Viewing 23 posts - 1 through 23 (of 23 total)
  • Tell me about Pink Diamonds
  • thegeneralist
    Free Member

    My missus has been hankering after a pink diamond for years. A little bit of reading around the De Beers monopoly and their loathesome advertising campaigns totally put me off the idea so I demurred.

    Over the last months I’ve been thinking that if she wants to waste my money getting a pink diamond, then fair enough, I’ll buy her a pink diamond. After all it’s a present for her not me. (took me a while to reach this stunning conclusion)

    So far I’ve learned that pink diamonds are phenomenally expensive compared to clear ones, unless you get artificially irradiated ones which sound and look a bit sub optimal. After all, what’s the purpose of a ring which is only there to proclaim bling if it actually proclaims cheapskate bling.

    The shop I just tried in Altrincham (my first mistake) basically said that there are no natural pink diamonds small enough to be made into a ring for a couple of grand. So I should think clear or irradiated.

    I want this to be a surprise, but don’t want to make a huge faux pas by wasting loads on a small genuine pink or wasting loads on a bigger potentially sub optimaler irradiated pink. Equally there’s no point in getting a clear if she said she wanted pink.

    Opinions please

    <edited to be less harsh>

    thegeneralist
    Free Member

    I have a horrible suspicion I may just have alienated 50% of the people who could help me out with this.

    naff

    bearnecessities
    Full Member

    Opinions please

    You’re a pussy.

    thegeneralist
    Free Member

    You’re a pussy.

    Would you care to elucidate?

    Pussy because I’m bowing to pressure to buy something I think is daft.
    OR
    Pussy because I should just man up, nip round to the shop and spend our bike/holiday/retirement money on the biggest fattest pinkest stone they have? 🙂

    thegeneralist
    Free Member

    I have to admit I was slightly apprehensive whether the security dude would even open the door to me when I arrived. I was there rattling it for a while before I realised it was locked and the man mountain needed to unlock it before I could enter.

    Not the sort of place I frequent.

    slowoldman
    Full Member

    Sounds like marketing hype to me. I’m sure years ago the whiter the better was the thing with diamonds. Anything else being a defect. Clearly De Beers have a large stock of “off white” diamonds they now need to unload onto the market.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    I can recommend a place in the little side market thing in the Northern Quarter (it’s where my nowwife’s engagement ring came from). I’ll dig up some details.

    bearnecessities
    Full Member

    Because

    A) you made a post with the word pink 9 times.

    B) You luuurve her

    C) Of all the places to ask such a question…

    Man points though for B) and selfishly pursuing to get what she wants 🙂

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Here.

    http://www.manchesterjewellers.co.uk/

    It’s off Oak St apparently.

    geetee1972
    Free Member

    while trying to buy my wife’s engagement ring I made the mistake of trying to shop in Van Graff on Bond St. The door was opened For me and I explained that I was looking to buy an engagement ring (my now wife was with me).

    “May I inquire as to the budget” the gentleman asked me very politely.
    “About £3500” I replied
    He smiled and said “sir it is a handsome figure but sadly not one I can accommodate”

    I thought that was a brilliant way to let me down gently.

    onehundredthidiot
    Full Member

    Clear or cloudy, pink or colourless.

    CHB
    Full Member

    Attempt at semi serious answer.
    Firstly diamond stuff at full value is a rip off.
    With diamond the chemist in me screams out…IT’S JUST CARBON FFS.
    Unlike gold and other heavy elements, diamond is only valuable because its difficult to make and not because the elements to make it are in short supply.
    For natual diamonds I am a purist VS and good scores for clarity really matter. The cut on a diamond really matters..you want a diamond that sparkles. For me (well my Mrs) that means a bright white sparkly, not a cute pink marketed one.

    neilnevill
    Free Member

    Many girls have a thing for diamonds…. Best friend saying has some truth.

    After proposing to my fiancee, who worked as a sales assistant at a top London diamond jewellers for a while, I got a crash course in sparkly stones, and how to buy….. Or how she wanted to.

    After a lot of looking in places like mappin and Webb or bootles, and lots of independent jewellers I’d say for a pink (expensive and rare) stone you have 2 options. Pay top dollar in DB, MW, Bootles or make a trip to hatton garden or Amsterdam. The second route will save a significant amount, but do your research and know what you want

    neilnevill
    Free Member

    Oh and personally I tend to agree with chb, for brilliant sparkle cut(symmetry and polish) and a clarity of vs2 or better ( bigger imperfections can be seen by eye).

    http://www.4cs.gia.edu/en-us/diamond-clarity.htm

    Although the colour scale for white diamonds gets costly as you head to D (colourless) colours such as HP (horse p1ss) and pink are rare. Rare means you’ll have to hunt, and have to pay… A lot.

    CountZero
    Full Member

    I’ll ask my mate tonight over a beer, he’s a goldsmith, and the place he works at does a lot of bespoke rings and stuff with a very wide variety of stones. He doesn’t actually do stone settings, generally, but he’ll have a good idea about costs and availability. (High/rare). 😀

    wrightyson
    Free Member

    I got my wife’s engagement ring of my mum’s very own finger, an antique dealer. As they say it’s not what you know but who 😉

    CountZero
    Full Member

    My mate pretty much confirmed what I said. Pink diamonds are very expensive, generally very small, about 10 points/2mm, and the colour is pretty subtle, and really only shows up next to white diamonds. He couldn’t give any clues about price, they haven’t done a ring with a pink diamond for some time.
    Any colours like yellow, pink or blue are very expensive, red are insanely expensive.

    Xylene
    Free Member

    Is a pink diamond anything like a chocolate starfish? Maybe she is speaking in code to you.

    konabunny
    Free Member

    The stones are just a commodity. Compare prices according to metrics established by industry standard certification (don’t trust Big Bob’s Pan-European Stone Certification). Phone around actual dealers (Hatton Garden, Antwerp wherever), find out what you can afford, get the same price. It’s exactly like buying a new car (only less useful).

    The setting (ring) is easier – pick something that looks nice, get it in the right size, get stone fitted into ring.

    Tom_W1987
    Free Member

    Get her a wedding ring case with a picture of a dead and rotting African kid in it.

    http://www.salon.com/2013/01/07/the_myth_of_conflict_free_diamonds/

    tarquin
    Free Member

    He’d be fine with a pink diamond TomW since it’s going to come out of Australia.

    I’ve seen them in the jewellers in Sydney, they seem to be three times the price of a normal diamond at least, price is fixed even worse than they are with regular diamonds.

    WildHunter2009
    Full Member

    I think most of the worlds (all?) natural pink diamonds come out of Rio Tintos Argyll mine and they are even more controlled than normal diamonds in terms of availability. In oz i’m pretty sure Argylls are only available to certain dealers as well. In short they are more expensive than a very expensive thing dipped in magic sparkles.

    On the bright side, get a decent pink and you will be able to justify literally any bike ever, for the rest of your life!

    Dave

    peter1979
    Free Member

    Check out 77 diamonds, you can buy loose ones and specify clarity, colour etc.

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