Engagement rings

[Gr44]

Hi guys,

Hoping for a it of advice on engagement rings, having had a quick google I've quickly realised its not quite as straight forward as pick the metal and bung a diamond in

I'm looking for something fairly simple, single diamond on a silver band, platinum appears better than white gold unless there are any reasons against

Biggest question is where should I be looking to buy this from, "diamond factory" appears to have suspiciously good prices, the likes of Tiffany are miles away from my price point and most high street names appear fairly.... Unspecialised

Looking to spend up to £1000, ideally 500-800. More is doable if there is a favourable price point for something nicer, but we'd both rather spend cash on holidays etc so not going mad !

Any advice on what to look for to get the best bang for the buck is appreciated ! Also any thoughts on what looks good/bad is welcome !

Thanks

Sean

[Rollin]

This site will give you some idea of prices....

http://www.qualitydiamonds.co.uk/diamond-engagemen...

[Robatr0n]

Speak to a fellow PHer, Nightmare. He has helped out many PHers, myself included.

[ali_kat]

Have a look through these threads for lots of advice

Ecain63, Nightmare & Lord Summerisle are all good names to look for when reading advice...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=151...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=156...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=148...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...


For much more ring for your cash, consider buying second-hand, most towns have independent jewellers that will have second-hand stuff; some will even have jewellers that specialise

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[g3org3y]

ali_kat said:

Ecain63, Nightmare & Lord Summerisle are all good names to look for when reading advice...

+1 for Nightmare. Helped with supplying the engagement ring for my now wife.

[Dan_1981]

g3org3y said:

ali_kat said:

Ecain63, Nightmare & Lord Summerisle are all good names to look for when reading advice...

+1 for Nightmare. Helped with supplying the engagement ring for my now wife.

And mine.

And then followed it up with two wedding rings.

Highly recommended.

[iphonedyou]

Rollin said:

This site will give you some idea of prices....

http://www.qualitydiamonds.co.uk/diamond-engagemen...

I bought mine from there. An absolute delight from start to finish, both for myself and for the girlfriend (once she received it.)

[Major Fallout]

The ring is the easy bit, thinking of a way to give it to her is the nightmare!

[Robbo 27]

There is a program on TV called Posh Pawnbrokers (watched only by accident) the shops they feature are in hatton garden, sheffield and Surrey.

Their standards are high in terms of stones, and I guess it depends on whether you like the idea of buying someone elses choice.

I made a mistake when i bought a ring, trusted the jeweller. I wanted a singe stone baguette cut stone. A manufacturing jeweller was recommended, he had one stone and we agreed a price to mount it on a gold ring.

Years later I bought a loupe, these are about £3 off ebay, and for the first time I could see the faults in the stone. I know that fault free diamonds are almost impossible but I expected better from someone who was recommended and I placed my trust it.

My advice to you is look around having decided roughly what you want although your budget isnt that great, Liz Taylor wouldnt be impressed, buy a loupe and look at other peoples stones with the loupe before you make your choice.

[iphonedyou]

Robbo 27 said:

There is a program on TV called Posh Pawnbrokers (watched only by accident) the shops they feature are in hatton garden, sheffield and Surrey.

Their standards are high in terms of stones, and I guess it depends on whether you like the idea of buying someone elses choice.

I made a mistake when i bought a ring, trusted the jeweller. I wanted a singe stone baguette cut stone. A manufacturing jeweller was recommended, he had one stone and we agreed a price to mount it on a gold ring.

Years later I bought a loupe, these are about £3 off ebay, and for the first time I could see the faults in the stone. I know that fault free diamonds are almost impossible but I expected better from someone who was recommended and I placed my trust it.

My advice to you is look around having decided roughly what you want although your budget isnt that great, Liz Taylor wouldnt be impressed, buy a loupe and look at other peoples stones with the loupe before you make your choice.

Surely you knew the grade off the certificate, though? Are you saying it was incorrectly graded? Which grading body issued the certificate?

[Robbo 27]

iphonedyou said:

Surely you knew the grade off the certificate, though? Are you saying it was incorrectly graded? Which grading body issued the certificate?

I dont know if its common practice but the certificate came to us after the purchase, as I say, its my fault for trusting the jeweller, sole operator manufacturing jeweller.

[iphonedyou]

Robbo 27 said:

I dont know if its common practice but the certificate came to us after the purchase, as I say, its my fault for trusting the jeweller, sole operator manufacturing jeweller.

