Siang's engagement ring buying notes

Firstly, these are my own notes, your experiences may vary (ie. disclaimer here).

1. Cut
Cut's the most important thing. No, not just deciding round, princess, etc. It's how the diamond is cut. As regular as possible to reflect the greatest possible amount of light. Some folks will try to sell you a diamond that's too tall or fat (since this preserves more weight when the diamond is cut), and sure you'll get a "bigger" diamond, but it'll look like frozen spit. Simply put, the dimonds are made up of facets, how these facets line up are very very important, and decide how much of a sparkle you get. Beware the claims of "store ideal cut" "120 cuts" blah special diamonds, caveat emptor in those cases. Do a web search and learn about what measurements and angles of Table, Crown, Girdle, Pavilion gives an AGS grading of 0. Do read up on those terms before plonking down the $. Use these keywords for searches "hearts arrows diamond ideal cut crown angle table size" etc. Remember, you can have 2 diamonds of same color, clarity, carat. Cut them differently and you'll have one beautiful diamond and one lack luster stone. Learn learn learn.

2. Color, Clarity, Carat
Clarity's really your choice. no naked eye can tell the difference between a VVS1 and a VS1. You can even go down to a SI1 at times and find no visible inclusions to the naked eye. Use this to adjust to your budget.
Color. Ladies have more of those color thingies in their eyes I think, so they are more keen to color changes. Like Clarity, D color is simply a premium. You can't tell the diff bet that and E/F. I can see color in G and H against a white business card, so definitely a woman. Remember though, the better the cut, the more light it reflects, the harder to tell the color of the diamond.
Carat. Your choice. Big does not automatically mean beautiful, does not automatically mean good. Some women simply like big diamonds though, not quality ones.. so you're call.

3. Where
preface: buy youself a diamond loupe. it's only $20 and you'll save it in knowing how to buy a diamond. and then practice at stores that you know you will not buy from (but they don't know that)

a) Places NOT to go (but to "visit")
The mall or shopping center chains. Most of the sales people are really just that, sales folks. Who have no idea. I was even at this B__ Bridg_ store and the guy claimed he was AGS certified. When I asked him to refresh my mind on the cut measurements used for AGS000 grading, he said there wasn't such a thing, ha! But these are great places to learn to look at diamonds (especially if they have a microscope as well, a diamond store without one is a garage without a screwdriver) since the sales folks are eager to show you everything to make you buy. For entertainment, count the number of times they try to use closing sales statements. e.g."this will look perfect on her, really matching" (they have never seen her) "would you like this one or that other one" "i think you've found the right one" bah, if those are the last statements you heard before forking out the $, you bought at the wrong place and at the wrong price.

b) Places out of town (depending where you are)
some are great... check out some links... steve, jan, jonathan are nice folks, talk to them and make your own call....

c) In the Puget Sound area
... There are some nice jewelers like Dan Burt's, Marci's,PorterJensen's...

d) Online
I wouldn't personally, in the sense of bluenile.com type stores. no service. Yes, I found the jeweller(Steve) I bought the diamond from online. But he has a real store and has given me great service.

check out the links

4. Cost
... rap sheet is a joke, it's an approx. and it only considers color/clarity/carat, not cut!!!!! and it's the marked up price. so use the web to find a good price and go get a good price.

5. Scientific blah blah
... not all accurate, watch out. the points in (1) that one should learn should come to you as logical s you learn about them. anything that gets too much like witchcraft, is really BS.

6. Lab grading report
.... GIA or AGS only. on gia, at least VG on both polish and symmetry.

7. Care
....