# New York - Engagement Ring Shopping



## confused111 (17 Nov 2006)

Hi there,
Heading to New York in January and am going to be buying an engagement ring there. Does anyone know of a reputable jeweller in New York City? The name of a jewellery shop I know over there is Tiffanys but I presume you would pay for the "name"? On the other hand maybe somewhere like Tiffanys may still be cheaper than Ireland when you have factored in the Dollar etc. As the username suggests I am very confused and would love if someone who knows of good jewellery shops in New York could let me know!

Thanks!


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## colm (17 Nov 2006)

Tiffanys is a strange kinda place. If I remember it correctly there are no prices displayed. You have to ask the price of everything. Its the sort of place where people buy something just to be seen with the bag.
Shop around in New York & you'll find much better deals


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## SOM42 (17 Nov 2006)

On the advice of Aer Lingus cabin crew and these girls know their jewellery I bought from Haniken and Son.  I don't have the exact address but I think they are in the Diamond Exchange on West 47th St.  The place is full of diamond shops and hard to trust alot of them but Haniken really appears to care and Mrs som was really pleased with the ring she got.  At a guesstimate we probably got the ring at about half the price you would pay here.  He will show you a selection of stones and settings and when you have made your decision pay a small deposit and collect it the day afterwards.  No pressure and extremley professional and cool.  Not sure of the exact address but I will try and dig it out.  Don't bother with Tiffanys unless you have buckets of money or are insecure enough to worry about carrying the little green bag about!


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## Angie M (17 Nov 2006)

*Re: New York - Engagement Ring Shopping*
I got good value myself in *Diamonds & Dials* 106 West 34th St, N.Y. Good idea to look at home first. You need to be familier with prices charged for size, colour and clarity of ring you want to be able to make judgement on what is good value in N.Y. You could try Macy's - they often have good value but you will be spoiled for choice in the Diamond District.! Remember to bargain! Good luck


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## A_b (17 Nov 2006)

know a few people who got theirs in Salvatore Jewlers in Diamond District. There are loads of addresses on [broken link removed]


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## Eurofan (17 Nov 2006)

SOM42 said:


> Don't bother with Tiffanys unless you have buckets of money or are insecure enough to worry about carrying the little green bag about!



Having done the Tiffanys experience (and not having 'buckets' of money nor being insecure) i can confirm it is a experience worth doing. Granted you pay more but it's not half as dramatic a difference as you'd imagine given the quality (colour/clarity etc) of diamond you get. You still save versus any equivalent here especially with the dollar the way it is.

Oh and it's a little blue bag


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## liteweight (18 Nov 2006)

Correct...or a little blue box inside a little blue bag!


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## panathon (18 Nov 2006)

I know how romantic it sounds - Tiffanys, but yu will be paying 30% on the brand name alone, I think you should shop around,I presume(!) it's a diamond your after


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## babaduck (18 Nov 2006)

We bought my beautiful diamond eternity ring at Leon Diamond on 74 W. 47th Street - 1/3 of what it would cost here and they altered the band to a comfort fit while we waited


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## kilomike (19 Nov 2006)

I think you can only bring back goods up to €175 duty free from the States after that you have to pay duty and VAT..................


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## confused111 (21 Nov 2006)

Hi there,
thanks for all the comments! Have been looking at all the different jewellers in the diamond district...what a choice! Was finding it difficult to decided whether to buy here or not but all your responses have made up my mind! AM going to check out some of the jwellers you have recommended! Thanks again for all your help! Now all that is left to do is decided where to pop the question!


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## Gone Fishin' (21 Nov 2006)

Not to rain on your parade, but I struggle to see the value in spending a lot of money on an engagement ring. It does seem the man gets nothing out of the experience and the lady gets an expensive piece of jewellery.


It's been so long since I bought the ring (I didn't have to spend too much and I got nothing out of the deal) but what is the going rate for such a purchase?


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## Eurofan (21 Nov 2006)

Gone Fishin' said:


> Not to rain on your parade, but I struggle to see the value in spending a lot of money on an engagement ring. It does seem the man gets nothing out of the experience and the lady gets an expensive piece of jewellery.



If you struggle to see the value in such things then i respectfully suggest you are missing out on a whole lot of life. To suggest that "you got nothing out of the deal" is an astonishing approach to a traditional part of courtship and marraige.

