Size Around The World?

[soulsis]

I think that someone may have discussed this once before...so for that I am sorry.
I went to a family reunion on Saturday. People were looking at my engagement ring and freaking out...IT''S HUGE....HOLY CRAP, DID HE ROB A BANK?? My ring is small compared to those of the majority on this site (centre 0.92 + 16, 1 pointers), but it was really interesting to see how different it is in Canada. I mean most of my friends have a diamond under 0.25. I was like "whoa...maybe I should tune them into PRICESCOPE".

 

[MissAva]

He he, yes send them here! I think it is somewhat of a regional issue and also a preference issue. I know that Glitterata posted while back that she hung with a group of people that sounded just like my parents group. Everyone with PhD and MD and post doc degreees but her group doesnt go for diamonds and the people I see look like christmas trees to me (my mothers ring is by far the smallest and it is about 2.5 cts solitaire from Tiffanys) I think sometimes people are attracted to those who have similair prefrences.
People have diffrent priorites I remember Mara saying she would rather have a large pretty diamond then a brand new car. If someone asked me to give up my car for a ring I would tell them to jump in a lake, but I drive about 20,000-25,000 miles a year and I bet she doesnt. So maybe a really quiet car isnt her priority. A ring can be worn all day every day.
Still it must have been fun to get to show off you lovely ring, and I dont think .92 is small sounds lovely to me!

 

[JCJD]

My 3/8 ct pear is quite small in the PS world, but here in Nebraska, my friends ask if my arm hurts and pretend to be blinded when my hand moves near their faces. Part of that is lack of diamond knowledge (people think my pear is a carat or more), but a lot of that is the different culture. In SoCal or NYC, people would probably be asking if it was my promise ring - LOL! To each their own.

 

[lmurden]

I have noticed that in general I almost never see a carat or least one that has a spread of carat at my job and I work with about 150+ people. In general most of the diamond rings around work are about a .50 carat or less. So yes, PS is very different from the real world!

 

[kbaker]

Where do you live? I live in Southern California and I have a little under a carat and I seem to have one of the smaller ones...Maybe I should move somewhere else!!

 

[jewelgirl]

Regional is a huge indication of the size of the ring. I think also age. My mom is in her 50''s and all her friends are upgrading to really large stones, my mom says she got her 3.75 RB as a prize for lasting 30 years with my dad

My friends are all in their late 20s and early thirties and they all have 1-1.5 ct or so diamonds.

Also many people do not buy as high a quality as those on PS b/c they don''t know any better, and you can get a pretty big diamond very inexpensively if it is cut poorly. I think that is why somany people put size first, because that is the first thing EVERYONE ELSE notices.

It''s funny what people are into...I agree with Mara, I guess, I would rather have a huge sparkly diamond than a new car. In fact, I do! I live 1 mile from work and don''t drive my vehicle socially b/c we take my husband''s, and mine is a 13 year old sentra! It runs great and gets me where I need to go, and I don''t spend as much time in it, as I do looking at my fingers while I am typing away at work. I will take a Sparkler on my finger over a new car ANY DAY!

 

[lmurden]

Date: 7/18/2005 12:19:08 PM
Author: kbaker
Where do you live? I live in Southern California and I have a little under a carat and I seem to have one of the smaller ones...Maybe I should move somewhere else!!

I live in Maryland, The Washington DC Area and unless I''m in a high end mall in certain areas I really don''t see a lot of big diamond rings. I think that''s why it is such a big deal when people see a big rock. Also don''t forget the a 1 carat diamond ring is still a big deal to most people, it''s all relative. Funny thing when I was out in LA a couple of months back my fiancé said that he noticed a young woman in the hotel elevator checking out my ring, so go figure.

 

[kbaker]

Your post made me smile...Do you remember those days of constantly checking out others rings and hoping to become engaged soon? It was such a sweet time. When ever I see a young, unengaged girl checking out my ring, I remember that time.

 

[lmurden]

Date: 7/18/2005 12:37:41 PM
Author: kbaker
Your post made me smile...Do you remember those days of constantly checking out others rings and hoping to become engaged soon? It was such a sweet time. When ever I see a young, unengaged girl checking out my ring, I remember that time.

 

[kaylagee]

In France, I see a bit of everything. Lots of women sporting weddings bands only, some w/ colored stone rings that serve double duty (alone or in combination with diamonds..my MIL and her sister both wear similar rings with a blue oval sapphire center surrounded by diamonds..'Marguerite' rings) and I've seen mostly under 1ct RB solitaires.

