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A question about Diamonds
altmann
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I want to get my wife something nice, like diamond earrings or something but I feel like walking into a jewelry store is akin to throwing myself to the wolves. I really don't trust them and it's either go to the most expensive place where I know the stuff they sell will be good or just go to the damn place in the mall and get ass raped by people who don't give a shit.
Also, I've seen on amazon where they sell diamonds but this also seems like a scammy thing. Does anyone have any experience in this area or advice? I'm thinking of spending like $1k or so, what can I expect?
Thanks.
Also, I've seen on amazon where they sell diamonds but this also seems like a scammy thing. Does anyone have any experience in this area or advice? I'm thinking of spending like $1k or so, what can I expect?
Thanks.
Imperator of the Gigahorse Jockeys.
"Oh what a day, what a LOVELY DAY!"
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when you're ready to buy see if you can find a local estate jewelry dealer/appraiser/broker. this may not be easy, but you could try the following line at a medium to high end standalone jewelry store "hey, i have bought/inherited a piece of jewelry and i need to get an independent appraisal for insurance purposes". most jewelry stores don't want to appraise stuff they don't sell.
buying from a store, you will pay retail. going to an independent you could get a better deal. you also might get access to older estate pieces some of which is just better made, or prettier, or have older cuts than you can get in the new retail channel. if you have the funds, you can get good value at auction (e.g. sotheby's)
Stones like sapphires, emeralds or rubies, while still a lot of money for a little piece of colored glass, have a relatively uncontrolled supply and are actually rare enough that their price tends to be around the actual market value.
Personally, I prefer semiprecious stones like garnets or aquamarines or whatever. Colored stones also complement a woman's natural coloration far better than diamonds if chosen carefully.
Still, a good number of women have to have diamonds and diamonds only. If you're in that boat, make sure you shop around a lot, and try not to fall into the trap of paying a whole lot of extra money for shit like "clarity" or "flawlessness". Synthetic diamonds are another option - they're chemically perfect and relatively reasonably priced.
They do look pretty though. Everyone else here seems to have given rather solid, knowledgeable advice.
"Oh what a day, what a LOVELY DAY!"
Seriously, these prices are so low it's almost stupid and really, I'd feel like an asshole. "hey hon, here's a 2 carat ring that cost less than my Xbox". I mean, I'd HAVE to tell her. I don't know...
EDIT: Replaced "laptop" with "Xbox" as they're even cheaper than I thought.
"Oh what a day, what a LOVELY DAY!"
Synthetic diamond is real diamond, only grown in a lab instead of underground. Examples include Gemesis and Apollo. Gemesis diamonds are yellow in color and probably not what you're looking for. Apollo Diamonds are clear and look fabulous, but they're not onsale yet (they claim their web store will open in 2007). They will probably cost maybe 1/3rd of what a comparable mine diamond costs.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
They also have the charm of not financing misery and oppression, if you're into that sort of thing.
Like everyone knows to make/break card connections in a simple PC fixit thread? Yeah, we should stop mentioning that too.
You'd be surprised. I agree that not everything needs to be a sermon about them, but there are a surprising number of people who haven't heard anything bad about diamonds. Or they hear "diamond cartel" and think "oh those are just some of the diamonds, I'm sure my diamonds are fine."
If anything, it's a good way to point out that opinions are divided on the gem. "Something nice" doesn't need to mean diamonds, and while I assume the OP knows his wife better than the rest of us, some women are particularly sensitive to diamonds. If this was a girlfriend or similar, for instance, telling the guy that he should get the girl's opinions on diamonds is a pretty big thing.
Anyway, to the OP, remember that good jewelry doesn't need to be about a massive gem or expensive flourishes, and that most of the interesting jewelry that people actually wear has a large element of style to it. As in, the design of the piece is what is key to the person's taste, not the number of carats. An interestingly-crafted piece with numerous small diamonds may be more interesting than a piece with a single large gem. And don't forget that small diamonds ringing a larger, non-diamond gem is usually very visually appealing.
Nexus diamonds are, chemically speaking, NOT DIAMONDS.
They do, however, have almost all of the same physical properties as diamonds - she won't know unless you tell her.
I wouldn't get one of these almost but not quite diamond simulants without telling her exactly what it is, because I would feel bad knowing that she assumes it is a diamond when you in reality know that it technically isn't. At least with a synthetic you don't have to feel bad about saying that it is a diamond.
I'm thinking Blue Nile...
"Oh what a day, what a LOVELY DAY!"
The diamond simulant described in that 'shady website' isn't unique to that one site. Whether what you get is low quality (Cubic Zirconium) or something a little better like moissanite, they are all diamond look-a-likes. Here is an article talking about the Diamond Nexus labs business:
http://www.diamond.info/forum/index.php?showtopic=2456&st=0&gopid=11707&#entry11707
Take it with a grain of salt like anything else, but they definitely seem shady. I was under the impression that while you can't by synthetic diamonds (read real diamonds) from the labs, they are sold to third parties from which you can buy jewelry already made using them. Also, Blue Nile seems to get wonderful reviews if you are going the traditional diamond route. If what you are after is a diamond, I would look into the synthetics a bit more or go poke around the Blue Nile site (or go to a real jewelry store).
If you don't care (and not everyone does) then Blue Nile is pretty good. They're expensive, though, but they're good. If you care, like I do, you just avoid diamonds altogether.
Chatham is a well-respected lab-grown gem company, though. I've personally seen and felt their lab-created sapphires and alexandrites when shopping for my fiancee's ring. They're indistinguishable, and in many cases they actually LOOK better, because when you grow materials in a lab you can control factors like crystallinity and defect density that nature doesn't bother with. I've never heard of Nexus. FYI, though, I bought a real sapphire. Chatham gems are available from any good local jeweler.
Also, synthetic diamonds and fake diamonds are not the same thing. A synthetic diamond is the same exact crystal structure, all carbon in the same positions, just grown in a lab. Cubic Zirconia (a typical fake diamond) is not carbon; it's zirconia (ZrO2).
Lastly, here's another place: Szul. For gemstone jewelry there's a place called Jewelsforme.com or something. I'd just bookmark those two for future reference.
I agree, you do need to realise that you will never be able to sell them as "real" diamonds, most synthetic places have their own QA system in places that actually labels synthetic diamonds as such to stop people then over inflating the price.
It's really what you want to buy though, a small "real" diamond with inflated market value and questionably mined or a larger synthetic one for the same price.
Satans..... hints.....
I've bought jewelry and all our engagement and wedding rings from them. Quality is great, no billing issues or anything. Shit-ton of actual diamonds, but not a huge selection of jewelry styles, though.
Blue Nile isn't expensive. It's cheaper than every B&M store I looked at while shopping for an engagement ring. If you mean it's expensive because real diamonds are expensive, well, yeah.
That is what I meant. I probably should have added the word "relatively" in there somewhere.
-A
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Do they have the grading report from the GIA for each diamond? If you can see the Cs and everything, it shouldn't be any different.
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