Engagement rings | Imamother

amother

Thu, Dec 03 2009, 10:10 pm

What is the typical price range for an engagement ring? I know it can be anything so lets say what would be a range for a white gold setting with a 1.5-2 carat ring of mediocre c's. ?
Does the shape of the stone determine the price at all or is it all about the size and 4 c's?

Also, if you could choose an engagement ring today what style would you pick?

amother

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 7:28 am

amother wrote:

how on earth can anyone tell you the "typical price"??? unless they are a jeweler and can say "I am basing this on what the last 5,000 women who walked in here purchased engagement rings, and the average is: ___," the answer is completely baseless.

first of all, do you know that in E"Y many (perhaps most) frum women wear gorgeous rings and the stones are CZ? that means that the stone itself probably costs around 200 bucks, and you are paying for a nice setting (if that). so first of all "typical" depends on whether or not you are purchasing a diamond altogether. you are talking about two totally different ranges. one of 50 to 500 dollars, and another one of 20 thousand to 50+ thousand dollars.

second of all, I dont think most girls, and certainly not most older (by older, I mean not straight out of seminary and just engaged 18 year olds) women discuss the values of their diamonds. My ring is btwn 2 and 2.5 (hence my usage of "amother"), and the stone cost $25,000 and is appraised /valued / insured for more than that today, 15 years later. the setting is a simple gold setting with no sidestones (just what I wanted) and cost 200 dollars on 47th street in Manhattan. It is an internally flawless stone, hence the high pricetag. so how does my post help you exactly? How on earth do I know if that is typical or not? yes, when I got engaged, I still remember tons of friends said "oh did you get your ring yet" (no, I didn't) and when I finally did "Oooh can I see your ring??" but not one question about how many carats or how much it cost. and I would never answer them anyway. Why my in laws felt it was necessary or important to spend that much money on a stone, is not my business. They give alot of tzedaka and B"H have/had the means to spend that much on a diamond, and I am thankful for a beautiful ring (although I do not think a ring that cost 23,000 dollars less would have looked any less beautiful). the only time I was ever asked the cost for reasons other than appraisal or insurance was by a jeweler in a jewelry store.

and I also dont think a 2 carat ring is anything close to "typical" in either the not jewish world or the frum world (unless you are talking about CZs where a 1 carat fake stone or a 4 carat fake stone have a 20 dollar price difference) so you might be off base.

If I had to choose an engagement ring style today, I would pick the same style I picked 15 years ago. google "tiffany setting," mine definitely isnt from Tiffany's but its that simple setting and I love it.

Tamiri

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 7:47 am

Amom above me, make sure you follow the insurance policy's security demands so if CVC something happens, you are properly covered (I am assuming you have a rider). The money from that ring can be part of a nice downpayment for an apartment Very Happy

. Do you actually wear that here? Not that most people here would even know what they are looking at.....

Raisin

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 8:10 am

I have a real diamond and I don't think my dh spent $20,000 on it. (and I would have thought that was a huge waste of money) I think it was about $2,500, but I can ask him if you want. You can get small diamonds for under a $1000 fo r sure. When I vistited antwerp they sell tiny diamond chips for $10, so a small, less perfect stone is not that expensive.

check out ice.com for prices and styles.

I have zero idea how many carats my stone is. And could care less.

I got my ring in the yichud room anyway, since lubavitch do not give engaements rings.

amother

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 8:22 am

I got my ring in the yichud room anyway, since lubavitch do not give engaements rings.[/quote]

I'm learning s/th new every day! my diamond ring is 1.75 carats and I have 2 diamonds on the side, cost about 10,000

Marion

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 8:25 am

My ring is 0.32 or 0.33 carats. I can't imagine wearing anything as large as 2 full carats! And I only know how big the stone is because the setting was purchased separately and I had to get a stone to fit. The stone in my ring is very, very clear. And I know how much it cost but, like so many in the Jewish community, DH's family is "in the business", so I imagine if we'd paid retail for it the price would have been higher.

Beyond that, YES. Colour, shape, clarity, and size all affect the price.