At the other extreme are the huge pieces (the ones that come to mind must have been around 4cts+) you occasionally see on women(mostly older, wealthy, foreign or intermarried to non-French) in some neighborhoods and shopping areas. At the airport, in Morocco I spotted a woman in our customs line wearing an incredible EC that had to be at least 7ct. I can't say for certain it was genuine. Maybe I'm guillible but I always assume rings to be real unless something is obviously faux or cloudy..even then who knows? (shrug)

Weirdly, I don't see much middle ground (1-3 cts) like in the US. Also for shape, RBs and EC seem to predominate there. The whole Asscher, Cushion(why am i thinking of Ashton Kutcher? LOL. ahh..word gamez.), thang doesn't seem as huge there.

Heck, I rarely see them IRL here in the SF Bay area... mainly on PS.
***
As I mentioned elsewhere we didn't buy my first diamond e-ring(a simple 1ct Mondera solitaire in YG Tiffy style) until months after the marriage(I didn't want to make a rash choice on something so $$) and I still remember going to visit my MIL after it arrived.

She was clearly agitated and asked/stated pointedly "I thought you didn't like diamonds?".. in an accusatory way, I felt. I said "Well, I finally found one that I really liked!" and smiled broadly(It helped was still in that glowing, new diamond phase... the shrinkage monster was still far, far away lurking in the brush & MIL couldn't ruin my high, even though I was taken aback for a sec.).

I don't recall word-for-word the exchange but she never actually complimented the ring one bit! She changed the subject quickly and began asking many ?s about our preparations for ds. I was preg. at the time and I felt she was checking to see that dh's money wasn't being misspent by the spoiled Americiane.

Off-topic... ds(who'll be 2yrs. next week) just noticed the smilies and he loves the waving one. he's waving back to it!

***

Another possible issue in the Paris area could be price..I've seen many shop with 1ct solitaire in simple settings at high prices. high 6000s-9000 euro and they don't appear any more sparkly or pristine than my Mondera. Head to head, my internet-bought J color, VS2, Premium cut outdid or at least equalled them every time! So, I'm not sure what these jewelers in Paris are basing their prices on. Perhaps it's lower demand that drives up cost in some way?

Unless we get a mountain of money and can go to Mauboussin, VC&A or Cartier (really for their designs 'cos to me a rock is a rock...) one day, I'll probably never buy jewelry in France.

I did consider this company, Cool Diamonds(I think they're London-based but will deliver throughout Europe?), during the shopping process but their prices were not as good as the US internet sellers. Fun website tho' !

http://www.cooldiamonds.com/site_francais/cd_1024fr/cd_1024franetscape.html?cd0_NE

 

[IrishEyes]

LOL, this is why I love living in the midwest!!

My .75 surrounded by diamonds channel-set in the band with matching wedding band is a "big deal" to many of my friends. They gush about how "huge" my ring is. If they only knew!!

Up in chicago, where I''m from, there are much bigger stones however. I oggle them all the time and gush, but I love my ring and I know someday when I upgrade, I''ll have one of those honkers as well!

I think that it is really a city thing for the most part. Cities, like Chicago, LA, Houston, New York, etc all have much bigger stones than your-town middle America. So I''ll have to make sure I have my upgrade before I move back to the city

 

[set2374]

It is really funny how all things are relative. I just picked a stone for my soon-to-be fiancee that''s a 1.75 carat RB GSI2 (premium cut, but not ideal). I have three friends that just got engaged and my gf will have the smallest ring in the group (one gave his fiancee a 2.8 carat princess and the other a 2.25 carat RB). We are all early 30-something professionals living in the NYC area. Although I am sure that living in the city plays a role in size perception, I think, historically speaking, there''s also an availability issue. I can''t speak for other cities, but at least for those of us in New York, you have the diamond district right in your backyard. If you shop carefully (and my friends were the ones to turn me on to pricescope), you can buy fairly close to wholesale in the district and get some really nice stones. If you''re in a state that isn''t a major distribution point for diamonds, you''re choices (unless you go on the internet) are far more limited. I have a close friend that lives in Rhode Island and he paid fairly close to the same amount for the his wife''s engagement ring as me and mine is the same quality and and almost .75 carats larger. He only had three stores to choose from in his town and they charge "RETAIL". Her ring was independently appraised for only $800 more than he paid (which he thought meant he got a great deal). The more options you have, the better off you will do. If only he had known about pricescope.

 

[Dancing Fire]

researcher ,who lives near San Diego,Ca said... it''s common to see 5+ ct out in public

i told her she lives in the land of the GIANTS .

