I'm happy to admit I'm wrong here. I guess some people attach a very high sentimental value to their engagement right, some don't? I don't understand! Like I said, I hate diamonds and everything about them. I worked my then-girlfriend to try to convince her anything but diamonds, but no dice.
i think i spent $3k-$4k about 10 years ago.... which back then seemed like a fortune to spend on a stinkin' ring (just to be clear - i still think it's freakin' expensive, but i'd do it again in a heart beat)
don't cheap out - but you don't have to break the bank either.
if your girlfriend 'expects' you to spend 'x' amount on a ring that could be a big red flag - just fyi
if you can personalize the ring somehow it will mean soooo much more to your future bride. i proposed on our 4th anniversary - so when i got the ring made i had a large diamond in the center with 4 smaller diamonds around it - representing the 4 years we'd been a couple - my wife loved it.... all she could say when i proposed was, 'are you serious??! are you serious??! are you serious??!' ha! ha!
another thing to is you can always haggle down the price on jewelery - their mark up is HUGE!!!!
good luck!
__________________ "...and there goes Finger up the middle on Luongo!" - Jim Hughson, Av's vs. 'Nucks
I had my wife's ring custom made for her, and bought a Canadian (Polar Bear) diamond for it through the same store that made the ring. This was 11 years ago and I paid just under 5K. The ring is now appraised at $9600.
I had always been told that 2 months salary was a good guideline, and that's pretty much what it worked out to back then. Bottom line, though; spend what you can afford and shop around to get the nicest ring you can for your budget. Once you decide what your budget is, stick to it. If your fiancée is reasonable, she'll understand that starting out the marriage without a pile of bad debt is more important than wearing a 3 lb rock on her finger.
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If the girl needs a huge, hell, ANY ring to say yes you got the wrong girl.
I know quite few women who were ecstatic to get a big ring with a huge rock from their boyfriends only to years later love the gesture but hate the ring. The big rings get in the way of everything.
I'm guessing it was the DeBeers marketing dept that came up with this "rule".
Diamonds seem like the biggest scam going. The only reason a normally sane and logical man ponys up is to keep the peace and makes their girls happy. There's no way those prices make any sense to me.
It's funny you should say that. I have a few friends who are management/higher ups in diamond mining, and they've all told me basically the same thing over the years. They've told me that the diamond industry came up with the two month salary rule and pushed it really hard for a while to get it out there in people's minds so that if a guy didn't shell out this exorbitant amount of money for an engagement ring he'd look cheap, and to make the woman expect a lot more. Also it's well known by most higher ups in the mining aspect that diamonds are not so rare as the industry would have you believe, and that there are millions of them sitting in warehouses around the world and are being held back in order to drive/keep the prices up. I know it sounds like a conspiracy theory, but these guys all work for different companies, and have discussed this independently from each other with me, so I tend to believe it.
As far as the original poster, if you don't have much of a budget you could do what a couple of my friends did. Go cubic zirconia for the first ring, then after you get established and start making more money replace it with a real diamond on one of your anniversaries. I think one of my buddies did that on his third and one did it on his fifth if I recall.
__________________ Nothing like rediscovering one of the greatest bands ever!
It's funny you should say that. I have a few friends who are management/higher ups in diamond mining, and they've all told me basically the same thing over the years. They've told me that the diamond industry came up with the two month salary rule and pushed it really hard for a while to get it out there in people's minds so that if a guy didn't shell out this exorbitant amount of money for an engagement ring he'd look cheap, and to make the woman expect a lot more. Also it's well known by most higher ups in the mining aspect that diamonds are not so rare as the industry would have you believe, and that there are millions of them sitting in warehouses around the world and are being held back in order to drive/keep the prices up. I know it sounds like a conspiracy theory, but these guys all work for different companies, and have discussed this independently from each other with me, so I tend to believe it.
Oh it's definitely not a conspiracy, it's pretty well known that De Beers came up with that rule as a marketing tactic (believe it was sometime after WW2 to make diamonds more mass-market). Pretty smart really.
And yeah, I definitely wouldn't be surprised if they restrict supply. De Beers had a virtual monopoly on the industry not that long ago....I'm sure restricting supply is part of their business plan.
The guy I bought the ring from had it appraised at $$$, but sold it to me for $.
True story. It also came with the receipts and warranty, which we transfered over, and People's then re-sized it for free.
Why is every ring ever bought appraised for way more than it's worth?
Because appraising is a scam, pure and simple. There are no real laws regulating it and very few certified gemologists. Heck, there isn't even a rule saying you have to be certified to write up an appraisal. The only part of the appraisal your insurance company is going to care about is the specifics of the diamond when they go to replace it. They couldn't care less about the amount of money some sales dude puts on the paper. Just because your 0.5 ct diamond was appraised at $12,000 doesn't mean you are getting that from anyone.
