How to buy engagement rings?
The best way to buy your fiancée an engagement ring she’ll love is to let her pick it out herself. She’ll wear this ring every day. It must feel good on her finger and it must suit her lifestyle. Sometimes it takes trying on many, many diamond shapes and setting styles to determine which ring is truly “best.”
If the engagement is not a surprise, then it makes good sense for the fiancée to be part of buying an engagement ring. Engagement rings may be sold in a set with a wedding band, and may possibly have a matching ring for the husband. If you want to stay coordinated, you can match bands at the same time one is buying an engagement ring.
Propose to your fiancée in a jewelry store, as she can then shop with you. However, since price is often an object, be sure your fiancée knows what you can afford. If she doesn’t, you can arrange with a jeweler to show rings only in your price range when buying an engagement ring.
But if you want to surprise her with the engagement ring, still the first question is FIND OUT WHAT YOUR GIRLFRIEND LIKES.
This question is not difficult to answer by looking at the metal color and style of jewelry she wears now. White of white gold and platinum or yellow gold? contemporary-looking or vintage looking? The best indication of her tastes is the jewelry she wears all the time, not items she only wears occasionally, because it’s the full-timers that she’s most comfortable with.
It will be much easier if she has ever mention her favorite jewelry styles. Maybe she has a friend who recently became engaged. Does she like her friend’s engagement ring? Why or why not? Does she like diamonds? Some women don’t. Sapphires and rubies are both durable gemstones that are often set into engagement rings for women who don’t like to wear diamonds.
Choosing the ring that Looks Best on Her Hands is also the good idea, she’ll love the ring if it makes her hand look more beautiful. An elongated diamond, such as a marquise or oval, can make short fingers look more sleek–but be careful not to overdo the look or it could have the opposite effect. Wide bands usually make fingers appear even shorter than they are, so think proportional. Women with long fingers can easily wear bold ring styles. A setting that’s extremely delicate could get lost on large hands, over-emphasizing their size and making the ring look smaller.
One thing that you have to take in to consideration when buying her an engagement ring is her Lifestyle. How will the ring fit in with her lifestyle? Does she work in a profession where fussy jewelry would look out of place? Even if she doesn’t, remember that a pointed gem with high prongs could snag clothing (and people) and is harder to keep clean. Save that type of ring for gifts that will be worn on special occasions, not every day.
One more important thing is her ring size. Her excitement will be lessen if the ring does not fit her.
After getting some ideas of the engagement ring, we should FIND THE GOOD JEWELRY STORE. The best way to do this is by asking around. Find some married friends and see where they got their engagement rings. There are always the old reliable jewelry stores, but don’t feel pressured to go there. The most important thing is to make sure the jeweler is a member of the American Gem Corporation (AGC). This is a must! Besides, be sure to get a ring that can be exchanged, because you are not sure which ring she would choose to wear for a lifetime.
The next step is DECIDE ON YOUR BUDGET. Traditionally, an engagement ring costs two months salary. But don’t feel pressure to follow this rule, if you see the perfect ring, but its price is less that two months of your salary, then just pretend like it cost more and pocket the difference. Once you have decided on a ring, the most important thing to remember is this: NEGOTIATE. It’s just like buying a car; you are expected to negotiate the price. In his book How To Buy a Diamond, Fred Cuellar explains, “when buying a diamond, keep in mind that the average jewelry store charges double what they should, so never pay sticker price.” You may think that it’s intimidating to go into a fancy jewelry store and haggle over the price. Fuggedaboudit. Jewelers are just car salesmen without the complimentary donuts.
Then CHOOSE A STONE. Generally buying an engagement ring means buying at least one diamond. One should shop around and educate one’s self about buying diamonds. Diamonds vary in quality, and sometimes a smaller diamond with greater quality will look better than a large diamond of poor quality.