It's not about the money. Never was. I pity your wife. Buy her a bunch of flowers today and tell her how much you love and appreciate her, bet it's been a while.


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## casiopea (21 Nov 2006)

I would go to tiffanys for the experience, however I would not buy a ring there.  First of all they have a very good website so you can see all the designs there, as a previous poster mentioned you are paying for the tiffany name so the ring is more expensive than somewhere else but what really puts me off tiffanys is that you'll pay for a beautiful unique ring for your loved one but itll be anything but unique as so many people buy them.  There are about 8 standard designs, they have names, and while at the end of the day a lot of rings look similiar if you have a tiffany ring you can be sure of indentical versions everywhere.


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## Bob_tg (21 Nov 2006)

I'm actually just back from NY last week. Bought the fiancée a ring there - she's from NY (I'm a Dub) so she knew the best place to go to: Fortunoffs. 

She has friends who work in Tiffany's and, even with staff discount, they do not think the rings are good value there - they have even gone to Fortunoffs!

Fortunoffs is great value, because you get the following:
- full certificates (no messing with dodgy dealers in the Diamond District)
- reputable name: they have been around for years and have a reputation to protect
- will clean the ring for you... I think twice per year
- allow you to upgrade the ring to more than 50% its value, with no extra charge for re-mounting (you pay for the uplift in diamond size - but only the uplift). This might work where you want to go from a carat to a 1.5 carat maybe 5 years later (it's not really worth it 10 or 15 years later, due to fall in the the value of money over time). In that case, you pay only for 0.5 carat extra. (I hope this point is nto too confusing ... please ask me to re-post if it is).

There are a number of stores ... [broken link removed]
I bought mine in Manattan (5th Ave), but also went to the Westbury location. The prices vary between the stores... the Westbury one was less expensive, but didn't have such a good range at the time.

Two other things to bear in mind:
1) call them in advance to see if they will be holding any special promotions. I got 15% off a ring because they just happened to be holding a charity promotion the week I was there
2) New Jersey's tax is around 5% lower than NY's, so perhaps savings can be made there!

Overall, the cost of a ring works out at around 50-70% lower cost than you pay in Ireland (not incl. the cost of travel). I spent around a third of what it would have cost me here.

One final final piece of advice... decide on the exact specification of the ring in ADVANCE, before you travel. Get your girlfriend to try on different rings and be clear on the type she wants. That way, you will maximinse the time you have available when you are over in NY.

Good luck!


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## Gone Fishin' (21 Nov 2006)

Eurofan said:


> If you struggle to see the value in such things then i respectfully suggest you are missing out on a whole lot of life. To suggest that "you got nothing out of the deal" is an astonishing approach to a traditional part of courtship and marraige.
> 
> It's not about the money. Never was. I pity your wife. Buy her a bunch of flowers today and tell her how much you love and appreciate her, bet it's been a while.




Tell me then, how much money should an engagement ring cost? And where's the "value" in that? What is the difference between a e1000 ring and a e10,000 ring? (Apart from the hole in the man's bank account)

It does seem that some people, especially women, expect the poor man to shell out many thousands on a piece of jewellery. If someone's that shallow, to place such emphasis on a ring, than they are the ones who should be pitied, not me, or my wife.

My wife got an engagement ring, I got nothing. That was a statement of fact. An "engagement" is a promise to marry, and shouldn't depend on the value of a ring. Unfortunately it seems to be the opposite.


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## babaduck (21 Nov 2006)

Gone Fishin' said:


> Tell me then, how much money should an engagement ring cost? And where's the "value" in that? What is the difference between a e1000 ring and a e10,000 ring? (Apart from the hole in the man's bank account).


Various factors...
(a) type of metal - platinum is the most expensive, then white gold, then yellow gold
(b) size of stone - the bigger the carat, the more it costs
(c) quality of stone - the higher the quality, the higher the cost



Gone Fishin' said:


> It does seem that some people, especially women, expect the poor man to shell out many thousands on a piece of jewellery. If someone's that shallow, to place such emphasis on a ring, than they are the ones who should be pitied, not me, or my wife..


I tried on rings from £500 - £10k and picked the one that suited me, and our budget. I certainly didn't waltz into Applebys going "Gimmee the biggest & most expensive"... in fact the most expensive one was the one I liked the least!



Gone Fishin' said:


> My wife got an engagement ring, I got nothing. That was a statement of fact. An "engagement" is a promise to marry, and shouldn't depend on the value of a ring. Unfortunately it seems to be the opposite.