My father has been a jeweller for over 30 years, by the way. I asked him this exact question once and this was his answer.
In 2004 De Beers pleaded guilty and paid a $10 million fine to the United States Department of Justice to settle a 1994 charge that De Beers had colluded with General Electric to fix the price of industrial diamonds.[37][38]
Why is every ring ever bought appraised for way more than it's worth?
I think its to make a man feel better for spending far too much money on a piece of jewellery. They are literally bad estimates of value, you can go to 3 different jewellers and get 3 different assements of the size, clarity, colour and cut. Its kind of a joke, appraisals are so far off of actual value its amusing to me.
I work at a pawn shop. We had a lady who brought in her custom ring to pawn. She had it made and it was a 3.41 carat diamond appraised at nearly $30,000(bad clarity and colour, as well as a mediocre cut). She had it made so the diamond was loose before it was set into a ring and it was put on an actual diamond scale and weighed out at 3.41 carats. She had it in and out a few times and when she finally left it behind we didn't have the appraisal papers with it.
So, we used our off site jeweller to do an independant appraisal. He estimated the diamond at about 2.6 carats (massive difference) and the appraisal value was $15,000. We immediately went to another jeweller, he appraised it at $18,000 and had the diamond pegged at 2.9 carats, again a big enough difference. Finally we took cut the setting and took the diamond out and weighed it on our diamond scale, it weighed out to 3.41 carats, like the original appraisal we seen. We went down to both jewellers and demand why the difference. The jeweller we use regularly appologized (the one who had it at 2.6 carats) and said it was just a rough estimate and thats how it goes, great definition eh? I have tools to do a rough estimate by measuring the diameter and depth and I had it pegged at about 3.1 carat, the only thing I cant account for is the girdle. The second jeweller who we never used before, accused us of changing the diamonds. So he got a big FU from me. and gets nothing but had things said from me when people ask me about jewellers.
I of course recommend getting rings from pawn shop, because the mark up at jewellers stores is huuuuuuuuuge . I understand people don't like used rings, but buy the ring from a pawn shop for the centre diamond, get it taken out and put into a custom setting and bingo bango you have a new ring, at a cheaper price then a jewellery store. You have to remember alot of of jewellery stores now adays offer trading of diamonds, so even that new ring at the store could be a used diamond as well. She'll never know.
Haha. "Used" diamond. By the time a diamond works it's way up to the surface of the earth its what 1 billion, 2 billion years old? Two. billion. years. old. I would think that with something that old the term "used" is just not relevant.
On another note - how come guys don't get engagement rings? If they did, what would a gent's engagement ring look like? Would he have to buy it himself, or would it be the bride-to-be's responsibility to provide one?
Don't listen to all this "buy her a ring she will love" nonsense!!! I bought mine the exact ring (crazy expensive) she wanted several years ago and my life is still a living hell!?!
Haha. "Used" diamond. By the time a diamond works it's way up to the surface of the earth its what 1 billion, 2 billion years old? Two. billion. years. old. I would think that with something that old the term "used" is just not relevant.
On another note - how come guys don't get engagement rings? If they did, what would a gent's engagement ring look like? Would he have to buy it himself, or would it be the bride-to-be's responsibility to provide one?
All a typical man wants for an engagement gift is sex. What he doesn't realize is that he will lose that gift when he gets married.
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Girl I know makes jewellry. She lived in London and TO and used to go down to the gem district to get stones. I always wondered how so many people got a "smoking deal" on their rings; she informed me that the regular markup on jewellry is 800%. Makes sense that there are lots of deals to be made.
I also think its funny talking to a bunch of people that spend $2k-$8k on something that is worth only $250-$1000. Scam.
Spend what you're comfortable with, but don't tell people about it, makes you look like a rube.
I know several guys that spent more than they could afford because THEY did not want others to think they were cheap. Even if a girl doesnt care, a lot of guys care what others think.
Most of the guys in my social circle spent around 3K and everyone seems to be happy......but they did NOT follow any rules relatedl to salary etc. These guys all make at least 100,000. 3K seems to get a nice platinum band with 1 carat that shines and sparkles...seems to satisfy most of the ladies.
I know several guys that spent more than they could afford because THEY did not want others to think they were cheap. Even if a girl doesnt care, a lot of guys care what others think.
Most of the guys in my social circle spent around 3K and everyone seems to be happy......but they did NOT follow any rules relatedl to salary etc. These guys all make at least 100,000. 3K seems to get a nice platinum band with 1 carat that shines and sparkles...seems to satisfy most of the ladies.
3k for a 1ct? LOL yea right, maybe 6K with a platinum band.
Maybe if the cut color and clarity are all .
3k puts you in the .6-.7ct range and that is only for online dealers.
