Moissanite ?? Thoughts & Experiences :)

Rodar08

We're on the search for an engagement ring and I absolutely love Tiffany's 'Embrace' ring altho the real macoy is too expensive unfortunately .. USD12,000 too expensive in fact :eek: We are thinking more along the lines of 2-3 thousand Euro. Of course I would love to find a ring in this price range that matches the Embrace but it's probably unlikely.

There is however, one almost identical to this but it's not a diamond .. it's moissanite. If you put 'co dot com' after that word, that's were I seen it, product code Eng 952.
The total price for a 14k White Gold with 7.5mm (1.5ct) centre stone is USD 1,450. With our budget we'd get nowhere near this if we were to buy a diamond.

Does anybody know would we be wasting our money here? Would it be a huge mistake?? I really would love to hear from anyone who knows the deal on this, thank you

ABajaninCork

2-3k is plenty enough to buy a decent diamond IMO. There is no need to spend that kind of money on something that isn't even a diamond or if that's the ring you want not even 18ct gold...

If you want to make the money go a bit further, try online places like Diamond Geezer where you can choose your certificated diamonds. Not Blue Nile, as their diamonds aren't as good. I understand Voltaire are also good.

Alternatively, you could go over to Antwerp or Hatton Garden in London or the Diamond Quarter in Birmingham. You could even design your own ring for the budget you have.

That's only my opinion though!

Gatica

The design you picked is lovely, but those ones would be expensive in the shops as I've tried them on before and they were close to 9000 euro.
I suppose shopping around or going abroad to get the design you want at a better price is probably a better option than going for lesses grade gems. An honest jeweller may be of better help here in telling you whether moissanite is worth paying for.
Do keep in mind that the ring you go with now will also determine the wedding band shape, and may make it more difficult to find a band that will sit well with your ring and at a lower cost.

D3PO

ABajaninCork wrote: »

If you want to make the money go a bit further, try online places like Diamond Geezer where you can choose your certificated diamonds. Not Blue Nile, as their diamonds aren't as good.

Ive never shopped at Blue Nile but comments like this are just crap. What does their Dimonds arent as good supposed to mean anyway ??? seriously

FFS If a diamond is GIA certified then its GIA certified and two stones of the same spec are all but the same regardless of the supplier.

ABajaninCork

D3PO wrote: »

Ive never shopped at Blue Nile but comments like this are just crap. What does their Dimonds arent as good supposed to mean anyway ??? seriously

FFS If a diamond is GIA certified then its GIA certified and two stones of the same spec are all but the same regardless of the supplier.[/QUOTE

What makes your opinion more valid than mine? I gave my opinion. You gave yours. End of. And I didn't need to swear to give it either.

tatli_lokma

I can't comment on the stone you are looking at, but I just wanted to advise you on the style.
This is very similar to my own ring. I just want to warn you that these rings with a ;halo' design which have lots of small stones in it can get damaged very easily especially if the setting is in any way raised. I have bumped and knocked my ring a few times and have lost a stone, had it reset but once a small stone in these settings gets knocked out it can result in the setting being weakened. I'm lucky as I have a good friend who is a jeweller who keeps it right for next to nothing, but he did warn me about the style of ring and in particular the 'halo' of small stones.

We bought my ring abroad, so even with the occasional maintenance of the ring we spent a fraction of what that ring would have cost here so I'm not too bothered. But if I had paid more I would be raging at having to mind it so much.

If you go for this setting it is worth ensuring that the setting is a quality one - in particular I would recommend getting one that is made by a jeweller rather than a mass produced 'factory' set one - its the factory set ones that are more likely to be easily damaged. Whilst I understand you wanting to save money, sometimes its a case of penny wise and pound foolish and the cheaper ones end up costing more in repairs and maintenance.

D3PO

ABajaninCork wrote: »

What makes your opinion more valid than mine? I gave my opinion. You gave yours.

Well yours is opinion mine isnt.

One diamond in one shop of a certain spec that is GIA certified
Another diamond in another shop of the same spec tht is GIA certified.

These are essentially the same, clearly the imperfectiosn are not going to be identical but the overall appraisal indicates they are the same on the scale of apraising, and those scales are tight enough for there to be no disceranable different to the average joe.

There is no argument that one is not as good as the other. Thats the whole point of certification. :rolleyes:

Paul_Hacket

D3PO wrote: »

Well yours is opinion mine isnt.

One diamond in one shop of a certain spec that is GIA certified
Another diamond in another shop of the same spec tht is GIA certified.

These are essentially the same, clearly the imperfectiosn are not going to be identical but the overall appraisal indicates they are the same on the scale of apraising, and those scales are tight enough for there to be no disceranable different to the average joe.

There is no argument that one is not as good as the other. Thats the whole point of certification. :rolleyes:

You seem to have a remarkable habit of making authorative sounding posts about this subject when you clearly know very little about it. While I personally do not recommend people to buy diamonds since their price is massively inflated by the small cabal of distributors who control the market - if you do have to buy a diamond you can either buy a complete dud or get a relative bargain by buying within the exact same classification.

How is that? By buying a diamond with small inclusions which are not visible due to their position in the stone causing them to be hidden by the diamond's setting in the ring. On the other hand a naive buyer may purchase a diamond with the exact same classification but with any inclusions positioned front and center in the stone for all to see. One buyer has done relatively well while the other has made an even worse purchase than the typica (rip off) wedding ring transaction entails.

Again, why do you continually make aggressive posts berating people while pontificating about a subject you clearly have very little experience in?

ABajaninCork

Thanks Paul_Hacket! I was going to reply, but rapidly got bored...

csm

Perhaps if you had said "Blue Nile often sell you diamonds with inclusions in obvious places, so go somewhere where you are more likely to pick one up with inclusions that are more easily hidden.", or "you wont get value for money at Blue Nile" instead of the blanket "Blue Nile diamonds aren't as good" (which could mean anything and sounds more like bad mouthing the shop given that GIA certificates provide a means for standardisation)?

OP, I don't really know the Irish market but I would look around for purchasing the diamond separately and just copying the design. I suspect you will pay a premium for a Tiffany branded ring so you may be able to get it down to your budget, especially if you go for a smaller diamond and/or compromise on quality.

SSFG

My engagement ring is also like that ring, and I love it. We had a diamond from my mam's engagement ring, so that saved us alot of €. We had the ring made in Voltaire diamonds in Stephen's Green. There is also a jeweller in Limerick called Topaz, had my wedding ring made there and he is also very good, hope this helps.