How to Buy a Diamond Engagement Ring
Moneywatch.com
Female: Any idea how much the average engagement ring costs, almost 55,000
dollars. If you’re going to spend that kind of money you want to know
you’re getting a good deal.
And that’s why we’re here in New York City’s Diamond District. There
are over 2,600 businesses on this block alone, almost all of them deal in
fine Jewelry.
I visited Landsberg Jewelers to find out more about shopping for a
diamond engagement ring.
We’re here with John Landsberg a certified gemologist and John you’re
going to teach us how to buy a diamond, so what’s the most important
thing that helps determine the price of a diamond.
Male: Well it’s really a combination of things like they say the for Cs the cut, the
clarity, the color and the weight of the stone.
Female: That’s the karat right.
Male: Right exactly. What it comes down to is how much do you want to spend,
how much are you willing to spend and what are you willing to give up
and not willing to give up anything then sky is the limit?
Female: Okay so let’s talk about some other rings that you have here so we’re
starting here. Now what size is that, what’s the karat count on that.
Male: This is a one karat oval.
Female: How does this one karat cost about we want you to hold to it?
Male: That stone is approximately 10,000 dollars.
Female: 10,000 bucks is that for the whole ring or just the stone.
Male: That’s just for the diamond itself.
Female: Okay now there’s this big mama here how many karats is this?
Male: That’s 6 karats.
Female: 6 karats okay now I know that it’s probably got lots of different things you
know the cut and the quality and the clarity all that but is 6 karats how
much about?
Male: Well 95,000 dollars.
Female: What about the cut what are some of the cuts here and what are the
differences between them?
Male: Okay we have your oval cut diamond right here.
Female: Okay.
Male: This is your basic round.
Female: The most popular.
Male: Yes. This is a bigger basic round.
Female: Always nice to have a bigger version.
Male: This is a pear shaped diamond which has been popular for the last 30 to 40
years and recently made a little bit of a come back.
Female: So let’s look at this two loose diamonds. This is a round stone, right? And
this is the said about 3 karats a little bit more, this is a…
Male: Emerald type.
Female: If we’re looking at rings that were pretty much the same quality one is a
lot more expensive than the other. In this case it’s 20,000 dollar difference
right? Why?
Male: Round is the most popular stone.
Female: So it sounds like you get more stones we know what the weight is so its
just about the round is more popular and the emerald is a beautiful stone is
the same size but you’re going to get a way better bargain on it right?
Male: Correct.
Female: Alright I’m getting this one here. Well your trade.
Male: Well you know for your fingers you have nice long fingers an emerald cut
probably would look better.
Female: But let’s say I’m on a more limited budget, I may not want to go with a
round stone because it’s expensive but the setting can really enhance the
way that the ring looks, right.
Male: Absolutely.
Female: So what kind of setting is this one, this looks like sort of like pretty
intense?
Male: Yes this is another micro setting with a markhee diamond and it makes the
diamond look at least twice the size of it actually is. You have all the work
done on the sides and all your seeing is diamond when you’re looking
down.
One of the common mistakes would be somebody buying a diamond
based on size like all I care about I want a 3 carat diamond that’s all I
want, I don’t care about the color or the clarity, I just want big.
Female: So what you are proving to me again is that size doesn’t matter?
Male: Not all the time.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services