Buying a Diamond Ring

[AustinP]

A) this is something she'll wear for the rest of her life (you hope). It's worth asking her friends for their advice, or at least looking to see what they have; that should give you an idea of what she might like.

B) this is not a small purchase. To me, it's worth reading a bit about diamonds before you buy one. The link I posted before Diamond/engagement ring considerations is an awesome, easy to read summary about diamonds, and offers tons of practical buying advice. I would have spent way more than I did, and gotten a shittier diamond if I hadn't spent the time with that thread.

Seriously, whatever amount you spend, you can get something better if you educate yourself.

FWIW; I paid about $7K for my diamond; after it was set, it was appraised (for insurance) at $10K, and the setting was a $600 tiffany style platinum setting. The jeweler who appraised it told me that he would sell my ring for $11K. So I effectively saved 40% or so (or bought a 40% bigger diamond), by reading that thread.

Will take up reading into consideration. Thanks.

Why has no one mentioned that you can get lab diamonds for dirt cheap? Does your diamond really need to be dug out the ground by poor africans and sold by the worlds largest price controlled cartel (debeers). DeBeers has prices fixed diamonds forever, they control some 95% of the world supply.

Lab made diamonds are perfectly flawless REAL diamonds and the only person that will ever know its fake is a professional jeweler. There is no sense in paying almost 100x more for the romantic idea of some poor sucker digging your rock out of the ground and getting $5 for it.

Here you go Stauer - Loose Diamond Aura Stones 7.5-carats for $149.

Edit: My girl friend already knows she will probably get a fake diamond and is perfectly happy with me not spending several thousand dollars on a ring she might lose or have stolen some day. yaya for logical women.

Im not looking out for CZ. Ive had friends go gaga over their low rates and then tell me they got cheated.

Clarity: I1 I2 = Inclusions visible to the naked eye = bad.

Read up on Cut/Color/Clarity. All more important than Carat in my opinion, but not all women feel the same. Some of my friends gave their girls larger diamonds, but my wifes ring sparkles way more than most of them because of the better cut/color/clarity.

Blue Nile and Diamond.com were both highly recommended sites when I bought my wifes ring. I think a different company bought diamond.com since then though, so I don't know if they still have a great reputation or not.

Ok. This is something I have no idea how to check so I shall read into it.


Fuck. TMI. Looks like people here have spent a lot on diamonds.