Tired of Salesmen at the B&M Stores

[glenndba]

I am currently looking for an engagement ring (long overdue). My girlfriend wants a princess cut diamond with a 2 tone setting. We visited some local jewelry stores only to feel like I was buying a car once again. It started to get old after a while with the salesmen asking too many probing questions and when I was ready to buy. I got bored and decided to see if I could talk them down, amazing how much they started to drop off the price. (Funny thing is my girlfriend thought that the price on the tag was it, after the first $400 was dropped I just smiled at her).

Basically I want to get her what I can afford, which is about 5k total for the diamond and ring. After reading several posts on this forum I think the best deal I can get is on the net. I looked at a few diamond site and do not think I have a good grasp of the pricing scale yet. Basically I was looking for an around .90 to 1.05 princess cut, at least VS2, color G-I and a nice setting. Am I asking for my cake and to eat it too or can this be done? Any help would be appreciated and I know she is getting anxious after going shopping.

Thanks

 

[valeria101]

But of course! Actualy, I would go G-SI1, 0.9 to 1ct and keep depth below 65%. There are quite a few of these below 4K. What setting do you have in mind? I should say that either the simple solitaires and tension settings are about the best there is for me as far as the modern look of the princess is concerned...

 

[valeria101]

Here's one I would take a look at... There is no way to tell how good or bad is that cut, but neither depth not table are huge and, even if this depth is almost unheard of in princess cuts (which are usualy way deep), the piece has a good chance to be both comparatively large and sparkly. However, the search itself turned out more than 100 stones, and quite a few G-VS2/SI1 within your price range.

BTW: here's what the current industry norm seems to be for great princess cuts. The explanation of what these measures aim to achieve is explained both on Pricescope and at that source: these are quite useful rules, esp. when one is not overinterpreting them (eg. turning down a stone for 0.5% deviation from one cathegory or another).

To make things more confusing, neither the specs in the AGA table nor the data about the diamond below (or any set of numbers usualy available) will guarantee that your stone has good light return. If this is a must, than you will probably have to go for one of a handful of sellers who select princess cuts for their light return: GoodOldGold and Diamond Brokers of Florida are two such sellers. There are others, of course who cherry pick princess cuts...
For example, THIS one is nearing top in color, clarity and cut: it surely is worth dropping a line to ask about the specs you may be intereste din at this source.


Hope this helps

 

[elmo]

That one has the length/width of a nice oval or pear

...unless she says otherwise, for a princess cut I might look for something more square!

I've also heard the same good things about gog and dbof for these...the really nice princess cuts won't be cheap but it's the same with the really nice rounds I guess

.

 

[Mara]

Dirt Cheap Diamonds has their Signature Series Princess stones.




SuperbCert has their own SuperbCert Princess stones.




DBOF also has some sort of signature line of Princess.




You may also want to view GOG's Fancy section, Jonathan hand selects his princess stones so they should be pretty darn nice.




When it comes to fancies, you may want to look for IdealScope images...sites that have these. It will help you gauge light return of the stone to your eye...pink/red is good, white is bad. It's hard to gauge fancies by numbes, or even really by a pinky image...your eye is best, but the numbers and the scope images will help weed out the obvious duds.




Have you considered another similar style, something like a Regent ? It's like a rounded-corner square.

I love them.




Anyway, NO you are not asking too much! You should definitely be able to get a great stone with your budget, to maximize the stone I would keep the setting to a minimum (simple).




Good luck!

 

[niceice]

Don't be surprised if the salesperson working behind that jewelry store counter did used to work for a car dealership! A few years ago we were walking through a mall in Sacramento and we saw one of our frequent customers standing behind the counter at one of the jewelry stores so we wandered in to say "Hi & What's up?" and to our (obvious) surprise he proudly announced that he had just been hired as the sales manager! "But Bob" we said "last week you didn't even know what a rope chain was, remember we had to explain it to you?" and he said "that doesn't matter to the corporate office, I know how to sell..." Enough said.

 

[glenndba]

Wow, it feels so overwhelming with the vast amount of diamonds on the net. In the store I was able to look at maybe 3 or 4, searches on a few sites return thousands of options and I think I have a good grasp except for measurements of the diamond. I asked her about the Regent diamond and she is set on a Princess cut. The ring she wants is a two-tone platinum/gold with baguettes on the side. Off to continue my search.

 

[yngdaniel]

I think you're not asking for too much given your price range. You should be able to find a very nice ring with the qualities you want for $5K. Definitely spend time on the setting, I think that the right setting will let a smallish stone look more spectacular.