My wife's solitaire is 24 points. I was a broke ass graduate student making $1300 a month. I talked about getting her a new ring on our 10th anniversary last year and she said no.

What a *****. If someone is "expecting", "demanding" a certain size diamond you might as well just chalk it up as experience and move on. Nothing but misery coming down the pipe. And I love diamond pricing. Its cool to be able to go to one store and find a pair of diamond earrings for $6,500 and then buy a pair the same size and quality at another jeweler for $2,000.

i think you buy what you can afford.

one thing i have seen with friends from high school and ATM (that i happen to work with), they start making good money and after a few bonueses they go and 'upgrade' thier wives rings. totally stupid imo and a waste of $$.

do it right the first time and you will be better off in the long run

All that beech cares about is saying she has a two-carat stone. He could probably sneak away and by a CZ the size she wants she wouldn't know the difference unless she really knows her stuff.

I was at a small wholesale jeweler in Dallas to get an education on diamonds and was waiting for another customer to finish picking up his ring. After he left the Jeweler asked me to sit down and we started talking about diamonds.

He asked me if I saw the ring the guy just picked up and I said yes it was huge. He said that guy came in 2 weeks ago and said I want the biggest cheapest ring I can get. The jeweler said the diamond he sold him had more flaws than he could count, but it was 2 carats. The guy buying it said his fiance would kill him if he did not get her at least 2 carats. And she got 2 carats.

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He could probably sneak away and by a CZ the size she wants she wouldn't know the difference unless she really knows her stuff.

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Biaaaaatch like that would probably take it to have it appraised so she could tell her friends how much its worth.

Two carat diamond... I ain't sayin' she's a gold digger, but she ain't playin' wit no broke... guy riding the elevator.

Over/under on two carat diamond showing up as a username?

FYI, diamonds only hold up their value because of price manipulation by DeBeers. They are not rare. They also now can be synthesized from carbon into real diamonds that are "perfect".

I didn't spend near what most do on my wife's ring... but it was a nice diamond from Canada that was cut outstandingly well. The cut (and lack of major inclusions) is what makes a diamond sparkle... they give it some gay-*ss name like "life" or somesuch... it's just the way the light is refracted within the crystal, nothing more. Less scattered light and planes that are optimized for light transmission is all.

The craftsmanship of the diamond cutter is worth paying for, the little chunk of mineral is not.

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I'd rather put a $42k trophy on the wall than $42k on a trophy wife's finger....

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...and the wall and the wife have about the same libido after 2 years....

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bought mine 1/3 with band for 700ish. She's happy, I'm happy. Guess it all depends on the woman. I would never do the 1 carrot for 10 large- that's just sick.

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--Ditto. I got a simple gold engagement ring with one of those cats-eye shaped diamonds in it. Something lke 3/ or 1/3 carat, and considering I was making $6/hr working 25 hours a week in college, it was about 2 months salary at the time.

When we got married, she took the same diamond and got it put in a custom made but simple antique style white gold band with a few smaller stones on either side, but for about $1200. She likes nice stuff, but she's practical. Her view is overly big stones are ludicrous, they look oversized on a girl's small fingers, like you're trying to flaunt your wealth, not really any different than slapping on a gold grille or something, AND it makes you a bigger target for crime.



[This message has been edited by MouthBQ98 (edited 7/22/2009 8:56a).]

When my now husband and I first started talking about getting married, he asked me what kind of ring I wanted. I told him that I have always loved diamonds, but I knew that he couldn't afford one at that time and told him I would be happy with just a gold band. We went down to O.G. Wilson and found one for $29 and it was my size, so he bought it. I also didn't have a lot of money, so I took a couple of my gold rings to the jeweler and had a ring made for my husband. On our 7th anniversary, my husband surprised me with a 2 carat ring that I wear on top of my gold band. Over the years, I have wanted to upgrade my husband's ring, but he said that since I melted 2 of my rings to have a band made for him, that the sentimental value meant more to him than a new ring. We will celebrate our 18th anniversary in November.

Cool story!

$42K for a 2 karat diamond is outrageous. I know for a fact that a dumbass buddy of mine spent far less than that (closer to $25K) for a solitaire from Tiffany that was slightly over 2 karats and as I recall it was "e" color (i.e.- colorless), and VVS1 on clarity. But the guy is an investment banker pulling down 7 figures when you include his bonus.

I also know that I didn't spend anywhere near $25K for Mrs. Finn's ring and I got her a 1.55 karat solitaire that's "f" color (colorless), and VVS2 on clarity, and is an "ideal" cut in the traditional round cut. However, due to the quality of the setting (special thanks to Douglas Jewelers in College Station) and the jewelers advice virtually every person who looks at it thinks it's over 2 karats.

However, I was able to afford the ring at the time as I was 27 when I got engaged and had been out of school and working for 4 years.

FWIW, just because it's 2 carats doesn't mean it's a great diamond. You can cut back on some of the other attributes and reduce the price some...but if she's expecting a high quality 2 carat diamond, that girl is TROUBLE.

