Ok, so that time in my life is coming up soon. I will be making this purchase with in the next 6-8 months. I make $3X,XXX a year. How much did most of you in this income range spend. Did you pay half cash, half credit? Insurance?
I have bought several $500-$1000 rings from various jewelry stores including the Clark building downtown(baller stores) diamond merchants, gold stocks ect… I know a guy who owns a coin/jewelry shop who tells me jewelry stores are the biggest rip offs. I am honestly leaning more towards buying from the Clark building just so I know my investment is solid. I don’t want some piece of crap. Give me some input fellers…and chad keep your yap shut to your girlfriend please LOL Thanks!
-Also, is this something I should take my girlfriend to see what she likes ect… or is this a solo decision? I personally think my taste > hers.
gold stock upstairs, not the one on the street, great INS, and will reatin the value if you want to upgrade later, also most of the stones are numbered and certifed,. Bands are good price too.
I spent about $3k when it was all said and done. This was at Kaufman jewlers on east ohio st, north side. It was a little odd walking into this place on the north side, but they have been there for 20+ years, and primarily do custom pieces. I knew my wife’s style pretty well, and had pictures of some of the stuff that she liked. He took some creative liberty, and constantly was aware of the budget, and built a ring that was perfect. So perfect, that we got our wedding rings from him too. Mine is a plain titanium piece, while beth’s was custom made to match and lock onto her engagement ring (kind of like a wrap).
.8 center stone, 1.1 ct. total weight (has a couple of stones part way around the band). Can’t remember the clarity off the top of my head, but he let me look at the center stone through his loupe and it only had a couple of inclusions. Emerald cut. Set in white gold (the only thing I would change would be to spend the extra and get platinum).
He only does work by reference though, so if you want to check him out, IM me and I’ll send you my name and just mention it to him. Give me a second and I’ll post a pic of the ring.
btw, I nearly got laughed out of the clark building, by 3 different jewlers, for saying I wanted to stay around 3k. Fucking building and all of their rip-off artists can burn in hell…
here are the ring shots. It’s tough to get a good pic of it…
I bought an engagement ring, wedding bands and other jewelry from Banner and Banner in the Clark building. I have always been happy with them. I would suggest that you take your girl to look so that you can see what she likes, she is the one who will be wearing it, but dont buy then. Go pick out what YOU think is right price and quality wise. Girls will always want the best.
I just did all this a little while ago. I went to the Clark Building to Frost & Company. My step-dad’s cousine works there (Janet) and was very helpful. When you look around you basically find a band and then decide on what kind/quality of stone you want to put in it. I am sure you have an idea what you can afford and you can move the price on the stone by differing the Carat wieght, clarity, cut, and color. Here is a decent link if you need some schooling http://www.diasource.com/fourcs.htm .
As for paying for the ring…I went with a mix of financing and cash. I signed up for a 0% credit card right before I bought the ring…and used both cash and credit (pretty sweet the tranny went on my GTP right before i did this…so my cash was $2300 short). I will say though dont be scared to spend some $$$…when a girl gets a ring other girls get all excited to see it…now my girl is very far from stuck up but I wanted her to be proud when she showed the ring off…just remember it is just money you can always make more.
also I noticed that when you hit the 1ct mark $$$ jumps alot to, I wold get the rating scale and start shopping d e f in one CAT. but not sure, check te stone to most shops will let you see them magnified for blemished, stay away from clouds and scratctes that are on the flat spots of the cuts, look for a good color.
you are 100% right…there are certain points where the price per carat jumps…I put some weight on this when shopping but in the end I just got what I wanted.
same here, some lower ct .8’s,.9’s where optical bigger then the 1 ct and better quality, but still cheaper, just gotta look at what ur buying aswell. also I have found that you can wheel and deal a couple hundred bucks if you found something similar in another store. HTH!
Depends upon how much you are comfortable spending…I have heard 3 months salary or 12% :dunno:
Go visit Dapel Jewelers in Monroeville (beside McDonalds up by the mall on 22, in a little shopping center). Mom and Pop shop that is top notch, my husband and his parents are loyal customers. My buddy just recently went there to get his GF an engagement ring. He’s from here but lives in DC. Came here specifically to visit this jeweler. They will sit you down and find out exactly what you want, how much your budget is, bring out several stones and tell you about them. Place different stones in different settings for you to see etc. I visited 3x w/ my buddy Matt before he decided on a setting and a stone. He picked it out himself, she loved it…Being a mom and pop shop, they are going to be way less than at a commercial store, and they will spend more time with you. It’s worth a visit. Owners name is Paul.
Dapel Jewelers
3766 William Penn Hwy
Monroeville, PA 15146
(412) 856-1380
I went to Frost & Co. in the clark building, too. I only went to the 4 different stores in the clark building and didn’t shop anywhere else. Frost and Co. had the best prices and I just liked them better than the others. You can get 1 carat for way less than $6-$8K and it’s big enough to be seen from across the room.
I went through Frost and Co. prices were good, customer service was EXCELLENT, we had a small problem with one of the stones and they didnt even question it, just drop it off and they replaced it. the main stone is .75 and the band is .75.
i would go yourself and pick it out. get a feeler for what she wants suck as gold color or silver and the type of cut, and you pick out what you think is good. I refused to take Lory to look with me.
Im not putting what i paid because she doesnt need to know, but ill PM it to you
I love Verragio Rings…this is the one I went with. I got it at the Clark Building, at Goldstock. It was fairly pricey, at least for me. The ring was $7200 total. Its Platinum, and its 2.02 Ct total with the center stone. I liked it because the way the accent stones are, is a little different.
its a Verragio Euro Collection
Model #EUR8015
Tonya absolutely adores this ring and LOVES to show it off to everyone.
i asked my sister this question once. she likes the real uppity type, yuppy, likes rich stuff, so she suggested i spend somewhere over 5k. As far as where to go, a friend of mine his grandfather owns Bucci’s in the clark building. this kid was always rocking some sweet chains and stuff. my grandma has dealt them for years also. maybe give them a try.
Sounds like most of the places already mentioned would be good candidates.
As for price, I suggest forget the 3 months or whatever % bullshit and go with what you feel is right. If you are going to marry the girl you should have a pretty good feel for what would make her happy. My wife is pretty low maintenance wise and found it to be insane to spend a ton on a ring and some smancy wedding, so I got off pretty easy on those items. However she made up for it on a house and new SUV I got to pay for, go figure.
I know this is a stupid question, but are you sure your girlfriend is a big ring/diamond type of girl? I know my current girl, if we were to get married, if I presented her the key to a nice new house instead of a ring, she’d be much more happy with that.
Otherwise, I’ve heard you spend 12% of your annual takehome salary on a ring, that is what is suggested.
Thanks for the suggestions and recommendations. I am somewhat more at ease knowing that I was high balling on what I was going to spend. I feel more comfortable a bit lower than I was anticipating, but didn’t want to regret not buying something nice enough either. I think a 4K ballpark number sounds good. Some people told me that you can “upgrade” later but thats not something I am interested in. What you put on her finger that day should last forever. I also didn’t realize that so many of you would have recommended the Clark building - guess you aren’t all a bunch of unclassy fuckers…LOL…j/k -Thanks Again!