Yes, I still like my ring and would choose the same setting. I might, however, thin out the band a bit as it's rather thick and when my fingers aren't swollen it's sometimes a bit rough.

amother

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 8:26 am

Mine is a basic round cut, .76 carrot ( I'm pretty sure ) and quality is VVS2 ( good quality ) it cost around 3K I think. I'm happy with it b/c though it's not HUGE, it's quality.

freidasima

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 8:38 am

There is nothing typical about rings, to each their own.
I have friends whose families had nothing. The husband gave them a CZ which is gorgeous in a gorgeous setting, the whole thing cost maybe $100 and it looks like a million bucks.

I have friends whose families shelled out a lot of money but not tens of thousands and they have a very nice tiny ring with a tiny real stone. Emphasis on the tiny everything.

In a society of conspicuous consumption where everyone shows off what they have, tiny real looks a heck of a lot worse than big flashy CZ.

and I have friends, like Marion said, whose families are in the business where they put a lot of money into a ring and of course as they got everything at cost they could afford a gorgeous big real stone. Enough to sell and buy an apartment today. But they think nothing

Just don't think that the size of the stone means something to everyone. Someone who grew up with diamonds pouring out all over the table like some of my friends from the business, aren't impressed by a lovely three carat real gorgeous stone in a platinum setting worth $50,000. OTOH a girl from a different background where this is her first "real" ring and it's a CZ, even a small CZ but beautiful, will be more impressed...

amother

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 9:39 am

amother wrote:

I'm learning s/th new every day! my diamond ring is 1.75 carats and I have 2 diamonds on the side, cost about 10,000

Mine is 1 carat with two small side stones and it's worth over 15K. dh could never afford that it's an heirloom ring and he only paid for the setting with the two stones which was also some money. People who aren't in the know would have no idea how much it's worth. Carat isn't the only thing, if you have an unusual diamond.

Point is, there is no average cost. It depends on what you want and your budget and if you catch your future mother in law in a very generous mood.

DefyGravity

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 10:16 am

Not everyone gets their ring from their MIL. Some people's husband's are the ones that actually use their own money and purchase the ring.

chocolate moose

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 10:18 am

I don't know if it's usual for a young man, using his own money, to buy more than 1/2 carat.

Ruchel

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 10:19 am

When a guy works often he has the desire to buy the ring himself. If he doesn't work (uni or learner) often the parents pay. But I'm not familiar with mil choosing it or offering it and I would have hated that.

newToNeighborhood

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 12:49 pm

DefyGravity wrote:

Not everyone gets their ring from their MIL. Some people's husband's are the ones that actually use their own money and purchase the ring.

louche

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 12:58 pm

freidasima wrote:

In a society of conspicuous consumption where everyone shows off what they have, tiny real looks a heck of a lot worse than big flashy CZ.

...

Depends on what you call "looking worse". For people whose motto is "hatznea lechet", big flashy carats look terrible, be they CZ or 4-C's.

DefyGravity

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 1:19 pm

freidasima wrote:

In a society of conspicuous consumption where everyone shows off what they have, tiny real looks a heck of a lot worse than big flashy CZ.

I can't tell the difference between a real diamond and a CZ. However, I do think that a large diamond OR a large CZ look equally gaudy.

Most people in my circles have rings that are either a little larger or a bit smaller than a carat.

Last edited by DefyGravity on Fri, Dec 04 2009, 2:01 pm; edited 1 time in total

NativeMom

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 1:51 pm

Raisin wrote:

same here. I didn't pick it out and it's perfect. I would never trade it for anything else. My only issue now is that both my ring and wedding band are too big.

DefyGravity

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 2:03 pm

I didn't pick mine out either.

amother

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 3:20 pm

I have a 1 1/2 carrot diamond and mine is a brilliant diamond. Guess what? no one knows the difference between a non-brilliant and brilliant diamond. I shoulda went with the worse quality bigger stone. My setting was a $1000 setting. My stone was about $7000- extra wholesale.

amother

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 3:33 pm

1 carat is average.
Good quality price range between $3k (not certified) and #7k.

amother

Fri, Dec 04 2009, 3:41 pm

I meant $3k-$10k. (And the MSRP would be higher than that. Though I assume nobody actually pays MSRP.)