How much did you pay for your wife's/fiancee's engagement ring? - Page 4

I spent $5k.

did you ever get it back?

Most of it. $4k.

cute and all, but I wouldn't hold it against a woman for wanting a $5-10K rock to wear on her finger for the rest of her life (hopefully) - it's a penance, really, compared to whatever else you might have to spend on them. Not the end of the world if they want or even expect something like that.

I think I paid something like $2,500 for my wife's ring in 1999.

The band is yellow gold and the diamond is just under one carat, round cut, and while I don't remember the exact specs, I think it the color is nearly colorless at either H or I and the clarity is either Very Very Slightly Included (VVS1) or Very Slightly Included (VS1).

Don't laugh, but I bought the ring at the old Montgomery Ward because they used to have really good deals on fine jewelry.

Believe it or not, Amazon. They used to sell loose stones and settings ala Blue Nile, but cheaper. I did tons of research and was extremely hesitant to buy a diamond from them, but it ended up being a great decision. It's funny how much importance we place on where jewelry is purchased.

I ended up paying $8 for a custom made ring. We were shopping for rings and she fell in love with part of one ring. It is very 1920's looking. It looks like a magnolia flower and it holds 3 stones. (It sounds ugly the way i described it, but it is subtle and very ipressive looking). We had that taken off and put on a ring that has a 3/4 shank of pavee stones. It looks unbeliavable and she gets great reponses every where she goes. It is nice to have something original with a little nod to the past.

Eight dollars is a hell of a deal.

It was. The guy I bought it from on the street said it was real diamonds a white gold. For an aditional $8 he gave me a lifetime guarantee. Now if I could just remember which corner I was on when I purchased it, I could get one of the melted diamonds fixed ;)

anybody luck out with an heirloom ring?

If she's gonna wear great grandma's ring, you don't have to worry about it being right and you don't have to shell out $$$ (except for having it resized maybe)

Mind sharing the price range this ring may fall under...I understand if you are not comfortable stating exact price... I will be looking for something similar in a year.

For anyone looking online, take a look at whiteflash.com. I learned of it on pricescope (the sf of diamonds). They specialized in what some people call super ideal diamonds, which are apparently the top 1% of diamonds (haven't verified that but it's probably not far off). Basically, the single most important attribute in how good a diamond will look regardless of size is how it is cut. GIA ranks cut, but there is a lot of info that doesn't get captured when all you have is a GIA certificate stating it's an excellent (ideal) cut. Although the probability of your diamond performing well if it's an excellent cut is a lot better than for lesser cuts, it's not certain.

WF focuses on AGS0 stones, specifically ones with perfect optical symmetry, the so-called "hearts and arrows" diamonds (companies brand these under various names). These are diamonds that when you look at them through an ideal scope will have arrows from the top and hearts from the bottom. Why AGS over GIA? AGS measures light performance and GIA does not. This is only since 2005 so if you're purchasing older stones, beware.

To reduce the risk from buying online they provide you with images of the actual diamonds. In addition to the cert (which almost everyone provides, you get ASET (which shows light return) and IS, sarin reports, their own extra measurements, and whether or not it is eye clean. Nobody else that I know of provides all this. With one of their branded diamonds you also get full value for your diamond if you upgrade to a larger stone. If you want more choice you can select from their virtual inventory which operates similarly to bluenile, but it will be shipped to them first and a gemologist will look at it and give it the same treatment as their branded stones. You're not required to buy it if it doesn't measure up to your desired criteria. You don't get lifetime upgrade on those stones though, only the ones they stock.

They also solve the problem of buying an eye clean diamond online. Since all their diamonds are looked at by in-house gemologists, you can safely buy a VS2 or SI1 and know there won't be any visible flaws (most diamonds will say if it's eye clean). If you buy a virtual stone because they don't have one in inventory that matches your criteria they will provide all the sames images/info as their in-house stones and if you do'nt want it all you lose is the shipping. If you want to verify anything about the stone yourself, they'll send it to an independent appraiser where you can look at it yourself.

All in all they're a very good company and the strong recs on pricescope are deserved.

FWIW, you don't need H&A to have an excellent performing stone and many people will argue that H&A aren't worth the premium, but WF also has diamonds that just miss that qualification (they call them expert selection) and are still excellent and probably far better than what you will find elsewhere unless you really know what you are doing. And those stones are also covered by their upgrade policy.

And just a bit of general advice for round stones, but if you only want to pay for what you can see, buy a nearly colorless stone (H-I, going to G comes with a large premium) of VS2 or SI1 clarity (just make sure it's eye clean). Only bother with ideal/excellent cut diamonds. Then look at the carats you can afford. If you're setting it in gold you can even go up to J, according to many people.

hm, I think I paid about $2,700 for a 1.5 carat marquis cut VSI, iirc the color was L but that didn't matter to her. This was, iirc, 1997, and it was a local dealer that a recently-engaged friend pointed me towards. Teh Mrs. has since had the stone put in four or five different settings (white gold and platinum, over the years). I forgot how much the upgrade cost me for our 10-year, but at least the stone is still original. Last appraisal put it around $12k, but a large part of that was the setting, which came from a wholesaler that our family knows.

Hi hope you guys can help me out. I'm looking to buy a 1.25 carat G color triple excellent round brilliant engagement ring and GIA certified ring, do you guys have any idea of what price I should be purchasing it at? What is the lowest and highest price that I should pay? Please let me know thanks