 God love you, my husband got a state of the art home entertainment system as his engagement pressie


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## casiopea (21 Nov 2006)

Gone Fishin' said:


> It does seem that some people, especially women, expect the poor man to shell out many thousands on a piece of jewellery......Unfortunately it seems to be the opposite.



I think now days most couples either pay 50/50 for the ring or do as babaduck did exchange "gifts".  I think at the end of the day most couples discuss what they want to spend and what their budget is and nobody is forced to spend loads of money on a piece of jewellery.



Gone Fishin' said:


> ....expect the poor man .....



You are kidding right?  If the "poor man" feels he's being forced into spending a lot of money that he doesnt want to spend then I think he has bigger problems than getting an engagement ring....getting a backbone should be first.


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## Jabber2 (21 Nov 2006)

Try Turfan Jewellers in the Diamond district West 47th, bought my wife's engagement ring there about 3years ago, we then went and got the wedding band in Tiffany's so she got the best of both.
    Mr Turfan and his elderly father are both very nice originally from  Liverpool so if you can talk about football your laughing. 
The wife had picked out a style she wanted in Tiffany's we went in and he made the ring up the same, but better quality diamond and higher grade platinum for good price. We've since been back to New York and called in to say hello, without asking he took the ring away and cleaned if for free.
My Brother and a friend have been over and bought there aswell.
Just to experience the whole fussing around you, even if you don't buy is great fun. But be prepared to say no, some of the shops can be very pushy. Bargain bargain and bargain, the first price they quote and the last price is some difference but its all part of the game.
Agree with above Tiffany's little blue box is definitely a lot of girls dream.
Enjoy


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## Gone Fishin' (21 Nov 2006)

My last contribution on this, (only babaduck attempted answer my questions).

Far too much emphasis is placed on the ring, by far too many people. FOr me an engagement was something a hell of a lot more important than a financial purchase and, to me, the ring symbolised nothing.

(By "poor", I meant unfortunate, and buying a ring does not prove one has a backbone.)


To those who are getting married, best of luck.


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## Eurofan (21 Nov 2006)

casiopea said:


> You are kidding right?  If the "poor man" feels he's being forced into spending a lot of money that he doesnt want to spend then I think he has bigger problems than getting an engagement ring....getting a backbone should be first.



Precisely. It's a very sad day when such acts are seen as a "deal" in which one half is shelling out x amount of money and getting nothing in return. As i said already the amount is irrelivant it's the gesture that's important (and the manner in which it is done i daresay).

While any solid relationship is naturally based on compromise i fear for any 'poor man' (or woman for that matter) who see the purchase of an engagement ring in such a transactory manner i.e. "I'm gettin nuttin out of this" or "i want the ring to cost _this_ much".

Btw Tiffanys etc aside there's some great advice above about where to buy in New York. As far as value for money is concerned it's much better than here.


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## Guest111 (21 Nov 2006)

Average spend nowadays would be 5K Euro.
You should have a look at buying a second hand ring for the stone and having a ring made in one of those places in the Powerscourt Centre.
New jewellery here is a rip-off. The agent buys a ring in Antwerp for 2K, sells it to the jeweller for 4K who sells it to the punter for 8K.
The real value of the ring commodity wise is still 2K.
a ring bought for 2K in an auction or antique store will be an 8K retail when re-set.
Buddy of mine bought a diamond in SA when we were on a golf trip and had the ring made here. Paid 1.5K for the diamond and was told by the jeweller here the ring would sell for 10K here.


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## confused111 (21 Nov 2006)

Ok have been on the net looking up all the various recommendations. Is it really heading out towards New Jersey..is the saving of 5% discount from New York City in all jewellers there?
My head is spinning with all the differnet options! Know my girlfriend likes the three stone rings and thats the only thing I'm certain about (apart Does anyone know if there is a guide/chart with what a diamond of the various different cut,clarity carats cost in Dublin just so I compare what the comparable cost in New York
Think my girlfriend would like the whole Tiffanys experience but then again I alos know she likes the bling and quality!


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## InfoSeeker (24 Nov 2006)

Back about 3 weeks and bought engagement ring with Haniken and Son, google them and u will get their exact address. 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. Expenditure is down to personal choice but we dealt with the son and he was excellent, fiance knew her stuff but they are straight up and initial price was discounted by about 200 bucks only. Other places we went to for same spec were about 4k more and then when we pushed they reduced by 1500. Saw 2 glossy brochures from jewellers and based on size, colour, cut, etc specified we got it for about half price.


