Firstly congrats....
In November 2006 myself & my fiancé went to NYC and bought our engagement ring with Haniken and Son, google them and u will get their exact address.
Got the name from AAM as another poster stated Aer Lingus staff use them so no better reference as they would be street wise if they fly into NYC regularly.
My fiancé had spent a while researching what she wanted, had looked in shops in Cork and thankfully she got what she wanted
She has seen the same ring re cut, colour & clarity in Cork and the price is 4 times greater -> does not matter in terms of resale as this hopefully will not happen & the price for resale would be nowhere near what the shop sells it for!!!
I have a relation who is a jeweller & he confirmed its authenticity, also he stated it would be approx 3 times more expensive here.
Went to him as it is hard to believe that the price could differ so much.
Also she got the claws checked recently by another jeweller & again he was amazed at the price.
Should you buy it from Haniken and Son then they will not give you a discount , ie what they state is their price -> you might get $100 off but other jewellers we checked out in NYC were offering '000s' off when we haggled.
I am just happy as she is thrilled with the rock
and if I had purchased it here then I would not have been able to get her what she wanted.
My experience has been that friends of mine have spent more than me on getting their engagement ring in Ireland & all are mighty jealous of what my wife has......having said that it is only a ring but then again I am male so what would I know
As a previous poster stated the exchange rate is a factor, ie when I went in Nov 06 I think it was about 1 euro to $1:25 so there is probably even more value in this now.
Hope that helps......