People are so hung up on diamond size. I’ll take my nearly flawless .75 carat natural mined diamond over a 2 carat manufactured “diamond” any day.

Also, I like the colored stone trend that many new brides are choosing. Combine birthstones in a unique setting for something special and different from the halo settings everyone is wearing now.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not spend $10k on a fake diamond. Got my engaging ring close to 20 years ago, and it was $25k for a 2 carat. Have diamonds gone down that much in value?

Diamonds are not good investments

I think jewelry in general is not a good investment.

The only jewelry that keeps its value are the signed and valuable pieces, like by Pierre Brun for Cartier, or the very valuable jewelry with a written history. A a dime a dozen 2 carat ring from the mall jeweler should not be considered an investment. OP, I'd go two ways, but you need to check with your fiancée:

1) Get a beautiful antique, old cut or European cut diamond. I have a 4 ctw 3-stone Edwardian with amazing cut and clarity that has been in my H's family for generations.
2) Get a GIA ideal cut lab diamond. One of the PP is full of s*, as no gemologist can differentiate between a mined and lab one, as they are structurally identical. GIA ones are more expensive, but stricter for ratings, especially for cut and color / fluorescence. Set it up in platinum, so it can be passed down for generations. I have a nickel allergy and can't do regular gold.
If you go antique, bell and bird has some adorable ideas.
Do not buy regular mined diamonds. In addition to the ethical reasons, the producers are forced to sell more and cheaper to compete with the lab ones and the cuts are becoming very poor quality. GIA Excellent now wouldn't even pass the Good from a decade ago.

AGS0 is a safer bet than GIA Excellent. Some GIA Excellents are meh. AGS0 is almost always superb.

True for fancy cuts, but the audience is DCUM, who is maybe the second generation with money. For them, GIA is good enough, especially because they buy rounds. I mean, they told OP to go to the pawn shop to get a 0.5. AGS started rating LG last year, so their diamonds are hard to find.

No PP, AGS0 *only* applies to modern round brilliants.

I take that back. Apparently it can apply to princess, emerald, and oval as well. So you're right! But I do think AGS is a much better grader for rounds: https://www.briangavindiamonds.com/news/ags-ideal-vs-gia-excellent-cut-diamonds/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not spend $10k on a fake diamond. Got my engaging ring close to 20 years ago, and it was $25k for a 2 carat. Have diamonds gone down that much in value?

Diamonds are not good investments

I think jewelry in general is not a good investment.

The only jewelry that keeps its value are the signed and valuable pieces, like by Pierre Brun for Cartier, or the very valuable jewelry with a written history. A a dime a dozen 2 carat ring from the mall jeweler should not be considered an investment. OP, I'd go two ways, but you need to check with your fiancée:

1) Get a beautiful antique, old cut or European cut diamond. I have a 4 ctw 3-stone Edwardian with amazing cut and clarity that has been in my H's family for generations.
2) Get a GIA ideal cut lab diamond. One of the PP is full of s*, as no gemologist can differentiate between a mined and lab one, as they are structurally identical. GIA ones are more expensive, but stricter for ratings, especially for cut and color / fluorescence. Set it up in platinum, so it can be passed down for generations. I have a nickel allergy and can't do regular gold.
If you go antique, bell and bird has some adorable ideas.
Do not buy regular mined diamonds. In addition to the ethical reasons, the producers are forced to sell more and cheaper to compete with the lab ones and the cuts are becoming very poor quality. GIA Excellent now wouldn't even pass the Good from a decade ago.

AGS0 is a safer bet than GIA Excellent. Some GIA Excellents are meh. AGS0 is almost always superb.

True for fancy cuts, but the audience is DCUM, who is maybe the second generation with money. For them, GIA is good enough, especially because they buy rounds. I mean, they told OP to go to the pawn shop to get a 0.5. AGS started rating LG last year, so their diamonds are hard to find.

No PP, AGS0 *only* applies to modern round brilliants.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Real” diamonds come with very real ethical issues.

That is very true. I’ve been looking at antique diamonds where ethical issues would be less of a concern than a new diamond, but they’re hard to find in good quality.

