The Ring

I'm not engaged, but the Man in my life is looking for a ring.  Actually he was looking last June when we went to Vegas together!  Poor guy, walks into a Zales in Vegas and asks me to look for a ring I like.  I look at the engagement rings and even try on a few.  But I realized my fingers are really long, and if I don't get a 3 carat round cut diamond, my ring will be unnoticeable when sitting below my king kong knuckles.

So I convinced myself I needed an oval diamond.  I haven't seen too many oval diamonds and I like being unique, so I love the idea of an oval cut (like above).  However, we're in Vegas and in a diamond store and the Man really wants me to come home with a diamond ring.  So he buys me a "ring with diamonds" not a "diamond ring".  Something similar to these:

As I research diamonds more and more I realize....they are a HUGE rip off!  My goodness!  We went to Zales and found an oval solitaire 1.3 carats...we were quoted $13,000.  $13,000!!!  The Man says it's no big deal and he'll save up.  I'm starting to realize he'll be saving up for a LONG time.  And this girl has an ITCH.  A wedding itch.  A time to move on with my life itch.

While I'm scratching, I stumble across an article on AOL article (yep, I still read AOL news...not a fan of Google news layout). 

This article (which I can't find on AOL anymore, so I'm sorry there is no source) suggested a wholesale company I've never heard of:  James Allen.  They are based out of New York and do not have a store front.  

Their comparable oval diamond at 1.36 carat was $4,130.  $4,000!!  That's one THIRD of Zales.  This made me sick to my stomach!

So why does Zales cost this much?  I'm sure can figure out it's because of the hundreds of locations around the U.S.A.  Also their sales staff and their popularity.  As our sales rep at Zales said "We're the McDonalds of diamond stores".  umm wow - thanks but no thanks.  I do NOT want fries with that! 

I'm on the mad search for wholesale diamonds.  I've looked at BlueNile and ItsHot.com. 

          

I also found a local wholesale jeweler who has the same warranty and trade-in policy as Zales. 

You may be wondering why I am looking for this ring and the Man isn't.  Well for starters, I sit at a computer all day while he's on a tractor.  So I have the resources and time.  Also I'm much more money conscience than he is.  If he had $13,000 cash that day he would have bought that ring.  But I'm a sales person by trade and I know there's more than the value of the ring in that $13,000 price.  And seeing that two thirds is going to the corporation, I'm NOT on board....besides I'd love to support a local jeweler.  I know there's a possibility the local guy will go out of business (even though this company's been around for 20+ years).  But at the same time, that's why you insure your diamond!  He could skip town or I could lose the ring!  Life is full of risks.

So wish me luck on this journey!

Look for the next post on Why I'm getting a ring (and not forgoing it all together).

               Sidebar: as soon as I say I want an oval diamond to be unique, my friend from college gets an oval diamond!  But she doesn't have king kong knuckles....she's super skinny and super tiny.  Her photo below.

She did the 6 prongs, which I thought I didn't like, but it doesn't look too bad and it holds the diamond better than 4 prongs.

My hand with loose 1.3 carat diamond -->