POLL: your stone compared to your friends?

[Niel]

I have been thinking about this a lot today. I know its region specific, but Im wondering how often it is "group specific" do you find you all have about the same size? is yours nicer and smaller or much larger than your friends?
I know a lot of people hang out with people in simililar economic situations. But it's not just that. Us ps'ers seem to care more about diamonds than others. So I just wonder how many situations there are where you went bigger when most of you're friends didn't. Or you went for quality over size and so it didn't compare with that aspect of your friends' stones

Mine is larger than my friends but smaller than most of my family's.

Makes me feel a little bit weird in both instances actually. Like it stands out for being different either way


Edited for spelling and a tiny bit of content haha

 

[ame]

I hadn't thought about it but now that I have, with maybe two exceptions, I have the biggest and "best" of them all and that is simply my knowledge of cut and quality. I got a bit of an unintentional size upgrade when my original stone was stolen but it's still equally amazing cut quality! I do often feel quite self conscious in part due to comments that are made here and there but I usually try to ignore.

 

[chrono]

The largest and also best performing amongst friends and family. No doubt this is due to my PS education and lower online pricing.

 

[MissGotRocks]

It's my passion so there has been a large amount of time and interest paid to it. Most folks I know either don't care or would probably like a larger stone but choose to spend their money on other things as it wouldn't be the top item on their list.

 

[gregchang35]

Being guy, i trump all my guy friends, as they dont wear diamonds. Of those that do, they have "token" diamonds on their wedding bands. hehehehehe
With girl friends, i think mine is the second largest but it trumps on performance (colour/brilliance/ sparkle= Thanx PSers!!) I may be a bit biased hehehehe
With Family- my sister and i have the same size, but she has RB and i have an Asscher, so i think i win!!!

 

[Phoenix]

If you'd ask me a year ago, I'd have said mine is the largest and best performing amongst all my friends and family (well, there's one person I know who's got a 5ct and 8ct but she's not really a "friend"). Most of my friends IRL don't really care for diamonds, and they wear stones of abt 1-2ct maximum,

But now I've made friends IRL with some PSers, another gal has a stone of roughly the same size as mine and of similar optical performance.

 

[Laila619]

I have the blingiest ring for sure. Mine's a 2 ctw three stone, and the center stone is a well-cut FIC. Most of my friends/family members either don't own a diamond ring (they have colored stones instead), or they have a small diamond they will never upgrade. My MIL for example could easily afford to upgrade to a huge rock, but she never will. She is very sentimental about her original e-ring.

 

[CharmyPoo]

Some are bigger and some are smaller .. some are great and others not how. With that said, my PS obsession has resulted in me having the most diamonds and gemstones by far.

 

[nala]

My family would have a heart attack if they knew how much my ring or my jewelry collection cost...they have no idea because they are not interested in diamonds or gemstones. Although my sisters all have rings, they are their originals, which were purchased in the early 90's. Since they don't keep up with diamonds, they think my ring and all of my other jewelry still retails for 90's prices.

 

[Rhea]

Of my friends who wear diamonds, and many don't wear any at all, I have one on the smaller side at 0.47 carats. It was bought pre-PS and isn't a great performer.

My husband's friend's wives mostly wear the same size that I do with most of them having a similar 3 stone style with round or pear sides (mine are baguettes). Most appear to have picked their rings as a whole package like we did, and all have about a half carat centre stone.

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

Mine is bigger and better cut than all of my friends even tho I have an antique. Most of my friends have just a teensy bit over a carat. But they don't really care about diamonds as much as I do.
And most of the time, in my area, people ask me if my ring is fake. I just went to a bridal show with my friend that just got engaged and of course I was scoping out other girls rings but they were all tiny and had no sparkle even tho the lighting was amazing. It makes me so sad to know that these ladies don't know the power of a truly well cut diamond!

 

[lknvrb4]

I live in the midwest so mine is much larger than most of my friends and probably 95% of the people in my area. Being a pear, it does face of bigger as well so it gets extra attention. I work with a lady who loves to talk about my ring and it actually makes me squirm a little because I don't want it pointed out and talked about. I like to keep my bling obsession personal.

 

[Christina...]

