- Joined
- Apr 26, 2009
- Messages
- 5
Hi all,
I''d been lurking here for several months prior my fiance and I deciding on and purchasing my new engagement ring, and now that I finally have it in hand I wanted to post a long-overdue thank you to the wonderful folks involved in the process, and to add my two cents to the positive data points on these excellent firms.
After months of reading/obsessing/reading some more about how to choose a diamond (almost all on pricescope), and some less-than-impressive experiences at some local diamond district merchants, it was a no-brainer for us to go with Good Old Gold. We are close enough to visit GOG in person, which we did - twice! The first time we stopped by on the way back from a trip, and arrived 10 minutes before closing. Jonathan was kind enough to stay an extra 30 minutes past closing to talk with us and show us a couple stones. We made an appointment for the weekend, and came back then. On our second trip, Jonathan spent several hours with us showing different variations in color, cut, and clarity, under different lighting conditions. After additional deliberation, we went with this stone:
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/5381
0.86 ct, AGS0 Ideal cut, H&A, G SI1
Despite the cloud right under the table facet (which did concern me initially), it is completely eyeclean and exactly what we were looking for from a quality/value/price perspective. (I''ve completely bought into the theory that the stone is a reflection of the nature of a good marriage -- not without its imperfections but still a rare and valuable gem.
) The obvious attention to detail and care that Jonathan and his entire team exhibit, and the copious technical information they supply on every stone, made us very comfortable in buying this stone, and confident that we were getting a good value on an excellent stone.
For the ring, I knew I wanted a Mark Morrell setting (in fact, my fiance found Mark''s site thorough a Google search before we knew about Pricescope; googling Mark led us here.) His simple, flowing styles, and choice of platinum alloy, really appealed to both of us. I had some trouble deciding between the SunBurst and the Torchiere, and a phone conversation with Mark helped me clarify which was best for me. I also had trouble deciding on the classic vs petite rings, and Mark was kind enough to send me wax models of each so I could see for myself how the different widths would look on my finger. I went with the classic (to emphasize the curves in the shank) and even though I have pretty short fingers (it''s a 5 1/2 size ring) it looks perfect on me. The ring is very subtle in "real life" as opposed to Mark''s magnified pictures. Working with Mark was an absolute pleasure -- he is very approachable and friendly, and a true craftsman with obvious pride and incredible attention to detail in his work. We''re looking forward to having Mark craft our wedding bands as well.
Finally we worked with Jeff Averbrook in Medford, MA for the appraisal of the loose stone and the finished ring -- he was great to work with and a true professional.
So thanks to everyone at Pricescope who has posted with questions and answers -- I probably read a large percentage of those posts while I was researching! We couldn''t be happier with the superb quality of the finished product, and are happy that our hard-earned $$ have gone towards excellent small/family-run merchants who care about doing a great job and providing excellent customer service.
Thanks!
And finally, some pictures from Mark (I''ll post hand shots once I have a chance to take some...)
I''d been lurking here for several months prior my fiance and I deciding on and purchasing my new engagement ring, and now that I finally have it in hand I wanted to post a long-overdue thank you to the wonderful folks involved in the process, and to add my two cents to the positive data points on these excellent firms.
After months of reading/obsessing/reading some more about how to choose a diamond (almost all on pricescope), and some less-than-impressive experiences at some local diamond district merchants, it was a no-brainer for us to go with Good Old Gold. We are close enough to visit GOG in person, which we did - twice! The first time we stopped by on the way back from a trip, and arrived 10 minutes before closing. Jonathan was kind enough to stay an extra 30 minutes past closing to talk with us and show us a couple stones. We made an appointment for the weekend, and came back then. On our second trip, Jonathan spent several hours with us showing different variations in color, cut, and clarity, under different lighting conditions. After additional deliberation, we went with this stone:
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/5381
0.86 ct, AGS0 Ideal cut, H&A, G SI1
Despite the cloud right under the table facet (which did concern me initially), it is completely eyeclean and exactly what we were looking for from a quality/value/price perspective. (I''ve completely bought into the theory that the stone is a reflection of the nature of a good marriage -- not without its imperfections but still a rare and valuable gem.
) The obvious attention to detail and care that Jonathan and his entire team exhibit, and the copious technical information they supply on every stone, made us very comfortable in buying this stone, and confident that we were getting a good value on an excellent stone.For the ring, I knew I wanted a Mark Morrell setting (in fact, my fiance found Mark''s site thorough a Google search before we knew about Pricescope; googling Mark led us here.) His simple, flowing styles, and choice of platinum alloy, really appealed to both of us. I had some trouble deciding between the SunBurst and the Torchiere, and a phone conversation with Mark helped me clarify which was best for me. I also had trouble deciding on the classic vs petite rings, and Mark was kind enough to send me wax models of each so I could see for myself how the different widths would look on my finger. I went with the classic (to emphasize the curves in the shank) and even though I have pretty short fingers (it''s a 5 1/2 size ring) it looks perfect on me. The ring is very subtle in "real life" as opposed to Mark''s magnified pictures. Working with Mark was an absolute pleasure -- he is very approachable and friendly, and a true craftsman with obvious pride and incredible attention to detail in his work. We''re looking forward to having Mark craft our wedding bands as well.
Finally we worked with Jeff Averbrook in Medford, MA for the appraisal of the loose stone and the finished ring -- he was great to work with and a true professional.
So thanks to everyone at Pricescope who has posted with questions and answers -- I probably read a large percentage of those posts while I was researching! We couldn''t be happier with the superb quality of the finished product, and are happy that our hard-earned $$ have gone towards excellent small/family-run merchants who care about doing a great job and providing excellent customer service.
Thanks!
And finally, some pictures from Mark (I''ll post hand shots once I have a chance to take some...)
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