Floating Diamond Engagement Ring, Diamond search--Chicago area ?
I have been looking at diamond rings for sometime now. Been in sooo
many stores and delt with many sale personalities...some very good and
some very disappointing. I have learnt a fair amount concerning diamonds.
My question.....how are diamonds priced for their grading. There must
be some mathematical way of pricing diamonds. For example if I choose to
go up in color or clarity, I should have some idea of how much of an
$ increase is reasonable. Also, I need some idea of what base cost for
an 1. carot VS or SI stones is best. Anyone have suggestions of where to
visit in the chicagoland area?
My boyfriend and I have been looking at rings for a few months as well. I
don't know the answer to your question about the prices...but you may want
to get your hands on BOTH diamond FAQs...one includes a portion of a table
from a very hard-to-obtain periodical which shows prices per carat for
diamonds depending on color, clarity and size. It's helpful to use as a
guideline.
We have found the ring that we want at Cottage Jewelry which is on the
southeast corner of Chicago and Dempster. Since you go to NU I assmue you
know where that is. They have a variety of styles and ranges in price. I
suspect the low end for a standard solitaire diamond engagement ring would
be about $700. The one we're looking at is a Paul Klecka ring that runs
about $2500.
They have a variety of Paul Klecka's styles which are very unique looking
and modern seeming. Sleek lines, he uses a lot of "floating settings'
where the diamond appears to float--rather than being held in place by a
bunch of prongs.
They also have a variety of antique rings. They have old Victorian molds
and cast rings in them...thus the rings are modern and can be sized to fit,
or done in whatever metal you prefer (white gold, yellow gold, platinum,
antiqued white or yellow gold...etc.) There are several really nice ones.
They also have a bunch of "estate" jewelery--which is pre-owned stuff. All
antique...not much less expensive than something more modern because often
estate pieces are collected by people, so they are still valuable. I own
several pieces myself, though not from this store.
At any rate, they seem to be a good store-I'd suggest you look there. The
prices seem reasonable, they aren't a chain or mall-jewelry store, etc.
Go to the diamond district in the downtown Chicago, 100N to 100S Wabash
or so. Go to several upstair jewelers. Of course cheap, but don't expect
any kind of service, guarantees, etc. Caveat emptor, make sure you know
about diamonds (I am not talking about just reading a few FAQs on the
net). If you are looking for a neighborhood store, I'd suggest a retailer
in a strip mall, which is somewhat between the extremes of a full service
retail downtown jeweler, and high-volume enclosed mall retailers (just a
personal opinion, YMMV).
As far as prices go, for each increase in grade of clarity, as well as
each increase in grade of color, you are lookin at 7-15% increase in price
on average. For more exact info see either Rappoport Diamond Report which
lists the prices in a very complete form, or Jeweler's Circular Keystone
a monthly which publishes prices of common grades 4 times a year.
If you have any questions about diamonds, please see my FAQ. If you can't get
it off the server, I'll e-mail it to you if you wish.