Diamond_Virgin
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2005
- Messages
- 73
Hi everyone,
As my name implies, I am a diamond virgin. My story is this: I’m planning on asking my girlfriend of 18 months to marry me this Christmas. I had planned on going to either the Shane Company or other local jewelers to pick out a ring sometime in the next week or so (I live in Northern California). However, I somehow stumbled upon your website a few days back, and I’m not even sure how (I think I was looking for reviews of Shane). Anyway, from poking around a bit, and reading some of the forums, it sounds like buying a diamond online might be the way to go.
I do have some problems. My biggest one is that I live with my girlfriend, so it’s tough to spend too much time looking at diamonds without getting caught. Also, it’s somewhat frowned upon to be doing personal web-browsing at work Because of this I have a few questions I was hoping someone could answer.
1) Is it generally better to buy a setting at the same online site that you buy your diamond and have them fit it for you, or is it better to buy it separate and have a jeweler fit it?
2) If you do buy a setting and diamond separately, approximately how much does it cost to have it set?
3) How much does it usually cost to have a diamond and setting appraised?
So with those questions out of the way, here’s the biggie: Which diamond do I buy her? She’s not a material person, so I don’t think she’ll care how big the diamond is. That said, I would like to get her something that is at least .75 carats, preferably one that is 1 carat. From reading around here I know for sure that the one thing I don’t want to sacrifice on is cut! I don’t have any hard preferences on color and clarity, except that I would like the color to appear clear and I don’t want there to be inclusions noticeable to the eye, and. I guess J-G would be ideal for color, and SI-1 to VS-1 for clarity, although these are not something I have to have, since I’m on a budget. (Oh, and I’m thinking of a round cut diamond).
I was originally thinking of spending $1,500 on the whole ring, but after looking at some prices I see that’s not really reasonable. I’m now thinking of spending about $3,000 total, which leaves me only about $2,000 to spend on a diamond. I could go a bit higher, but I’d like to see what I can get for that amount. I do have my eye on a setting from Shane Co, located here http://www.shaneco.com/catalog/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=22778&PageLevelID=-5, and I’d like to know what you all think.
Well there you have it. Sorry for the length of the post, but I figured I should get everything in while I can. Any advice would be appreciated greatly, e.g. which online retailers I should look at for diamonds, where to get settings, specific diamonds you know of that are close to my specs, etc. Thank you all so, so much for taking the time to read this. I know getting engaged is a big deal to everyone, but right now it’s happening to me. I can’t believe it!
Thanks again,
Eban