I didn’t want a diamond engagement ring, heck I didn’t even care if I got a ring at all. My DH was originally going to buy me an emerald ring (my fav. stone) but got talked out of it by the salesperson. Evidentially, they convinced DH that I wouldn’t take the proposal seriously if it wasn’t a diamond! How ridiculous is that? As much as I love my ring, I really would rather have the one he wanted to get me, not the one he thought he had to.
On the other hand my soon-to-be SIL refused to accept my BIL’s proposal until he bought her the exact ring she wanted ($6,000 for just the engagement ring and another $4000 for the wedding band)… poor guy… he did it though…
Heck I wouldn’t even want an engagement ring at all. I find them sexist and degrading, kind of like a guy marking his property…why does the woman get a ring and not the man? As far as I am concerned, just give me a wedding band, if even that.
Not to stray too far from the topic, but I think men should be insulted by it as well; he loves her enough to shout his love from the rooftops (so to speak), but her reaction to getting the stone is more along the lines of, “I can’t believe he bought me this crap! I’ll tell him I love him, but I’ll only whisper it so as not to be fully ashamed of his dipstickery!”
I personally can spot the CZ from a mile away and I don’t like it. I’d rather just have a gold band, than a CZ ring.
My mother on the other hand prefers the CZ. She says it’s prettier to her, and that she’s not so afraid to wear it (for fear of losing something expensive).
And, the “I Love This Woman” commercial doesn’t bother me a bit. In fact, I think it’s kind of sweet.
I hate that commercial. To me, the woman’s attitude is “You’re an embarrassing dork, unless you cough up the jewelry. Then, you’re marginally acceptable.”
There a commercial air locally that really insults me. They show a beautiful woman in an evening gown smiling and having a wonderful time. They show she’s wearing diamond earrings, then show she’s wearing a diamond necklace too, and then a diamond tennis braclet as well. At the end of the commercial, they show she’s with a super geeky, nerdy type guy who has apparently given her all this jewelry. The message it sends is that if you can’t get a girl any other way, you can buy her affections with diamonds. That so darn mean-hearted and wrong! I just might write them and tell them so.
My favorite stone is the garnet. It love the deep burgundy color and it always catches my eye whether in a cheap setting or an expensive one. One time in a jeweller’s I saw what I thought was a garnet but it turned out to be a ruby. If I ever get engaged I’d look for a similar stone since rubies are harder. There’s also a rare garnet, called tsavorite, that’s a bright green. Something like a paridot but a deeper shade.
My other favorite stone is the chrome diopside. It’s a wonderful deep forest green. Just gorgeous!
Diamonds are low on my list of stones I’d like to have.
I hate to say this- but you’re wrong. Sure- some CZ is put into a cheap looking setting, or the rock is improbably large- but if someone snuck a CZ into most diamond engagement rings, no one would be the wiser. CZ is just as brilliant as diamond, and damn near as hard- so much for those two arguments.
In fact, in order to tell diamond from CZ, even expert jewelers subject it to special tests, and can’t tell just by looking- well, unless the diamond is inscribed with that teeny registration. One of my freinds is a jeweler/watchmaker, and he even showed me the tesing device he uses.
In fact- since CZ is better than diamond- there is no reason for diamond to be expensive or used much- except for cheap exploitative massive ad campaigns by one of the most evil monopolies on the face of this earth.
I’ll show you a half-carat CZ earing and the same with a excellent diamond- AND I’ll spot you a loupe- and you won’t get better than 50/50. If a jeweler with 30 years in the business can’t do it every time (note- CZ is flawless, so that’s a strong hint, but not proof)- then you can’t.
Well, if you all are sick of your diamonds, you can passé them over this way. I’ll take em…
I can tell a fake from a real diamond, but only, probably, because I’ve never seen a FLAWLESS diamond of any size. And no matter what they say, you CAN see the difference between a CZ and a diamond. CZ’s look like glass, well cut crystal glass I admit, but still glass. Diamonds have “colors”. And they have flaws and sometimes minute carbon spots that don’t happen in manmade diamonds.
