Whats the smallest in diamond size you could go?

[Autumnovember]

A few bits and pieces from me... I'm based in the UK.

If you really want to get some rude comments intended or otherwise then have a coloured stone e-ring! I get fairly irritated on PS when I see people saying 'why not just get a coloured stone till you can afford the diamond'... not much different from saying 'just get the one carat till you can afford the 3ct'.

Despite the fact that I could have had a diamond well above the average size for the UK for the cost of my e-ring I have had people insinuate that my husband is cheap, that I'm hoping to 'upgrade to a diamond' when we can afford to and my own grandmother tell me that my cousin has just given his FI a 0.75ct diamond for an e-ring and she hopes I won't be upset because mine is only a coloured stone! Amongst our friends it has never been an issue as they all know that I am obsessed with gemstones and assume that I will have picked something pretty decent.

I fo hate feeling like I have to justify my having chosen to have a coloured stone, or explain that many coloured stones can cost way, way more than any white diamond of the same size and that some people just don't really care for diamonds...

Since my daughter was born I have acquired a 3-stone OEC ring of around 2cttw. When my grandmother saw it her reaction was that finally my husband was treating me how he should! I got my mother to tell her on the quiet that it cost rather less than my e-ring and she was apparently speechless. I wasn't that pleased with myself for getting my mother to do that but I hated feeling that my grandmother felt that about my husband and wanted to make him look good in her eyes - I also didn't mention that I bought the diamond ring for myself!

It's interesting how much stock people put on what your husband/FI can give you in terms of a rock.

Regarding the size of diamond that is the smallest I would wear... 0.01pts (several in a setting with a nice coloured stone please). Okay, seriously if money was no object and I wanted a diamond e-ring then I'd be fine with 0.5ct, but my ideal size would be around 1ct. Anything much over 1.5ct is too big.

Partly because I live in the UK. Here, if I was to see a young girl - say early 20's with anything over a 1.5ct I'm afraid I would assume that it was probably fake or that she was American.

Ah, the old colored stone ering vs. the diamond ering! Pandora, you already know I'm on your side with that. Mine WAS much cheaper than a diamond, but I didn't get it for that reason. He would have bought me whatever I wanted. Besides, I have almost 20 erings now, and you can't get that kind of variety from diamonds!

Did I mention that I have a .75ct old cut diamond floating around in my gem box? Along with some more expensive garnets, sapphires and spinels!

As for the topic at hand, my mom bought me a tiny chip of a diamond and I wear it happily...not often as an ering anymore, but that's mostly because it's yellow gold.

As far as the controversy over crime/lower SES neighborhoods/bling...I work with homeless people. Most of them have serious criminal backgrounds. None of them have money, otherwise they wouldn't be applying to the government for benefits. I don't feel comfortable wearing a lot of my jewelry to work. My 1ctw earrings? Wear them every day. They are badly in need of a cleaning, they aren't round and because of both of those things, they don't look like diamonds! I tend to wear smaller erings (9mm is the biggest, most typical size is 6.5mm) and I don't wear anything thats at all ostentatious. I don't know the specific background of most of the people walking through the door. I am not going to put myself or my office at further risk. I remember every single day that these people are often living off of $240 a month, which wouldn't even pay my utility bills!

The other day while I was getting some advice from my financial aid advisor, I told her that I'd have 75K in loans when I finished school and I commented on how I could buy a nice car with that amount of money. I wasn't even thinking twice about what I was saying. She looked at me... ---->> and said "Thats almost the cost of a HOUSE!" and I stuck my foot in my mouth because while a comment like what I said is completely not out of character in the area I reside in, in the area where I do go to school....IT IS!

I don't wear anything to work except for my watch for the very same reasons, Freke.

Besides that, I deal with a ton of addicts as well when I'm on site...sometimes people stop at nothing to get the next fix....

Also, its summer which has some significance too...