Mine is larger than my friends, though not by a whole lot, it also performs significantly better. My social circles wears from .5-1.0, and most don't really care about diamonds that much. One in particular though does though, but hasn't taken the time to understand more than color clarity and carat, cut to her is still about shape. She has a large stone but it lacks performance.

I would love to have a 1.75-2.0 stone, but it still makes me a bit uncomfortable to outsize my social circle that much. I may get called out for saying this, but I feel that many women, though they may not say it out loud, are quick to make judgement of other women, and I just prefer not to rock the boat like that. Besides I feel blessed to have all that I do and have decided to make an effort to want the things that I have instead of the things that I don't. I'm a much happier person that way.

 

[madelise]

For now, smaller than some, bigger than others. . But when I get my e-ring, ditto Chrono and MissGotRocks. Double ditto MGR. I don't own a house, I don't have kids, don't pay for outings/bars/socializing, don't wear brand name clothing, don't pay $300/month for hair care and other vanity spendings..... I'm definitely one of the poorer ones of my social circle.. But in terms of size for center stone, I "win".

Most my friends don't have M's though.. so I'm def going to be wearing a downgrade in color to most folks I know.

 

[distracts]

I am 26 years old and got engaged at 24. My fiance is 9 years older than me. My stone is much larger than my friends' (save for the one other girl who got engaged to someone of a similar age to my fiance), about the same as his friends' (most of whom got engaged in their thirties), and smaller than the older women in my family, most of whom have several rings in addition to their original. So at least in my social circle I think size of rock is mostly a function of age when the rock was bought (and thus career success/accumulated wealth). I suspect at least a few of my friends will be upgrading in 10-20 years when they and their spouses have had time to build careers. I'm counting both diamond and colored stone centers... mine is a sapphire and I know several other people with sapphires.

 

[Mayk]

I would say mine is 50/50 larger/smaller but if the question was who's stone is brighter, shinner, better quality...mine.. hands down.. I know evil.... but true...

 

[Enerchi]

I definitely have the MOST diamonds compared to my friends! I think the 3 stone is larger than a few friends who also have them and once I finally set the OEC, it is by far, the largest of any of my friends solitiares.

Quality wise, I know that all of my new diamond stuff far exceeds the mall items they all have.

 

[woofmama]

Of my close personal friends I definately have the largest stone at 1.11ct with my new upgrade. If you add in my new 5 stone at 2.15ct my bling far surpasses the carat wt of their rings. Most of my lifelong friends still wear their original wedding sets with a half carat or so center and perhaps a few diamonds on the band. That said, many of the acquaintances I come into contact with daily (i.e. other small business owners, clients of my business) have some beautiful pieces, with many stones over 1ct and closer to 2 cts. I have women who shop at my store wearing very high quality pieces in gorgeous settings. Many of them have purchased from better jewelers including Dimend Scassi. It's a middle income to upper income area.
I feel my new rings fit in better with the clientele demographic I'm interacting with.

 

[rubybeth]

I said 'about the same size' because on average, my half carat falls kind of in the middle of most of my friends/family's rings. I have one cousin who has probably a 2 carat princess, one with maybe a 1.25 round, and a few friends with 1 carat stones, but most of my closer female friends have much smaller stones than mine (like .10-.30) or don't have a diamond at all for a variety of reasons. Most of my closer married friends don't care much about jewelry/diamonds. I'd venture to guess that I have the most total carat weight in diamonds of any of my friends, incl. my RHRs, earrings, etc.

 

[Niel]

I am from the Midwest and in my early ... Or maybe mid 20's. I say early. Haha
My SO is about 6 years older than me. All of my friends are either not engaged or are getting engaged with smaller stones because we are young and in an area where .5 ct is substantial. Most of his friends got married in their early 20's so even the ones with established careers have modest stones.
It's funny my future SIL has even said to me that she cares more about how the setting looks than the stone. And everyone on Pinterest pins those really trendy rings that look like the shafts are made out of twigs and leaves and stuff, with little .2 or so stones in there.

 

[Fly Girl]

I think the most distinguishing feature of my diamond is that it is cleaner than everyone else's. Therefore, it sparkles a lot more!

 

[Niel]

I think the most distinguishing feature of my diamond is that it is cleaner than everyone else's. Therefore, it sparkles a lot more!

