Master cut gems - feedback?

[arjunajane]

I would love to hear some feedback from those of you who have purchased from Mastercut gems ?
I have admittedly been tempted by the prices on some of the items in the sale..

But I haven''t seen much discussion in the way of vendor vs buyer photography, accuracy of photos and descriptions, etc, so would love if anyone with prior purchases can chime in?

Importantly, I would really like to know about the cutting - I notice he says American cut on many of the stones, but they look rather different to the US precision cuts I''m used to buying.
Have you been happy with the cutting of your gems?

Have you been happy overall with your purchases (or any returns to share)?

All input welcome, thanks in advance!

 

[Liane]

I've been happy with what I've bought from Master Cut Gems. The prices are very reasonable and the stones well cut. Descriptions are accurate as to all the stones I have. To the extent they look different, I think it's just something about the photography -- the actual cutting on the gems I have is comparable to the others in my collection. I think the colors in the photographs are accurate (at least to the gems I have) but the facet patterns in the pictures seem to look wavery and distorted, as if the stone was photographed underwater, and in real life they don't look like that. So I just use the photos for color.

I do have one MCG oval spinel that has the half-blackout effect going where one half is dark and one half is bright no matter how I orient it, but I'm not sure whether this is just a thing with ovals because this pink spinel is the only oval I have (after buying it, I realized I don't really like ovals and haven't bought any more).

I haven't returned anything but I can't imagine that would be a problem; Dana is super nice to deal with.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

I agree there seems to be something odd with his photography style, but I am very happy with the spinels I got from him. He is also a very nice guy!

 

[Kismet]

I''ve been happy with all the gems I''ve received from him. I haven''t felt iffy about any of them and yes the color in his photograph is pretty accurate. In fact, I picked up a few new ones from him recently too but haven''t had time to photograph them... working 9am to midnight sucks.

 

[Novel]

I bought a pair of spinels from him that I returned due to the half and half effect with ovals, but it was clear from the photo and I didn''t know enough to realize what I was looking at. That said, the color of the spinels was completely right on from the picture.

I also got a deal on a gorgeous darker but flashy purple spinel that I haven''t had time to photograph, but should. Thats another thing to say about Dana, not only is he incredibly nice and will look through his offline inventory for you, but he hadn''t marked down a sapphire he is shipping to me now and marked it down for me. I''ll post pics when I get it!

 

[packrat]

I almost passed up my spinel b/c of the photos on the site, but took a chance and loved the stone. It didn''t even look like the same stone, comparing it to the pictures on the computer. I don''t have any other stones to compare the cutting to, but I think it''s excellent.

Dana''s super friendly and helpful. He''s got a fantastic return policy, and I didn''t feel any pressure to keep the stone if it didn''t fit what I was looking for.

He can do pretty much any cut you want too, if you''re looking for something not listed on the site. When I asked about rose cuts for my 3 stone, he said whatever cut I''m looking for, he can probably do.

I would very much give Dana a bug thumbs up and A+!

 

[glitterata]

I recently bought from him for the first time. He was soooo sweet and I loved the stones. I''ll definitely be back for more. Here''s my thread about it: link

 

[Lovinggems]

I bought a few stones from Dana and hopefully they''ll arrive soon, this is my first purchase from him, one custom cut spinel and several stones off his website. I''m pretty sure I''ll be happy with them as I didn''t get any dark coloured stones this time so there should be no extinction surprises. He''s very friendly to deal with but you have to be patient as he''s super busy. Also it seems he has a huge inventory of cut stones and roughs and I think it''s really great for us he decided to set up an online shop.

 

[LD]

I''m waiting for my first purchase to arrive but I can echo all the others and say that Dana is a pleasure to work with. I absolutely adore his emails as he''s super friendly and knowledgeable. He shared the history of one of his gemstones with me and it was just a fascinating read.

It''s interesting to hear that people have said Dana''s photos are accurate because I''ve read a number of threads saying otherwise and Dana has popped in to say that he also struggles so I''m guessing that his stones look even better than the website suggests.

 

[tsavvy]

Dana is incredibly nice and helpful. I recently purchased some sapphire rough and two tiny tsavorites from him.

However, the sapphire parcel wasn''t available because he had forgotten to remove it from his site after giving it to a local rock club. The tsavorites were sold a minute before I clicked on them, but (kind of like ACS) his software apparently has a lag time before posting the purchase because it let me buy the tsavorites, too. He ended up sending me very comparable tsavorites with a third thrown in to make up for the mix-up. He also sent me a replacement parcel of rough -- I did send the rough back though as the stones in the replacement parcel were higher quality rough but smaller in size and too small for me to tackle.

I do wish he''d let me know about switching the rough in advance as I could have told him based on the number of stones/total carat weight that I wouldn''t have been interested. He did send a gift of two nice pieces of andradite rough that he let me keep, though.

All in all, I would gladly buy something from him again.

 

[SB621]

I can''t add more about Dana and MCG that hasn''t already been said. I have bought several things from him and kept everything. Dana has excellent Customer Service and I really enjoy my transactions with him.

 

[virgoruby]

I too had an excellent buying experience with Dana; I bought a few stones recently and they all turned out to be exactly as he described.
(will try to upload the photos.. soon..

)
I find Dana to be a warm, friendly, helpful and honest person.

 

[arjunajane]

Thankyou everyone who provided detailed responses and feedback, it has been greatly appreciated.
I am glad that all of you seem to have had good experiences and can vouch for Dana, I hope you enjoy your purchases!

 

[arjunajane]

Liane and LD, thankyou for helping answer one of my main questions - I didn't want to say as much initially, but I felt the cutting appeared..off a lil? But I also strongly suspected it was due to the photography..
Liane, just on a sidenote - I'm not sure if what you are seeing with your ovals is extinction - but please don't give up on buying oval gems!
Barry from ACS cuts the awesome supernova ovals - I own 4 of them now and all are bright gems with never any extinction, tilt window or bowtie at all.
Thanks for your info, and check out the supernovas before you decide you don't like ovals oK?

 

[arjunajane]

Novel and Kismet, I''m happy to hear you feel the photo colors were accurate and you''re happy with your purchases.
Please do post photos when you can..


But Kismet 9am to 12midnight? That''s insane lovey!

 

[arjunajane]

Thanks packrat for the information, I do love your ering spinel.
Good to know about the custom cutting too

Cheers Glitterata for the link and recommendation!

Thankyou LG - yes I figured he must be crazy busy. I did send one enquiry but haven''t heard back..You''re correct, he does seem to have a massive amount of cut and rough stones coming out of his ears, lol!
I just wanted to "test the waters" with my fellow PSers before diving in

 

[Liane]

Date: 12/13/2009 8:29:16 AM
Author: arjunajane
Liane, just on a sidenote - I''m not sure if what you are seeing with your ovals is extinction - but please don''t give up on buying oval gems!

Barry from ACS cuts the awesome supernova ovals - I own 4 of them now and all are bright gems with never any extinction, tilt window or bowtie at all.

Thanks for the note.

I actually did have one of Barry''s supernovas briefly -- it''s a chrysoberyl that might still be on his site, I haven''t checked recently -- and you''re right, it didn''t do the half-and-half thing at all. I also realized this morning as I was going through my jewel box that I have another oval, this a large amethyst with a modified Portuguese round bottom and checkerboard top from Art Cut Gems, that doesn''t do the half-and-half thing.

So I guess it''s not inherent to the oval shape after all. Weird. In any case, ovals still aren''t my favorites, but you are absolutely right that I shouldn''t tar all of them with the same brush.