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Advice on shopping for a diamond bracelet and necklace IRL?

PenguinIce

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
51
So my future mother-in-law parents wants to buy diamond jewelry as an upcoming wedding gift but they are located out of the country (Asia) so they are going through friends and local jewelers in their home country. Very concern about what they might buy :errrr:

I know if I were to do it here I would go through a PS Vendor. Got the eRing from GoG (Solasfera/GIAxxx in a Tacori setting :love:) and diamond earring studs from BGD (AGS000) - thanks to lots of great advice and suggestions from the wonderful folks here on PS!!! :appl:

For bracelets and necklace since they are smaller don't think many places certify so telling them to check for a certificate (GIA or AGS) won't help. So what to do? :confused:

My next best idea is to give them one of the studs since they are AGS000 (as a reference) plus an idealscope (yeah have one of those too) to compare while they look. We'll be going back later this year so hoping they don't go buy something before then :sick:

Any other ideas people have?

We want to complete the set we already have with a diamond bracelet and necklace. I did get a simple Bluenile .5ctw diamond pendant (which is okay) but looking for something nicer :).

Thanks!
 

swingirl

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 6, 2006
Messages
5,666
Re: Advice on shopping for a diamond bracelet and necklace I

Whiteflash has nice diamond bracelets with ACA stones (they aren't certified because they are too small but they are cut to the ACA standards). They can customize the ct weight depending on what you want to spend.

http://www.whiteflash.com/diamond-bracelets/search.htm
 

Rhea

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Oct 20, 2007
Messages
6,399
Re: Advice on shopping for a diamond bracelet and necklace I

I think sometimes on gifts (I can't believe I'm saying this!) you just need to let go and let them choose. An idealscope is a great idea and maybe a loupe. However, they may not feel comfortable using them.

Have you told them the colour and clarity of your current stones? If so, that gives them something to attempt to match to, but I'd also be tempted to round up to be sure of eye-clean to your standards.

Would they turn the buying over to your husband to be? If so, then you could get much more say in the gifts without they ever having to know that you did.
 

PenguinIce

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
51
Re: Advice on shopping for a diamond bracelet and necklace I

Actually, the Solasfera is an E/SI1 and the BGD diamond studs are H/S1. The H's are pretty white, actually the Tacori settings is a three stone w/ the sides as G/VS2.

To be honest all of them look pretty white :)... when matching, I would think the necklace and erings should be color grade match (since they are close in proximity) and guess naturally the same for the bracelet and ering should be closely color match (1 grade? 2 color grade?). Or if you wear the bracelet on the right hand maybe doesn't need to match as much - since it's further away? ;-)

Yeah for color matching letting them use the existing stud would be easiest. Maybe for clarity have them go into the VS range (as they are old so using a loupe/scope is going to be real hard :wacko:). I like to try to do S1 "eye clean" (save a few bucks) but that really requires going with a reputable dealer and looking at the pictures/idealscope.

Addy|1318163818|3036411 said:
I think sometimes on gifts (I can't believe I'm saying this!) you just need to lt go and let them choose. An idealscope is a great idea and maybe a loupe. However, they may not feel comfortable using them.

Have you told them the colour and clarity of your current stones? If so, that gives them something to attempt to match to, but I'd also be tempted to round up to be sure of eye-clean to your standards.

Would they turn the buying over to your husband to be? If so, then you could get much more say in the gifts without they ever having to know that you did.
 

MissGotRocks

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jun 23, 2005
Messages
14,341
Re: Advice on shopping for a diamond bracelet and necklace I

I think we need some pictures of what she already has - sounds beautiful!

As for the bracelet and necklace, does she have any idea about what type of style she would like? Simple pendant? Three prong diamond tennis bracelet? Something like that?
 

PenguinIce

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
51
Re: Advice on shopping for a diamond bracelet and necklace I

MissGotRocks|1318198300|3036710 said:
I think we need some pictures of what she already has - sounds beautiful!

As for the bracelet and necklace, does she have any idea about what type of style she would like? Simple pendant? Three prong diamond tennis bracelet? Something like that?

Okay, okay :tongue:

Been meaning to post this to the Bling section anyways... I actually bought the e-ring almost a year and half ago but you know waiting for the "right moment"! Actually a good thing I did cause the Tacori setting jumped in price now (so guess another good reason to buy early =) )

Jonathan (GoG) was nice enough to shoot a nice HD video of the ring:
http://vimeo.com/17379532
Center: Solasfera 1.11/E/SI1 http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/7600
Tacori Setting is: HT2326SM-1/2

Here's the earring studs from BGD:
Martini Tension Set .42/H/SI1 each
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=AGS-104048050044
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=AGS-104048050042


BrianGavin_Martini_LH1b_122010.jpg

The funny thing, the first set of diamond studs was off BlueNile .25ct each but w/ screw backs. She complained about the screwbacks so went with the tension settings, but she still wears the BlueNile set everyday cause she feel more secure :confused:....

Maybe it's a guy thing, I KNOW technically (by the numbers) I know the GoG/BGD are better stones, but honestly all of them shine pretty well even the stuff I got from BlueNile.... guess in the end she's happy so that's what maters... :))

So the next quest is to complete the set out with a necklace and and a bracelet.

For necklace she says she likes "V" shape... not sure what that means will probably have to have her browse on-line and point what she likes (she already has a nice simple pendant http://www.bluenile.com/journey-diamond-pendant_6714)

I'm thinking something like this:
http://www.tiffany.com/Shopping/Item.aspx?fromGrid=1&sku=24944468&mcat=148204&cid=287465&search_params=s+5-p+35-c+287465-r+101323351-x+-n+6-ri+-ni+0-t+-k+

When looking at WF, BGD I mainly only see pendants.

For bracelet debating on DBTY vs a tennis bracelet (11pt)... she actually has a has a small wrist so looking fwd to saving some money there :D (got her this plt barclet 7.25in http://www.bluenile.com/platinum-bracelet-faceted-bead_4295 which completely flies off her hand so can't wear it :(sad )....

Not sure if I really like how DBTY looks (at least online), so will check it out in person.

She'll be wearing this as part of the wedding reception in front of relatives so want her to shine! :)....

My other thinking is sending back the BGD and get them reset to screw backs so she'll feel comfortable wearing those everyday. But since they're screwbacks she doesn't take them off everyday and then complains they get dirty!!! :errrr:

But somewhat feeling that the .41ct studs aren't big enough for the big day... so thinking of getting another set at the .6ct studs .... man at this rate this is going cost way more than the reception! :-o

Thanks for all the inputs!

Edit: Remove vendor logo from pic, correct general misspellings
 

MichelleCarmen

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Feb 8, 2003
Messages
15,880
Re: Advice on shopping for a diamond bracelet and necklace I

Hi,

Providing them with an ideal scope sounds like the best bet so they can check the sparkle! A loop may be intimidating to them b/c they may feel pressured to be able to determine clarity when in reality it can be tricky for many to do.
 
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