 

[jewelgirl]

when someone sees a very very large stone (2.5+) do you think they think it is a fakey? My mother says that since she has gotten her 3.75 ct she can tell people do not believe it is real b/c it is so big!

She actually prefers that so it is less likely someone will try to take it from her by force in a dark alley somewhere, or something. I must be naive b/c whenever I see a big honker I am just captivated, and can''t stop staring at it...It never crosses my mind that it is a fake.

I must be part crow....anything large and sparkly, I want!

 

[MissAva]

Date: 7/19/2005 9:59:13 AM
Author: jewelgirl
I must be part crow....anything large and sparkly, I want!

He he or a redneck....I love Foxworthys jokes about that!

 

[soulsis]

IMO...I think that if anyone has 50G lying around and diamonds are what they love, you buy diamonds. In Canada, however it is not the norm to have too much bling on your hand. I have a friend who is married to a doctor and she sports the biggest rock I have seen in person @2.43 carats. I have a phobia about debt. Any debt. I am 33 and I own my own house and car outright and if I was given 50,000 in a settlement or such the LAST thing it would ever go to would be a diamond. But....I would renovate my house or buy a trailer. I guess those are MY diamonds, right? Everyone does decide where their money goes I always say that things could be worse. I could have a DF that pops $1000 into VLT''s every night....and I do know people like that!

 

[kaylagee]

What''s a vLT?

 

[finerthings]

Video lottery terminal. (electronic slot machines)

 

[ursulawrite]

Date: 7/19/2005 11:12:16 AM
Author: soulsis
IMO...I think that if anyone has 50G lying around and diamonds are what they love, you buy diamonds. In Canada, however it is not the norm to have too much bling on your hand. I have a friend who is married to a doctor and she sports the biggest rock I have seen in person @2.43 carats. I have a phobia about debt. Any debt. I am 33 and I own my own house and car outright and if I was given 50,000 in a settlement or such the LAST thing it would ever go to would be a diamond. But....I would renovate my house or buy a trailer. I guess those are MY diamonds, right? Everyone does decide where their money goes I always say that things could be worse. I could have a DF that pops $1000 into VLT''s every night....and I do know people like that!

Geez. And my doctor friends always compain about being poorly paid!

 

[DiamanteBlu]

Date: 7/19/2005 9:59:13 AM
Author: jewelgirl
when someone sees a very very large stone (2.5+) do you think they think it is a fakey? My mother says that since she has gotten her 3.75 ct she can tell people do not believe it is real b/c it is so big!


She actually prefers that so it is less likely someone will try to take it from her by force in a dark alley somewhere, or something. I must be naive b/c whenever I see a big honker I am just captivated, and can''t stop staring at it...It never crosses my mind that it is a fake.


I must be part crow....anything large and sparkly, I want!

You mean Magpie? I''m one too. Just ask my DH!!

I can understand her thinking - she may take comfort in people thinking it''s fake. I wear, on a daily basis, my large diamond [6.39+bags], and I mean grocery store, health club, parties, out to dinner, etc. I find that nobody questions my stone [except for a random "OMG is that real how big is it?" outburst]. This may be because I am older [like your mom ] I don''t think you are naive in expecting big stones to be real diamonds.

Blu

PS If somebody seedy looking asks, I will tell them that is is fake in the expectation that they will go away! Of course if they try to mug me I expect that they will regret it

 

[kaylagee]

FinerT, Thanks for the definition!

***
Jewelgirl I too always assume realness for rings. My mother never wears cz, she''s worse than I am..won''t even bother trying it on. So on some level, I expect everyone is wearing diamond.


It seems like cz rings were more popular in the 80s but I don''t see as many obvious fakes around at all. Almost everything looks genuine. When I actually tune in to notice, I also see a lot of silver(or wg?) and colored gemstones.

Besides us sparkliefreaks, I wonder how much normal folks even care either way. I think women maybe more than men because of the e-ring and the whole diamonds/love/sex/glamour mystique.

Blu, yes even better for safety if they assume it''s not real.

For some reason I get more ring compliments or questions when I''m with dh than when alone. Maybe most people still credit the husband/Sig Other for the jewelry?
***
A while ago a member here(or maybe at another site) from Europe was trying to decide between pieces & worried about being too flashy for her millieu.

I guess I''m more hard-headed, gauche and well... American. If I had a beautiful large diamond ring, I''d proudly wear it here and in France.

DF -re: Researcher and 5cts....Wow!... So. Cal must be different than the SF Bay Area because I don''t see many huge diamonds daily at all. I guess we''re less glitzy here?