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## needsumhelp (26 Nov 2006)

Hiya,
I purchased a engagement ring 2 yrs ago in NY. Great value for money compared to Ireland. Tiffanys is way over priced. TINY diamond for huge price. the diamond district off 5th Avenue is the place to go. very jewish area. very pushy but great choice. you can design your ring on the internet & they will make it up for you....


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## annR (27 Nov 2006)

I know you said it was your last contribution, but i'm just curious.



Gone Fishin' said:


> FOr me an engagement was something a hell of a lot more important than a financial purchase and, to me, the ring symbolised nothing.


 
Why did you buy a ring at all then?


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## confused111 (13 Dec 2006)

Hi there,
Well am in New York now and have visited Hanniken and Son as recomended. They are all really helpful there and i picked a ring. The stone is certifies by the European Gemologists Laboratory when I went on to confirm the Certificate number I discovered that it an Israeli lab and not the more renowned American Branch. The Us Branch told me that they dont endorse the Israeli branch! Does anyone know abnything about these labs or has anyone had a diamond that has been certifies by them appraised/valued at home and if so was the appraisal/valuation favourable?
All opinions will be gratefully accepted! Have to make decision today as going home tomorrow! 
Thanks again to eveyone for their help!


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## frescoflyer (13 Dec 2006)

Anyone ever use www.diamond.com ?


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## bullseye (20 Dec 2006)

Hi all,
How did you guys pay for the rings? credit card/bank transfer/travellers cheque/cash?
  I'm heading to NY after xmas and would love to know what is accepted, and economic when it comes to fx/commissions/credit card fees..
Did anyone get charged extra to cover credit card fees?
I think i'll put my creditcard into credit and check with my bank that this will work.
Thanks


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## Sunny (20 Dec 2006)

Presume you will all be walking through the red channel and declaring the ring purchase on your return to Dublin?


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## InfoSeeker (20 Dec 2006)

You can pay by credit card as this is what I did a few weeks ago.

We let our bank credit card dept know that a large transaction was going to happen on a certain day.

However the transaction did not go through and the jeweller had to ring his merchant (US), this was still not enough so we got the him to call the Irish merchant and we talked to them and all was ok, do not worry, in fact it is good to know that it is not easy for such a large transaction to go through.


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## InfoSeeker (20 Dec 2006)

As for Sunny's reply we arrived back from Shannon and there was no one working in the Something to Declare section, it was a flight from NYC and several passengers walked through 'Nothing to Declare' laden down with Macy's bags......some Irish people have amazing neck or are amazingly stupid


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## bullseye (20 Dec 2006)

Sunny said:


> Presume you will all be walking through the red channel and declaring the ring purchase on your return to Dublin?


in reference to the later post, i'm irish..., so it will be green 

Are customs clamping down on this and or general US shopping? I've been to the US twice a few years back and had to buy extra bags to bring stuff home....

Thanks for the answer to creditcard question, per-chance,did you get its limit raised? or are you a member of the gold card club  My current limit is probably a lot lesst than my partner would like.


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## rustymeskell (20 Dec 2006)

more or less  along the same lines  but am looking 4 an enagement ring in boston????? have looked @ the threads and all seem 2 lean towards  NYC......... unfortunately am heading 2 Boston... please advise


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## bullseye (28 Dec 2006)

confused111 said:


> Hi there,
> Well am in New York now and have visited Hanniken and Son as recomended. They are all really helpful there and i picked a ring. The stone is certifies by the European Gemologists Laboratory when I went on to confirm the Certificate number I discovered that it an Israeli lab and not the more renowned American Branch. The Us Branch told me that they dont endorse the Israeli branch! Does anyone know abnything about these labs or has anyone had a diamond that has been certifies by them appraised/valued at home and if so was the appraisal/valuation favourable?
> All opinions will be gratefully accepted! Have to make decision today as going home tomorrow!
> Thanks again to eveyone for their help!


 
Hi confused, am off to NY this weekend and would love to know how you got on. Did you purchase for Hanniken? Presume with xmas and all you have not got it indepentantly checked at home?

