Say Hello to my Not-So-Little Friend

[tberube]

good lord!!!

Gorgeous!!

 

[somethingshiny]

wow

I''ll say it again, WOW!

holy crikey!

WOW!

 

[slmulkey]

I think those 2 sidestones with halos would make a nice pair of earrings. If you can''t convince him to let you keep the ring, maybe you could at least do something like that

 

[Venice]

Oh my gosh, your ring is amazing! I would LOVE to have an OMC some day! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Rock Candy]

WOW! What a fantastic find! It''s just beautiful - gotta love that high crown, small table on an OEC! Can''t wait to hear what the appraiser has to say about that beauty.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

It''s stunning!!!

 

[surfgirl]

oops! Totally wrong thread, I have no idea where the heck I even am right now, sorry!

 

[Diamond*Dana]

Wow, that is a ginormous and gorgeous stone!!!

 

[vespergirl]

OMG!!! THat ring is incredible! Congrats!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Oh garsh--it''s amazing!!!!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Burk]

Wow. There are no words. I just love me a GIANT OEC!!!!

 

[ManhattanLawyer]

Wow!! That is beautiful!!!

 

[LGK]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

I do rather like the idea of making earrings out of the side stones, slmulkey. Unfortunately I have a LOTTTT of hair, so I''ve never bothered with real-bling earrings, because nobody even sees my ears normally. Once I wore my hair up on a hot day and everyone at work was like "you have HOW MANY ear piercings?" Nobody''d ever noticed them before, hidden beneath the black-n-curly out of control-ness that is my hair. It''s tempting though... I''d know they were there, at least!! Perhaps if we do sell it I''ll do that, at least I''d get to keep some bling!

Possession is 9/10ths of it, though, right?? I''ll work on the boy about keeping vs. reselling- I mean, larger diamond prices have been rising, so it wouldn''t be a bad idea to sit on it for... 10 or 20 years or so!

Thing2, the setting isn''t antique, actually. It was a brand new custom made setting the seller made specifically for this stone, before ebaying it.

Imdanny, good eye! Yep, it''s 18K white gold.

I''m pretty surprised nobody has been like "OMG get that halo off that enormous stone!" Seriously, I''m not going to weep if anyone says they don''t like it. I will say at this point I''m actually leaning towards keeping it in this setting, at least until I can save up for a rosebud setting. (I''m thinking a year or two, probably- why must wonderful settings be so wretchedly expensive?? I mean a Leon made rosebud style setting would be half at least of the cost of this!) My reasoning for keeping it halo-ed is, I overdress all the time- I don''t even own jeans- why not wear an OTT setting, too? I also LOVE how clean it stays in this setting, and how easy it is to clean too.

Appraisal was rescheduled for tomorrow at 1, so we''ll see what''s what. I''ve been studying this little bugger under my loupe and I think I found an inclusion finally- an eensy beensy pin-point size clear dot located off the table, under one of the star facets I think. Either that or tenacious lint. It seems to always be there though. Besides that I can''t find a darn thing, except for the scratches of course. The chip is so shallow and small, I really think it could be removed REALLY easily- it just touches the girdle and goes up to one of the top facets, but it looks like it''s incredibly shallow... plus, I can''t see it without a loupe.

Again, thanks for all the input everyone

 

[LGK]

So I got back from the appraisal today. I went to Deborah Weiditz, who works out of a lovely home in Everett- she was wonderful, she was one of those professionals we all love who explain every step, which is awesome. She also had lots of interesting stories, too... some very scary ones in fact. Anyway, I showed up looking, well, like I do on my days off, wearing tatty converse and a corset jacket... she was very friendly and professional despite the fact that I probably looked like I''d stolen the thing! (I usually don''t explain my "job" in full, but I did to her, just because I didn''t want her wondering at the back of her head if I had, in fact, made off with someone''s precious!)

