How to Buy a Diamond Engagement Ring

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.