im confused. I want to spend 10k but dont know what to get. small, excellent color and clarity, or slightly bigger but sacrifice a little color ( that you cant see anyways) what to do?

Get the bigger but sacrifice a little color that is invisible to the naked eye. Definatley

If you cant see the colour difference then whats the problem?

and buy a second hand stone. No difference to a "new" stone but much better vfm.

What sort of person are you? What sort of person is she?Ostentatious and flashy or more concerned with quality?

a second hand ring? thats so sad.

Buy a small, cheap one and a bigger, expensive one and show her the cheap one first; if she complains dump the b1tch if not laugh it off as a joke and give her the decent one.

...what's the problem? All diamonds are millions of years old. The only difference is in the marketing or are you telling me you'd be insisting on on getting your diamond hewn from the rough?

No, i mean a second hand diamond has a history. someone bought it and gave it back - a lost / broken love. its not a necklace or a bling. its an engagment ring. but if you want a used ring to match your used golf, go for it

It used to be possible to travel abroad (Turkey was suggested to me) and pick up a very nice diamond - possibly to save up to 70% if know what your doing. Come back here and get a jeweler to mount it on a nice ring and save a tidy little sum.

Go to the canary islands - a better regulated market and tax free. Much cheaper than the UK...

Why not spend £1-2K on the ring and put the other £8-9K towards a house/car/furniture/unbelievably amazing holiday? Or spend £5K on the ring and let her have the time of her life in the mall?Unless she's a real jewellery buff or you're very wealthy, £10K seems a pretty hefty sum to blow on a little piece of stone that in all probability she'll chuck at your feet the first time you have an argument post-marriage

10k in cartier / tiffany dont get you that much bling. personally i would put aside 25. if you dont have it, dont do it.

pera - "if you don't have it, don't do it" erm, let me get this straight, you're saying "if you're not willing to spend £25k on an engagement ring, don't get married"? I just don't know where to start...and anon ("in all probability she'll chuck at your feet the first time you have an argument post-marriage") argh what kind of view is that to have of the woman you want to MARRY. to add my 2p, I think the ring is a nice gesture, NOT the main focus of a wedding let alone a marriage, and personally after seeing Blood Diamond I'm not even sure I want a diamond at all, assuming some guy has guts enough to propose even though he didn't have to take out a mortage to buy a ring. sheesh.

Second hand rings are exempt from VAT, so you could actually pick up something really nice and antique'y. However, I would go more on what she would want to wear.