About $2,600, and unfortunatley her Birthstone is Diamond, so her fingers are worth about $15,000 so far :helpme

We got mine in Hong Kong. Selected the stone and had the ring made in 3 days. Went back to Australia and had it appraised at a little more than we paid for it so I was happy.

As far as what you pay for the ring - it all depends on how what you can afford and what her expectations are. He had a fat wallet filled with half my money and I had high expectations. :winkwink:

If you have a lot of money and you get her a little ring, she might wonder how important she is in your life.

Have you asked her what she wants?

i got my wifes for $1400

then later we found out from her mom that one of the baggets (sp?) that lined the sides of the ring was some sort of rare russian diamond that had a value alone of $1500....

the ring is platinum, so it won't depreciate much in value, which is good

we plan on eventually getting our rings tattooed on our fingers...something we have wanted to do for a while

I just finished spending about 5500 (CAD) on my GFs ring. The diamond alone was 4k and was set into a ring that has 3 diamonds on either side of it to keep it company

Princess cut
VVS2
Very Good Cut
E colour
Excellent Polish

My advice is never buy the stone without a GIA cert to go along with it. When you have it set never let the stone out of your sight.

rofl. gfy is full of know it alls. SI2 eye clean? are you a fucking moron? you're whole post is based on the idea that there is no carbon in the stone for it to be "eye clean", which leaves there to be feathers, cracks, and other impurities inside the stone.

I cannot believe there are morons telling people SI2-I color stones are OK. Then you have the balls to say I worked for a mall jeweler? If I worked for a mall jeweler, wouldnt I say SI2-I are good? You make no fucking sense.

I worked for a private jeweler that specialized in D-G color, VS quality stones. Russian/Ideal cut.

Cut is very important, but also is the actual quality of the stone. A stone can be recut at anytime.

Telling people that SI2-I clairty stones are just as good as quality stones is complete horse shit. You will not find any jeweler lining up to purchase that stone back after it has been sold.

Pull out a Rapaport price guide and see if there is a "special column" for SI2-I clarity stones that have PERFECT cuts as you detail. See if they even compare to VS clarity stones.

Put that I color stone you seem to think is beautiful in a sugar bowl with an F color stone.. shake it up, and see which stone you find first. I guarantee it will be the I color. You know exactly why, it's that that yellow tint.

I payed $4800.00 for my wifes engagement ring. but that was 11 years ago.

I agree, SI is shit but from what i was told when shopping at high-end stores is that most people tend to buy the SI stones. I think most chicks rather go bigger than get a quality stone (keeping in mind what the guy can afford). Colour isnt as important either if it is going to be set on yellow gold either since the diamond would pick the colour up.

I'm far from an expect its just that this info is still fresh in my mind :)

There are guys sitting around with enough diamonds to cover driveways. Huge piles of diamonds that just sit around collecting dust.

They let small amounts go public so you pay a ridiculous amount of money for them.

It's called a monopoly

you are exactly right.

CC seems to have caught feelings about my post. My guess is he a proud owner of an I color SI2 stone that probably has nice carat weight. This is a case of going for size over quality.

Didn?t buy one and only spent $250 on the wedding ring, that?s all my wife wanted.
At the end of the day the ring you buy doesn?t mean squat when it comes to marriage

Fair enough but have you seen the amount of work which goes in to harvesting diamonds? It's quite a long drawn out process for a little bit of product found only a few select locations.

Millions are spent every year just on surveys which find nothing.

Diamonds aren't as rare and valuable as you think. They are just all controlled by the same company.

Seriously.. I don't want to get into it any deeper but research it some.

Diamonds been a monopoly forever.

$24.93 -- Her 1st engagement ring was a spur of the momment thing at a local Rennisance faire here in PA....

There was a guy playing the part of friar in the faire walking by us as we sat in the shade hangning out holding hands. He stops and tells that only married folks can hold hands and that he must marry us immediately.

I look at her, ask her to marry me, she says yes and he perfoms the ceremony there... bunch of people around us clap.... I really did want to ask her that day to marry and what a perfect unplanned way to make the plan work out.

bought her the $24.93 amber ring from a ring vendor there, all I had was $25 at that time on me. She loved it.......

6 months later when I had some cash to my name I got her a $750 diamond ring... She never really warmed to the diamond ring, which later was lost on a camping trip.

The amber ring to this day sits in a ring box in her jewelry box. She loves that ring more than all the other diamonds I have bought her over the years.

You dont have to spend alot to show someone you want to love, honor, cherish and protect them forever.

It's all about the romance :)

damn more replies then I had thought I would get lol.

Well I never claimed to be an expert....but the vast majority of engagement rings sold are SI1 and SI2....it's what most people can afford. If that's not "good enough" for you, then so be it.


