fierypyropixy
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2009
- Messages
- 600
I need some advice. I''ve been mulling this over for a while.
In April, my dear husband took me into a jeweler''s store in the lobby of his studio. I suppose he wanted some birthday ideas, and this jeweler is v.reputable here, it''s a small personally-owned store, and it was closing due to the owner''s health issues. The owner was v.dedicated to his store and only employed two assistants, and it was not a custom work type of store. Just established jewelry lines.
Well, this big Prasiolite ring leaped out at me as being v.fun. (You''ve seen my first topic on the 12mm Amethyst Asscher -- I like them big!) Being Prasiolite, it was of course on the lower end of the price spectrum for PS lovelies, and after pricing out custom settings, I know the bulk of the value of the ring is in the setting and not the stone. Dare I use "affordable", even though my non-jewelry-loving husband would NOT agree that jewelry is ever "affordable"!
Lighting in the store was v.fluorescent and the picture seems a little darker than reality, but I never got the ring over to the window for some natural light. I know I know . . . I was not active on PS and we didn''t approach it as knowledgeable buyers. But . . . this is a FUN ring, not a major investment purchase. He took the camera to work the next day at my request, and took the pic I''m attaching. I sat here and looked at it a while, liked the overblown fun size of it, and then I was surprised the next week. The studio was having a release party that night for their new game, and he had taken the day off, but lured me back to the store by claiming he needed to submit some form or other, but really he was going to buy that ring. I tried it on again, looked around at the other fun sparklies on clearance, and then when I ran out to the car to check the meter, he bought it. My birthday was not for a few more days, but he wanted me to wear it to the release party that night. Woohoo!
But out of the store, I noticed a rather large "void" in the stone. Depending on the viewing angle, as much as 1/4 of the surface can be thrown into a shadow. This wasn''t so obvious in the store, but with hindsight I can look back on the store shots he took and see the precursors. Being a store closure, all sales were final, and I didn''t even bother pursuing it b/c I partially feel that either this is the nature of the cut, and/or that I was uneducated and that''s what I get. I know. I shy away from confrontation to a fault.
So! I''m not going to dwell on what''s done, I merely want to move forward and so this is what I want to accomplish here:
First, I want to know: Is this merely indicative of the cushion checkerboard cut? I''ve been trying to find similar stones, especially of this size, and viewing the spinning videos of stones on Paraiba International leads me to also see this shadow void effect. At least I think I see it.
Second, if this IS the result of a poor cut, is it something that could be remedied by sending the existing stone to one of the PS favorite cutters? Obviously since the majority of the cost of the ring was due to the setting, I want to ensure that the stone would still keep the top measurements to be fit back into the prongs with the same look. I wondered if the "remedy" could occur by only altering the underside of the stone. Does that make sense?
OR, is that more trouble than it''s worth, since it''s Prasiolite, and should I just scrap the stone and ask someone to please cut a new stone with these dimensions?
Here is the ring as it appeared in the store. More will follow that show the "void".
In April, my dear husband took me into a jeweler''s store in the lobby of his studio. I suppose he wanted some birthday ideas, and this jeweler is v.reputable here, it''s a small personally-owned store, and it was closing due to the owner''s health issues. The owner was v.dedicated to his store and only employed two assistants, and it was not a custom work type of store. Just established jewelry lines.
Well, this big Prasiolite ring leaped out at me as being v.fun. (You''ve seen my first topic on the 12mm Amethyst Asscher -- I like them big!) Being Prasiolite, it was of course on the lower end of the price spectrum for PS lovelies, and after pricing out custom settings, I know the bulk of the value of the ring is in the setting and not the stone. Dare I use "affordable", even though my non-jewelry-loving husband would NOT agree that jewelry is ever "affordable"!
Lighting in the store was v.fluorescent and the picture seems a little darker than reality, but I never got the ring over to the window for some natural light. I know I know . . . I was not active on PS and we didn''t approach it as knowledgeable buyers. But . . . this is a FUN ring, not a major investment purchase. He took the camera to work the next day at my request, and took the pic I''m attaching. I sat here and looked at it a while, liked the overblown fun size of it, and then I was surprised the next week. The studio was having a release party that night for their new game, and he had taken the day off, but lured me back to the store by claiming he needed to submit some form or other, but really he was going to buy that ring. I tried it on again, looked around at the other fun sparklies on clearance, and then when I ran out to the car to check the meter, he bought it. My birthday was not for a few more days, but he wanted me to wear it to the release party that night. Woohoo!
But out of the store, I noticed a rather large "void" in the stone. Depending on the viewing angle, as much as 1/4 of the surface can be thrown into a shadow. This wasn''t so obvious in the store, but with hindsight I can look back on the store shots he took and see the precursors. Being a store closure, all sales were final, and I didn''t even bother pursuing it b/c I partially feel that either this is the nature of the cut, and/or that I was uneducated and that''s what I get. I know. I shy away from confrontation to a fault.
So! I''m not going to dwell on what''s done, I merely want to move forward and so this is what I want to accomplish here:
First, I want to know: Is this merely indicative of the cushion checkerboard cut? I''ve been trying to find similar stones, especially of this size, and viewing the spinning videos of stones on Paraiba International leads me to also see this shadow void effect. At least I think I see it.
Second, if this IS the result of a poor cut, is it something that could be remedied by sending the existing stone to one of the PS favorite cutters? Obviously since the majority of the cost of the ring was due to the setting, I want to ensure that the stone would still keep the top measurements to be fit back into the prongs with the same look. I wondered if the "remedy" could occur by only altering the underside of the stone. Does that make sense?
OR, is that more trouble than it''s worth, since it''s Prasiolite, and should I just scrap the stone and ask someone to please cut a new stone with these dimensions?
Here is the ring as it appeared in the store. More will follow that show the "void".
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