"starter" ring

[lelee]

Hello all!

This is my first post but I''ve been learning a lot and admiring all the beautiful blings here for months. I decided to post because I finally made a "breakthrough" and I might need a little help. I don''t remember seeing anything on this topic...

I''ve been obsessing over diamonds and e-ring for months now and I think I''ve been driving my BF a little crazy. I''m talking about making spreadsheets, charts, links to pics and videos, etc. of all the diamonds/e-rings I like. I want a beautiful 1.8-2.0ct RB for my e-ring but I know I''m going to have to wait until at least next year for that...

Anyway, being the brilliant (and amazingly patient) BF that he is, he suggested I find myself a "starter" ring. Since our anniversary is coming up, he told me that I can get something small that we can trade up for the e-ring within a year. I think that he''s just trying to send me on a hunt to get my mind off of the "real ring" but hey, I''ll take it!

So the search is on...

The budget is around $2,000 (maybe a little more

) for the diamond and the setting. I want to spend most of that on the diamond itself since I can trade in the diamond but not the setting. I''m thinking about a square-ish cut (asscher, radiant, cushion, etc) since my e-ring will be a RB.

Do you think that I can get a beautiful, decent size (>0.5ct?) diamond with a simple four-prong wg setting for that budget? Would the diamond look really small on my size 4.5 finger?

Personally, I think that this is a fun little project to learn, practice, and keep me occupied. What do you think about all this?

 

[HVVS]

For around $2k, I'd look for about a .7 to .8ct RB, I or J color, from Whiteflash or Good old Gold or Brian Gavin: Some stone that qualifies for an upgrade withing having to spend, say, 2x what you paid for it. (Read all vendors policies carefully.) Then, I'd get a plain gold solitaire setting from eBay. For $150 or so. Or possibly a generic Tiffany style from Stuller.com Seriously, that's what I'd do. Then if you can't upgrade the diamond as soon as you thought, you could change the setting, or you'd at least have a very nice solitaire.

The bad news is, there aren't very many stones in those colors right now. There are more in the VS clarity and E through H colors. I think maybe more people are looking at lower colors to get size.

(Sorry, I missed that part about squarish. Those will be mostly deeper than RBs. I'd pick a RB.)

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 4/1/2010 2:14:56 PM
Author:lelee
Hello all!

This is my first post but I''ve been learning a lot and admiring all the beautiful blings here for months. I decided to post because I finally made a ''breakthrough'' and I might need a little help. I don''t remember seeing anything on this topic...

I''ve been obsessing over diamonds and e-ring for months now and I think I''ve been driving my BF a little crazy. I''m talking about making spreadsheets, charts, links to pics and videos, etc. of all the diamonds/e-rings I like. I want a beautiful 1.8-2.0ct RB for my e-ring but I know I''m going to have to wait until at least next year for that...

Anyway, being the brilliant (and amazingly patient) BF that he is, he suggested I find myself a ''starter'' ring. Since our anniversary is coming up, he told me that I can get something small that we can trade up for the e-ring within a year. I think that he''s just trying to send me on a hunt to get my mind off of the ''real ring'' but hey, I''ll take it!

So the search is on...

The budget is around $2,000 (maybe a little more

) for the diamond and the setting. I want to spend most of that on the diamond itself since I can trade in the diamond but not the setting. I''m thinking about a square-ish cut (asscher, radiant, cushion, etc) since my e-ring will be a RB.

Do you think that I can get a beautiful, decent size (>0.5ct?) diamond with a simple four-prong wg setting for that budget? Would the diamond look really small on my size 4.5 finger?

Personally, I think that this is a fun little project to learn, practice, and keep me occupied. What do you think about all this?

Hi Lelee and welcome!

This sounds like a great project, if you want a cushion or radiant, asscher etc then I would look at www.goodoldgold.com as Jon has a great selection of these shapes, plus you could trade it in towards your main diamond when the time comes.

I am trying to access the site but its running very slowly for me at the moment but I will come back and post some selections for you.

 

[lelee]

Thanks for the great suggestions. I see what you mean about not being able to find I/J in the 0.7-0.8 range. Smaller stones are in the higher colors so it looks like I could only get 0.5-0.6 right now. Just a tad bit frustrated since I thought it''d be a lot easier getting something small. I do want at least 0.7 but I guess that means I have to either wait or bug my BF...

 

[Dreamer_D]

Why don''t you just gen an RB and get engaged with that beauty, and then grow it as money allows

Why wait for enagegment and the big honker?

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 4/1/2010 5:46:58 PM
Author: lelee
Thanks for the great suggestions. I see what you mean about not being able to find I/J in the 0.7-0.8 range. Smaller stones are in the higher colors so it looks like I could only get 0.5-0.6 right now. Just a tad bit frustrated since I thought it''d be a lot easier getting something small. I do want at least 0.7 but I guess that means I have to either wait or bug my BF...

This one is .63, see what you think.

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/4920/

 

[HVVS]

You could also look at L or M colors, too, especially L. Those two are an ivory color, meaning not trying to pass as white. Light yellow is a nice color when very well cut. Look up AsscherHaloLover''s L Asscher in a halo. Or that huge L color Asscher Leon Mege ring that was Erica''s ring (Erica of Jewels by Erica Grace.) Those are step cuts, but you''d get the idea.

 

[kelpie]

Here''s an idea. Make your engagement ring a wedding band type ring, and make your wedding band a big honkin'' diamond ring. That way you aren''t going to part with a sentimental piece.

 

[lelee]

Thanks for all the great ideas. It''s not so much that we''re holding off on getting engaged because I want a huge e-ring. We want to be settled first since I just finished my grad program and we want to buy a home soon. We feel that once we get engaged, we want to actually focus on doing wedding planning stuff. So I guess in short, we''re not ready to get engaged yet.

As for the progress on the "starter" ring, I think my bf and I should go in to a B&M to compare some sizes and colors. I don''t think I have a good grasp of what a 0.6ct vs. a .07ct, .08ct, or a 1.0ct would look like or even what a lower color looks like IRL.

I have sent out emails to GOG and BGD for more info as well.

Hopefully, I''ll have something more concrete next week...Also, I did (kind of) decide that I''d get the best bang for my buck with a RB.

And so the search continues...

 

[PumpkinPie]

good luck lelee - come back and update us after you''ve visited some stores