When buying a diamond, you are going to pay attention to four things: clarity, color, cut, and carat. These are wittily referred to as the 4 Cs. Do not buy a diamond unless it has been independently appraised for all four of these qualities. Why? Because jewelers LIE. So this is how you can be sure that your diamond is legit:
Make sure that the diamond has a “cert.” This is a written document that lists the clarity, color, cut, and carat of the diamond, so you can know what you’re buying. You know the cert is accurate, because it has been independently appraised by the GIA, IGI, EGL, or AGS (these are the only four acceptable appraisal organizations; look for the stamp on the cert). Don’t concern yourself with what any of these letters stand for. All that matters is that the diamond must have been looked at by an unbiased pair of eyeballs, and appraised for the 4 Cs.
If the jeweler can’t provide a legitimate cert for the diamond, then don’t buy it under any circumstances until it has been appraised by an independent expert. For a referral to an independent appraiser in your area, call the International Gemological Institute at (212) 753-7100, and they’ll take you through the steps of how to get a diamond appraised.
Now back to our 4 Cs: clarity, color, cut, and carat. For laypeople like us, these are the only clues we have for knowing whether we’re getting ripped off or not. So read and memorize the shortcuts for each C that will make you a wary buyer.
Clarity
A diamond’s clarity is the primary factor in determining its price. “Clarity” refers to how easily you can see any imperfections in the diamonds, be they on the surface (“blemishes”) or inside the diamond (“inclusions”). Why does it matter? Because fewer flaws = more light reflected = more sparkle. And we all want the sparkliest diamond we can get.
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the organization which sets the worldwide standards for diamonds, set up a scale by which shmoes like you and me can judge a diamond’s clarity. The scale goes like this: flawless, internally flawless, VVS1, VVS2, VS1, VS2, SI1, SI2, I1, I2, I3. Flawless diamonds mean that you can’t see any imperfections under 10X magnification, and I3 diamonds are ones where Mr. Magoo would see the imperfections. So what does this mean? It means that when you go to the jeweler and ask about a diamond and (s)he tells you its clarity grade, you’ll know what you’re getting. Now here’s the most important thing to know: unless you’re an oil tycoon or want to blow a lot of cash, get a VS or SI diamond. While technically imperfect, you cannot tell these diamonds are flawed unless you look at them under a microscope. In fact, we bet that if you looked at a SI2 and VVS1 next to each other after they’d been set in a ring, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. All that matters is that you think it’s pretty.
Color
The color of a diamond ranges from colorless (clear) to a faint yellow. The more colorless the diamond, the more expensive it is (see previous statement about sparkliness). Now there are other types of diamonds that have color and are crazy expensive. There are red, green, and canary yellow diamonds. And don’t forget that big blue diamond from the Titanic. But again, unless you’re sure your bride-to-be wants one of those, it’s better to stick with the traditional colorless diamond. Get the blue one for your first anniversary.
Remember our friends at the Gemological Institute of America? Well, they not only grade clarity, but they also grade color. Here’s the scale:
- DEF=colorless
- GHIJ=near colorless
- KLM=faint yellow
- NOPQR=very light yellow
- STUVWXYZ=light yellow
- Fancy light, fancy, fancy internal=yellow
Whoever would’ve guessed that getting a D would be such good news? The closer you are to D, the more expensive the rock. For some reason, the scale starts at D; there are no A, B, or C diamonds. But could you tell the difference between a D and a J? Well, maybe. But only if they were loose, right next to each other, and you looked very, very hard. If they were both in rings, then probably not. In a nutshell: don’t feel compelled to go for the D.
Cut
This is the diamond’s shape. The most popular shapes are the 58-facet round cut and oval cut (which have 58 flat faces surrounding the flat top of the diamond). Not surprisingly, this means that the diamond looks round or like an oval when in the ring. Other interesting cuts include the princess cut and emerald cut (which are more square-looking). So when you go to look at rings, ask for a variety of cuts and see which you like best.
