My husband and I are celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary this year. He would like to upgrade my engagement ring. Right now I have a 3 stone ring with a .60 carat center stone flanked by .30 carat stones. He told me to look and see what I want. The ring that I have been mulling over is a 2 carat solitare. However, it is a K color and a VS 1 quality. The price is pretty good, but it is not certified.
The jeweler also has a number of created diamonds that are lovely. The same size with better quality would be half of what the natural stone would be. My fear is that the created stone would be worth much less in the future.
I would never consider a diamond to be an investment (unless it is one of those rocks that makes the news and of course, not affordable to mere mortals). Go for what you like best.
Diamonds are a blind item. You donāt really know what is a good price or not and jewelers routinely appraise them at double what you payā¦which does nothing for you except higher insurance premiums.
If you are looking to signify your anniversary, does $ āgrowthā matter? I mean, you will wear this on your finger. So itās not an investment.
I donāt know what your current ring is worth. However likely not as much as you think.
But in non financial value, thereās likely a lot of great memories in those 50 years it signifies.
As for certification or not, Iād be loath to spend thousands of dollars on something that I wasnāt assured is real.
Can you get it evaluated by a non store source ?
Are you concerned with its originā¦ie conflict diamond.
As for future value, there is profit margin in there (typically high in jewelry), so I would not expect any jewelry to hold its value. If it does itās a bonus but I would expect that what someone will pay for something that was for you, will have much less value later.
No clue what my wifeās ring is worth. Honestly never gave it a thought.
Love what you buyā¦unless itās a house or stock. Then love what you buy and hope it goes up in value
We just had to have some of my momās jewelry appraised when she passed in July. Fair market value was only a surprisingly small fraction of the replacement value (my friend who is a professional appraiser gave me both values as a favor). I was pretty shocked, frankly. If I were you, I would go for the one you like and not worry about the value.
And going along with @MaineLonghorn ā¦donāt expect that your heirs will get even the same amount you pay for this new Diamond if they choose to sell it someday.
There are a lot of options besides what youāve mentioned. A high quality CZ stone is likely to be even cheaper than what your jeweler is selling as a created stone. Neither option holds its value, but they arenāt terribly costly to begin with.
Look at aquamarine, a pale sapphire (some will be white with a faint blueish overtone), a pale tanzanite, white topaz- all of which are natural stones which come in shades ranging from a pale white to deeper blues/violets. The British Royal family famously loves deep blue sapphires as engagement rings- and you can find a good quality sapphire at 2 carats for much less than its diamond counterpart.
Take a look at the Blue Nile website-- their search engine makes it easy to play around with size, color, cut, etc. just to get a sense of the price ranges. I donāt believe they sell created diamonds.
If there is a store in your town which sells vintage jewelry, itās worth a visit to see what they have. Personally I love older cut diamonds-- donāt know that I love the ornate settings many of them are in, but itās easy enough to get a more modern setting if you find a diamond you love. You can get great value in an older ring.
I donāt believe you are looking for an investment, but I agree with what I think you are saying which is you donāt want to spend a lot of money on something that will depreciate as you walk out of the store. I get that. I think itās worth shopping around a bit to see if any of the other choices besides the oneās youāve mentioned work for you.
I saw an aquamarine engagement last year when I was getting my watch fixed which I am totally obsessed with and if I ever upgrade my engagement ring- thatās what Iām getting (or something similar). 2 carat oval, set in platinum, two triangular diamonds on the sides. The color was a watery blueish white (didnāt āreadā blue, but wasnāt as white as a diamond would be). The jeweler said it was a very high quality aquamarine (I trust him) and it was about 20% of what a medium quality 2 carat oval diamond would cost. I am a blue person- it was gorgeous. I usually think of aquamarine as being a pastel robins egg blue (not what Iād want for a ring Iād wear with everything) but this was several shades lighter than that.
So shop around before committing? A cousin of mine has a very pale amethyst solitaire she wears as her engagement ring- it is stunning and huge and was less than a thousand dollars in a platinum mounting. Too big for my taste but she loves it! And itās not really purple. More like a pale whitish violetā¦
Agreeing with all of the above and doubling down on the investment/heirs part:
the āvalueā is only what someone will pay for it- are you planning to sell it at some point? are you thinking that your child/ren will sell it? if it isnāt sold āvalueā is an irrelevant metric
if you look at non-wedding ring selling sources, you will find that ānon-traditionalā options are hot and getting hotter. That includes having a blinged-out wedding band instead of separate wedding & engagement bands; non-diamond gemstones (esp emeralds & sapphires) as the centerpiece (cf Emma Stone & Katy Perry); and vintage rings.
Lab-diamonds are actively preferred by many of the next generation. You may find that you heirs see a ānaturalā diamond the way my husband and his siblings see his parentās collection of carved elephant tusk ivory.
Not your question, but rather than ātrading upā, what about getting a new ring for your other hand- something that has all the flash and sizzle you are looking for, something that makes the āhey, look where we are financially 50 years later!ā statement you want- and keep the original ring, the one that started the adventure, the one that was the promise?
I upgraded about 15 years ago and really regret it. The ring is beautiful but my lifestyle is different and Iām a little embarrassed by it for many reasons.
Iām not really into expensive jewelry and Iāve never upgraded and have a small diamond and platinum engagement ring I havenāt worn in decades. I donāt want another ring but if I did either a mined diamond (conflict free) or engineered would make no difference to me. If a mined diamond though I would want a GIA certificate. But, my husband knows I donāt want jewelry so itās a non issue. Agree, donāt worry about what you or heirs might get for it down the line. Just enjoy. Happy 50th!
I should have added that my mom really expected my sister and me to get a lot for her jewelry and her extensive doll collection. She catalogued everything carefully and had receipts for all of it. Well, she was mistaken. The jewelry and the dolls just arenāt worth that much. Itās a good lesson for me.
Like baseball cards, like so many things. Been in boxes and binders for years. Most not worth much but when I retire Iāll open the books and enjoy them. My kids donāt care and will sell āāem off for a steak dinner at Ruth Chris.
Few ācollectiblesā appreciate and itās a guess at which will but wine and art come to mind (if u hit the right ones).
At least jewelry can be enjoyed and not withstanding @ucbalumnus very real and horrific concernsā¦.at least thereās that (enjoyment or flash!!).
I love jewelry but only if I created them dirt cheap, like when I went to Tahiti, got a nice blue Tahitian Pearl for $30, then took them home and made them into a nice necklace for another $30. Only recently found out they were not real diamonds, haha.
But seriously my husband bought me a huge Diamond ring for the wedding and itās still in the safe deposit box. Iām always playing with dirt so an expensive Diamond ring is useless to me.
