Engagement ring

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fabphoto

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Fabien
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Yes
Where did you buy your wife engagement ring from?
Where is the place you would get the best deal from?

Is it better to buy on the high street or online?

Any advice on the subject from gents or ladies is welcome.
 
I bought "mine" from a jeweller in Hatton Garden as a price guide I paid 10 to 20% less than the online sites were quoting for diamonds only...this was on a platinum mount.

Jewellery has huge margins in it!
 
£85 on ebay... £10 to resize....

Seriously, why do you need to ask such a question....

What would the lady of your life prefer?????? Posh jewellers and trying it on, or amazon delivery and chancing you have the right sie...
 
My wife picked hers out in a reputable antiques place. She saw it one day and fell in love with it. At lot more diamond wise than I could have afforded new.

There are some great items to be found at good prices. You can always get them spruced up too.
 
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I would make the sure that the lady does not see this question, Fabian, it doesn't show you in good light!

Almost makes me want to suggest you could try a car boot sale?

Good luck!
 
david357 said:
I would make the sure that the lady does not see this question, Fabian, it doesn't show you in good light!

Almost makes me want to suggest you could try a car boot sale?

Good luck!
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Agreed.
 
From a ladies (ok you know what i mean) point of view.. i have been married 21 years next month. and i don't have and engagement ring... but i wear my friendship ring he got me and 2 half eternity rings i have one for each child and my wedding ring. i have less than £1500 on my finger.. had he got any of them of line i would have killed him.. mind you my wedding cost me £300.. one and only regret now i know better i needed a photographer..

what ever you decided i hope the answer is YES
 
I spent many weeks researching all about Diamonds, cut, carrot, clarity etc and found that most high st shops do not not sell the best diamonds. I wanted to get the best that I could afford which turned out to be a .42 carat D IF brilliant cut certified diamond.

I then spent a long time looking at different ring styles.

All of this was online and before anyone slates me for it, I spent far more time getting to know what was available and what I wanted than if I had gone to a shop. The knowledge and information I received from telephone calls from the online company far exceeded what I would have got in a high st shop and I was able to afford a diamond that far exceeded the quality on the high st as well.

I spent around £1300 on the diamond and £500 on the platinum ring for it.

The entire process was very rewarding and the time and detail I spent on finding pretty much exactly what I wanted made it feel far more personal in the end.

I hope you get exactly what you are looking for however you choose to purchase it.
 
Hmmmmmmm a bitter man that i am when it comes to women now i would say keep your money and buy yourself a new lens :) she can wear the hood on her wrist :)

Seriously though if shes the one then i dosent matter what you get her she would still love it!
 
Beardy said:
I bought "mine" from a jeweller in Hatton Garden as a price guide I paid 10 to 20% less than the online sites were quoting for diamonds only...this was on a platinum mount.

Jewellery has huge margins in it!
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I second hatton garden. We got our wedding rings there and had i known, i could of saved a fortune on the engagement ring too!!!
 
Beardy said:
I bought "mine" from a jeweller in Hatton Garden as a price guide I paid 10 to 20% less than the online sites were quoting for diamonds only...this was on a platinum mount.

Jewellery has huge margins in it!
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(y)
I bought my missus her engagement ring from Hatton Garden in 1990 (single Sapphire in small cluster of diamonds). I took one of her rings in to check on the sizing, and as you say Beardy, the choice, quality and the price difference to the ordinary High sttreet is amazing.
She was more than happy with it.:)
 
My Dad's a jeweller ;)

My wife's engagement ring is 0.75ct Princess cut in, white gold. Cost me about 1/3 of RRP :)
 
Fabien, you're in Birmingham so go to the jewellery quarter (Marlows is good)

I did loads of research before buying my Mrs engagement ring and saved about £1500.
 
Pompeyfc81 said:
Hmmmmmmm a bitter man that i am when it comes to women now i would say keep your money and buy yourself a new lens :) she can wear the hood on her wrist :)

Seriously though if shes the one then i dosent matter what you get her she would still love it!
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as an even more bitter man when it comes to x wives
forget the ring just go into a pub/club find a women you hate and give her the deeds to your house :LOL:
 
Rebel t3i said:
as an even more bitter man when it comes to x wives
forget the ring just go into a pub/club find a women you hate and give her the deeds to your house :LOL:
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:LOL:
 
I didn't have an engagement ring. It was a rather unconventional proposal :LOL:
 
I got my wife's engagement ring from leslie davies jewelers, it was about £300 iirc - the idea that you have to spend a fortune is a fallacy, its far more about the sentiment than the net worth (and if she disagrees with that then don't marry her !!)

of course you do need to get something nice as it needs to show that you've put thought and consideration into it , not just bought any old tat off of ebay, but you don't need to spent a huge ammount

Also a quick tip on sizing - get a tapered bit of wood (like the front bit of a pool cue) then slide one of her existing rings over it and mark the spot with a pencil line - the jeweler will then be able to convert that into a ring size
 
If you live in Birmingham as your location suggests, try the Jewellery quarter. You can have a great day out (with or without her), meandering round looking at the variety of rings available to suit all kinds of budget. :)
 
For the amount I spent on my wife's engagement ring I could have bought two cars.