She said basically that I did really good

Yay! The stone, as it stands with small chip in girdle, several other tiny chips, the scratches, and some bearding around the girdle, is currently a VS2. She said without the largest chip, it would be a solid VS1. Interestingly, all the clarity grading charictaristics are all wear & tear related- so it is likely

the stone started out life as an IF. She "cheated" went up to 30X on her microscope and still found no inclusions besides the chip and bearding... the thing I thought was a pinpoint inclusion was just dust after all. Then she got out the moissanite tester JUST to be sure! (No it isn''t moiss or CZ- you better believe I tested it within 30 seconds of having it

) I asked if it was worth polishing out the largest chip. She thought not, because the price difference between VS1 and VS2 for a large stone like this was not enough to make up for the risk of more chipping and weight loss. She felt it was the sort of thing that one should just accept as part of an antique stone. She also felt it wasn''t worth resetting it- the setting, she thought, went beautifully with the stone and was stylish at the moment.

I should note she might be a weeee bit biased on this count- her stunningly gorgeous wedding set was an antique cushion cut champagne colored diamond set in a halo.

Also, and here''s some MAJOR news, the folks selling it didn''t weigh it to get carat weight> The estimated, using THE ROUND BRILLIANT FORMULA. It ain''t 3.4 carats, folks. It is a whopping 3.55. WOW!! That made me drop my jaw.

It is a solid GIA/AGS M in color, which I find beautiful

She looked up the wholesale price for me before I left (I get the actual papers tomorrow) and she was excited too- apparently over 3 carats, the price isn''t any different from OEC to RB cut (lower than 3, the price is lower for an OEC). It wholesales at VS2 for $16,800 I belive she said. Which ain''t bad, considering.

Also, she gave a LOT of fuel for the "keep it" arguement. I asked her, if she would keep it or sell it, and though she did think I could make a few thousand selling it quickly or a bit more selling it retail at the antique mall, she felt that prices on larger stones were skyrocketing, and with the dollar going down, it made more sense keeping it! Yay!!

 

[Rhea]

That''s great news!! It''s beautiful. And the side stones aren''t too bad either

 

[LGK]

(I had to run to the PO to get some express mail out so I didn''t check my last post for typos, oh well... there''s this one random emoticon that appeared somehow, strangely enough).

I wanted to add a couple of things. It was really interesting talking to the appraiser. She had just had her earlier appointment, and she said it was an absolutely tragic one... and unfortunately a scenario she sees all too often. Apparently a daughter brought in her mom''s jewelry collection to be appraised, her mother had just passed from Alzheimers. The daughter wanted to insure her mom''s jewelery she''d inherited. It turned out every major stone was CZ. The daughter knew they''d been supposed to be diamonds.

Ms. Wieditz said that she''d seen this happen a lot, where the elderly patient had had some unscrupulous caretaker, usually in a nursing home, take the stones out of the older person''s jewelry and replace with CZ. Very heartbreaking. She said she always recommends taking any major diamonds out of any jewelry (like a wedding set) that someone is going to be wearing in a nursing home before they go, because it is not unusual to have it just plain stolen as well as swapped out.

She also fielded a very sad call while I was there- an elderly woman had spent a big chunck of her savings on one of those job lots of semiprecious off a shopping channel and wanted them appraised. (I''d actually seen a similar thing happen at work, a daughter rented a space at our mall to sell her mom''s 1980s QVC stuff. The mom had spent her whole savings on "fine" jewelry from QVC. At least she got a tiny bit of her mom''s $$ back selling through the mall.)

She was really excited for me that I did well buying off eBay, she said she saw plenty of not-so-happy endings from that route, which is no surprise to anyone of course.

I would totally recommend Deborah Wieditz to anyone in the Seattle/Everett area, she was very professonal and fascinating to talk to. She works out of a home in south Everett. She is familiar with antiques and antique cuts, too (and obviously loves them herself), which was one reason I went with her. She is definitely of the "don''t mess with the antique stone!" school, which I appreciate; I would probably just die of stress getting mine recut to fix the chip & scratches, so I''m gonna be keeping it as is, since I can''t see the issues with my bare eyball anyway. I was excited to see I wasn''t that retarded with my loupe, I kept thinking "why on earth can''t I find a single freaking inclusion?? I must just be used to lower clarity???" Also she was able to see under the prongs fine, which was cool.

By the way, the side stones are J-U-N-K, haha. Crap cut (knew that), and I1 clarity mostly, even the .31 ct ones. Surprisingly, somehow they sparkle.

 

[diamondfan]

that is pretty gorgeous! lucky you!

 

[LGK]

I figured I''d just dig out my old thread here rather than reposting and needing to repeat myself a bit.

