THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 18, 1995 TAG: 9508180042
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY KEFFER, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
JENNIFER AND I had been ``going out'' (``going steady'' if you were dating before Nixon took office) for just over two years. We were high school sweethearts and best friends. I just knew she was the woman I wanted to marry. So I had to begin a crusade for carbon, a discovery of diamonds.
Naturally, a guy wants to buy his girlfriend a ring of high quality and respectable size. In other words, it can't look like we found it in the bottom of a Cracker Jacks box. But the challenge of budget versus want is omnipresent, especially for a financially strapped college student.
Finding the right ring is difficult, because diamonds are very expensive. I saw engagement rings that cost as much as new cars. To keep things in perspective, I devised a simple equation for buying an engagement ring: style + size + quality + color (EQ) mucho dinero.
The rule of thumb is that one should spend only two months' salary on an engagement ring. Needless to say, writing for a student newspaper and working weekends didn't qualify me for Tiffany's of New York.
But I only spent two months' salary, and Jennifer is wearing - displaying, rather - an exquisite diamond. The secret, guys, is to be a shrewd shopper.
It's not easy. The sales clerks at the jewelry store will sell you a Kingsford briquette if there is a profit to be made from it. I've seen hacksaws in a few stores, so watch out for that arm-and-a-leg price tag: they mean business.
Just as you would not make a tuition payment in cash, do not pay for your engagement ring in cash. A check will allow you to keep a record of your payments in case a discrepancy occurs or if things go terribly awry and you find your girlfriend has turned into a fire-breathing dragon.
Before buying a diamond, decide which shape of stone one or both of you like. It may require remembering high school geometry, but you'll survive.
There are round diamonds, square diamonds and several other variations. It's true that no two diamonds are exactly alike and no two will appear the same on her finger. And she'll try on every shape known to Euclid until she finds the style she's looking for.
The next step is to decide upon the size of the diamond. Jewelers use the word ``carat'' when discussing size. One carat is equivalent to 200 milligrams. To our non-Canadian readers, that's a minute fraction of a pound.
The bigger the diamond, the more carats; the more carats, the more dinero. The price differences can mean the difference between skipping lunch for a week and leasing your body for medical experiments.
To avoid spending too much, shop around with a female - like your mother or girlfriend. (There is something in the double-X chromosomes that gives them an incredible ability to bargain-hunt. If you don't believe me, take your girlfriend into a clothing store and watch her gravitate towards the clearance rack.)
I'm glad we looked all over Hampton Roads: Prices can vary widely, from store to store. A diamond similar to the one I bought cost $400 more at a national chain in a local mall. (That's not pocket change; that's the price of books for a semester!)
There are still more factors that influence the cost, such as the quality of the diamond. Jewelers rank diamonds with letters and numbers that are actually abbreviations for important information, kind of like the codes used to size and speed-rate tires.
The first time I spoke with a jeweler I felt like Forrest Gump at a Mensa meeting. But I listened anyway, numbers and letters flying in one ear and getting lost somewhere in the gray matter.
Knowing I didn't speak the language, the jeweler referred me to the visual aids. They're not as complicated as the ``How to make a cheeseburger'' chart at McDonald's, but they are involved.
In the middle of the pack is a VS diamond. The VS stands for ``very slightly included,'' or deformed. The scale goes either up or down, from a VVS (very very slightly included) on the high end to an I-to-the-nth power (or the dung beetle of the bunch) on the other.
The final element to look for is color. Actually, you want to avoid color. If you're confused, don't worry. So was I. Gemologists use letters to assign colors to diamonds - from A (blue) to L (jaundiced). D to I is near-colorless, the range you want to be in.
A diamond's true color, however, can sometimes be obstructed by the band and/or setting reflecting into the stone. To avoid this, consider buying a loose stone. That's what I did. Jennifer's engagement ring started as a lone diamond. I put it on layaway, let her pick the setting and had it mounted and paid for in four months, without breaking my bank.
Shortly thereafter, I proposed in the cafeteria at Great Bridge Middle School South (formerly Great Bridge Junior High), at the same lunch table where we had met six years ago. Then I gave her the ring I wanted her to wear for the rest of her life.
The journey from shopping for diamonds to becoming engaged is a long one. In many ways, it's just as much my diamond as it hers. MEMO: Gary Keffer, who lives in Chesapeake, is majoring in English and
political science at Old Dominion University. He and his fiancee plan to
get married in 1997. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Gary Keffer is entering his junior year at ODU.
by CNB