Hell no! Taiwanese women keep their rings in safes or banks. My wife does.
Taiwanese don’t wear their wedding or engagement rings as often as westerners. I’ts certainly not like at home where people might think you’ve got an ulterior motive for taking it off.
Brian
Any suggestions on where in Taiwan (preferably Taipei) to buy an engagement ring? Are there any good goldsmith artists in town? I’d like to buy a unique ring.
Thanks!
You could try the lane that runs paralell and to the west of YenChi Street - (lane 216, maybe?) off Chungxiao E Rd., you know, that lane behind ATT. That’s where I got my wife’s ring. Quite a few places - not sure about the unique part - but they could probably arrange something.
You can get your diamond rings from some stores that are cheaper than other stores, but they won’t come with a certificate. That’s because the diamonds they use are blood money to support wars in Africa. I made sure I got a certificate when I bought mine.
I never understood the putting rings in safes thing either. I think it’s because Taiwanese get these ridiculously expensive rings and the women are afraid of getting mugged so they never wear them.
Tiffany’s is over priced but you don’t have to worry if the quality they claim is true or not. So many jewelery dealers are crooks, claiming certain quality levels when in fact it is not the quality level they claim. I know there are a lot of places Forumosan’s can recommend, but how do you know those jewelers they are recommending are not just smooth talkers that fooled those Forumosans. Especially, in HK, they have years of practise of cheating foreigners. It is really hard if you are not an expert to know the different grades of diamonds and so easy to get cheated. Safe bet is Tiffany’s and the ladies love Tiffany’s too.
Ok, I bought some expensive jewellery when I lived in Taiwan, and I can comment on a few points:
the name in Chinese for platinum is ‘white gold’ and this causes a lot of confusion because in English, white gold is white gold. What is white gold?? White gold is literally yellow gold that has had enough platinum added to it to make it appear silvery (but it’s still mostly gold). Platinum is a great choice for a ring but doesn’t polish up as nicely as yellow or white gold because it’s so hard. I would recommend 18K white gold for a ring. 24K is impossible with white gold (cuz of the added platinum) and is way to soft to hold a stone. However, if you give a Chinese or Taiwanese person 14K they will secretly hate you forever. It is simply not sold in the East anyway.
Where to buy the diamond ring? ABERDEEN, HONG KONG or KOWLOON, HONG KONG. Trust me on this. The cost of the return ticket will save you many $$ in the long run…and the stones there are all guaranteed by the gov. of HK if it’s a gov-registered jewellery shop. Nothing beats HK for cheap, large diamonds. Diamonds aren’t that great of a deal in Taiwan. And of course in NA they are a crap deal.
PM me for directions to 2 jewellery shops I would recommend in Aberdeen and Kowloon. I have purchased stuff from both. I can also recommend an excellent jeweller in Hsin-Tien if you decide not to go to HK. She has a gemology licence from Arizona and speaks wonderful English, but you’re going to pay more if you buy the rock in Taiwan. It is well worth the trip to HK…and I can recommend cheap accomodations, as well.
They are probably worth what you pay for them (or a bit less) - but friendship rings are obviously not as high quality (material and design) as the real thing. A real, quality diamond on a friendship ring would probably be the exception.
Don’t go cheap and get a friendship ring as a wedding ring - beside you are the woman so make you man pay for it. 
anyone got a handle on Just Diamonds???
Trustworthy i.e. grade etc
Actually, white gold is gold alloyed with palladium and silver and coated with rhodium. Platinum jewelry are never called white gold. The two metals are easily distinguished from each other though. Platinum is much denser than gold so platinum rings will be heavier that gold ones. Also, platinum rings will not get deformed like those made from gold.
Confusingly enough, in Chinese the word for platinum is 白金 which literally means “white gold”. Needless to say, it’s very confusing and a lot of chinese people don’t understand the difference between platinum and actual white gold because of it.
Hi, I have a few questions about buying engagement rings in Taiwan:
I understand that you have to consider the 4c’s when buying a diamond
carat, cut, colour and clarity.
