1/9     good place to buy a engagement ring setting (platinum)?
        \_ There is no good place to buy an engagement ring.
           An engagement ring is your undoing. It will lead to
           life of unthinkable horror and suffering. Save your
           money, save your self.
           \_ Or choose your mate more wisely than this person did.
        \_ Tiffany's. --dim
           \_ Do they serve breakfast there?
              \_ Well that's the one thing they've got.
        \_ ooh, trolling bitter-divorced-guy?
        \_ why not save and go directly to marriage?
           \_ This can't be serious.
              \_ heh.  worked in my case, though her mom "requires" a
                 wedding ring... of course we're leftist no-jewelery, no
                 make-up, pre-nup against the ridiculous school debt
                 kinds of people.
                 \_ Oh yeah?  Then why bother even getting married?  Why
                    can't you just be friends and housemates who have sex?
        \_ Please archive this thread for posterity.
        \_ Get it at an Asian jewelry store.  It's cheaper.  The diamond
           is still the same (from debeers, our lovely diamond monopoly).
           Usually they sell the diamond separately from the setting.  You
           \_ Last time we went to Blue Nile it cost about $15 each and we
              didn't even drink that much.  When did they get so pricey?  We
              went there as students and could easily afford it but shelling
              out that now for what they're serving isn't and we're both
              working good jobs.  Berkeley needs food price controls.  Like
              rent control but for restaurants.
           can pick whatever setting you want.  Some even have imitation
           Tiffany settings. A layman cannot tell that it's a fake Tiffany.
           You can read all the ideal cuts and the four C's at any web site.
           I'll give you a word of advice on settings.  DON'T GET THE WHITE
           GOLD SETTING.  Get the platinum.  Don't go cheap on the setting.
           It's indistinguishable from the color.  But white gold is much
           much softer than platinum.  So it scratches easily.  I spent a
           lot on the diamond but went cheap on the setting.  I'm regretting it
           now.  My wife's ring has very visible scratches.
                -happily married guy (also BDG's #1 fan)
                 \_ You can't be my #1 fan. You obviously didn't heed
                    my advice. Oh well. I'm glad you are happy now.
                    Make sure to enjoy it as much as you can, because
                    the memory of this happiness will have to sustain
                    you in the years of misery ahead.
                    \_ Dude!  BDG you rock!     #BDG true #1 fan (single)
        \_ Blue Nile. You will pay a bit more than someplace like
           Wal Mart, but the quality is top notch. They are not
           insanely overpriced, like Tiffany's or Neiman Marcus
           and have a great education section. Start there, at least.
           \_ I bought my fiance's ring at Blue Nile. I ended up ordering
              the wrong size and they replaced it with a different one
              without any hassles whatsoever. They also have a reasonably
              decent java applet for choosing between various stones.
              http://www.goodoldgold.com is a great educational site
              for learning about diamonds. After I read that, I felt
              like I knew enough to go out and buy something without
              feeling like a total idiot.
        \_ I bought my wedding rings at "Fred Meyer" or something like that.
        \_ I heard that there is no reason why diamonds should be
           expensive.  It is not rare at all from the amount of quality
           jewelry grade diamonds that come onto the market each year.
           The only reason they are expensive is because of the excellent
           marketing campaign conducted over the decades, and of course,
           monopolistic control of the supply.  That you need a diamond
           engagement ring is a custom established over the years by the
           De Beers company.  Americans spent the most on diamond
           engagement rings, yet when the American courts ordered De
           Beers to appear in court for price fixing concerns, the De Beers
           executives didn't bother to show up.  Now they can, in theory, be
           arrested on setting foot in the US.
           \_ So buy her an engagement ring with a rare stone in it, like
              a Burma ruby, then. --dim
                \- yeah burma ... there is a PC country.
                   \_ Who gives a shit about PC? --dim
                 \_ No, but I want her to shop complaining that I bought her
           \_ Any URL please?  I'd like to show this to my wife of three years.
                 \- there are lots of debeers stories lately. the "issues"
              \_ It was discussed on a radio show, but I have read it elsewhere
                 too.
           \_ Are gold, silver and platinum expensive for the same reason?
              \_ gold, silver, and platinum at least are available from
                 several suppliers and are traded on the open market.  They
                 also are useful on their own -- as conductors, as catalysts,
                 for corrosion resistance (gold) or reflective properties.
                 --jon
                 \_ But diamonds are useful as industrial drill heads too, I
                    heard.
