Quoted from vid1900:

Assuming you are not the family prick, you can get all the big diamonds you want for free.
Every old woman who ever had 2 nickels to rub together, has a bunch of diamonds sitting in the safe-deposit box. She is never going to wear them or even look at them.
I inherited a bunch of Russian diamonds that my dad used to bring back for my mother, plus my mom's sister's stash of diamonds, too. There is no way to sell them, as no one will buy them (Even a 2.3 karat with an appraised value of $20,000 - no jeweler will give me $4,000 for it (the more valuable the stone, the LESS likely you will find someone to buy it)).
So, every time someone in the family is getting engaged, I always quietly offer up a big stone they can get reset into whatever they want.
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Quoted from cosmokramer:

For my wifes birthday year before last she had her choice of a ring and bracelet set for $4,200 or an IMVE FOR $4,500...... We still play Iron Man almost every day

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