questions, and help

[ckrickett]

Hi I''m new, and me and my boyfriend have recently been throwing around the M word. Not going to fast we are probably waiting awhile but the thing that has me most excited is the ring.

Now I know NOTHING about the Cs so when my friend told me about a few e-stores where you can get a big rock for next to nothing I was excited at first then I got alittle worried. Now he doesn''t want to rush but wants to get it right so I tried giving him a few hints (the carat weight, the cut I wanted and the setting) and told him to go from there but now I wonder if I steered him wrong.

See my friend told me about Shenoa.com she got her e-ring there and it is very pretty 1.75 oval in a white gold pave setting, and she got it for like 3k. She said she got it so cheap because it wasn''t certified, and it didn''t have the best clarity but she didn''t mind. So now it''s my turn to shop and I don''t know what to do. Do I sacrifice brilliance and clarity for size, or vice versa, are there better stores out there. I''m just at a loss, and my BF doesn''t want to talk rings anymore so I might have lost my chance to warn him about maybe going the wrong path.

any suggestions/help would be awesome I know nothing.

(I told him the cuts I like are cushion, round, old mine, pear and oval, and I don''t want platinum 14k whitegold works for me. I just want a nice respectable center stone... I have a LOVE affair with antique rings)

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 7/26/2008 9:53:46 AM
Author:ckrickett
Hi I'm new, and me and my boyfriend have recently been throwing around the M word. Not going to fast we are probably waiting awhile but the thing that has me most excited is the ring.

Now I know NOTHING about the Cs so when my friend told me about a few e-stores where you can get a big rock for next to nothing I was excited at first then I got alittle worried. Now he doesn't want to rush but wants to get it right so I tried giving him a few hints (the carat weight, the cut I wanted and the setting) and told him to go from there but now I wonder if I steered him wrong.

See my friend told me about Shenoa.com she got her e-ring there and it is very pretty 1.75 oval in a white gold pave setting, and she got it for like 3k. She said she got it so cheap because it wasn't certified, and it didn't have the best clarity but she didn't mind. So now it's my turn to shop and I don't know what to do. Do I sacrifice brilliance and clarity for size, or vice versa, are there better stores out there. I'm just at a loss, and my BF doesn't want to talk rings anymore so I might have lost my chance to warn him about maybe going the wrong path.

any suggestions/help would be awesome I know nothing.

(I told him the cuts I like are cushion, round, old mine, pear and oval, and I don't want platinum 14k whitegold works for me. I just want a nice respectable center stone... I have a LOVE affair with antique rings)

Welcome to Pricescope!

A 1.75 oval for 3k doesn't sound like it would be a great diamond to me, there are no bargains unfortunately. Even a diamond with an I clarity can be beautiful if eyeclean and it is well cut, cut is KEY for a beautiful diamond!!

You can certainly shop online and get an excellent diamond for your money, but a quality diamond even of lower colour and clarity will still cost a great deal more than 3k - even without a lab report.

If your BF will consider buying online, he could use one of the trusted vendors here who will help him to find a lovely stone for you. As to quality, you could consider SI clarity if verified eyeclean by the vendor you are working with, colour - H I and even J can be a good way to help you get increased size for the budget also. As to the shape, rounds are more easily judged by the numbers, fancy shapes really need to be seen to be properly evaluated. I think you need to consider what shape diamond you want, as the ones listed above can have very different looks to each other.

Also you can start reading the advanced tutorial here - http://diamonds.pricescope.com/ that should give you a good basic introduction to diamonds and the info you will need, also use the search tool above as there is a lot of info in the archives. Lastly, if you have any more questions, just ask!

 

[ckrickett]

See I don''t know what his budget is, so I can''t say he will spend as little/or as much as 3k (whatever he spends tho I''ll be thrilled). I just want to make sure he/we get the best for his money. I haven''t seen her ring so I don''t know what it looks like, but having shopped around for awhile.

I''ll definately take a look at that, thank you so much. Now i have to talk to him about this again even tho I told him I wouldn''t

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 7/26/2008 10:14:11 AM
Author: ckrickett
See I don''t know what his budget is, so I can''t say he will spend as little/or as much as 3k (whatever he spends tho I''ll be thrilled). I just want to make sure he/we get the best for his money. I haven''t seen her ring so I don''t know what it looks like, but having shopped around for awhile.

I''ll definately take a look at that, thank you so much. Now i have to talk to him about this again even tho I told him I wouldn''t

I know it is difficult...But remember whatever he buys you, it will come from his heart, plus he may be doing a fair amount of research anyway!

 

[Ellen]

Date: 7/26/2008 10:14:11 AM
Author: ckrickett
See I don''t know what his budget is, so I can''t say he will spend as little/or as much as 3k (whatever he spends tho I''ll be thrilled). I just want to make sure he/we get the best for his money. I haven''t seen her ring so I don''t know what it looks like, but having shopped around for awhile.

I''ll definately take a look at that, thank you so much. Now i have to talk to him about this again even tho I told him I wouldn''t

Tell him you''ve been doing some more "homework", and you wanted to let him know what you''ve found (this place for one), so he absolutely gets the most/best for his money. I would think he would appreciate that.

So point this website out to him, and explain what a goldmine of info it is. And to elaborate on what my good friend Lorelei posted, I will add this. You do get what you pay for, so be careful. Do a search on here for "Shenoa".

And I would also stress to pick one shape for him to search for, or you might drive him mad!

Good luck!

 

[rcrosier]

I agree that you aren't going to be able to find a high quality 1.75 ct for 3K. Heck, I don't even know where you could find a well cut 1 ct RB for that price. First you have to make the decision of quality or quantity. Go to a respected jeweler (not Zales/Kay/mall places) and look at several stones next to each other of differenct color/clarity combos. Also, find a branded H&A stone, such as a Hearts on Fire, and see what an amazing difference a perfect cut can make. (I only say HoF because I know that you can find a dealer in your area, but I would suggest not to attempt to buy one because they are way overpriced, stick with GoG, WF, etc. for a value in H&A stones). Then look at your friends ring. If you can't tell the difference, buy one from the same place she did an be happy. However, I think that you will be able to tell the difference if you put some time into it.

I will also point out that I always though my mom had the prettiest diamond ever. I recently saw the cert on it and its actually a 1.60 RB, G, I1. I was like, whoa, where is the inclusion. She had no idea what the specs meant, and I didn't bother telling her. However, I noticed the the inclusion was near the girdle and was hidden under a prong. Just a story to tell you that you can get more included diamonds at a good value that are "eye clean" due to the mounting strategy so long as you are careful and picky about it.