HAHAHAHA! SLAVERY IN AFRICA!

I'm the OP with the 4 ctw Edwardian old mine. Antique diamonds are also blood diamonds, let's not fool ourselves. But they are already out of the ground. The old ones are wonderful and have a lot of character, because a human cut them and not a computer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not spend $10k on a fake diamond. Got my engaging ring close to 20 years ago, and it was $25k for a 2 carat. Have diamonds gone down that much in value?

Diamonds are not good investments

I think jewelry in general is not a good investment.

The only jewelry that keeps its value are the signed and valuable pieces, like by Pierre Brun for Cartier, or the very valuable jewelry with a written history. A a dime a dozen 2 carat ring from the mall jeweler should not be considered an investment. OP, I'd go two ways, but you need to check with your fiancée:

1) Get a beautiful antique, old cut or European cut diamond. I have a 4 ctw 3-stone Edwardian with amazing cut and clarity that has been in my H's family for generations.
2) Get a GIA ideal cut lab diamond. One of the PP is full of s*, as no gemologist can differentiate between a mined and lab one, as they are structurally identical. GIA ones are more expensive, but stricter for ratings, especially for cut and color / fluorescence. Set it up in platinum, so it can be passed down for generations. I have a nickel allergy and can't do regular gold.
If you go antique, bell and bird has some adorable ideas.
Do not buy regular mined diamonds. In addition to the ethical reasons, the producers are forced to sell more and cheaper to compete with the lab ones and the cuts are becoming very poor quality. GIA Excellent now wouldn't even pass the Good from a decade ago.

AGS0 is a safer bet than GIA Excellent. Some GIA Excellents are meh. AGS0 is almost always superb.

True for fancy cuts, but the audience is DCUM, who is maybe the second generation with money. For them, GIA is good enough, especially because they buy rounds. I mean, they told OP to go to the pawn shop to get a 0.5. AGS started rating LG last year, so their diamonds are hard to find.

Anonymous wrote:NP. You absolutely can tell a lab diamond from a mined diamond. I understand why it should theoretically not be possible, but there's a subtle difference in depth. That said, I can only do so when they are right next to one another. I don't think I would be able to spot one on someone else if I ever cared to try.

That said, purchasing a lab diamond for ethical reasons makes sense to me, but this idea of purchasing one to save money doesn't. Why not just buy a smaller mined diamond if one feels foolish about spending so much money on a diamond engagement ring? Unless you have rather large hands, a slightly smaller diamond will look elegant too.

Do you mean literal depth or some kind of perception thing? Because all kinds of diamonds are cut to all kinds of depths. Diamonds are often cut too deep to hit a certain carat weight (e.g. you could make an ideal cut 0.95 carat or a crappy, deep 1.00 carat diamond . . . most cutters will go for the 1.0 carat because of the price increase over one carat).

Check out Distinctive Gem and its owner Jonathan Weingarten's YouTube videos. Lots of great information about all kinds of sparkly gems!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Real” diamonds come with very real ethical issues.

That is very true. I’ve been looking at antique diamonds where ethical issues would be less of a concern than a new diamond, but they’re hard to find in good quality.

HAHAHAHA! SLAVERY IN AFRICA!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not spend $10k on a fake diamond. Got my engaging ring close to 20 years ago, and it was $25k for a 2 carat. Have diamonds gone down that much in value?

Diamonds are not good investments

I think jewelry in general is not a good investment.

The only jewelry that keeps its value are the signed and valuable pieces, like by Pierre Brun for Cartier, or the very valuable jewelry with a written history. A a dime a dozen 2 carat ring from the mall jeweler should not be considered an investment. OP, I'd go two ways, but you need to check with your fiancée:

1) Get a beautiful antique, old cut or European cut diamond. I have a 4 ctw 3-stone Edwardian with amazing cut and clarity that has been in my H's family for generations.
2) Get a GIA ideal cut lab diamond. One of the PP is full of s*, as no gemologist can differentiate between a mined and lab one, as they are structurally identical. GIA ones are more expensive, but stricter for ratings, especially for cut and color / fluorescence. Set it up in platinum, so it can be passed down for generations. I have a nickel allergy and can't do regular gold.
If you go antique, bell and bird has some adorable ideas.
Do not buy regular mined diamonds. In addition to the ethical reasons, the producers are forced to sell more and cheaper to compete with the lab ones and the cuts are becoming very poor quality. GIA Excellent now wouldn't even pass the Good from a decade ago.

