Hi everyone, I''m new here. I''ve been lurking on this forum for quite some time, and I think this is a great place to learn and seek advice. I am having some problems about my e-ring.. I hope I can get some valuable advice here! Please help me out~
Last summer my then bf (fiance now) contacted Michael E. (after seeing high recommendations of him here) for an oval yellow sapphire as the center stone of my engagement ring. Michael said he had exactly what we need - he had a big oval yellow sapphire that needed to be re-cut to give more sparkle. He sent us some pictures and we liked it. So we paid the deposit and he went ahead to re-cut the stone. When we received the stone we were happy, we thought the cut was great and I was very pleased with the color. We paid $700 for the stone and Michael said it weighed 2.03ct.
We were going to get Michael E. to do the setting as well but in the end we couldn''t agree on the design so we went with Maytal Hoffman. Maytal did a fantastic job. We''re both absolutely & incredibly happy with her work.
After we received the completed ring, we went to get it appraised. After looking at the center stone for 2 mins, the appraiser immediately asked if we''re sure we purchased a sapphire. We told him yes, we''re sure. He looked at it for another 10 mins and told us that it is a golden beryl, but not yellow sapphire. We were shocked!!!! The appraiser tried to comfort us and told us that even though it is not a sapphire, it was well cut.
We immediately contacted Michael E. after the appraisal to find out why he sold us a golden beryl as a sapphire. Michael was certain that he did sell us a sapphire. His reasons were that he''s a GIA trained gemologist and had checked the stone when he bought it using a refractive index. He also said he would''ve known if it was a beryl when he re-cut the stone due to the polishing rate.
We were very confused by then and just didn''t know who to trust. So we went to a different appraiser and the appraisal was the same. The center stone is a golden beryl, and not sapphire. We emailed Michael again and asked for corrective actions. He asked us to send him the ring to check whether the center stone is the stone that he sold us. We''re hesitant to do so because we just got engaged and I''m afraid something will happen to the ring during transit. We said we''d drive it down to him but Michael said he doesn''t have time to meet up with anyone. He then asked us to take the center stone out and send it to him.
I''m not sure what to do. Here I have this beautiful ring hand crafted by Maytal. It''s stunning. On the other hand, I''m very disappointed that the center stone is not a sapphire because that''s what we asked and paid for. Both appraisers are GIA trained gemologists. I''m still in disbelief that Michael would commit such deception, but I''m also not doubting Maytal at all (I don''t believe she would change the center stone). To our eyes and from our observations, the center stone is the stone that Michael E. sold us.
Should I send the center stone back to Michael? He said after he checks the stone himself, if he indeed made a mistake and sold us a golden beryl instead of a sapphire, he would find us another sapphire and re-cut it into the same proportions. But I fear that he wont'' be able to find/re-cut a sapphire that would fit perfectly in the existing e-ring setting.
Color-stone experts: Is it very difficult to differentiate golden beryl from yellow sapphire? So much so that even a GIA trained gemologist can make a mistake?
You can see pictures of our ering on Maytal''s website www.maytalhannah.com, it''s ring28 on page 3.
Last summer my then bf (fiance now) contacted Michael E. (after seeing high recommendations of him here) for an oval yellow sapphire as the center stone of my engagement ring. Michael said he had exactly what we need - he had a big oval yellow sapphire that needed to be re-cut to give more sparkle. He sent us some pictures and we liked it. So we paid the deposit and he went ahead to re-cut the stone. When we received the stone we were happy, we thought the cut was great and I was very pleased with the color. We paid $700 for the stone and Michael said it weighed 2.03ct.
We were going to get Michael E. to do the setting as well but in the end we couldn''t agree on the design so we went with Maytal Hoffman. Maytal did a fantastic job. We''re both absolutely & incredibly happy with her work.
After we received the completed ring, we went to get it appraised. After looking at the center stone for 2 mins, the appraiser immediately asked if we''re sure we purchased a sapphire. We told him yes, we''re sure. He looked at it for another 10 mins and told us that it is a golden beryl, but not yellow sapphire. We were shocked!!!! The appraiser tried to comfort us and told us that even though it is not a sapphire, it was well cut.
We immediately contacted Michael E. after the appraisal to find out why he sold us a golden beryl as a sapphire. Michael was certain that he did sell us a sapphire. His reasons were that he''s a GIA trained gemologist and had checked the stone when he bought it using a refractive index. He also said he would''ve known if it was a beryl when he re-cut the stone due to the polishing rate.
We were very confused by then and just didn''t know who to trust. So we went to a different appraiser and the appraisal was the same. The center stone is a golden beryl, and not sapphire. We emailed Michael again and asked for corrective actions. He asked us to send him the ring to check whether the center stone is the stone that he sold us. We''re hesitant to do so because we just got engaged and I''m afraid something will happen to the ring during transit. We said we''d drive it down to him but Michael said he doesn''t have time to meet up with anyone. He then asked us to take the center stone out and send it to him.
I''m not sure what to do. Here I have this beautiful ring hand crafted by Maytal. It''s stunning. On the other hand, I''m very disappointed that the center stone is not a sapphire because that''s what we asked and paid for. Both appraisers are GIA trained gemologists. I''m still in disbelief that Michael would commit such deception, but I''m also not doubting Maytal at all (I don''t believe she would change the center stone). To our eyes and from our observations, the center stone is the stone that Michael E. sold us.
Should I send the center stone back to Michael? He said after he checks the stone himself, if he indeed made a mistake and sold us a golden beryl instead of a sapphire, he would find us another sapphire and re-cut it into the same proportions. But I fear that he wont'' be able to find/re-cut a sapphire that would fit perfectly in the existing e-ring setting.
Color-stone experts: Is it very difficult to differentiate golden beryl from yellow sapphire? So much so that even a GIA trained gemologist can make a mistake?
You can see pictures of our ering on Maytal''s website www.maytalhannah.com, it''s ring28 on page 3.
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