site and videos and viewed a few dozen to get an idea about some of the finer points on cut especially. Incredible! I'm now at least an aware consumer, albeit no expert. At this point I feel I now have an idea of what I think I want, but I feel like I still need to go see some more stones in person. After all, seeing a diamond on screen super-analyzed and seeing it in person are two different things. Next stop: Shane Co.
Shane Co is a big diamond retailer in the area and they supposedly have a great selection of loose diamonds. I'll have to say that the sales people are very intense. I did get to view a decent range of diamonds. I also insisted that I only see diamonds alongside their GIA certs. I spent less than an hour but by the end of it I wanted to shoot my lovely saleswoman in the face. She would only bring out three diamonds at a time: first round was a 0.9 I1 I color, a 0.6 SI1 F "Shane Classic", and a 0.75 VS1 D. I could easily tell the difference between colors (my bf could not) face up, but I really didn't mind the color and actually tended to prefer the stones that were in the G-J range. Clarity speaking, I could easily see the I1 inclusion immediately (a massive inclusion right along the surface of the table, blech), I swear I could see the smaller inclusions in the SI1 as well (what she referred to as air bubbles) although she tried to insist it was "eye-clean" and that I couldn't really see anything I was just imagining it. With the supplied 10x loupe I could see the VS1 inclusions, but only just.
One thing I could tell easily was that the "Shane Classics" were a lot brighter than the other stones I was seeing so this prompted a discussion on cut, which for some reason seems to be the litmus test on whether or not a sales person has any clue... she tried to insist that *all* the diamonds they sell were Ideal cut. Checking out the GIA sheets the "Shane Classics" are in the excellent range on Cut/Polish/Symmetry and the others ranged from Good to Very Good, etc. She then retracts and says that there's no such thing as an actual "Ideal cut" (granted that does seem to be a topic of much discussion here on what constitutes Ideal). For the most part she just answered questions that made her uncomfortable with "Isn't it pretty?!!" "Ooooo look so sparkly!" "Have you guys heard about our payment plans!?!"
Me= *stabface*
My inner bitch couldn't help but note that her ring was this giant monstrosity of cheap diamonds with an oversize, very cloudy, very, very dull center stone. I was tempted to ask her about it - I see a lot of e-rings like that and they always make me think "fake" so I'm always curious if they are diamonds or not, but I'm not that mean. Upon learning that she wasn't going to close a sale that instant, she went into overdrive. "Payment plan! Payment plan! Warrantee! Reserve diamond or it'll be GONE! Diamonds are unique! You need THIS one NOW!" *head'asplosion*
One thing Shane Co does do right is they had a ginormous amount of setting... which I'll get to later.
Immediately following this, we go down the block to another unknown-to-myself jewelry store (Karat's) and check it out. Wow! What a difference. The owner was a gemologist and apparently a complete gem geek and not only passed the cut litmus test but explained in detail about cut angles, Ideal proportions, Tskolwsky(sp's) Ideal, GIA Ideal, etc etc... he even had a Gemex Brilliancescope I got to play with! Only problem was that the inventory was tiny ( they had almost no RB's less than a carat ) and the settings weren't to my liking and everything was hella expensive. I know a guy's gotta make a buck, especially being located right by the massive supermarket of diamonds so I can cut him some slack. Good experience though and we'll probably end up purchasing our bands from here if possible. We determined that I have an eye for cut (duh) and clarity and that I could easily go down a notch or two in color and be happy, especially at the size I was looking at (0.75)
********
Ok so here I am now, more confidant in my knowledge and ability to buy a diamond online. Price range we're looking at is going to be about in the $3k range. I've been eyeing this number from GOG ( I do admittedly feel a sense of loyalty after spending so much time listening to the East Coast accented educational videos ):
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/7603/
It's a comfortable price, nice clarity, AGS Ideal Hearts & Diamonds, I don't mind the J color. It's on the larger end of carat weights that I was looking at - I've been mostly browsing for around 0.75's. So I'd like some more expert opinions on this.
I seem to be stuck on setting now. I have pretty minimal tastes. I like white gold/platinum. I don't like side or accent diamonds at all. Browsing on the web I had a thing for tension set rings but most seemed to be a bit thick for my tastes when viewing them in person. One setting I had a thing for I actually found at Shane Co:
A couple things I thought might be an issue was that apparently Shane Co's white gold is a nickel blend and I understand this causes an allergic reaction in many people. I am also under the impression that this type of white gold blend needs to be redipped (recoated?) more often than a palladium blend.
