Diamond size

[tomswife2007]

Date: 9/23/2004 10:57:24 PM
Author:Camellia
I love looking at this site to see what beautiful diamonds people are buying around the world and to read about other people''s experiences and gain from their knowledge. But I have a question: does everyone in the USA own a diamond of more than 1 ct? Most of the diamonds posted are what I would call large by Australian standards. Maybe we''re unlucky here because of the currency exchange? It''s just an observation.

I think what a lot of people tend to forget is that bigger in diamonds is not necessarily better. The diamond in my engagement ring is a 1.16 carat Eighternity diamond which means that it has 81 facets as compared to a standard round brilliant diamond that has 58. It is an excellent cut which allows it to appear more firey and breathtaking as opposed to a very good or good cut diamond where the facets are not perfectly cut. It is also a G in color and SI2 clarity, eye clean. Therefore, whether it is .75 or 1.16 carats, the diamond has an amazing appearance.

A friend of mine wanted a "big" diamond. It is almost 2 carats ( I am not sure of the color or clarity) and it appears cloudy and hardly sparkles as compared to mine. So sometimes size does not matter. I am convinced when it comes to diamonds, cut is definitely the key...

 

[bookworm21]

I agree with some of the people here that bigger is not usually better. I''ve seen a girl wear a ring with a 1.5 carat stone. She was a salesgirl at Shane Co. and my bf made a complimentary comment about the size of her ring, saying that it must have cost a fortune. Well, it only cost about $4K, as it was graded by the in-house gemologist as an I2 or something. We asked to look at it (which seems rude now in retrospect, but we were completely clueless back then about diamonds in general), and she gladly held out her hand. The diamond was full of inclusions that was very easily seen by the naked eye and impossible to hide under a prong. But she said that she wanted quantity over quality, and that was what made her happy.

Personally, I would go for quality, and with the budget that my bf and I agreed on, I can get a much larger stone for the same price, but I''m sticking with a smaller size. Mind clean is much more important to me than size. JMHO.

 

[fisiogrl]

I''m up in Canada and I would say that .3 is probably average.

I live in the ''outdoorsy'' Vancouver area and people are not really interested in jewellery. Friends of mine bought each other ''engagement bikes''!!!!

Having said that however, even here there are some bigger rings. 1ct is the top that I see and as much as I hate to say it, these are worn by my doctor friends. Us in the next ''social'' level down have the .5 carat rings. My high school friends who married early have .2 at the most. Then ofcourse there are my artsy friends who wouldn''t be caught dead with anything so ''boring'' as a diamond!

we are all pretty happy with our rings, I would say. So I guess it looks like geography and social expectation (and money!) play a big role.

 

[qtiekiki]

Date: 9/23/2004 10:57:24 PM
Author:Camellia
I love looking at this site to see what beautiful diamonds people are buying around the world and to read about other people''s experiences and gain from their knowledge. But I have a question: does everyone in the USA own a diamond of more than 1 ct? Most of the diamonds posted are what I would call large by Australian standards. Maybe we''re unlucky here because of the currency exchange? It''s just an observation.

People on PS are diamond enthusiasts/lovers and sometimes there''ve been upgrades. It''s not a good representation of the whole US. Diamond size have much more to do with geography and social expectation as fisiogrl mentioned, and personal preference.

Seems to me that most people on PS with 1+ ct are "fairly" established. I don''t think people are blowing away their money on the diamond and not considering their financial situations (at least on PS).

 

[koko]

My original yg wedding ring set had been altered after the "speck" of a diamond fell out....I had an extra band of gold added, got a new .33 rb center stone (the largest the ring could hold), and added bagettes to the sides of the ctr. stone....I''m having it sized for a rt. hand ring now. My husband upgraded my wedding set for our 25th anniversary to white gold comfort bands with a 1.15 EC center stone, which I love, but would have preferred 1.50 carats if I could have the same cut quality. My stone has a small table which makes it very "fiery." Anyway, I live in the Atlanta area and every engaged girl that I''ve met in the past couple of years has at least a carat. My 20 yr. old niece just rec''d. a 1.00 c. princess, an ex co-worker a 1.00 c. trillion (age 2, and another co-worker (age 32), a 2.05 radiant in platinum.....so I''d say the newly engaged in my area are getting at least a carat on average if they or their fiancee are college educated.......For myself, I wanted a diamond I could actually see .

 

[ursulawrite]

I am English and lived in London when I got engaged. My stone is 1.32 carats, E, VVS1. People thought it was huge in London but it''s very average in NYC -- if not rather small among my husband''s circle of friends.

Someone earlier made a good point about NY-ers renting and not owning a car. That''s true for 80% of the three-carat crowd I''m familiar with. For us, paying off school debt and buying an apartment was of paramount importance. Others feel differently but for us, buying a loft was most important, then, a weekend house and new furniture.

And now that we have all that out of the way, the stones can flow. I saw a two-carat pear-shaped emerald with diamond sidestones at T&C today that hubbie said he will buy me for my 30th birthday in eighteen months

. So, unless your OH is a hedge fund manager bringing in $5m a year, I''d say that we all have to prioritise in one way or another

 

[eks6426]

I wonder if age of the couple has anything to do with it in the US. I see a lot of younger engaged women with smaller center stones (under 1 carat--probably around .50), but older brides (30+) tend to have larger stones. I also see larger stones for 2nd weddings. I always figured that older brides were most likely marrying older men who have had more time in the workplace....

 

[Caribou]

My stone center stone is 1.29 ct...I was not excepting it, I was excepting a .90-.98 because that''s what we originally looked at. It seems anymore that anything between 1 & 1.5 ct is average.

I think as long as you love the person who gives you the ring it doesn''t matter if you have a .15 stone or a 3++ center stone.