1 carat solitaire ring = £1000?

[TheGreatDiamondo]

My mum does sometimes have an unrealistic view of how much things cost so I thought I'd put this out there.

She says that a good rule of thumb when looking for a diamond solitaire ring is that 1 carat = £1000. I can't find any solitaires for this much, even looking on antique/vintage sites.

Is this realistic, and if not, what is a good rule of thumb for a 1 carat solitaire ring?

Not at all realistic. I would have thought it was closer to £3k. Also surely quality is so variable?

More like 3-6k depending on quality and brand name

This probably would have been the case back when she was at an age to be getting engaged. I don’t personally have a diamond ring (my choice, don’t really like them), but with a long ago ex, I looked at diamond rings and something about 0.7 of a carat was maybe around 1000. This would have been circa the year 2000 though. I imagine prices have changed a lot since then especially with the demand for more ethical diamonds, which obviously are more expensive.

A 1ct solitaire engagement ring from the same place I got my ring, comes in at £4k+

When did your mum got engaged? Is she using the figures from then?

Yes unrealistic for £1,000. The stone would be very poor quality to be priced so low. £3,000 - £3,500 I would expect.

Don't forget the other factors of clarity, colour and cut grade, it's not just about carat size.

@Needallthesleep is right that a decent quality one carat solitaire ring would be closer to £3k

Look at this website - the lowest quality clarity, colour and cut for one carat is over £2k

www.diamondsfactory.co.uk/design/white-gold-round-side-stone-diamond-engagement-ring-clrn42601

Price doesn't just depend on the carat (ie size). Also colour, clarity, cut etc can have a major impact on how much it costs. A 1 carat ideal cut, D colour, very slight inclusions may cost more than a 2 carat I colour with a bad cut.
Then you have fancy colours which, depending on the rarity and how strong the colour is, can go for even more.

They were around £1,500 - £2,000 when I got engaged 18 years ago and that was from a high street store not fantastic clarity or colour either.

@mindutopia

This probably would have been the case back when she was at an age to be getting engaged. I don’t personally have a diamond ring (my choice, don’t really like them), but with a long ago ex, I looked at diamond rings and something about 0.7 of a carat was maybe around 1000. This would have been circa the year 2000 though. I imagine prices have changed a lot since then especially with the demand for more ethical diamonds, which obviously are more expensive.

I was just about to say this, she got engaged in 1980!

On a similar note she doesn't understand why we need two salaries to save for (and eventually pay) a mortgage.

She said the other day she had been looking on RightMove for possible houses for us, and it then emerged she had put in a price band of up to £500k We will be lucky to get a mortgage for half that!

Apparently if we have children and I go back to work after maternity leave "the child will end up not knowing your name," (as in my name) and she doesn't understand why on earth I can't stay at home until the children are five!

Thanks for giving me a sense check, all

My 0.33 solitaire (can't remember the other grades, but they are decent, but not absolute top-notch) was valued for insurance recently at £1k

I'd agree with the others 1carat is about 3-6k but that's for 1 carat not per carat. A 2 carat will cost more than twice that

My 1 carat solitaire was £3.5k, 10 years ago.

A high quality - cut, clarity and colour - 1 ct ring would retail over £10k. Lower (high street jeweller) quality you may find for circa £5+.

At £1-£3k, we'd be talking more yellow colour, fluorescence, low quality cut and many more inclusions. Big but bland.

On the 2nd hand market you could obtain a good quality 1ct at £3k.

Ha yes I get the ‘I don’t understand why you have children just to give them to someone else to bring up’ from my mum. Who doesn’t understand that a mortgage nowadays requires two salaries to pay. So annoying!

Not unrealistic

On Bonhams, Pawnshops, EBay

Sounds like my MIL. Bought a house for like £20k, mortgage free by 30 and thinks I’m a terrible person for working as we need 2 salaries to pay the mortgage and survive. But that’s so unfair on my husband and kids!

Sounds like my MIL too. Not with the ring price, I don't know think she cares too much for jewellery. But she doesn't understand why I live in a flat and not a nice semi. The point that my flat is valued at 7x my salary isn't even on her radar.

Does she know how much a mortgage payment is on a 500k mortgage- or a £400 if you have a deposit? Does she understand about multiples? Sounds like she lives in a lovely little bubble. If she doesn’t understand why you both have to work, perhaps ask her if she’s going to pay half the mortgage for you.

Noooo, this is very unrealistic. 1carat would start from something £3k -6k and that's depending on the colour, clarity, cut. My engagement ring is 1.22 and it's definitely between 5-6k. DH never gave price and I've never asked jewellers but have the certificate so it roughly gives me an idea. Btw, this is the only valuable thing I have ever had in my entire life with a price tag (not DH or children in the same context please). My car isn't even a 1/3 of that so I'm not showing off please before you all attack me :)

Lots of diamond solitaires of that sort of size can be bought for approx £1000 at auction.

Modern engagement rings being sold second hand are sold at a huge loss - possibly because many buyers also think they are 'jinxed' if being sold so soon.

I have a 1.6ct diamond solitaire, bought at auction for not much more than that. It's H in colour and is a VS2 clarity. But, you can only see the down colour when compared to another better colour stone and, truthfully, how many people know what to look for in diamond cut and clarity? (I'm a valuer so I do get to see a lot of rings!)

I also have a modern eternity band composed of E colour IF brilliant and baguette diamonds that I wear with an antique diamond 5 stone ring with mid-range stones. Because I wear one on top of the other and they are both set in yellow hold I really don't think the differences are that strong.

I've got a Boodles brilliance diamond solitaire 0.91ct
Bought 4 years ago it was £10,200

I was thinking more like £10k for a 1 carat high quality diamond.

£3k seems low

I have my old engagement ring.

It is 1.5 carat it is valued at over £10K.