See that's the type response I was expecting to see more. I know there are a lot of ladies here that have the budget to get both size and quality. But I was wondering how many ladies might have had a more limited ( though still substantial) budget and chose quality where their friends usually chose size. This is the case in my family. A few of the ladies have large rocks or 3 stones but the quality is t there.

I'm kind of in the middle where it's larger than some but if its smaller its still nicer haha. Thanks to ps of course. ( and my SO not making the decision himself )

The post isn't necessarily meant to boast, especially when my stone is compared to most of these rocks on the site. I just wanted to know how your diamond obsession has set your ring apart from your friends, if it has

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Mine is larger because everyone I know has their original engagement rings bought in their early 20's when they had little money. That is one reason it is hard for me to go too much larger than I already have.

But I am sure no one has the quality I have, regardless of size.

 

[ihy138]

Mine is larger for a couple of reasons. Most of my friends are not yet engaged, so I have a bigger diamond than a non-existent one by default. The friends that are engaged have smaller diamonds, most likely because we are in our early twenties. However, I think I also got a really good deal on my diamond because of my education from PS and my patience (and love for older, lower colored stones).

 

[ecf8503]

I would say mine is 50/50 larger/smaller but if the question was who's stone is brighter, shinner, better quality...mine.. hands down.. I know evil.... but true...

2nd - I couldn't have said it any better!

 

[SB621]

I definitely have the largest...I'm not sure about the best as I dont' know the specs of my friends rings. I would say mine is up there though. However, we are in the military community and the big difference is that I work and make more then my husband. If we were a traditional military family my diamond size would fit more to the standards of our friends/ community etc.

 

[milton333]

IMO, it can change throughout "life stages." I got engaged at 19 with a .5 ct, and had the only diamond among friends for a while, then the largest for a while. Among those who got engaged later in life, with "real jobs," it was quickly smaller. I've upgraded to a still-smaller size than most in my circle, but have been on the verge of upgrading to about 1.2-1.3 ish, which is larger than what most of my friends have now (kind of debating spending money on upgrade right now, can't seem to find exactly what I want in specs, etc.). But from what I see on here and in real life, there's often "upgrading" or buying new, larger diamonds for later-in-life anniversaries, "just because," like when people are 50+, so there's another potential for size jumps amongst the social circle.

Since the landscape is always shifting that way, IMO it's a race you'll never win, and it's easier just to be happy with what you have. Having said that, once I was working professionally in a good-paying job that's a bit more "status-y," I was not comfortable with a .5 ct J/K mall stone. I didn't want to go crazy with an upgrade, but it really bugged me as being out of context for my life at that point. But I was also a bit more self-conscious at that stage about wardrobe, appearance, etc., as I had recently started a career that was quite a bit more tony than my upbringing, and was trying to "polish" myself up a bit. Otherwise, I don't really see it as a competition with my social circle, but diamonds are more of a hobby to me, and I can appreciate superlative optics better in a larger stone, so I do toy with that. Not to impress others, but for me to gaze at.

 

[Rhea]

DH and I were trying to figure out how much my ring was the other day. We dug out the receipt. In Autumn 2004 it was $1,200. This is less than either of us thought he had spent, though there was another $85 in fees, resizing, shipping, and wire transfer. Of the friends that wear diamonds, knowing where they were bought, I think mine was by far the least expensive of the bunch, even taking into account the huge price increase in diamonds recently. We bargain shopped!

 

[grapegravity]

10 years ago, I was the first one in my group of friends that got engaged with 0.82ct solitaire. As the years go by, all of them were married with at least 1 ct solitaire or 2ctw 3 stone ring. And all of their rings have much better clarity and colour than my current ring (H,I1).
But, over the years as I upgraded my ring. it always have the most sparkle and brilliance and also largest in size because of its cut. I also steam clean my ring every few days!! Their rings are sooooo dirty (they wore their rings even during chopping meat and washing dishes) and that totally makes their 'nicer' rings looks totally like I3 clarity and no sparkle at all!

 

[ruby59]

I am from New England, and in my circle 1.00 is about the norm. So mine is right in the middle at 1.07. We must be a sentimental group in that while most of us could afford to upgrade, none that I have noticed has replaced their original diamond.