Sapphire Rings at the Maul Stores??

[LawJoe]

Hi All-
It has been a loooong time since I have last posted, but I am in need of some help. For a wedding present, I was planning on buying my wife-to-be a sapphire ring. I am only looking to spend between $250 and $400. I have been to the mall stores and they seem to have a number of appropriate possibilities, but I don''t know if I am likely to get ripped off at that price point. Is there a major difference between going to a good brick and mortar or ordering online for a sapphire ring for that price range? I am not looking for a huge sapphire, just something that looks clean, and maybe with some small diamonds to break it up a little bit.
Any adivice you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I have been to blue nile/mondera/diamond/ashford, and all of the prices seem in line with what I was seeing at the mall. Any other sites to look at would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Joe

 

[coldfusion]

Purchasing a ring at that price point, most of the cost will be towards the gold to make the ring, so it's unlikely that you'll see a whole lot of price difference or be ripped off.

It's probably best to look at the local stores at that pricepoint, since you can actually see, hold, touch the stones in question. Ask friends about reputable local jewelers. Also, if you buy it locally, they'll usually clean it, check the prongs, etc, when you happen to be passing by.

 

[Michael_E]

LawJoe,
I think that you should look at this from another point of view. It's not so much where you get it as what you get. In that price range you are looking at one of two things. You can either get a single nice stone with a few diamonds around it or you can get a larger ring with a bunch of smaller stones, both sapphire and diamond. The cost of the parts of a ring like this breaks down to this: metal work...under $150, 4 small diamonds...maybe $100, sapphire...$150. You can vary the cost of any of these items by juggling their quality and size, but from my perspective you will always be best served by buying the best quality that you can at any price range. This means buying the heaviest shank with the least hollowing on the inside, the cleanest most colorless diamonds you can and preferably a single clean bright sapphire in a color that she prefers. None of these will be large, but it will be nice and you will be able to use the parts later if she wants to change things or use them in another piece.
There are two ways to get these things. You can either look all over the place for stock pieces and maybe find what you want or you can go to a good B&M store or Internet vendor and have them put something together for you from stock parts obtained from their sources. It really doesn't matter whether they are B&M or Internet, since most folks doing this sort of thing are doing both. Just for a primer I'd go to www.stuller.com and look at their colored stone ring mountings to get an idea of the styles that are available. In that price range you're looking at two to four small diamonds and a 4mm to 5mm sapphire. Don't forget to post about what you do back here, it's always interesting !