I love a good spreadsheet. All those numbers lined up, the potential to create graphs, data upon data upon data. Phwoarrr!
It may have been that unnerving love of numbers which led me to get a little bit obsessive in my search for the UK's cheapest 0.25 carat diamond engagement ring.
So why 0.25 carat?
Well, during my hunt for an engagement ring that I could actually afford without selling my body parts, I decided that 0.25 carat was the smallest size diamond I would be happy buying.
As it happened I bought a ring that was around 0.35 carat and was very happy with it, but I felt that anything above a quarter carat was acceptable. Below that size and you really are squinting to see the diamond and above that size people will start to call it 'delicate' or 'tasteful' rather than 'small' or 'what diamond?'.
I ended up looking at 45 online jewellers and found prices ranging from £55 up to £950.
Yes, there was certainly a variation in quality but it wasn't necessarily the case that the most expensive ring was the best one.
The top couple of results were admittedly somewhat invalid as they were second hand rings. There's nothing wrong with buying a second hand diamond (we've covered that topic in this blog before) but I appreciate that a lot of people wouldn't consider it as an option (myself included, if I'm honest).
So, let's exclude eBay (£55) and Etsy (£95) for those reasons.
Our winner then, on the day, was Amazon which had a 0.25 carat diamond ring with a fairly low grade clarity and colour for £221.
Let's carry on down the list though, because some people will be keen to get a reasonably high grade diamond ring, even if they are searching for a smaller diamond.
Well, the cheapest 0.25 carat ring which I would say was at least in the mid range of grading was from Purely Diamonds and came in at £350. It was an SI2 clarity, H colour diamond, so not mega high grading, but somewhere in the middle at least (if you're looking for the highest grading possible in a 0.25 carat diamond ring then I'd try Aspire Diamonds which offers D colour, IF diamonds for around £1300).
And what if you don't fancy buying from a jeweller which mostly operates online? After all, you may end up taking it back (although let's hope not).
Well, in our comparison, the cheapest 0.25 carat diamond ring from a high street jeweller was £270 from Argos.
And the most expensive? Well, that Aspire Diamonds ring at £1300 was obviously way more expensive but it's not a fair comparison as the quality is so different.
A more comparable diamond to the one on offer at Amazon at £221 was one for sale at £950 at Beaverbrooks.
But then again, Beaverbrooks offers the prestige of being an established luxury jeweller and the convenience of high street returns. And wouldn't you rather present your diamond ring in a Beaverbrooks box?
I'll leave it up to you to decide what price you put on that.
It may have been that unnerving love of numbers which led me to get a little bit obsessive in my search for the UK's cheapest 0.25 carat diamond engagement ring.
So why 0.25 carat?
Well, during my hunt for an engagement ring that I could actually afford without selling my body parts, I decided that 0.25 carat was the smallest size diamond I would be happy buying.
As it happened I bought a ring that was around 0.35 carat and was very happy with it, but I felt that anything above a quarter carat was acceptable. Below that size and you really are squinting to see the diamond and above that size people will start to call it 'delicate' or 'tasteful' rather than 'small' or 'what diamond?'.
I ended up looking at 45 online jewellers and found prices ranging from £55 up to £950.
Yes, there was certainly a variation in quality but it wasn't necessarily the case that the most expensive ring was the best one.
The top couple of results were admittedly somewhat invalid as they were second hand rings. There's nothing wrong with buying a second hand diamond (we've covered that topic in this blog before) but I appreciate that a lot of people wouldn't consider it as an option (myself included, if I'm honest).
So, let's exclude eBay (£55) and Etsy (£95) for those reasons.
Our winner then, on the day, was Amazon which had a 0.25 carat diamond ring with a fairly low grade clarity and colour for £221.
Let's carry on down the list though, because some people will be keen to get a reasonably high grade diamond ring, even if they are searching for a smaller diamond.
Well, the cheapest 0.25 carat ring which I would say was at least in the mid range of grading was from Purely Diamonds and came in at £350. It was an SI2 clarity, H colour diamond, so not mega high grading, but somewhere in the middle at least (if you're looking for the highest grading possible in a 0.25 carat diamond ring then I'd try Aspire Diamonds which offers D colour, IF diamonds for around £1300).
And what if you don't fancy buying from a jeweller which mostly operates online? After all, you may end up taking it back (although let's hope not).
Well, in our comparison, the cheapest 0.25 carat diamond ring from a high street jeweller was £270 from Argos.
And the most expensive? Well, that Aspire Diamonds ring at £1300 was obviously way more expensive but it's not a fair comparison as the quality is so different.
A more comparable diamond to the one on offer at Amazon at £221 was one for sale at £950 at Beaverbrooks.
But then again, Beaverbrooks offers the prestige of being an established luxury jeweller and the convenience of high street returns. And wouldn't you rather present your diamond ring in a Beaverbrooks box?
I'll leave it up to you to decide what price you put on that.
