Need some direction

[m82]

Hi.... I''m new at this so bear with me. Here is the story. My girlfriend and I are celebrating our 4th year of being together as of tomorrow. I have been contimplating getting engaged for the past couple of months now. I don''t plan on asking the question for at least a month or two (that being my other poroblem...no original or good idea for proposing) My main need right now is finding a ring that has good quality and appeal, as well as meeting my budget of between 2000 and 2500, perferably on the lower end. I have heard many negative things about The Shane Company, but have a setting in mind that they have. I dont think I would get a center stone from them, mabey whiteflash.com. I want a .4 to .5 carat princess center stone. I welcome any comments on the setting and the center stone. Thanks!


If anyone has any good proposal ideas feel free to give them as well.

 

[Brandy]

Have you checked with diamondsafe.com? We just purchase an ideal cut 1.29 G SI3 for $3800. They have pretty good deals, and a bonus is that they have pictures of the diamonds on the internet. I felt better being able to take a look at the diamond. They also give you a free pair of pearl earrings with your purchase. You should take a look at them.

 

[Giangi]

At the size you're looking at (which will make a very nice engagement ring), you can consider an H-I SI 1 or maybe even SI 2 stone with a great cut. This will allow you to look at a larger stone that will look as good to the naked eye as an E/VS 2 with a terrible cut.

One not about diamondsafe.com... I'm sure they are a legit and great company, BUT they use EGL Israel certs... Which are pretty worthless... Now, if you got a 1.29 G/SI 3 (or G/I 1

from GIA) it's a very nie deal

, but be very careful of EGL's extremely liberal grading. They're often off by 2 grades. So, if you got a properly graded diamond, then it could be a great bargain as it's priced like an EGL stone but would check out will with GIA, but if you got an I/I 1-2 then it's not so great. But with all our reccomendations, I'm sure you brought the stone to an appraiser.
Each stone should be evaluated in order to give appropriate info, but this is just a general guideline.