Neil Lane Bridal, just purchased, bad idea?

[Jaebirddy]

Well, I've decided it's time to propose and I began the search for the perfect ring. I started by casually strolling past Kay's with "her" and she didn't like anything they had. (she LOVES cushion cut, so I wont settle for anything else).

I then googled jewelers in the area and on the way to one (which I never found) I came across one that looked rather nice from the outside. I ventured inside and found out that they are the oldest in the area, 100+years, and have a wonderful reputation. They had no cushion cuts, so the owner ordered two and we parted ways; I promised to come back and look at the diamonds.

I then brought my girlfriend to Kays as I "looked at watches". She gazed at the rings and found one that she LOVED. She didn't like the round diamond set in it, but LOVED the setting. Well, I went in today and bought it.

My plan is to take the setting to the jeweler that ordered some cushions and have it set with one of her diamonds. Kay of course offered to order some, but after reading reviews, I figure Im better off at the local jeweler. Anyway, I got the setting for $956. It is 1/8 ctw (the other 4/8 is the round diamond being taken out.

She LOVED the setting, and stated, "If it was a cushion cut and set a bit lower, Id say its the one". Id love to give her this setting with a stone I choose, but not at the cost of quality. The price doesn't matter, though Im curious if I over paid?

My question is this.. did I overpay? Are the 1/8 ctw diamonds not going to sparkle outside the store (meaning are they bad quality? Orare the diamonds good quality? Im a complete novice at this and dont want to be taken as a sucker if this is indeed a horrible setting.. any info would be extremely helpful on this specific setting. Thank you in advance!

http://www.kay.com/product1%7C10101%7C10001%7C-1%7C99064670599%7C15064%7C15064.21828.22082#reviewsTab

 

[diamondseeker2006]

That looks like a pretty setting, but it would be hard to judge quality just from the picture. It does say minimum diamond clarity of SI2 to I1, and that really isn't an indicator of a fine quality setting, though. I'd probably return it for the time being for a couple of additional reasons. First, you should always buy the diamond first. The head (the part that holds the diamond) needs to be a specific size depending on the size of your diamond. So the setting needs to be purchased after the stone is selected. Second, I would usually try to get a setting from the place where you buy the diamond. That way they will set the stone for you and cover both stone and setting in the event there was any damage to either during the setting process.

All you need to do is print out the pictures of this setting and show it to the jeweler who sells you a diamond. Almost any jeweler would be able to access antique style settings similar to that one. And if for some reason they couldn't, then you could get one from Kay Jewelers that was the right size for your diamond and in her ring size. The price isn't bad because many settings like that cost much more, but that is another indicator to me that the setting probably isn't that great a quality.