I can get this version in platinum ($1000 vs $300 ... eep!), which I understand won't cause allergic reactions and also will be much stronger. I don't wear much jewelry, but I do have a lot of skin sensitivities, so I imagine this could be an issue. I'm also hyper about potential damage to prongs. My mother lost her e-ring stone after a prong broke and she was devastated. Is platinum better in this regard?
Shane Co will supposedly set outside diamonds but won't offer a warranty on their work. I understand that GOG could set the diamond if I mail them the setting, but I'll have to get in contact with them and see if this one is acceptable. They don't warranty outside settings either though (understandable in either case). Will the setting and diamond be more secure if I get it set by the better jewelers (which I imagine GOG would be as opposed to Shane Co)? Should I just plan on visiting a B&M jeweler so I can have my prongs checked periodically (read: obsessively) regardless of who I get it set by?
I'm curious if anyone has suggestions on other setting options I might not have considered. I really like contemporary settings (which is why I was initially attracted to the tension settings), I prefer the more squared off, angular bars as opposed to rounded. I also prefer the setting to showcase as much of the diamond as possible, minimal metal between my eye and the stone, I'd like to see the pavilion from the side, etc. I like the way this example is balanced visually as well. The side shanks lead the eye right up to the diamond but don't touch it. ( I wish I had a pic of a side view of this ring).
..................
TL;DR
B&M's are varied and interesting. Pricescope is awesome. I have the following questions:
Opinions on the linked diamond?
Thoughts on white gold vs platinum?
Thought on setting options?
My boyfriend and I are planning on getting engaged in a couple of months, so this means diamond shopping! Like all major purchases I make, I research things obsessively. I skimmed some very basic guides... 4 C's and all that... then we went to a no-name mall store while we were out of town for the day. We figured it would be less pressure if we went somewhere we knew we would never buy from and we could get a basic education and have a little fun looking. Well... it wasn't completely terrible, I'll give it that. The sales clerk was low pressure, admittedly knew little about gems other than what was printed on a tag. I asked him about cut and he had to pull out their company brochure and basically told us that what was printed there was all he knew. He also told me that there was no way to grade cut... yeah.
Unfortunately I really couldn't see much since they had a pretty poor quality inventory (many I1 and I2's, S3's), no information on cut whatsoever, and their grading was done by some lab I'd never heard of and can't recall now: Not GIA or AGS in any case. I got to play with some diamonds under their microscope and learn all about inclusions though.
After that I spent some time researching here on Pricescope. Very helpful, especially when describing the finer points of cut. Some of the info is a bit technical and complex but I happened on GOG's site and videos and viewed a few dozen to get an idea about some of the finer points on cut especially. Incredible! I'm now at least an aware consumer, albeit no expert. At this point I feel I now have an idea of what I think I want, but I feel like I still need to go see some more stones in person. After all, seeing a diamond on screen super-analyzed and seeing it in person are two different things. Next stop: Shane Co.
Shane Co is a big diamond retailer in the area and they supposedly have a great selection of loose diamonds. I'll have to say that the sales people are very intense. I did get to view a decent range of diamonds. I also insisted that I only see diamonds alongside their GIA certs. I spent less than an hour but by the end of it I wanted to shoot my lovely saleswoman in the face. She would only bring out three diamonds at a time: first round was a 0.9 I1 I color, a 0.6 SI1 F "Shane Classic", and a 0.75 VS1 D. I could easily tell the difference between colors (my bf could not) face up, but I really didn't mind the color and actually tended to prefer the stones that were in the G-J range. Clarity speaking, I could easily see the I1 inclusion immediately (a massive inclusion right along the surface of the table, blech), I swear I could see the smaller inclusions in the SI1 as well (what she referred to as air bubbles) although she tried to insist it was "eye-clean" and that I couldn't really see anything I was just imagining it. With the supplied 10x loupe I could see the VS1 inclusions, but only just.
One thing I could tell easily was that the "Shane Classics" were a lot brighter than the other stones I was seeing so this prompted a discussion on cut, which for some reason seems to be the litmus test on whether or not a sales person has any clue... she tried to insist that *all* the diamonds they sell were Ideal cut. Checking out the GIA sheets the "Shane Classics" are in the excellent range on Cut/Polish/Symmetry and the others ranged from Good to Very Good, etc. She then retracts and says that there's no such thing as an actual "Ideal cut" (granted that does seem to be a topic of much discussion here on what constitutes Ideal). For the most part she just answered questions that made her uncomfortable with "Isn't it pretty?!!" "Ooooo look so sparkly!" "Have you guys heard about our payment plans!?!"
