Engagement Ring

[German]

Hi everybody,

first thank you very much for all the information on this website. I am a German and looking for an engagement ring. Germany has not an engagement culture like America, several people use their wedding bands as engagement rings or buy engagement rings for 100-300$.
I am looking for something a little bigger and more expensive than that. I don't have a clear budget but would like to have good value for money in the range between 4000-7000$+taxes incl. the setting.

I have looked up several diamonds and would like to get your feedback on those:
http://www.zoara.com/diamonds/p_round_very_good_cut_j_vs1#p=3095285
http://www.zoara.com/diamonds/p_round_very_good_cut_g_vs2#p=3061191 (White Fluorescence never seen that anywhere else before)
http://www.zoara.com/diamonds/p_round_very_good_cut_g_vs2#p=3087771

A little bigger ones
http://www.zoara.com/diamonds/p_round_excellent_cut_j_vs2#p=2456973
http://www.zoara.com/diamonds/p_round_excellent_cut_i_vs2#p=2973107
http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-4755735-1.22-carat-Round-diamond-J-color-IF-Clarity.aspx?sku=4755735&utm_source=pricescope.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pricescope.com
http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-4718434-1.20-carat-Round-diamond-J-color-VS2-Clarity.aspx?sku=4718434&utm_source=pricescope.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pricescope.com

My girlfriend likes yellow gold settings and in particular the following:
http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/three-stone/18k-yellow-gold-fanciful-fluted-pear-pave-engagement-ring-item-17866
or
http://www.b2cjewels.com/Round/1/6380/Diamond-Accent-Settings/Prong-Set-Diamond-Engagement-Ring-18K-Yellow-Gold-%287-8-cttw%29.aspx

Her preference for yellow gold is also the reason, that I was compromising a bit on color.

Thank you very much in advance for your feedback

Kind Regards
German

 

[teobdl]

Hi German,
See the bold comments below. One diamond looks very promising. Does Zoara do Idealscopes? You should put the one I chose on hold. It's very nice.

I have looked up several diamonds and would like to get your feedback on those:
NOhttp://www.zoara.com/diamonds/p_round_very_good_cut_j_vs1#p=3095285
NOhttp://www.zoara.com/diamonds/p_round_very_good_cut_g_vs2#p=3061191 (White Fluorescence never seen that anywhere else before)
NOhttp://www.zoara.com/diamonds/p_round_very_good_cut_g_vs2#p=3087771

A little bigger ones
MAYBEhttp://www.zoara.com/diamonds/p_round_excellent_cut_j_vs2#p=2456973
YEShttp://www.zoara.com/diamonds/p_round_excellent_cut_i_vs2#p=2973107
NOhttp://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-4755735-1.22-carat-Round-diamond-J-color-IF-Clarity.aspx?sku=4755735&utm_source=pricescope.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pricescope.com
PROBABLY NOThttp://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-4718434-1.20-carat-Round-diamond-J-color-VS2-Clarity.aspx?sku=4718434&utm_source=pricescope.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pricescope.com

My girlfriend likes yellow gold settings and in particular the following:
I WORRY THAT THE PEAR SIDESTONES WILL BE AS BAD AS IN THE PHOTO. ALSO THE METAL AROUND THE PEARS LOOKS CLUNKYhttp://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/three-stone/18k-yellow-gold-fanciful-fluted-pear-pave-engagement-ring-item-17866
or
THE PRONGS ARE CLUNKY AND NOT FLATTERINGhttp://www.b2cjewels.com/Round/1/6380/Diamond-Accent-Settings/Prong-Set-Diamond-Engagement-Ring-18K-Yellow-Gold-%287-8-cttw%29.aspx

 

[RockyRacoon]

Alright - you have a healthy budget and should be able to get something very nice.

Here are a couple of options with your price range:

Brian Gavin
This setting:
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/engagement-rings/solitaire/ashleigh-14k-yellow-gold-5853y14

with this stone (after Pricescope discount):

1.087ct, I, SI1
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/1.087-i-si1-round-diamond-ags-bl-104066186007


Good Old Gold

A simple setting with one of these stones:
1.09ct, I, SI1
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/10583/

1.12ct, H, SI2 (confirm eye-clean)
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/10906/


High Performance Diamonds

Either of these stones leaves room in your budget for a VERY nice setting:

1.02ct, E, SI2 (talk to Wink about eye-cleanliness)
http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=view-id-diamond-default&id=23

1.00ct, I, SI1
http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=view-id-diamond-default&id=22

 

[German]

Thank you teobdl and RockyRacoon for your remarks and recommendations,

@teobdl, can you give me 1-2 words on every example telling me why you like it or not, so that I can learn something from it. As you didn't like the settings, do you know similar settings that are manufactured better?
What is your oppinion on this http://www.zoara.com/engagement/rings/p_pave_sidestone_engagement_ring#p=1209561??

@RockyRacoon thank you for your suggestions. I will have a more detail look at all of them. I didn't go into detail on my budget in the beginning. My original budget was 3k-4k $ + 24% for customs. Now I went up to 4k-5k and the 7k should be just the absolute limit. Do you have any suggestions in the range of 4k-5k incl. setting as well.

As I said before in Germany it doesn't have to be 1 carat. Half of the jewellery stores here don't even have 1 carat stones (not counting I1s).

Thank you very much again.
German

 

[RockyRacoon]

Thank you teobdl and RockyRacoon for your remarks and recommendations,

@teobdl, can you give me 1-2 words on every example telling me why you like it or not, so that I can learn something from it. As you didn't like the settings, do you know similar settings that are manufactured better?
What is your oppinion on this http://www.zoara.com/engagement/rings/p_pave_sidestone_engagement_ring#p=1209561???

@RockyRacoon thank you for your suggestions. I will have a more detail look at all of them. I didn't go into detail on my budget in the beginning. My original budget was 3k-4k $ + 24% for customs. Now I went up to 4k-5k and the 7k should be just the absolute limit. Do you have any suggestions in the range of 4k-5k incl. setting as well.

As I said before in Germany it doesn't have to be 1 carat. Half of the jewellery stores here don't even have 1 carat stones (not counting I1s).

Thank you very much again.
German

Here's a solid option, in that price range:

.733ct, F, VS2
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.733-f-vs2-round-diamond-ags-bl-104069795034

.740ct, F, SI1
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.740-f-si1-round-diamond-ags-bl-104067973046

with one of these settings:

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/engagement-rings/solitaire/ashleigh-14k-yellow-gold-5853y14
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/engagement-rings/solitaire/classic-tiffany-style-half-round-18k-white-gold-5478w18

 

[teobdl]

That last setting, German, is quite nice. I don't know the quality of their work though, as I've never seen it in person or even seen a picture or heard from other's about it.

Sorry I don't have time to go through the diamonds again, but off the top of my head, most of the diamonds had very high crown angles or very high pavilions. One had a really shallow everything. I didn't look any further if either the crown or pavilion angles were funky.

The one I said "yes" to had proportions that tend to balance colored flashes and white flashes in the vast majority of modern lighting situations, with the least amount of light leaking out the bottom.

One quick test to rule out diamonds that are probably not very good is to use the HCA calculator. A score of 2.0 or less means it's worth considering: https://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca