Candybaby do you always go to Ashokas for your jewellery its just that I have never bought from him but I will be going to see him in november ....what do you think of him colleen

I have used Ashokas before but only for silver. First time for diamonds but will obviously buy more next year (provided I can save up enough pennies).

Candybabe

We bought a ring from Living Jewels in Candolim (after a lot of haggling about diamond quality) for £625. We have just had it valued by a diamond specialist at £1600 so we're pleased with that!

The diamond guy said "Oh No" when we said we'd bought it in India. He reckons the jewellers there buy poor quality diamonds and sell them to unsuspecting tourists. He said he'd had to disappoint many people over the years with poor valuations of jewels bought in India.

There are good deals to be had but you have to go into them with your eyes wide open and check the diamonds carefully with a good eyeglass.

Whilst having the Indian ring valued, my wife also had an eternity ring valued that was bought ten years ago in Britain. The value was £100 less than we paid for it! You certainly can't assume that things are all OK over here and in future, if we want to buy jewellery, I reckon we'll still use the guys in Living Jewels but will always tread carefully. You pays your money and takes your choice!

I bought some 0.50 ct diamond stud earrings in the UK 10 years ago for £800, a few years later I decided to take them to a jewellers to see what they'd give me for them and they offered me £250 when I asked why it was so low compared to what I'd paid for them they said you never get what you pay for them new but no doubt that they would sell them at a huge profit if they were to buy them off you, so that might explain the Hatton Garden scenario. Needless to say I still have them