Me= *stabface*
My inner bitch couldn't help but note that her ring was this giant monstrosity of cheap diamonds with an oversize, very cloudy, very, very dull center stone. I was tempted to ask her about it - I see a lot of e-rings like that and they always make me think "fake" so I'm always curious if they are diamonds or not, but I'm not that mean. Upon learning that she wasn't going to close a sale that instant, she went into overdrive. "Payment plan! Payment plan! Warrantee! Reserve diamond or it'll be GONE! Diamonds are unique! You need THIS one NOW!" *head'asplosion*
One thing Shane Co does do right is they had a ginormous amount of setting... which I'll get to later.
Immediately following this, we go down the block to another unknown-to-myself jewelry store (Karat's) and check it out. Wow! What a difference. The owner was a gemologist and apparently a complete gem geek and not only passed the cut litmus test but explained in detail about cut angles, Ideal proportions, Tskolwsky(sp's) Ideal, GIA Ideal, etc etc... he even had a Gemex Brilliancescope I got to play with! Only problem was that the inventory was tiny ( they had almost no RB's less than a carat ) and the settings weren't to my liking and everything was hella expensive. I know a guy's gotta make a buck, especially being located right by the massive supermarket of diamonds so I can cut him some slack. Good experience though and we'll probably end up purchasing our bands from here if possible. We determined that I have an eye for cut (duh) and clarity and that I could easily go down a notch or two in color and be happy, especially at the size I was looking at (0.75)
********
Ok so here I am now, more confidant in my knowledge and ability to buy a diamond online. Price range we're looking at is going to be about in the $3k range. I've been eyeing this number from GOG ( I do admittedly feel a sense of loyalty after spending so much time listening to the East Coast accented educational videos ):
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/7603/
It's a comfortable price, nice clarity, AGS Ideal Hearts & Diamonds, I don't mind the J color. It's on the larger end of carat weights that I was looking at - I've been mostly browsing for around 0.75's. So I'd like some more expert opinions on this.
I seem to be stuck on setting now. I have pretty minimal tastes. I like white gold/platinum. I don't like side or accent diamonds at all. Browsing on the web I had a thing for tension set rings but most seemed to be a bit thick for my tastes when viewing them in person. One setting I had a thing for I actually found at Shane Co:
A couple things I thought might be an issue was that apparently Shane Co's white gold is a nickel blend and I understand this causes an allergic reaction in many people. I am also under the impression that this type of white gold blend needs to be redipped (recoated?) more often than a palladium blend.
I can get this version in platinum ($1000 vs $300 ... eep!), which I understand won't cause allergic reactions and also will be much stronger. I don't wear much jewelry, but I do have a lot of skin sensitivities, so I imagine this could be an issue. I'm also hyper about potential damage to prongs. My mother lost her e-ring stone after a prong broke and she was devastated. Is platinum better in this regard?
Shane Co will supposedly set outside diamonds but won't offer a warranty on their work. I understand that GOG could set the diamond if I mail them the setting, but I'll have to get in contact with them and see if this one is acceptable. They don't warranty outside settings either though (understandable in either case). Will the setting and diamond be more secure if I get it set by the better jewelers (which I imagine GOG would be as opposed to Shane Co)? Should I just plan on visiting a B&M jeweler so I can have my prongs checked periodically (read: obsessively) regardless of who I get it set by?
I'm curious if anyone has suggestions on other setting options I might not have considered. I really like contemporary settings (which is why I was initially attracted to the tension settings), I prefer the more squared off, angular bars as opposed to rounded. I also prefer the setting to showcase as much of the diamond as possible, minimal metal between my eye and the stone, I'd like to see the pavilion from the side, etc. I like the way this example is balanced visually as well. The side shanks lead the eye right up to the diamond but don't touch it. ( I wish I had a pic of a side view of this ring).
..................
TL;DR
B&M's are varied and interesting. Pricescope is awesome. I have the following questions:
Opinions on the linked diamond?
Thoughts on white gold vs platinum?
Thought on setting options?
I don't know about the setting though...would it have a gap at the top? I think I would have to see it mounted to picture it...you could also get a modern look with a bezel or half-bezel?
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