Cut your losses right now, young man.

I would have said "Have you ever seen the movie Blood Diamond?" as I left the elevator.

well folks the wife and are getting really close to #41. wedding bands only. Cost $50-$100. Best deal i ever made.

The ring that my gf and I looked at with a band is a total of 2 carats. It has 3 main stone, and small ones down the sides and the band has small diamonds on the top half. Once we saw it we both knew that was it.

I paid zilcho for engagement or wedding rings. I told my wife to ask her mom for hers, since her mom had gotten too fat to wear them. I won.

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I think you guys are just getting suckered, or maybe I'm lucky, but my g/f says I can't spend more than I spent on my most prized possession. That happens to my my 1800 dollar rifle...I feel bad cheapskating out, though.

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crap. I bought my car (GT mustang convertible, standard of course) a month before I bought the ring (.99 ct E VVS2) I'm glad she didn't have that rule. Still love both of them, too.

my wife has an approx 2 ct engagement ring. and i paid cash for it.

i remember some sage advice provided by a jeweler while mrs. rononeill and i were shopping.

while she was out of earshot, he said: once you're in the top 1/2 of clarity, you'll never know the difference, if you're in the top 1/3 of color you'll never know the difference, dont be cheap on the cut - that ensures the sparkle. what the girls like is to have their friends notice it and no one's going to have a microscope at the coffee shop.

its funny how during the shopping process you become an expert on the nuances of the rox.

The term is "fire". It's a factor of proper facet angles and the sharpness of the culet. Having zero culet (point) is ideal. The better the symmetry, the better the fire. Having good symmetry can make a diamond with non-ideal color or clarity look better than one with better properties and a bad cut.

I know way more about diamonds than I should, but oh well.

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they give it some gay-*ss name like "life" or somesuch... it's just the way the light is refracted within the crystal, nothing more.

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Well here is my elevator, ring story. At work my friend and I weres discussing the ring he was going to buy and we were talking about the whole 2 -3 months. I said I only spent about 1 month on the ring I bought my wife and he said that he was going to do about the same. This 45 to 50ish lady in the elevator remarks that it should be 1-1/2 YEARS worth of pay. and she was completely serious. we were both floored. I said that was more of a HOUSE not a ring but she asked if I really loved my wife. Whatever lady.

$42k

That is quite a bit of:
Guns
hookers/massage parlors/whatever your fancy

and you do not have to deal with the person afterwards.

I bought the wife a 1ct ring but that was my choosing. Today is our 9 yr anniversry and we are going to dinner, will be less than 50 bucks and wife is thrilled about going out. Since married have spent 1k or less total on jewlery.

If you are getting slack before you are married all hell is going to break loose after you are married.

Seriously, it's your money, why does she even get a choice at all in it? If she doesn't like the ring you picked then you better tell her to hit the road or take your pants off and give them to her right then and there.

And for Christ's sake don't finance the ring. Pay cash or don't buy such and expensive ring. Like one of the above posters buy what you can afford. I know a guy who put his 5k ring on 2 credit cards, marrage lasted 6 months and the payments lasted years and years.....

[This message has been edited by BCOBQ98 (edited 7/22/2009 10:56a).]

I spent ~$3,500 on my wife's ring. It is .95 carats. That was the best stone I could find without paying the 1 carat "premium"

She got the best deal because my grandmother gave us my grandfather's wedding band.

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I talked about getting her a new ring on our 10th anniversary last year and she said no.

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...a kayak and a new recurve are much more practical.

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since her mom had gotten too fat to wear them

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...oooohhhhh..... this may not bode well.

One of my buddies actually got one of these from Isreal for his engagement ring. Dirt cheap and super nice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamond

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In relation to diamond trading, blood diamond (also called a converted diamond, conflict diamond, hot diamond or a war diamond) refers to a diamond mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, invading army's war efforts, or a warlord's activity, usually in Africa.

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[This message has been edited by PlanoAg98 (edited 7/22/2009 12:56p).]

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oooohhhhh..... this may not bode well.

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I've been lucky so far.

Just couldn't help myself.

A lot of the diamonds in the US markets are blood diamonds. DeBeers doesn't know where they come from when they are in a parchment sack and end up on someone's desk. The brokers will tell them they are legit, but I bet the questions aren't asked to weed them out. More profit = who cares. There's no way to know, and once they're cut, they get relabeled anyway. Traceability lost unless you do testing on the impurities, which sometimes can be used to ID the source.

I got lucky I guess. I was given my wife's grandmother's wedding ring. My wife knew about this and just wanted me to be creative and modernize it some. Her center stone is .75 and two side ones are .5 and I think I spent a total of $1500.

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When I upgraded wives,

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I laughed!!!

i think diamonds are a ridiculous marketing racket targeting specifically American girls.

that being said i bought a 1 ct round solitaire ring for my wife and she loves it.