Help! Where to by the wife some quality jewelry online?

[antirabbit]

Beyond the Usual Tiffany and CO, any where else?

I am thinking princess cut peridot ear rings in a white metal.

Tiffany doesnt have these, so any help is appreciated.

 

[rnoldh]

Originally Posted by antirabbit

Beyond the Usual Tiffany and CO, any where else?

I am thinking princess cut peridot ear rings in a white metal.

Tiffany doesnt have these, so any help is appreciated.

I know a couple of people that were extremely pleased with Blue Nile

Here's their website

It helps if you know something about jewelry, but Blue Nile has a good reputation and their prices are very good. Tiffany is very, very high priced and you a paying a big premium for the Tiffany name.

 

[TUspiv]

Just make sure you tell her you went to Jared's....

 

[TheHoff]

I bought diamond studs for my wife last year from Blue Nile and they offer good quality for the price. As long as you know you're not getting H&A / premium cut grades, which is fine for earrings, go for it. I'd also recommend www.exceldiamonds.com if you're looking for truly high end diamonds (they have extensive info on their inhouse offerings).

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by rnoldh

I know a couple of people that were extremely pleased with Blue Nile

Here's their website

It helps if you know something about jewelry, but Blue Nile has a good reputation and their prices are very good. Tiffany is very, very high priced and you a paying a big premium for the Tiffany name.

+1

We actually bought my wife's engagement/wedding ring set off Blue Nile. First you pick the setting(s). Then you pick your diamonds. For the diamonds, you pick the cut, size, color, and clarity to match your budget. Each setting diamond is chosen independently and the baguettes for each band (channel cut bands) came as a group. So it is not quite bespoke, think MTM. The pricing was incredible, we saved about 6k vs. retail and then on top of that, unless you live in Washington state, no sales tax, which can be another huge savings. Then the last thing, they send you a visual inspection of each diamond and an insurance appraisal to get your rider.

Hoff, are you saying their diamonds are second rate? I am not a diamond expert, are not all diamonds of the same cut, color, and clarity fungible?

 

[James Bond]

+1 on bluenile.com Everyone I know that has used it has loved it.

 

[TheHoff]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

Hoff, are you saying their diamonds are second rate? I am not a diamond expert, are not all diamonds of the same cut, color, and clarity fungible?

The color, clarity, and carat weight are fairly objective measurements, right? You can use a color chart to compare colors, count the inclusions to note clarity, and weigh it to determine carat weight. So in those three measurements, you can objectively determine which diamond is "better" -- but what matters is the sparkle and fire that the diamond sets off in the light. That is almost totally determined by the cut and skill of the cutter. There are formulae that try and put an objective spin on cut, but the best of the best are determined with light readings to see what they throw back.

So with Blue Nile, you are getting a good price on the color, clarity, and weight of your choice. The cut is the unknown. They also rate the cut of their stones and you can certainly trust their ratings... but there is a "level above" the type of diamonds they sell. Like going to Corthay for MTM instead of ordering OTR Crockett & Jones... the C&J is miles above what most people are wearing, but there is room for improvement. Check out ExcelDiamonds and look at ther Excel Certified round cuts to see the light meter readings I'm talking about -- those are the things I'd look for if I were buying an important solitaire for a ring... when buying earrings, Blue Nile level is more than acceptable.

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by TheHoff

The color, clarity, and carat weight are fairly objective measurements, right? You can use a color chart to compare colors, count the inclusions to note clarity, and weigh it to determine carat weight. So in those three measurements, you can objectively determine which diamond is "better" -- but what matters is the sparkle and fire that the diamond sets off in the light. That is almost totally determined by the cut and skill of the cutter. There are formulae that try and put an objective spin on cut, but the best of the best are determined with light readings to see what they throw back.

So with Blue Nile, you are getting a good price on the color, clarity, and weight of your choice. The cut is the unknown. They also rate the cut of their stones and you can certainly trust their ratings... but there is a "level above" the type of diamonds they sell. Like going to Corthay for MTM instead of ordering OTR Crockett & Jones... the C&J is miles above what most people are wearing, but there is room for improvement. Check out ExcelDiamonds and look at ther Excel Certified round cuts to see the light meter readings I'm talking about -- those are the things I'd look for if I were buying an important solitaire for a ring... when buying earrings, Blue Nile level is more than acceptable.