Busterporn
As for the ebay thing, I've bought 2 diamonds from ebay and didn't have a problem either time. I used escrow.com the first time and had a 10 day money back guarantee from the seller the 2nd time, which ebay/paypal would have honored had I returned the ring. (I called them to make sure before I sent the funds via paypal)

If someone wants to pay more at a local jeweler then feel free. However, unless you're an expert in diamonds, you're not going to know if the ring is worth what the seller says it's worth until you take it somewhere else to get an appraisal. Which is what you can do with a diamond bought from ebay also.

:2 cents:

spent 20k USD..

Check out this site for invaluable information:
http://www.diamondhelpers.com/fivest...ent-ring.shtml

It has calculators to tell you what size you can get for your budget and quality you want. It also has a price finder for many online retailers.

This is a really awesome site. Check it out.

thanks for that one

...should be a good one..any pics!

Aflex, you are truly a moron. I own many diamonds, ranging from D color to K color (and also some Y-Z's) and from flawless to I1. Beyond that, I have had the pleasure of examining hundreds of diamonds of all cuts, colors, carats, etc. For you to make such a blanket statement (i.e. all SI's are shit) shows your ignorance. Any reputable jeweler (that is not just trying to make the largest commission possible) will tell you that there are certainly some stones in that range that will appear eye-clean (not loupe-clean; EYE-clean). Perhaps you simply have not had the experience that I have; I don't know the reason for your ignorance. If you honestly think that a stone such as this one: http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arr...nd-1177142.htm would NOT look phenomenal in a solitaire ring then you really don't know much. Or perhaps you should look at this stone: http://www.pricescope.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=26190....it's a <gasp> J SI2 set in platinum!!!!!! A truly stunning stone that ANY girl would be proud to wear.

why spend much on it ?

You are a consumer, so I understand why you feel the way you do. I could screenshot a dealers inventory online right now, and show you his stock of diamonds. SI-I clairty stones dominate. My ignorance of SI-I clarity stones comes from countless numbers of consumers buying these stones at malls. They neglect the time to understand what they are buying. My blanket statement that SI stones are shit - is a perfect way to get consumers like you thinking. Personally, I cannot stand mall merchandise because I feel they target the poor-middleclass with a "size first" mentality.

Heres a fantasy example.. If I sold "Ferrari" diamonds, you better believe i'm going to call "Hyundai" diamonds pieces of shit. Of course, there will be the Hyundai fans that disagree. Pride is a motherfucker.

notjoe did his own research and selected a stone that he knows is quality. It's a stone that can easily hold its value.

get something that has less visible deformaties and a color that is farthest away from yellow, unless your going for a yellow diamond, which can be nice if shes different from most ppl.

Those of you that know my wife know she's very clever. She told me that a man's attractiveness (to other women) was greatly enhanced by the rock on his wife's finger. She kept telling me that before we bought the ring. By that rational she's with a true stud. lol

It was worth every dime and I'm the lucky one to be with her. :winkwink: By the way she was right, the looks women give us when they see her ring are really funny. Women just go nuts. :thumbsup

damn everyone going crazy on this topic

A little advice.

When shopping for rings, remember what size your girl's finger is.

My fiancee has small hands and slender fingers - size 4 ring. Bigger rocks, large settings look gaudy on her. The same ring on her friends hand looks amazing... but her friend has a size 6.5 ring finger with shorter and slightly thicker hands.

We opted for a higher cut and clarity and a smaller rock (.75c). The ring outshines all her friends rings and she is quite proud of it.

HaHa funny story. Do you mind if I ask how big it is? (the rock)
:)

It's that expensive, but she sure cried in joy while I was putting it on .

$12900 colorless diamonds.... damn I was nuts

nothing I asked her to married me the first day I was with her, I gave a silver T ring I had. Was it cheap yes but we are still together married over 5 yrs ;)

ebay is very romantic :winkwink:

we paid about 3800 after a great deal cause we knew the jeweler it was going for like 5k

and you're lucky that i'm unlike a lot of women.
i don't really like jewelry...except for the occasional sterling silver ring.

and the thread is still going :)

Let's just say quite a bit bigger than average and not big to the point of going overboard. It is the perfect size on her. Looks great.

Off course they look at you... but men do too when they see the ring... they're like : YO, WHAT THE FUCK YOU DO! HOW BIG IS THAT MUTHA?!?!


lol... Beth's rock kept getting bigger by the years shap and beth's biz was getting bigger and also by the months it took him to finally ask her hand LOL

$99 Walmart special.
She didn't want anything else even though I wanted to get here a nice big expensive one.
And now that we are divoriced I am glad I never blew the big bucks on the ring.

spend whatever you can, its something you'll both enjoy everyday for the rest of your life.