AGS0 is a safer bet than GIA Excellent. Some GIA Excellents are meh. AGS0 is almost always superb.

Anonymous wrote:Would you rather save money on an exact replica LV bag or overspend on an authentic LV bag?

Neither. LV is tacky.

Just go to a pawn shop and get a natural diamond.

Also, diamonds between .5 and 1.5 carat are more practical for everyday wear. You can go larger and flashier with a cocktail ring than a wedding set.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you rather save money on an exact replica LV bag or overspend on an authentic LV bag?

You are clearly a moron and have no idea what you are talking about.

Lab diamonds aren’t fakes or knock offs. Do your research.

And you are clearly a beeeeyach

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you rather save money on an exact replica LV bag or overspend on an authentic LV bag?

Again, since you posted essentially the same thought in two different threads (how did you even find these old threads other than by searching for “lab diamond”?) — this is a terrible comparison. You clearly try to signal your worth by showing others what you can afford and get mad to think that other women try to achieve a similar look while paying less. It’s immature and snobby.

I prefer snooty…

I've loved gemstones of all kinds since I was a kid. I used to go to the gem shop for fun. My sorority voted me "most likely to be clad only in diamonds" lol.

But I love the sparkles, not the marketing or the manufactured cache. So sure, if I can get the same look and chemical composition for a fraction of the cost, sign me up.

I've been watching the advances in lab diamond and moissanite technology. They've both come a long way. The weird hues and inclusions are being corrected for (moissanites used to be a greenish hue, and lab diamonds brownish with odd log-like inclusions). That said, with moissanite being half the price or more of lab diamonds and having been perfected more IMO, it's my current preferred stone (moissanites are actually more sparkly than diamonds). But I'm sure soon lab diamonds will be even better.

If you want a lab diamond, James Allen has really good magnified photos of all their diamonds. Be sure to look at the profile view to check out if there's a brownish hue. Most natural diamonds have a yellow hue (though some have a brown hue, and some people say grade for grade, a brown can show less hue than a yellow). I've always gone for slightly tinted (I, J, K) natural diamonds in an ideal cut to save money, so I prefer that slight yellow tinge.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not spend $10k on a fake diamond. Got my engaging ring close to 20 years ago, and it was $25k for a 2 carat. Have diamonds gone down that much in value?

Diamonds are not good investments

I think jewelry in general is not a good investment.

The only jewelry that keeps its value are the signed and valuable pieces, like by Pierre Brun for Cartier, or the very valuable jewelry with a written history. A a dime a dozen 2 carat ring from the mall jeweler should not be considered an investment. OP, I'd go two ways, but you need to check with your fiancée:

1) Get a beautiful antique, old cut or European cut diamond. I have a 4 ctw 3-stone Edwardian with amazing cut and clarity that has been in my H's family for generations.
2) Get a GIA ideal cut lab diamond. One of the PP is full of s*, as no gemologist can differentiate between a mined and lab one, as they are structurally identical. GIA ones are more expensive, but stricter for ratings, especially for cut and color / fluorescence. Set it up in platinum, so it can be passed down for generations. I have a nickel allergy and can't do regular gold.
If you go antique, bell and bird has some adorable ideas.
Do not buy regular mined diamonds. In addition to the ethical reasons, the producers are forced to sell more and cheaper to compete with the lab ones and the cuts are becoming very poor quality. GIA Excellent now wouldn't even pass the Good from a decade ago.

Anonymous wrote:Would you rather save money on an exact replica LV bag or overspend on an authentic LV bag?

Read up on diamonds. The ONLY reason they have any value at all is marketing and DeBeers manipulation.