W;hat do you think the quality is of 2 carat diamonds in real life

[KristyDarling]

I''m in San Francisco and it''s a mixed bag. In well-off neighborhoods with lots of youngish female professionals (30''s to early 40''s, recently married, moms of babies/toddlers), I''d guess the average size rock is about 2 carats. Among this demographic, there are outliers with 4-5 carat boulders and also people with less than or just over 1 carat. (yes, sad that in some parts, people with 1 carat rocks are "outliers!") I also see alot of women in all neighborhoods wearing antiquey looking metal bands and diamond bands alone on their ring finger. Many neighborhoods are more down-to-earth, with fleece-wearing no-makeup types who often wear just a plain gold band. But if you walk into Saks or Nieman Marcus downtown, you will see a lot haughty-looking socialites (often Botoxed, with skin stretched super-tight and lips blown up to freakish proportions) with honkin'' and I mean HONKIN'' rocks....in the 7-12 carat range. I hate to stereotype, but so many of these ladies do nothing but perpetuate their own stereotype! Anyway, here in San Francisco, you will see the whole spectrum of bling -- from very understated bling to unbelievably large.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I see huge stones here in Charlotte, NC! However like Kristy said it depends on the neighborhood. I always wish EVERYONE was a PS member so I could get a closer look at some of the ones I see without appearing like a crazy person.

 

[CareBear]

I live in the bay area and work at a large tech company. I'm on the R&D side where I rarely ever see any bling period. First time we had a company wide meeting I was in shock! The ladies on the business side all had HUGE rocks! I spent the whole meeting staring at their e-rings. Most R&D folks make good money but they just tend not to care much about bling. But most of them own expensive houses though. So I don't think it has anything to do with what city you live in but what you wanna spend your money on.

 

[ladykemma]

Date: 6/28/2006 5:17:42 PM
Author: CareBear
I live in the bay area and work at a large tech company. I''m on the R&D side where I rarely ever see any bling period. First time we had a company wide meeting I was in shock! The ladies on the business side all had HUGE rocks! I spent the whole meeting staring at their e-rings. Most R&D folks make good money but they just tend not to care much about bling. But most of them own expensive houses though. So I don''t think it has anything to do with what city you live in but what you wanna spend your money on.

i think there''s a corollary to this

i think where there''s easily affordable housing, the blingage is smaller. people are into getiing into a house first. in areas where housing is exorbitant, people get huge blingage and forget about the real estate, at least for a while.

 

[codex57]

Date: 6/28/2006 3:49:55 PM
Author: eleguin

My fiance is a controller at a large investment bank in NY, but at 25, he doesn''t make what the average lawyer makes. His theory about engagement rings is that you have to go by the higher wage-earner''s standards. Even though I would''ve been happy with any ring that he bought me, he ended up really extending himself to buy me the 2 carat F VS2 center stone. Neither of us want to ever upgrade in the future and I think he just wanted to make me happy and not have me be one of the few people at the firm who didn''t have a sizable ring. I guess for a guy, when your girlfriend is in a profession full of women with large rocks, it''s hard not to feel a little bit pressured

It''s true. My wife is a pharmacist. Her coworkers'' husbands all tend to be quite successful too. I ended up choosing btw a 1.23 and a 1.37 ct diamond. Both were over my budget by varying degrees. I ended up choosing the bigger one anyways simply cuz it was noticeably bigger and I wanted to do what I could to make sure she could feel proud about the diamond. I''d already sacrificed enough size in order to get an ideal cut and D color. Plus, I figured that I was young. I could always make more money. It really hurts a guy''s ego if his girl gets embarassed by her ring. Conversely, any compliments she gets from her ring stroke my ego as well.

It''s the same reason I let her drive my BMW and I take her older Camry. Her coworkers have nice cars. Sure they may have worked a lot longer, but they''re still there in the parking lot.

 

[butterfly 17]

I can''t say what the quality of 2 carat diamonds are in real life, but I don''t think that many people are aware of H&A''s, ideal cut yes, but not superideal.

I am from NY and I have to say I see a mixture of all diferent sizes, but I don''t think I have ever seen anyone wear more than 2.5 carats.
Looks can definitely be deceiving, though. Just the other day I was at the mall and I saw a diamond ring on the salesperson and it looked huge. I guessed it to be 3 carats at least. I didn''t wanted to be rude and just ask her what size she had, so I told her I was thinking about upgrading my 2 carat and wanted to know what size her diamond was.

She told me 2..10 and I was shocked. I really thought she must not know anything about diamonds

Then she asked me what size mine was and I told her 2 carats and we put our rings next to each other and mine looked bigger than hers. Another shock!!!
Also, my coworkers daughter got engaged to a store manager and we asked her what was the ring like and she said it was so huge, it had to be at least 4 carats. Umm. unless he hit the lotto or his parents are really well off and gave him the money, there is no way he could have afforded a 4 carat diamond.
Remember, most people can''t really tell what size a diamond really is and alot of people wear fake rings.

