whitby_2773
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 2,655
my beautiful, clever, wonderful niece was engaged late last year in sydney , and was looking for a ring. neither she, nor her fiance, knows anything about diamonds. diamonds are, in australia, historically expensive - very, in fact. i was going home to australia 2 weeks later, so i said to her "E, let me help you find a great stone and i'll either get it set in a setting you like and bring it over, or i'll just bring the stone home in my luggage. i'll bring it home as a 'personal possession', so you'll pay no tax/duty, and i'll point you to people who will give you plenty of help and who will sell you a top shelf diamond." i asked her her budget - $12,000 max, prefer to keep it much lower if possible. she said she'd like a princess cut in a white metal setting, about a carat. i said she could get a WONDERFUL diamond, definitely a carat, for MUCH less money than that.
2 days pass - i get an email - "i couldnt wait! H and i were at (name of generic mall store) and i saw one i really liked and we got it! yay!" i called her, asked some questions - she didn't know the specs/stats - "but it's ok, because the lady in the shop told us all of that when we were there, and she said it's a reeeeeally good one..." - and apparently it's a princess .72 stone in a completely plain white gold setting.
remember she went in with a budget of $12,000 maximum.... (welcome to diamond buying in australia). now, i'm sure she didn't pay 12k for this, but i AM sure she paid over half that. at least. so unless she got a flawless D of breathtaking cut, she's been taken to the cleaners.
fast forward to new year's eve...and my (australian) best friend's (american) boyfriend proposes to her with a .95 E I1 completely eye clean H&A fireball from Good Old Gold, set in a solitaire yellow gold setting. its sparkle and color are UNREAL, and if it's got a flaw in it from right under my nose, i couldnt see it (and neither could sarah and darren at GOG who gave friend's boyfriend wonderful help and advice). all up, he paid 4k for the stone and about $400 for the james allen solitaire setting.
fast forward again to yesterday when i go to spend the afternoon with my sister and her family. I'm only visiting australia (home from NY where i now live), and dont want to risk driving somebody else's car on what has now become to me 'the wrong side of the road. so best friend drives me. E and H are there. we're chatting about the upcoming wedding, and i say - "oh! i should tell you - W (best friend) is engaged too and getting married." congratulations all around. and then the ugly moment...
(Niece) "Let's compare rings!"
in my head, it felt like one of those movie moments where the scene goes to slow motion, with someone leaping forward, trying in vain to drag someone else out of the way of an oncoming car, or bullet, or disaster of some sort - all the while screaming in a slowed down, distorted voice..."Nooooooooooo...."
and right in front of me they both stuck out their hands...and - oh gees louise....
W's ring is pure white, sparkling like water in sunshine, a beautiful size on her very slim hand. you could SEE its symmetry and its arrows and its basic perfection. utterly gorgeous.
E's is kinda grey. no twinkle. seriously - none at all. flat and completely lifeless. they both looked at W's ring and said "WOW!" i mean - there was nothing else TO say - that thing SPARKLES. then all eyes swung to E's ring and there was kinda silence. then E said "it's not very clean..."
i was so sad and so embarrassed for her. the clarity and the color may indeed be ok - who knows? but the cut was so entirely missing that it could have indeed BEEN a D IF (and i'm sure it wasnt!) and you'd have never known - it was just that lifeless. they said they thought it was a G. it's also set badly - the prongs not centered on the corners.
so the three things that were glaringly obvious were...
1) cut is everything
2) stay out of mall stores unless they are completely reputable, educated, and can show you truly good diamonds
3) for pete's sake - listen to your aunty whitby! given what i think they paid, and what they got, and given they have little money at this point in time - i suspect my niece and her fiance probably got ripped off to the tune of around $4,000+. and who can afford that - especially at that age? could have made a very nice honeymoon...
i was so sad for her.
2 days pass - i get an email - "i couldnt wait! H and i were at (name of generic mall store) and i saw one i really liked and we got it! yay!" i called her, asked some questions - she didn't know the specs/stats - "but it's ok, because the lady in the shop told us all of that when we were there, and she said it's a reeeeeally good one..." - and apparently it's a princess .72 stone in a completely plain white gold setting.
remember she went in with a budget of $12,000 maximum.... (welcome to diamond buying in australia). now, i'm sure she didn't pay 12k for this, but i AM sure she paid over half that. at least. so unless she got a flawless D of breathtaking cut, she's been taken to the cleaners.
fast forward to new year's eve...and my (australian) best friend's (american) boyfriend proposes to her with a .95 E I1 completely eye clean H&A fireball from Good Old Gold, set in a solitaire yellow gold setting. its sparkle and color are UNREAL, and if it's got a flaw in it from right under my nose, i couldnt see it (and neither could sarah and darren at GOG who gave friend's boyfriend wonderful help and advice). all up, he paid 4k for the stone and about $400 for the james allen solitaire setting.
fast forward again to yesterday when i go to spend the afternoon with my sister and her family. I'm only visiting australia (home from NY where i now live), and dont want to risk driving somebody else's car on what has now become to me 'the wrong side of the road. so best friend drives me. E and H are there. we're chatting about the upcoming wedding, and i say - "oh! i should tell you - W (best friend) is engaged too and getting married." congratulations all around. and then the ugly moment...
(Niece) "Let's compare rings!"
in my head, it felt like one of those movie moments where the scene goes to slow motion, with someone leaping forward, trying in vain to drag someone else out of the way of an oncoming car, or bullet, or disaster of some sort - all the while screaming in a slowed down, distorted voice..."Nooooooooooo...."
and right in front of me they both stuck out their hands...and - oh gees louise....
W's ring is pure white, sparkling like water in sunshine, a beautiful size on her very slim hand. you could SEE its symmetry and its arrows and its basic perfection. utterly gorgeous.
E's is kinda grey. no twinkle. seriously - none at all. flat and completely lifeless. they both looked at W's ring and said "WOW!" i mean - there was nothing else TO say - that thing SPARKLES. then all eyes swung to E's ring and there was kinda silence. then E said "it's not very clean..."
i was so sad and so embarrassed for her. the clarity and the color may indeed be ok - who knows? but the cut was so entirely missing that it could have indeed BEEN a D IF (and i'm sure it wasnt!) and you'd have never known - it was just that lifeless. they said they thought it was a G. it's also set badly - the prongs not centered on the corners.
so the three things that were glaringly obvious were...
1) cut is everything
2) stay out of mall stores unless they are completely reputable, educated, and can show you truly good diamonds
3) for pete's sake - listen to your aunty whitby! given what i think they paid, and what they got, and given they have little money at this point in time - i suspect my niece and her fiance probably got ripped off to the tune of around $4,000+. and who can afford that - especially at that age? could have made a very nice honeymoon...
i was so sad for her.
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