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Old 02-03-2010, 08:29 AM
 
Location: Texas
1,848 posts, read 4,684,571 times
Reputation: 1216

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Quote:
Originally Posted by AggieMan View Post
Texas Lapidaries
1910 East Pyron Avenue
San Antonio, TX 78223-3512
(210) 533-7778

I had my fiance's engagement ring custom made. It was around $600, for 14k white gold, two peek-a-boo dimonds and a white sapphire for the center stone. Great craftmanship!

I 2nd custom made. Our guy is in Dallas, so unless you want to hop on a Southwest plane there and back (a friend did just that last year) I would suggest calling some of the jewelers that are suggested here.

Stay away from big box stores and malls.

A jeweler will work with you from everything to cut, color, clarity, carat of the diamonds and the detail work in the band and your preference regarding setting of the stones, # of prongs etc. etc.

Expect some of them to be cash only. You can really get an amazing deal as you are forgoing places that pay rent, have large overhead and numerous employees.

Don't forget to get the rings insured and get an appraisal every few years for your records.

Last edited by cr1039; 02-03-2010 at 08:30 AM.. Reason: sp
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Old 02-03-2010, 10:47 AM
 
1,366 posts, read 4,488,647 times
Reputation: 1494
by any chance are you a USAA member??? if so you can also check buying services with USAA and see what loose stones they have that would fit your budget...

USAA has great quality diamonds and later, when and if you guys want to do so, you can upgrade your diamond... USAA will give you the appraised value of your diamond and you pay the difference to upgrade to a larger stone...

I used this service when I worked there and went from a .80 pear shaped diamond to a 1.25 pear and only paid the difference of apx $1200 for a much larger stone ... E color ... clarity is I1, which means you can see inclusions with the naked eye ... however I was lucky in that the only inclusion the stone had was a small scratch on the bottom of the stone, not visible once it's set in prongs...

are you focusing your budget on getting the entire set, engagement ring and wedding band, with the $800 or are you focusing your $800 on the diamond??? you can get a better quality diamond with the $800 and have it set into a simple band and do away with all the extra diamonds that settings usually have ... the simple band would not be much more and would leave you more budget on the diamond ... the result would be a very clean, simple, elegent ring which is very rare these days ...

also, believe it or not, Sam's has pretty good quality stones as well...
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Old 02-03-2010, 11:28 AM
 
Location: Texas
1,848 posts, read 4,684,571 times
Reputation: 1216
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrstxcop View Post
by any chance are you a USAA member??? if so you can also check buying services with USAA and see what loose stones they have that would fit your budget...

USAA has great quality diamonds and later, when and if you guys want to do so, you can upgrade your diamond... USAA will give you the appraised value of your diamond and you pay the difference to upgrade to a larger stone...

I used this service when I worked there and went from a .80 pear shaped diamond to a 1.25 pear and only paid the difference of apx $1200 for a much larger stone ... E color ... clarity is I1, which means you can see inclusions with the naked eye ... however I was lucky in that the only inclusion the stone had was a small scratch on the bottom of the stone, not visible once it's set in prongs...

are you focusing your budget on getting the entire set, engagement ring and wedding band, with the $800 or are you focusing your $800 on the diamond??? you can get a better quality diamond with the $800 and have it set into a simple band and do away with all the extra diamonds that settings usually have ... the simple band would not be much more and would leave you more budget on the diamond ... the result would be a very clean, simple, elegent ring which is very rare these days ...

also, believe it or not, Sam's has pretty good quality stones as well...
This a great idea.
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Old 02-04-2010, 10:57 AM
 
Location: San Antonio
99 posts, read 346,035 times
Reputation: 58
I'm not concerned with having an engagement ring and a wedding band. I just want one ring. It's not necessary to spend extra money. (I am the bride btw)
Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
I will look into all of the places mentioned.
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Old 02-04-2010, 11:23 AM
 
Location: San Antonio, TX, USA
5,142 posts, read 13,122,320 times
Reputation: 2515
Pieceofjess: Kudos to you for setting a budget (many folks do not and get in over their heads)! Good luck in your search and congratulations!
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Old 02-04-2010, 09:47 PM
 
155 posts, read 373,218 times
Reputation: 121
bluenile.com - cut out the middleman
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Old 02-04-2010, 10:58 PM
 
Location: TX Hill Country-Helotes, Pipe Creek/Lake Hills & San Antonio, TX
844 posts, read 1,626,870 times
Reputation: 1371
Americus Diamond
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Old 02-04-2010, 11:35 PM
 
905 posts, read 2,960,087 times
Reputation: 613
Americus Diamond. I didn't want two rings, either. What I have is an engagement ring that is set inside a ring guard.
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Old 02-05-2010, 05:38 AM
 
Location: San Antonio
2,216 posts, read 4,541,701 times
Reputation: 1183
we did the one ring when we married as well. then for our 10th anniversary hubby gave me the matching band.
...18 years this summer
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Old 02-05-2010, 07:33 AM
 
905 posts, read 2,960,087 times
Reputation: 613
Quote:
Originally Posted by mamatotex97 View Post
we did the one ring when we married as well. then for our 10th anniversary hubby gave me the matching band.
...18 years this summer
My hubby asked if I wanted to change out the ring guard this year, but I haven't decided yet. Americus Diamond will trade up, as I think many jewelers might also do. We just celebrated 18 years last fall.
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