Honestly, if someone came up to me and said, this is my 4 carat diamond D IF superideal cut diamond that my fiance just gave me, who am I to tell if it''s the real deal or not.

 

[Jensia]

I live in The Phoenix area of Arizona. I tend to see most people wearing a carat in size. I do seem to notice a lot more well cut diamonds on people here but not larger.

My cousin who is in her 20''s the other day said that in her circle they want nothing less than a 2 carat and that that is becomng the norm for younger people.

Mine is only 1.04 but it is well cut and I just love it. I think someday I will upgrade to a 1.5 but nothing larger. I do not like the
feel of something large or bulky on my hands. I never wear necklaces or braclets and watches for that very reson. I dont like to
feel the jewlery I wear.

I kind of agree on that I hope cut does not catch on in the genral public, becuase I like unique. Makes mine feel even more special,lol

Jensia

 

[Evie75]

Im from NYC too.. when My bf and I went ring "looking" in the diamond district just for ideas... my Bf requested to see 2ct and up stones . after all the trying on diff shapes and stuff. the jeweler said to me.. "I think its great that you are going for a smaller stone, it looks very beautiful and dainty on your hand" me and BF looked at him like SMALLER?? and then he asked if i would like to see larger ones and i said no this is enough diamond for my finger. Personally I wouldnt like anything bigger,, a little too flashy.

But yeah i think the going size is 2....

but we did see a couple ring shopping and she was like "I told you I only want to see 5ct and up... i want to be able to SEE the diamond" and her bf was like "dont you think you''re being a little rediculous" LOL i was looking at her like she was nuts... we had a good laugh.

 

[scarlet16]

Date: 6/27/2006 7:46:25 PM
Author: ellchris
hey julian,
where in the city are you seeing over 3carats?
i''m in the city, battery park, and i gotta say that the most common size i''m seeing is around 2.
a few of our friends recently got engaged and the largest was about 1.50.
have to agree that rounds aren''t as popular here and i''m seeing a ton more cushions, but rarely do i see
anything over 2.
as far as working in finance goes, my husband is in finanace. works on wall, hence why we live here since it''s 10 minute walk to work for him
and even his colleagues wives don''t wear diamonds that size.
maybe we just live in very different social circles.

I was thinking the exact same thing! I work downtown and live in midtown west and SELDOMLY see big big honkers...and you know I''m tryin'' to see some! The only big ol'' stones I see are on 5th Ave. in the stores....

I''m a young professional (law)...and the avg. seems to be just around a carat in my social circles. There is one girl in my office who has a 2 carat cushion...pretty but nothing special, and her fiance is an older attorney who could afford it. My stone is personally just under a carat but we agreed we had other more financially important things to spend our money on...

 

[pyramid]

It was great to read all of the replies here. It seems there is no standard quality like for all other sized of diamond rings.

As someone said the 2 carat thing for an engagement ring may just be marketing, but then there are those who can afford high quality 2 carat size and those who cannot but still go for it but reduce the clarity and cut etc.

I liked to read all the regional replies too and hearing all these place names in America.

 

[ladykemma]

among my houston high schoool schoolteacher colleagues 1 carat or less is the norm. 2 of my colleagues are jewelry fanatics like I am and so they have bigger nicer stuff. one even has a platinum watch which i covet.

one of my teacher friends has a 1 carat deep ugly yellow poorly cut stone that has no shine or sparkle. she looks at mine and goes to try to clean hers. This year I will drop the hint that she can trade it in.

in the wealthy houston neighborhoods like river oaks and memorial now that''s where you see the nice rocks.

 

[JenStone]

Although we don''t currently live in NY, my boyfriend and I are both from there and we plan on going back within the next year. We both have a lot of friends who live there, and the average does seem to be 2 carats. In fact, some of my friends are the ones who say they want at least 2, no less! (I can''t tell if they''re being serious or not)

It does have to do a lot with lifestyles. These friends are mostly Ivy-educated, with MBA''s or law degrees, making well over $100K a year (I would say the average is $150K). And they''re all under the age of 30! They seek successful people as their mates, so usually, the combined incomes of these couples are staggering.

In addition, we are part of a generation where we seek instant gratification, where our demands and needs can be met by a touch of a button. Most of us would rather get a nice diamond now rather than upgrading years down the road.

Among our circle of friends, it seems to be the men who are trying to outdo each other by buying their fiancees bigger and better rings. It''s the male ego thing. For instance, I know my boyfriend has saved enough to buy me a very nice ring, but he told me that he wants to save even more.

Personally, I think that 1.5 carats seems to be the perfect weight....anything above seems to be met with, "Wow that thing is huge! Is it real?"