Any info from others would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks


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## ringed (16 Jan 2007)

Not yet "ringed" but going to New York so am glad of all the advice.  Did anyone else have "confused111"'s problem with the Certification.  I'd be a bit worried about taking it home and discovering its a dud!  Do the jewellers here value them for insurance purposes at the same value as in NY?
Must go checking out some jewellers to see what suits.  Like the 3 stones too but they might look awful on stubby fingers!


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## bullseye (17 Jan 2007)

Hi all,
  Back from NYC with a ring! 

Ringed, to anwser your points, nearly all the diamonds that we saw were GIA certified, so we did not come up against the different EGL branchs. Regarding it beening a dud, we took ours to macys to have it appraised before we returned home, cost something like $100 + %of ring value, ended up about $113. They also "valued it" something like 25% more that what we paid, this is not too supprising as the same quality rings/Ds were being sold at this value in a more of a high-street store. Have not got it valued in Ireland yet.

Regardin what would look nice, we had a look in Ireland before we left,one in castlebar and applebys in dublin. highly recommend this.
1 for seeing what style is nice...
2 for the learning experience about 4Cs
3 to realise what a limited style of ring settings they have here

I must say that applebys were very patient,nice, helpful etc...


People may be followin my question about creditcards, I think most of them accepted them and probably included the percentage they get charged in the prices they quote. However we were able to bargain this amount out of them if we paid cash, only $100-200. 
I/we kept forgetting about sales tax when the quoted prices,however the main benefit of paying cash is that "some" were willing to drop the sales tax 8.x %, now that adds up! I'm not sure how our bargining went, they only dropped by a bit, but and the end we brought up the cash/tax.
I'm not sure how much they "bent the rules" by dropping the sales, even though the US does not have a tax reclaiming scheme for foreigners, items bought from outside of the each state do not need to pay this. Others communicated this in such a way that I felt that this was "an excuse" for them being able drop their price by about the 8%.


We took a good bit in cash with us and spent a few days withdrawing our max from 2 ATM cards to make up the cash. Hotel saftey deposit box came in handy.

Happy shopping


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## ringed (18 Jan 2007)

Thanks for all your advice bullseye.
Its a little bit daunting as you don't want to let the cat out of the bag to anyone and yet there are so many questions.  Will pop into applebys for a look and make sure no-one sees us! 
Congratulations to you by the way!


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## Spondulicks (19 Feb 2007)

You know of course you are required to declare at customs any jewellery above a certain threshhold bought outside the EU. It is best not to commence a lifetime of promise with some initial dishonesty.

Further details from ever reliable www.revenue.ie


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## Rebelette (10 Jul 2007)

SOM42 said:


> On the advice of Aer Lingus cabin crew and these girls know their jewellery I bought from Haniken and Son.  I don't have the exact address but I think they are in the Diamond Exchange on West 47th St.  The place is full of diamond shops and hard to trust alot of them but Haniken really appears to care and Mrs som was really pleased with the ring she got.  At a guesstimate we probably got the ring at about half the price you would pay here.  He will show you a selection of stones and settings and when you have made your decision pay a small deposit and collect it the day afterwards.  No pressure and extremley professional and cool.


I'd just like to thank Som 42 for his thread on Hanikens New York, and to say that they were absolutely brillant to deal with. Their address is 66 West 47th Street, We were a bit thrown at the start cos Number 66 hosts a load of small jewelry stalls, so go right in to the back. They asked us were we from Aer Lingus. I said no, but that they had been recommended to us by Aer Lingus (I didn't think they would know about AAM!). They said they would give us the Aer Lingus discount! Anyway, back two weeks now. Got the ring valued yesterday and it's worth between 4 & 5 thousand euro more than we paid for it, so two very happy customers!
Thanks again....


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## U2Fan (28 Aug 2007)

I was in Tiffanys in NYC last weekend. When you go in they ask you what your budget ballpark is. Once you give them that amount they direct you to the area/floor that sells products in that range.


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## griswold (27 Jun 2008)

Could anybody recommend a place to buy a ring in Boston, Mass? Will be over there in a few weeks and would like to look into it.


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## WaterSprite (27 Jun 2008)

There's a Tiffany's in the Copley Plaza - not quite 5th Avenue but has all the same stuff and the staff is helpful.

Sprite


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## griswold (27 Jun 2008)

Thanks. Tiffany is the one place I hope to avoid. Not keen on paying 10 percent for the name. I might pop in for a browse though.


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