One with an M.O.T :|
 
pepi1967 said:
For the amount I spent on my wife's engagement ring I could have bought two cars.

One with an M.O.T :|
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:LOL::LOL::LOL:
Oh dear, someone from my way of thinking:naughty:
When I first started dating my wife (how uncool does that sound:D), I had a classic BMW without any radio/stereo (YES! STEREO - REMEMBER IT?), and the "missus to be" complained.
So, next week I put a ghetto blaster behind her seat so that she couldn't complain;)
 
Engagement ring is a family heirloom and is worth a few thousand. Original wedding ring was custom made with a kink to go around the stones in the engagement ring and cost about 500 (18 carat white to match the engagement ring). Just bought a smaller version of my wedding ring for my wife, without the kink and matching mine (3 joined 2mm bands, white/pale rose/white, 9 carat), again custom made for 450. (She rarely wears the engagement ring - at 18 carat, it's a little soft for daily wear and the setting stands quite proud and is a little impractical for daily wear. It is very beautiful and was (IIRC) designed for my Grandmother.)

Traditionaly, I believe the engagement ring is supposed to be worth 3 months' salary.

All the wedding rings have been supplied by a friend's shop who have their own on site fabricator and very good the fabricator is too! Silver Lion Jewellers on Gandy Street, Exeter.
 
Nod said:
Traditionaly, I believe the engagement ring is supposed to be worth 3 months' salary.

.
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I think you'll find that this "tradition" was started in the 1980's collectively by the retail jewellery industry :) :LOL:
 
Far older than that!
 
OK.....approx age of said "tradition"? :)
 
originally the concept of the engagement ring goes back to celtic times, when a young man would give his intended a 'warrior ring' made from part of a spear blade of a vaquished enemy
 
C18th?
 
The idea that a man should spend a significant fraction of his annual income for an engagement ring originated de novo from De Beers marketing materials in the early 20th century, in an effort to increase the sale of diamonds.

I got the decade wrong...but the culprits were correct :LOL:
 
viv1969 said:
The idea that a man should spend a significant fraction of his annual income for an engagement ring originated de novo from De Beers marketing materials in the early 20th century, in an effort to increase the sale of diamonds.

I got the decade wrong...but the culprits were correct :LOL:
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:D

:clap:
 
I'll take your word for it, Ruth but I'm sure it predates that. Source?
 
For value you can not beat second hand . In 1960 we bought a 1920's style Ruby ring, circled in diamond, in 22 ct gold in as new condition, at a fraction of the new price in a small jewellers in Hatton Garden. I bought a wide 22 ct faceted Gold wedding ring at the same time. The wedding ring wore away to a wafer by the time of her death in 2004. I would not advise such pure gold for a wedding ring.
 
i picked my wifes up at argos :LOL::LOL:
wasnt cheap though

our wedding rings cost us £700 for the pair i value them more then the ring mu wife does too been told the same ring cost around £1000 + now that is just 5 years ago gold has gone stupid

i bought mine from a local jewlers im now good friends with him itend to buy my jewlery from there as he always sorted things out cheap of for free - got my wedding ring buffed for free he told me it needed doing and i should give it to him so did and come back like new
 
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Nod said:
I'll take your word for it, Ruth but I'm sure it predates that. Source?
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Catherine Sarr - De Beers. My company provides secure transport solutions to thier mining operations in Botswana.

Her words were: "Oh yes, in the 20's, after the US market crashed, we desperately tried to bump the market by suggesting that little nugget". :)
 
big soft moose said:
I got my wife's engagement ring from leslie davies jewelers, it was about £300 iirc - the idea that you have to spend a fortune is a fallacy, its far more about the sentiment than the net worth (and if she disagrees with that then don't marry her !!)
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Agreed.

I steered clear of the pricey diamond convention and got my wife a white gold ring with a decent size Amethyst (she loves purple) on top, nicely set of by 4 very small diamonds.
She loves it, it didn't break the bank and she gets more WOW comments than here fellow gold and diamond counterparts.
 
Thank you, Ruth. I love trivia like that!
 
Jump said:
Fabien, you're in Birmingham so go to the jewellery quarter (Marlows is good)

I did loads of research before buying my Mrs engagement ring and saved about £1500.
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My husband got my engagement ring from here - it is a round brilliant cut, 0.53 carat, E colour and VS1 inclusions certified diamond on an 18ct yellow gold setting. At the time (2009), he paid £800 less than the estimate we had done for insurance purposes.

What was nice there was he gave the sales assistant his budget, and she showed us diamonds of different quality that were within budget. At one point I had on three diamonds on my finger, one was the one I ended up with, one was smaller (about 0.3 carat I think) but the best colour and either flawless or the next level down, and one was bigger (0.9 carat I think), but a step down in colour and a step down in inclusions. To the naked eye there was no difference in colour or sparkle between my diamond and the smaller one (if they were the same size, I am sure there would be a difference!), but there was an obvious difference in colour and sparkle between mine and the larger one, hence why I went for the middle sized one! Once we had picked the stone, we picked the setting. (I say we, but he picked the stone and I picked the setting).
 
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