Interesting. I also thought "cut" was "cut" and is fungible too. Guess you learn something every day. All her rocks sparkle quite nicely IMO and she has had multiple comments on the rings, so I guess we're just MTM type people, not bespoke

In fact, for our five year, I intend to go back to Blue Nile for a matching platinum necklace with three matching rocks.

I was actually happy to get her to allow me to buy her a decent ring, she was always against the near monoply market so refused to participate. God I love that woman!

 

[TheHoff]

I don't want to disparage any Blue Nile shoppers as they certainly have good prices on really nice stones -- I've ordered from them a few times. My wife loves her earrings from last year and rarely takes them out. They obviously outsparkle 99% of the comparable things other women are wearing from mall stores.

 

[robin]

Blue Nile also has a "Signature" collection for diamonds, which is pretty much the top of what you can buy on the market.

 

[Quirk]

Originally Posted by rnoldh

I know a couple of people that were extremely pleased with Blue Nile Here's their website It helps if you know something about jewelry, but Blue Nile has a good reputation and their prices are very good. Tiffany is very, very high priced and you a paying a big premium for the Tiffany name.
Has anyone here bought pearls from Blue Nile?

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by TheHoff

I don't want to disparage any Blue Nile shoppers as they certainly have good prices on really nice stones -- I've ordered from them a few times. My wife loves her earrings from last year and rarely takes them out. They obviously outsparkle 99% of the comparable things other women are wearing from mall stores.

No worries Hoff, I was not feeling disparged and even if I was, the wife is happy which makes for a happy me. As far as I know, the reason they sparkle so nicely might even be that they are "Signature". I looked at the pictures but know few details about her rings, not even the cut and color, only that I cringed when I got the CC bill

Now that I know about Signature though, I'll make sure to use those in a few years for our 5th wedding anniversary when I surprise her with that necklace.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Their business model is very interesting.

 

[Dmax]

Originally Posted by TheHoff

So with Blue Nile, you are getting a good price on the color, clarity, and weight of your choice. The cut is the unknown. They also rate the cut of their stones and you can certainly trust their ratings... but there is a "level above" the type of diamonds they sell.

Allow me a small correction...

Blue Nile specifies GIA or AGS cut rating so it not "Unknown". They don't rate the cut of their stones (except Signature Ideal which are always AGSL "ideal") they just show the ratings of two largest most respected industry rating labaratories: GIA and AGSL.

Blue Nile sells diamonds GIA top cut grade of "excellent" (highest GIA grade) and AGS "ideal" (more demanding than GIA excellent, fewer than 3% of round cut diamonds) as well as "super premium" grade called Blue Nile Signature Ideal.

A lot of other large online retailers have their own super-duper premium cuts but they are not recognized as industry standard the way GIA or AGSL ratings are. Blue Nile calls their premium cuts "Signature Ideal"; other retailers have "Hearts-&-Arrows", "A-Cut-Above", Excel Diamonds has "SuperBcert". etc.

Most of these proprietary standards claim that they can select better diamonds from a group of AGSL "Ideal" diamonds based on perfect symmetry, appeance under certain scopes (Firescope, Ideal-Scope,etc) or fitting into mathematical formulas (HCA). IGA and AGSL do not believe these proprietary "super premiums" offer diamonds that are more attractive to the human eye. I remain sceptical as well, especially since these "super premiums" carry a substantial price premium.

One tidbit: GIA's 70,000 observation survey concluded that diamonds with 'optical symmetry' were not necessarily preferred by its participants in 'blind testing'.

 

[Dmax]

Originally Posted by Quirk

Has anyone here bought pearls from Blue Nile?
I purchased some pearls from www.pearlparadise.com. I think they are the Blue Nile of the pearl world. I purchased diamonds from Blue Nile and White Flash. http://www.pricescope.com is a good diamond comparision site and forum. It has an enormous amount of information on diamonds.