Went lab grown from James Allen with a platinum band. Personally I think it turned out fantastic, its 1.65 ct and all in it was like $4500. There is no reason to not do lab grown but seriously check the super zooms on those for any inclusions. Got this one without. There is some website that charts the best prices for each diamond on blue nile and james allen. Use that for sure.
If your girlfriend is cool with a lab diamond, then get one. But, I'd be really surprised if that's the case. I certainly wouldn't buy one without discussing it first.
Lab grown diamonds are exactly the same as "real" diamonds. Even jewelers can't tell the difference because they are quite literally the same thing.
I’ll at least second James Allen. Bought real from them 5 years ago. Ring shopping in person was a horrendous experience.
Value is a very subjective term. Discuss it with your girlfriend and make a decision together (assuming you’re not doing the ring shopping without her input, which is fine but I’d talk with her friend/sister/mother first before making that call.) Also, congrats.
Eh, they can with the right equipment. Regardless, they're certified as natural or lab-made when you buy them. Either way, you're never going to get back what you paid for a diamond. It's not an investment, so don't look at it that way. Just look at it as a way to make her happy and look past the kick in the dick of buying it.
Also, I know people who have had success buying from idonowidont.com. Another option is buying a loose diamond from them and buy a separate setting. https://www.idonowidont.com/marketplace/engagement-rings
Google tells me you are right, unfortunately. Something about nitrogen or whatever. What am I, a chemist? Still, with the naked eye, without specialized equipment, they are identical. Wish more people were pro lab grown. The diamond industry is a scam and pretty unethical in many ways.
My on ring shopping: First, use a local store or chain that one of your friends has used successfully. Decide on your budget and stick to it. Be honest with them, you’re not the first with your budget or the lowest they’ve worked with. You’ll go through the mini-training of color cut clarity whatever. At that point, start at the top of each spectrum and work your way “down” until you can’t discern a difference. A year or five or twenty later if you want to upgrade her ring, that same store will likely give you the full purchase price of your diamond (not the setting) towards a new stone. These are only “investments” in that they are expensive and mean something to the wearer. My wedding ring is a $17 king something or other from Amazon. My wife adores her .76C solitary setting I bought her five years ago and refuses to upgrade whenever I bring it up.
This is what has me split, i know her tree hugging liberal side would love this story but her i like designer shit side would shit on a lab one.
Completely agree with you. Buying a diamond fucking blows. But, the industry has a hundred years of momentum convincing girls what they want.
And my wife is very frugal. I went into the ring shopping experience with the assumption I was going to go lab grown or moisanite (however that’s spelled.) Her sister course corrected me with the quickness.
I'd ask her. It's clearly bullshit for rational-thinking males, but there's a stigma with lab-made for a lot of women. If she's on of them, you could be playing russian roulette.
My wife is very similar. It basically came down to "you can get this size with a natural diamond and the bigger size with lab grown". She wanted the bigger diamond and really liked the more ethical side of lab grown. Plus if it matters she can just not let people know it's lab grown. No one will ever know the difference without being told.
Also as a bonus I think it's pretty badass that scientists and engineers can make diamonds. Something that takes literally BILLIONS of years to form naturally.
Lab. Fuck a blood diamond. Also, she may not even want a diamond. I realize it can be kinda hard to feel that out if you don't know, but some girls are getting other types of stones now
I’m only like 7 years in to being married, and I could not tell you anything about how many carats, any of the clarity letters, or really anything than a rough idea of the price of the engagement ring I bought. I remember it being a huge deal when I was doing it, and it is considering the amount of money. But you could end up with a situation like me where her band stays on most days but the engagement ring sits on her night stand for days at a time because it’s kind of obnoxious to wear a diamond that sticks out when doing day to day stuff. Echo the people saying talk to your future fiancé or wife about what they want…and try to tell yourself that in a few years it won’t seem like that big of a decision.
Got very lucky she never wanted a diamond from the jump and wanted us to save on a place rather than an expensive ring. I know eventually I will want to upgrade it for her though.
My fiancee showed me what she wanted one day when we were IMing each other at work. She did not know I immediately clicked "order." You're just gonna show me exactly what you want? Bought.
Took wife to 3 different stores and she tried on various rings. She knew immediately which one she wanted because that was the only one that got a reaction out of her when she tried it on. Went back a couple days later and purchased
the biggest difference between lab and natural is the price difference between the two if you have to resell it. Natural is 40-60% off retail while lab is like 75% off. and yes there are diamond testers that can tell the difference between the two
A lot of guys don’t do this research. Take 20-30 minutes to read up on the Cs. Imo carats are third importance but depends on your girl. Some just want the biggest rock you can afford.
This is false. These rings always appraise for about 50% more than when bought. Basically, a little light insurance fraud after its "lost" and you've turned around a pretty quick little return
My wife didn't care about lab/real and all that shit so I made out pretty well. But I tried to float the idea of the diamond engagement ring being a scam marketing campaign started by diamond companies so maybe we could do something else (cheaper) and got
DeBeers ran the most successful marketing campaign ever. it literally changed the diamond and jewelry industry forever
Well it’s weird that is says platinum, yet it’s yellow. But let’s assume it is platinum. Probably around 1400
Curious how things worked out for our boys who thought their girlfriends would be OK with a lab-grown diamond.
Stores buy them at 99% off list price. A typical diamond is purchased 25 percent off. But I think there will always be a decent sized market for lab. As a store you just have to decide if you want to go into that market.
Anyone have some advice on how to go about selling some old family jewels? Just some smaller pieces...about 50k appraisal worth. Have approached a few jewelers that aren't even interested in buying at all right now
I spent a lot of money on my wife’s rings. 13 years later, she buys a set of three skinny gold rings with tiny diamonds in them for $1k…and will prob sell her original rings for half what I spent. It seems the younger generation is wising up to this nonsense.
Tough market for sure. Usually estate stores are your best option. Circa might still be in business, that would be a good option.