Diamond Guide for the Young & Broke (email from my friend)

ACC-HE

a friend of mine sent me this email....  Seems like he did his research, so I feel like posting here so it doesn't go to waste.  Here it goes:


Hi guys,

We're finally at an age where we're thinking about getting engaged.  And you know what that means... a diamond ring. It may be a girl's best friend, but definitely a guy's worst nemesis, as least for his wallet. Well, now we have to take on this beast and try to come out of it looking respectable, preferably with some money left in the bank. I did quite a bit of research on getting a diamond ring a while ago, and so I'm writing this piece here to help you make the right choice.

To start, here's a long article (quite dated, but still true) on why diamond is the biggest ripoff in human history:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/198202/diamond

As much as I was ready to buy a ring, I still have a very difficult time trying to justify blowing 10K+ on something intrinsically worthless. The money is much better used on things like downpayment, furnishing, paying down student loans, or just a bigass TV. But I digress. It's about making the girl happy. It's something to be done as part of showing how much you love her, and indeed you have to love her to actually make yourself go through this. Anyway, I'm writing to help you spend this money in style, so here we go:

Amount you spend
A quick google search shows that the average amount spent on a ring is equal to 2-months' salary. Before or after tax I don't know. A consensus among the girls I know is 3-months' salary. Try to strike a balance between what you can afford and the girl is comfortable with. It's best if you two can talk about expectations or even shop for the ring together. It's a bit tougher if you want to surprise her, so I guess the 3-months' salary consensus is a guideline.

Parts of a diamond ring
1. Diamond

First of all: Tiffany's rings are great rings, if you don't care about what price you pay. It's a convenient place to get diamond rings if you don't have time to do your own research. Feel free to go to Burrard & Alberni to check them out, but remember to get the stats of the diamond and then check the price online to see how much you can save if you buy online. I made an appointment to check out rings there but I didn't end up going, so I can't tell you how the experience is and whether the staff there is knowledgeable. Anyhow, I remember reading about people talking about 30-40% markups for diamonds in the 1 carat range. Bottom line is, you pay a premium for the Tiffany's brand, and it's a hefty one. If in the end you think Tiffany's still gives you better value, then by all means go for it, but only do it if you know what your alternatives are.

My advice is that you should do tons of research, probably as much as if you were to write a 3000 word essay. And if you spend any time hunting down deals for clothes or what have you, you should spend a lot of time looking for the best deal in diamonds. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish. Read everything you can find on the subject, so you can start judging for yourself when you actually see the diamonds themselves. Blue Nile has a nice introductory tutorial on diamonds: http://www.bluenile.ca/diamonds-education, have a look and get acquainted with the 4C's and check out a couple diamond certificates (take note that there are at least 3 different places that offer diamon appraisal and provide certificates.

Pretty much everyone will tell you that of the 4C's cut is the single most important attribute to look for in a diamond. The way a diamond is cut determines the optical properties (internal/external reflection/refraction) of the diamond, and the better the cut, the shinier and more "firey" it sparkles. Cut quality is prominently displayed on any diamond certificates, and I think it should be the #1 thing you look for when comparing different diamonds. An ideal cut diamond that's a VS2, J could very well look nicer than a poorly cut VVS1, G.

Different stores have different ways of naming the cuts of their diamonds, so checking out the certificates is a good way to compare across stores. One of the most sought after cuts in diamond is called "Hearts and Arrows", a cut named after the patterns you see when you view the diamond under a special scope: hearts when you view from the bottom, arrows when you view from the top:


Not all diamond stores provide images for you to check for hearts and arrows, so google and see if the "uber superior premium awesome cut" offered
by the store is anywhere close to hearts and arrows…

Some of the associated attributes you should check for are great optimal symmetry and great polish. They kind of come hand in hand with the cut grade of the diamond, but it's good to make sure.

It seems like I'm rehashing a lot of content from this site where I learn the most from. So to save time I'll just have the link here: http://goodoldgold.com/4Cs/. Do yourself a favor and read through all the pages. This guy knows what he's talking about. I'll just briefly comment on the rest of the 4C's and leave the long reading to you.

READ THE WHOLE DAMN SITE!

Carat is pretty simple. You should note that prices go up exponentially, with prices around certain carat weights (0.5, 1, 2) being higher because of the "evenness" of the weight.

Check out the colour comparisons in that site. Save some money and go for an I or J if you can't tell it apart from a D when it's face up. No one's gonna check out your diamond from the bottom or the side once it's set in the ring. Also note that cubic zirconia (sp?), a cheap crystal you find on cheap jewelry, is a perfect D… so if you're really hardcore about getting the colour right then get your hands on a cubic zirconia so you can compare.

Clarity is the part where it makes people (or maybe just me) nervous. I mean after all, you're out there to find the perfect diamond… how can you settle for anything less than an IF (internally flawless)? And I mean the idea of my diamond having inclusions (internal defects) is just wrong, but then I realized I'm not made of money so I settled for something a lot less. Joking aside, I think you get the best value with VS1 or VS2, since you can't see any inclusions without using a magnifying glass. VS2 may look bad in pictures and on diamond certificates (they show where in the diamond the inclusions are), but you need to realize that the images are blown up to many times the real size. So you should put it in perspective when considering.

Alright, so much about the diamond's properties. Now onto the places that sell them. I was seriously thinking of buying from the goodoldgold.com site because although the site doesn't look too great, the guy there knows his stuff. And there are tons of positive feedback on this forum: http://www.pricescope.com/idealbb/. Also, the exchange rate was so good a while back so it was shaping up to be a great deal for me, even with taxes and all. But since then the exchange rate has tanked, I'd do more research before buying from the US. There are two pretty big players in the online diamond ring scene, Blue Nile and White Flash. They are both U.S. based though… I didn't look into the Canadian market because the exchange rate was so good that I could get better deals even after possible duties (mixed results from people online, some got charged duties and some didn't… GST and PST are charged no matter where you buy your ring from). I didn't go to Spence Diamonds or Tiffany's, because I know they're overpriced, same deal
for other retail stores I think.

Make sure you browse the Price Scope forum and read about other people's buying experience. A very rich resource there no doubt, plus with some dealers you can get discounts if you mention the Price Scope forum…

ACC-HE

2. Ring Setting and Material

Before I go on, I must say I haven't done as much research on this as I have on diamonds. Partly because I wanted to get a diamond first (you don't have to have your diamond set by the same person), and partly because the ring itself is not as expensive compared to the diamond, so it's not exactly the priority. But nonetheless it's important. While the diamond (or diamonds if you go multi-stone setting) itself is the most expensive part of the ring, how it is set and the material it is set in is very important. A nice setting (like the Tiffany's classic 6-prong setting) makes a hell of a difference. Tiffany's has the patent on thesetting style, so you have to buy from them if you have to have that setting. You can get settings that look quite similar to Tiffany's of course, and some of them don't look half bad. Do look around though and you'll find that there are many other types of settings. Some are your plain vanilla simple setting, and some are quite elaborate and are not necessarily cheap either. So keep this in mind when you're budgeting…you need to pay for the diamond, the setting, and the material. The setting and material price are usually bundled together, and they can easily cost $1000+

There are three common metals with which rings are made: gold, white gold,and platinum. Silver's not on the list because it's quite cheap and it oxidizes easily, making the ring look dull and therefore required frequent cleaning. I don't like gold so I didn't look into the advantages and disadvantages of gold, but you can easily look it up online. Basically platinum's a more expensive metal than white gold(gold+some metal alloy plated with rhodium). It's a heavier metal so that's a plus because you don't want the ring to feel flimsy, but you're going to have a pay quite a bit more than if you go for white gold. The cheap side of me thinks that for the engagement ring you can go for white gold, and for the wedding band go for platinum. Don't get me wrong, white gold looks great, although it's not as white if you put it next to a platinum ring. This might sound bad, but if your diamond is not a colour D, E or F, it'll actually help the diamond look nicer(you're putting the diamond against a more coloured background instead of a silvery/white one). But then going back to what I said about diamond colour, most of the time you won't be able to tell the difference, most of it is just psychological. Also, I don't know if your girl's still going to wear the engagement ring after you get married, so within one year the white gold ring is not going to lose its rhodium plating (the plating gives the ring the added white colour). So save a few hundred here and put it towards a nicer setting,diamond or the wedding band. The wedding band is the one you wear everyday so I wouldn't cheap out on that. Another disadvantage with platinum is that although it's stronger than white gold, it is more brittle. It's not glass-like of course, but compared to white gold it doesn't have as much give under impact and given enough force it'll just break off, and that's bad news when you have a diamond mounted on the ring. Well that's the theory, but I'm sure girls take extra caution when wearing their engagement rings around…

Well think that's it. Good luck on finding a ring that makes both you andyour girlfriend happy. I am sure it will be a truly amazing andmemorable moment when you pop the question. I'm more than happy to chatwith any of you about your potential purchase, so don't hesitate andlet me know how I can help. Good luck and may you and your girlfriendlive happily ever after!

sko

Thanks! Something different from the usual 4Cs (or actually 5) perspective.

But heck, colors I and J are actually quite different from color D, especially side by side. And a VS2 diamond is quite foggy compared to something like a VVS1, even to naked eye~

000

Thanks for the document/site, it's very informative

ACooperFan

from what i've been told by guys around me, the standard these days seems to be 1 carat Canadian diamond costing around $10000....at least that's what they're willing to spend...

but girlfriends tell me that they think 1 carat looks too big on a small hand....0.6-0.8 carat is decent...or they prefer the 3-stone setting...

personally, i know NOTHING about diamonds....

chihiro

some good basic knowledge for beginner

siumaibb

Admin, please put this in sticky la!