Yeah that definitely shouldn't be the case - you should see the certificate before purchase and be provided with it at time of sale.

[Gr44]

Thanks for the advice guys and recommendations to follow PHers, I'll be sure to drop them a line shortly!

Out of interest from one comment above what do you guys think is the "standard" to spend on such a ring? I thought £1K was a reasonable wack but maybe this is some kind of inverted man math? I can buy 2 tyres for that!!!!

Thanks

Sean

[horico]

I got the boss' from blunile. You can design your own based on the stone and for any budget you have.

[g3org3y]

Dan_1981 said:

g3org3y said:

ali_kat said:

Ecain63, Nightmare & Lord Summerisle are all good names to look for when reading advice...

+1 for Nightmare. Helped with supplying the engagement ring for my now wife.

And mine.

And then followed it up with two wedding rings.

Highly recommended.

+1

[nammynake]

http://www.bluenile.com/uk/engagement-rings?track=...

[Robbo 27]

Gr44 said:

Thanks for the advice guys and recommendations to follow PHers, I'll be sure to drop them a line shortly!

Out of interest from one comment above what do you guys think is the "standard" to spend on such a ring? I thought £1K was a reasonable wack but maybe this is some kind of inverted man math? I can buy 2 tyres for that!!!!

Thanks

Sean

A rule of thumb that I was given was that you should spend your monthly take home pay.

[iphonedyou]

Gr44 said:

Thanks for the advice guys and recommendations to follow PHers, I'll be sure to drop them a line shortly!

Out of interest from one comment above what do you guys think is the "standard" to spend on such a ring? I thought £1K was a reasonable wack but maybe this is some kind of inverted man math? I can buy 2 tyres for that!!!!

Thanks

Sean

Whatever you want so spend. So much more to it than money, though.

A 1 carat, F colour, flawless and brilliant cut will cost more than a 1.3 carat, K colour, slightly included with a very good cut.

My recommendation would be to work out your budget - whatever you can afford and / or want to spend - then rank the 4 Cs. See what you can get for that.

Also recommend getting the loose stone then having that set.

[stavers]

Gr44 said:

Hi guys,

Hoping for a it of advice on engagement rings, having had a quick google I've quickly realised its not quite as straight forward as pick the metal and bung a diamond in

I'm looking for something fairly simple, single diamond on a silver band, platinum appears better than white gold unless there are any reasons against

Biggest question is where should I be looking to buy this from, "diamond factory" appears to have suspiciously good prices, the likes of Tiffany are miles away from my price point and most high street names appear fairly.... Unspecialised

Looking to spend up to £1000, ideally 500-800. More is doable if there is a favourable price point for something nicer, but we'd both rather spend cash on holidays etc so not going mad !

Any advice on what to look for to get the best bang for the buck is appreciated ! Also any thoughts on what looks good/bad is welcome !

Thanks

Sean

I went through this a few years ago. I knew I could afford either a small, very high quality diamond or a larger, lowish quality diamond. I went through all the high street ones but, as with you, found them massively underwhelming and they wouldn't tell me the grade of the diamond - they would wait until I bought a specific ring then get it sent off to get it graded! I was pretty much ready to give up I must say.

In the end I went in to Selfridges (was living in London at the time) and ended up in Tiffany. They often have much cheaper jewellery in stock than their website will suggest since the website appears to be aimed at the multi-millionaires! I ended up with a 1/3 carat, F (or E, can't remember) colour, VVS with an excellent cut in a plain platinum band for around £1,300. It looked stunning compared to the rest of the stuff I had seen. Was a little bit more than I wanted to spend but the quality of the diamond was worth it.

The biggest issue is that, as a general rule, whatever material you buy the engagement in you have to have the same material for the wedding band otherwise one will wear the other. Platinum is certainly the hardest wearing out of all of the "usual" materials but you pay for it. Generally comes down to personal preference but I think white gold or platinum are the best ones.

[Timmy40]

Robbo 27 said:

Gr44 said:

Thanks for the advice guys and recommendations to follow PHers, I'll be sure to drop them a line shortly!

Out of interest from one comment above what do you guys think is the "standard" to spend on such a ring? I thought £1K was a reasonable wack but maybe this is some kind of inverted man math? I can buy 2 tyres for that!!!!

Thanks

Sean

A rule of thumb that I was given was that you should spend your monthly take home pay.

And do you know who came up with and implanted that rule in the public conciousness...





....I'll give you a clue they sell ALOT of diamonds.