I saw a very nice VVS1 (very very slightly included) one for $20,000. It was very white (a D) but I didn’t really like the setting. They told me they could move the stone to more suitable setting.
1, Is $20,000NT too much to spend on an engagement ring?
2, The dealer mentioned certification for the above ring. It there anyway I can prove it’s real?
3, Is there anything else (apart from finger size, and her liking it!) I should be aware of?
4, I want to have a look around before making my final decision, can you suggest a reputable dealer in Taipei?
Thanks,
Loverman
IMHO clarity is the most important thing, then cut, then carrot 
then color.
Compare the calrity of several stones, very good to low grade to see the difference, then compare and get closer…you’ll SEE what I mean.
As for the money, it depends on you. But the hope is that you’ll only be buying ONE of these things in your life, right? So, I’d spend as much as I could afford. I don’t know you or your financial situation, so I don’t wanna say 20K NT is cheap…but my notebook PC cost more…I couldn’t/wouldn’t be able to live with my wife if that were true.
Isn’t there a rule for how much to spend? 3 months salary or something??
I don’t think there is a rule on how much to spend on a ring, but I think the most important is that you buy one what she likes. Cause she’s gonna have to wear it. There are very many designs cause every girl don’t always tend to like the same thing.
NT20,000 is not too much at all, heck, my mom got my a 0.25 Karat for my birthday for about that price, but great clarity. Usually in Taiwan it’s about clarity, not size.
Why don’t you take her to the shops to have a look?
absolutely.
You mean $200,000NT, right? :s 20k is definitely on the, um, economical side… For what it’s worth, the (industry suggested) standard is two months salary. I’m pretty sure you’re making more than 10k a month… 
On the other hand, it’s not the ring, it’s the sentiment behind it. I’m sure she’ll understand…
,“]I bought a diamond ring for my wife when I was in Canada. My brother the activist said that I should stay away from diamonds with unknown origins, because many diamonds are of African origin and are considered to be “conflict” diamonds, used to finance militias and corrupt regimes, and many diamond companies, including Indian ones, use child labour in sweatshops to process the diamonds. Our diamond - a [url=http://www.siriusdiamonds.com/pages/polarbear.html]Polar Bear diamond[quote=” from Sirius Diamonds has a microscopic polar bear and a serial number engraved on the girdle of the stone, and included certification stating the size, cut, clarity, colour, date minde, date cut of the ring etc. And unlike an “international” certificate shown to me at the Mitsukoshi Department store, this certificate contained no “Taiwan English”. 
The ring we ended up with was “G” colour, VS1 in terms of clarity, with an ideal cut. It’s very sparkly. It’s a .6 carat diamond, with a platinum ring. [color=red] The cost was just under 5 thousand CDN dollars, or about $120k NT[/color]. My wife is very happy, so I’m happy. 
[/quote]
Not sure if they are still using these numbers in their advertising, but as I recall the traditional DeBeers campaigns were region specific – based on the maximum amount their research indicated they could convince men to spend. They thus established “The Rule” that you will find if you talk to jewelers or read about articles Wedding Planner magazine and the like. The amounts are:
Europe: 1 month’s salary
U.S.: 2 months’ salary
Japan: 3 months’ salary
As of last year, 2 months was still considered “The Rule” in the US (with the slogan “A diamond. How else can two months’ salary last forever?”). In my experience, “The Rule” represented the upper boundry – almost everyone spent less. Even using an after-tax interpretation, 2 months’ salary is a lot of money. Most people I know who did spend that much were people who had family/other external sources for the money.
In terms of selection, I also vote with the people who put clarity high on the list.
I was listening to the Beatles this morning. Money can’t buy me love. Tell me you don’t want no diamond ring, and I’ll be satisfied. I don’t care too much for money. Money can’t buy me love. (it does, however, buy beer)…
I bought my wife her ring at a stall on the street in Ximending in 1988. It cost about NT$ 70 or so. Of course, it weren’t no diamond.
We don’t even wear rings. Been married pretty happily so far for near 16 years.