I admit though, if I had my druthers, I’d take a naturally colored diamond (blue or canary) any day over a white.
Count me in as somebody who likes diamonds, bigtime. The one engagement ring I got once upon a time wasn’t nearly big enough (sorry!). Problem was, I had told my husband-to-be at the time that he could either get me a carat or above or nothing but a wedding band, which I would indeed treasure.
In spite of my request, he got me an engagement ring with a stone that was not even half a carat. His rather truculent explanation that he wanted everyone to know that he was “serious” about the forthcoming wedding.
Believe me, he could have easily afforded a bigger stone, but he was and is a notorious cheapskate. And remember, I gave him an “easy out” if he hadn’t wanted to spend the money by telling him to get just the wedding band.
Anyhow, we never did get married (shocker, eh?); and I buy my own diamonds now.
I remember reading that when George Burns asked Gracie Allen to marry him, he gave her just a small, twenty dollar metal band, that tarnished and I think it even turned her finger green.
She wore it until the day she died. sniff
Now THAT is sweet. I wouldn’t CARE if it’s a cheap ring, or a plain ordinary, fake ring. It’s the love behind it.
The only thing I can say is about spotting CZs is that some the CZ engagement rings I’ve seen are really big and gaudy, because the can afford to do that, CZ being cheaper.
Anyhoo, I so do NOT want a diamond. If he gets me one, yeah, I’d take it-but see, if someone wanted to marry me, I would think they’d know enough about me to know what I like.
When we were married, Desert Wife and I exchanged wedding rings but I never gave her an engagement ring. For our first anniversary, though, I bought a quarter carat VS1 emerald-cut diamond from a broker – just the stone. I joshed when I gave it to her, “You’re gonna have to buy the setting – I blew all my money on the rock.”
Some months later this was mentioned in passing to my mother who said, “Why I’ve got a ring I don’t know what to do with.” She’d had the stone from her engagement ring reset in a new ring, and the old setting had been sitting in her jewelry box. My parents were married in 1942 and the ring was just old-fashioned enough to be interesting – to us, anyway. A jeweler modified the ring (round to emerald) and Desert Wife wore it until she died.
The ring’s now in the safe-keeping of my brother, waiting for one of my nephews to get serious.
[slight hijack]How do diamonds show up on the airport x-ray machine? Would diamonds set off the alarms in one of the walk-through detectors?[/slight hijack]
That’s a great story, DesertDog. I prefer old jewelry that has a history, which has been a good thing because most of the nicest pieces I have are inherited rather than store-bought.
I agree that the diamond commercials are stupid, but so are most TV commercials, as well as an awful lot of marketing campaigns. The entire subject of advertising confuses me, because so much of what is presented looks idiotic–do you want to buy a Cadillac just because you hear Robert Plant singing?–yet I find it hard to believe that the companies do what they do if it is not working.
I dunno, I like the few diamonds that have come my way, but do not seek new ones.
As this thread has illustrated, there are a lot of choices out there, and I can appreciate choosing a honeymoon in Paris over a ring.
I love my diamond engagement ring. It’s the only diamond I wear, and it’s important only because my husband and I picked it out. And my gold wedding band that never leaves my finger. Chosen at a time when our lives were in turmoil and the future was full of questions. The value of both is much more sentimental than monetary.
All my other is sterling silver. Pretty, not expensive, and easy to replace.
Diamond rings–actually, any diamond bling-bling–tres tacky. The most beautiful matching wedding rings I’ve ever seen were braided copper, silver, and gold strips with no gems.
Some of the less-common coloured gems might be appealing though…
Guinastasia, I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m probably demanding and materialistic, but any guy who’s gonna be with me deserves to know that going in!
(Whether or not I have any truly redeeming qualities is for him, and time, to tell…)
Actually, I think there’s something to be said for “Bling bling”, as in the big, gold, diamond-studded, tres tacky things sported by rappers and ALL the ghetto fabulous. If you’re going to be tacky, go all out.
