The Ring

Buying an engagment ring is a real tricky business. Especially if you know next to nothing about rings and diamonds. More so if you don't know how much one typically costs. I asked my colleague. He tells me it's normally two o three months' worth of salary. I'm assuming he's referring to the guy's salary. That's a LOT! Not saying that I make huge bundles of money, but it's still a lot, even if we just use WHQ's salary as the basis.

Anyway, last Friday, I and WHQ (and her chaperone/adviser) hit the jewelry shops in Chinatown. Not familiar with the 4C's of diamonds, all we can say is "Show us your engagement rings" and "Which ones are on sale", and making selections based on just the carat and the price. By the time we checked out the 3rd or 4th shop, we're already talking about colour gradings, VS, VVS, SI1, etc. Even then, the pricing of the rings doesn't really make sense because some diamonds can have good specifications, yet are still reasonably priced. Some rings don't look as nice, but are more expensive. I guess it's really a combination of the carat, clarity, colour, cut, and design. Instead of giving WHQ a price range, I just told her to choose what design she fancies because ultimately she'll be the one wearing it. Fortunately, she has small fingers, so a big diamond is out of the question. Out of the blue, I remember my colleague's advice: "Let's hope she is wise and frugal!" After making a shortlist of two rings from two shops, we decided to give it a cooling-off period.

So we're back today to make the purchase. We checked out the rings again to make a final comparison, and decided to go with Ricco Ricco Jewelry. The diamond itself is not big, but it's set high and held in place by 6 claws (Tiffany-style). The ring tapers a bit leading to the diamond, making it look bigger. Small fingers help, too. The diamond itself is colour E, SI1. Really great value for money, since it's on sale. Even got another $150 discount as we paid in cash.