Looking to purchase an engagement ring... One I like is from Tiffany's, and ridiculously over priced, wonder if we had any jewelers in the house?
Interested in knowing this as well... We have the setting picked out (Chad Allison), looking for a nice stone.
I have friends that are diamond brokers I can hook you up with. Just got a great deal for my wife. Just got engaged then married sooner than planned. It's all about what you want quality or size. My friends all ride, but they don't corner low on the oil heads. PM me and I'll shoot you contact info for both. The ring was made and still was way less expensive and nicer than the stores I went to the last time I thought about doing this. Good luck and run if you can!
I'm not a jeweler, but recently bought an engagement ring. It's just like buying a car from a dealer. It took me a good hr to get the price down to something that I'd pay with all the bs lifetime maintenance (resizing, cleaning, etc) included. I pulled out my cell phone and compared their (Helzberg) asking price to the stones listed on http://www.bluenile.com/. Once the stone was camparable to the bluenile.com prices, I bought the ring.
pricescope.com. Learn about diamonds in the tutorials and what all the angles mean then pick one out of there price search yourself. Find a diamond and have them send you an idealscope, talk to the dealer about it, and pick it out. Lots of work but when you tell her about how much work you put into it she will be floored. The guy I dealt with is id jewelry and basically anything that goes through that search he could get. It all goes through the diamond exchange in NYC and thats where most of the diamonds come from. Thats the cheapest way to get a good stone nowadays. Pricescope has a really good forum and everything, if you find one and can talk to people about it on there.
Bought a stone from blue nile after doing a bit of leg work first. I'm sure I could have got a better deal if I had an "in" with a broker of some sort, but using the website was very easy and I didn't have to deal with the hassle of a jewlery store. Picked out the exact stone I wanted (look into the %s which make a stone best for reflecting light), and it was here 2 days later. I even utilized a 6-months interest free financing program they had, just so I didn't vomit by shelling over that much coin at one time for something so small.
+1 for pricescope. it's the forum for diamond enthusiasts. i've been very happy with purchases from www.jamesallen.com.
If you're going to get married you better think about what your significant other thinks. Getting a bargain is one thing but unless you're an Hasidic from NY there is no such thing. Please the woman because this is just one step in doing this for a lifetime. Hope married life suits you. Good luck.
Ed Czarnetzky (Jr) of IGS Absolutly amazing guy, has a full time platinum smith on site, got great prices on a completely custom engagement ring, and a one off wedding band for my wife. I spent over 6 months of talking with jewelers, going to gem shows, etc etc, finally went to see Ed, could have save 5 1/2 months. He even worked with a stone I brought him that I purchased at a gem show. Use to be a father son shop, but now his father only works part time doing appraisals, rides a hog. IGS: http://www.igsdiamonds.com/ Located in Vienna Va. tell him Brad Jordan sent ya.
Just purchased a ring and stone from James Allen. Top notch service really treated me great. Sure there might be better deals if you had a in with a broker. But since most of us don't this was the best route that I found and I did months of leg work. I have been to every store in the Chicago land area and ever website possible. There website offers actual photos of every diamond they have. Once you have your picks down to the top 3-5 that you like they will take those stones place them on hold and send each one to their gemologist and have them each inspected and have a report written up on all there performances. Which will greatly help with your decision. You would think that they would just tell you the diamond that is the most expensive that you have listed would have the best performance. But in my case they told me the one that was 850 cheaper then the rest was the best choice. So they def have some honesty. I'm sure in some cases the most expensive one could have the best performance reason why its more money lol but its good to know that they are straight shooters. Any question let me know more then happy to share what I learned
I'm not looking for a "bargain", but I'm not looking to overpay out my ass either. Problem I'm having is this ring Tiffany makes it very unique, nobody else I've found has a ring/setting like this. That being said, $10k for a 1 ct. diamond is overpriced, to say the least.... I'll contact some of these guys you recommend, thanks http://www.tiffany.com/Engagement/Item.aspx?GroupSKU=GRP10047#f+2/0/0/0/0/0
I did this stuff over the winter. I looked at Bluenile.com and it was a great help. However, I was able to get just a good of a deal through one of the local stores. My recommendation is to go for quality, it's all about the sparkle.
Spend the money on the rock not the setting. First it's all that matters to her and second if gives you some options for a future anniversary gift by getting it reset in a stock setting or in a custom one - which oddly enough aren't hugely expensive.
I agree 100%, only problem is she loves this setting, which seems to only be made by Tiffany & Co, and they won't sell just the setting.... When I looked in store couple weeks back, a 1.4 ct stone in this setting was listed at $17,800 :wow: