Hi and congratulations! ^

As previous posters have said: if you are a little price concious forget Tiffanys, Asprey or buying from the Jewelry Department at high-end stores. They are sometimes 50% more expensive than a reliable store at 47th Street in New York. UK is out of the question...

After reading up on Diamonds, visiting dealers and stores, viewing stones and settings, understanding GIA, HRD etc. reports I settled for a store at 47th Street.

I did visit a few, and some did appear quite strange more or less forcing me to buy, lowering the price by 15% when trying to leave the premises.
Eventually I settled for Kent Jewelry NY (http://www.diamondsnewyork.com/) who I also ended up buying the wedding band and wedding gift from.

(Call me traditional, but I do love to see a single diamond in a simple setting on a woman!) I agree 100%

What I found is if you know what you want, understand Diamonds and how they are vauled, you can make fantastic deals at 47th Street.


My advice: Decide whether you want a Square or Round stone in the single setting. For single settings I prefer Round Stones.
Decide on the setting. The settings is actually more important than the stone. A stone is stone however a setting can be right or wrong depending on who is going to wear it. For a smaller stone, i.e. >0.5ct the ring should be less thick.
For a 3ct. stone the logic is reverse. Unless, of course you have American taste where quantity beats quality.

A 1ct stone will always cost more than a .99ct stone. There are magic tresholds at .5ct .75ct and 1ct.

Picking a stone: In this order make your selection.
1. Cut (Affects the stone more than most people realise)
2. Colour (Always go for colour over clarity. An F colour stone with VS1 clarity will look nicer than a I colour stone with IF clarity.)
3. Clarity (Try not to drop below VS2)
4. Weight/size (Anything above .7ct will look the goods if the above properties are within the quality range; F colour, VS1 clarity and excellent cut)

You can then drill down and look at symmetries and girdle thickness. They also affect the quality of the stone dramatically. However, if a stone is graded as Excellent Cut by GIA or any other reputable grader, the stone will be of great quality.

If you have American taste where size is all that matters, the above does not apply. You see lots of vulgar 2-4ct diamond rings, but they look grey and washed out without life

So imagine you go to Tiffanys and have a budget of 10kUSD. It will absolutely be a very nice ring, it will be hassle free and you won't need to read up on diamonds. However, acquire some knowledge and head down to 47th. for 6kUSD you will be able to buy a top quality 1ct stone and perhaps even in the setting you want. If not, just get the stone and find a reputable dealer near your home and create the ring. And go buy yourself a new suit for the remaining 3-4k USD, or spend it on a very nice wedding band

Feel free to PM if you have questions.

(Raffles posted about cooldiamonds.com I agree they seem like a good dealer, but still pricey compared to US)