Now a lot of people forget about paying attention to the cut, instead focusing on clarity and color. But the cut is just as important as the clarity and color in determining a ring’s sparkliness and price tag. For diamonds of the same size, about 1/3 of their value is clarity, 1/3 color, and 1/3 cut. Why is cut so important? Because the angles of a diamond’s cut are a large factor in determining its sparkliness. For those of you who are not in the mood to hear a long explanation involving physics equations, here’s what it boils down to: when light enters the ring, it goes in at a certain angle and bounces all around at other angles. These angles are what determines the sparkle. If the proportions are wrong, you can get a big, heavy diamond with no sparkle. And what fun is that? So how can you use your knowledge of a diamond’s cut to your advantage? Well, it’s difficult. A diamond with a good cut means that all the faces are in the right proportions to each other, and different shapes (emerald, oval, round) have different “perfect” angles. But the easiest way to estimate the cut is by the diamond’s sparkle. The more sparkle, the better the cut and the greater the diamond’s value.
Carat
This is how much the diamond weighs, which in turn determines its size. As cooking has ounces and pounds, and farming has bushels and pecks, diamonds use carats, points, and grains. 1 carat weighs .20 grams. But since diamonds almost never come out in nice round numbers (like 1.00 carat), jewelers use “points.” 1 point = 1/100th of a carat, or if you prefer, 1 carat = 100 points. So if a diamond weighs 0.64 carat, you can say with great expertise (and, preferably, an English accent) that it weighs 64 points.
But how big is a carat? Well, a 50 point diamond (0.5 carat) is the size of a small pea. On the other end of the scale, Richard Burton gave Liz Taylor a 69 carat diamond (6900 points). It’s the size of a golf ball. Veeeeeery practical. Scratch an itch, and take out an eye. Here’s a little chart that compares a diamond’s weight to how much it’s worth, with all other things being equal (good clarity, color, and cut):
- 0.5 carat, $1,500
- 1.0 carat, $5,000
- 1.5 carat, $8,700
- 2.0 carat, $13,000
- 3.0 carat, $22,000
Now think of points like pennies. 100 pennies to a dollar, and 100 points to a carat. A diamond’s weight can also be measured using a term called a “grain.” This is .25 a carat, or 25 points. It’s exactly like a quarter to a dollar. For those of you who have not been keeping up: 1 carat = 100 points = 4 grains. Now imagine how smart you’d look if you went into a jewelry store and asked to look at a 5 grain diamond. We know. We know. You were told there’d be no math. We lied.
Don’t worry though. Most of this carat/point/grain gobbledygook is not critical. It’s just interesting to know. The only reason why you have to know about the carat is because it gives you a basis on which to compare diamonds. If you decide on the size of the diamond, then you can compare diamonds on the basis of clarity, color, and cut, and not worry about the size of the thing. If the diamonds you’re perusing are all too pricey, it is better to move a notch down the carat scale and get a smaller diamond, than to get a crappier version of a big diamond. Unless of course, your girlfriend is obsessed with size. And we don’t (nor do we want to) know her that well.
One last note: when comparing diamonds, always compare them loose, and not when they’re in the ring. It’s easier to see imperfections that way and make sure that you don’t get screwed over. And once you’ve picked out the ring, make sure the jeweler “plots” (draws up) all of the imperfections on a piece of paper, so you can be sure that the ring you want is the ring you get.
Also one needs to CONSIDER TYPES OF METAL when buying an engagement ring. Generally engagement rings are either gold or platinum. Gold rings are available in white, pink or yellow. Platinum is white, with a somewhat silvery sheen. Platinum is more durable, and often preferred, but is undoubtedly more expensive. White gold can achieve a similar look, at a cheaper price than platinum.
When buying an engagement ring, take some time to look around at the numerous options in style, price and durability. Shopping on the Internet is often a good option when the engagement is not a surprise, because one can often get excellent prices. Also one may want to purchase the engagement ring setting separate from the stone. One may be able to purchase a higher quality stone for less money, when it is purchased in loose form. Simply be sure to check that the setting will accommodate the cut and size of the stone one wishes to buy.
Filed Under: Jewelry & Watches