                    \_ correct.  but those are industrial grade diamonds,
                       which are not as overpriced as jewel grade.  And,
                       industrial grade diamonds can't really be made into
                       jewel grade.  excess precious metals can be purified
                       and used for a variety of purposes --jon
           \_ Another thing I forgot to add, was that on the radio show, it was
              mentioned that at one point in time, today's jewelry-grade
              diamonds were selling at like the equivalent of a few US dollars,
              or something similar.  That was before the early miners got
              together to form the De Beers cartel.
                    with dianmonds and debeers: 1. it is a cartel that
                    sucessfully keeps diamond prices very high 2. they do so
                    through some pretty hardball tactics as well as propaganda
                    and misinformation and traditional ads 3. they are doing a
                        \_ and don't forget disinformation as well!
                    lot of bogus stuff to supress artificial diamonds [which
                    are a lot closer to the real thing than artificial fur,
                    which seems reasonable successful 4. they are hypocrits
                    on say this anti-blood diamond campaign ... it's pretty
                    tough for debeers to claim a real interest in africans
                    but this certification campaign helps themselves. --psb
                    \_ seriously, this is all true.  the whole idea that you
                       should have a diamond engagement ring is just a debeers
                       marketing ploy and is not traditional at all, but a very
                       recent development.  don't fall for the hype.
                          \_ This kind of BS usually comes from guys who spend
                             thousands on computers or tech toys.  Somehow,
                             getting a state of the art computer is more
                             important than making your future wife happy.
                             As long as you think that way you're not ready
                             to share your life with someone else.  I don't
                             buy into the "spend 2.5-3 times monthly salary
                             on a diamond" routine.  But you do have to get
                             something that's symbolic of the relationship.
                             It doesn't cost that much to make your future
                             bride happy.   -happy married guy (HMG? :-)
                             \_ something symbolic, absolutely.  a ring, sure.
                                a diamond?  no fucking way.  when i get
                                engaged it will not be to someone who thinks
                                i need a big shiny artificially price inflated
                                rock on my finger.   -lila
                                \_ I wasn't suggesting that a guy buy a
                                   diamond ring and force his wife to wear it.
                                   The above scenario was more like: the girl
                                   wants a diamond ring but the guy would
                                   rather spend the money on computers instead.
                                   That's the scenario I have problems with.
                                   If you don't want a diamond ring, good for
                                   you.  -HMG
                             \_ There is no way to make your bride happy.
                                Women are the source of all the problems
                                in the world, because they can't sit around
                                and be content with what they've got. They
                                always need something more, something better,
                                something nicer. If you have to start out
                                your marriage by buying a chunk of carbon
                                for your wife in order to make her happy,
                                you will be in for lots of misery later on.
                    \_ Yes, I believe some artificial diamonds actually have
                      better internal reflection properties than real diamonds,
                      meaning that objectively they should look more beautiful.
                               \- activists need to start throwing blood on
                               people like elizabth taylor for wearing
                               diamonds. i am kind of curitous if there is a
                               mkt for fake diamond certifications ... so
                               you could just get your chica a fake ... or are
                               women so cynical as to get independent
                               appraisals these days. --psb
                               \_ You can't trust a woman. Never. Under
                                  no circumstances. - BDG
                               \_ Many quality diamonds have serial numbers
                                  etched in them. It would be very hard to
                                  fake that. The rule with diamonds is
                                  (unless you are *very* wealthy) that if it
                                  looks too good to be true then it probably
                                  is. Even a (only) 1 carat stone of high
                                  quality is going to cost about $5000. --dim
                                  \- this serial number business is the
                                  certification things debeers pushed in
                                  "response" to the stories about "blood
                                  diamonds". 1. debeers isnt really all that
                                  clean themselves 2 what they call a certi-
                                  fication is really "branding". instead of
                                  saying "women, ask for a debeers diamond"
                                  which would be crass, they say "ask for a
                                  politcally correct, non-artificial, debeers
                                  diamond.". --psb
              \_ Why? You gonna make her take the ring back?
                 \_ No, but I want her to stop complaining that I bought her
                    cheap engagement and wedding rings while I saved the money
                    and used it on down payment on our house afterwards.
                    \_ She's complaining, is she? Well that's the first sign.
                       Soon your will be in the poor house living on one meal
                       of uncooked beans a day and she will be spending your
                       money on her lovers in a exotic carribean locale.
           \_ The genius of De Beers is to have successfully equated diamonds
              with love, or at least the romantic version of love.  Thus all
              fulfillment of a romantic love relationship have to first pony
              up the De Beers love tax, "nothing much, just two months of
              your salary, and love is priceless and forever", in the form
              of the diamond engagement ring.
        \_ http://www.bridaltips.com/diamond.htm
           http://www.diamondreview.com
           --- yuen
        \_ A kiss on the hand may be quite continental, but diamonds are a
           girl's best friend.  -John