4 replies to this topic

[bulev]

and found this:


[url="http://www.exceldiamonds.com/-Engagement-Rings-5/Solitaire-Diamond-Engagement-Rings-11/Tiffany-Engagement-Rings-640.html"][url]http://www.exceldiamonds.com/-Engagement-R...-Rings-640.html[/url][/url]

do you think this is reasonably priced for the quality? Forgive my newbie questions but I'm very early in the process of purchasing a ring. Thanks in advance.

[davidelevi]

By and large it's a competitive market for settings as it is for diamonds. It's not the cheapest you can find, but it's coming from a reputable supplier that will stand behind what they sell; whether it's "good value for money" is a ) subjective and b ) requires actually seeing the item.

My suggestion is for you to focus on selecting things in a specific order, which is:

1. Supplier. Ideally for both the main stone and the rest. Bear in mind that most diamonds are available to many dealers, and selecting someone that can help you to understand and navigate the market is of huge value.

2. Centre stone. It's going to be anything between 60 and 95% of your total outlay, and it may well determine which setting will look nice®

3. Setting.

[denverappraiser]

Nicolus Cage, on Wednesday, Jun 23 2010, 08:13 AM, said:

davidelevi, on Wednesday, Jun 23 2010, 08:44 AM, said:

By and large it's a competitive market for settings as it is for diamonds. It's not the cheapest you can find, but it's coming from a reputable supplier that will stand behind what they sell; whether it's "good value for money" is a ) subjective and b ) requires actually seeing the item.

My suggestion is for you to focus on selecting things in a specific order, which is:

1. Supplier. Ideally for both the main stone and the rest. Bear in mind that most diamonds are available to many dealers, and selecting someone that can help you to understand and navigate the market is of huge value.

2. Centre stone. It's going to be anything between 60 and 95% of your total outlay, and it may well determine which setting will look nice®

3. Setting.

You just compare the prices of the mention ring by matching with different sites -

jamesallen.com
royaldesignonline.com
shaneco.com

Not to pick on ANY of the merchants listed so far but price is only one, and in my opinion not even the most important, attribute in terms of mountings. If you’re going to be buying blind you MUST choose your dealer with care and choosing based purely on price is almost guaranteed to result in a bad experience and a marginal product. That may be what you want, but it’s like choosing a restaurant based on where you can get the most beef per pound. There’s nothing wrong with that but don’t be too surprised if others don’t think your steak is the ‘best’. Pitfalls abound in terms of materials, manufacturing, assembly and setting.

Neil

[bulev]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Is there really that much difference in the manufacturing process that one has to see the setting in person to know if one is getting a "lemon." I figured the setting would be more or less interchangeable if you went with a quality manufacturer and materials.

Edited by bulev, 23 June 2010 - 08:40 PM.

[davidelevi]

There is a fair amount of difference - some of which is going to be obvious even from a good, unretouched photo, and other things which are too subtle to notice without a loupe but can make a significant difference to durability and "feeling".

Materials are rarely in question nowadays, in the sense that something marked 14k gold does contain 58.3% gold and so on, but for example in white gold the alloy used can make a lot of difference to things such as allergenic properties, durability and casting quality. Unfortunately, better alloys trade at a premium but are undistinguishable at first sight. How do you know if the premium you are paying went in the alloy used?

Clearly if you settle for a specific brand (or brands) you can then shop on price. But "no brand" or "own brand" articles are often cheaper (much cheaper: at Tiffany, that setting will see you off several thousands) without necessarily sacrificing quality, which gets us back to the starting point: how do you know, without expertise and/or access to the goods, what you are buying?