I''m trying to nefariously plot a strategy to talk the darling husband into letting me keep the pet rock. Anybody got an fabulous argument that''ll help my plan? He''s still intent on having me sell it (and in his defense, that was indeed the plan!

) But, and I''m sure I''m not the only person here who will understand this, my inner Gollum has been whispering in my ear about how damn difficult it will be to part with this thing. Sigh. I should have realized it would be majorly difficult for me to see it on my paw for a time and then part with it. (Plus, I adore the cut and the clarity of this stone! It''s truly a rarity and I''m pretty sure I''ll never find one just like it- especially for the price I got!)

Here''s the first part of what I''m thinking of proposing to him: I will repay us for it, plus an extra $5K, in 9 months, not using our salaries. I''ve already gotten a good bit done towards that, though I haven''t told him yet- our finances are my thing. But I was thinking I could offer the profit part of the repayment of it to him to put partially towards a car he really wants. (That was the idea for selling the ring- he would get the profit to play with.) So basically I''d be "paying" us for it.

The other part of the strategy so far- I''ll bribe him with taking my nose stud out as part of the deal. It''s a damn long story that isn''t that interesting, but suffice it to say that I think it''ll be an excellent bargaining ploy.

Finally, I will also remind him what he used all the profits from my mineral makeup website for in the last 5 months (hint: it was more expensive than my diamond!)

I dunno what else I could come up with. He very much believes that fine jewelry and other high end luxury goods will plummet in price in the near future. Which is why he''s very strongly pushing for me to sell now. However, I have heard lots of people in the business- the appraiser I went to, and many posts by professionals here- saying that larger stones are going up and not likely to stop anytime soon. However the DH is a bit of an economic pessimist (though truly *many* of his predictions over the last 5 years have come eerily true) and he thinks that nobody is going to be able to afford such things as larger diamonds in the near future. Personally, I think that a diamond we bought at a really good price is probably better than the cash we''ve been watching devalue pretty quick in savings. I mean, we''ve got a lot of hedges and I think having a diamond bought for a good price is a great addition to our various investments.

I''m just hoping someone else will have an idea as to any other angles I can work; the boy is wretchedly difficult to verbally debate with.

I also wonder if I should offer, as part of the bargain, to sell my e-ring upgrade I got recently, the 1.22 N colored OEC in the antique platinum setting; it would be very, very difficult for me, because the setting is one-of-a-kind of course, but given the choice between the two I''d go for the larger/higher color & clarity stone (duh!)

 

[Catmom]

WOW, it''s AMAZING and HUGE!!!!!! I would leave it in that setting but that''s just me.

 

[Eva17]

i haven''t officially said,

hello, my not so little friend!!!!!



i hope you can convince dh to keep her. sounds like you have some good ideas, but remind him that the price of metals and gems has gone up alot. and expected to keep going for a while....

plus men are pretty easy to please when we want something bad enough

good luck!!

 

[Burk]

KEEP IT!!! I can totally relate to husbands being a PITA, but I hope you find a way to talk your husband into keeping that baby around. I love love love OEC''s and ginormous ones like yours are even better!

Good luck with the hubby. Keep us posted on what happens!

 

[HollyS]

That stone has ''character''. I like character in my stones; perfection can be somewhat boring, and sometimes just doesn''t speak to our hearts. But, like you, I''m thinking it would be better served in a ''less is more'' setting.

 

[decodelighted]

Hmmm. I like all of your strategies ... not sure I can come up with anything more compelling! If it was yours to keep would you actually wear & enjoy it -- or is it more like a hobby purchase i.e.-- you KNOW its a good deal & want to hang onto that "I win" feeling? Would you switch off between your ering & this ring? If this one would assume the role of e-ring then it might not be a bad idea to sell the other one & put the $$ toward the "purchase" of this one. Yes antiques are more rare but its not practical to hang onto every "good deal" or amazing piece we find. If you fall prey to that kind of thinking then you''ll end up with a bunch of things you won''t wear or truly enjoy. Just to "have" them ... like a collector mentality. Collecting is fine as long as you realize that''s what you''re doing. And don''t talk yourself into the idea that you''re "investing" or gonna sell future "investments" when you really won''t have the heart to. Just something to think about.

Lovely rings -- both of ''em. I''d certainly wish to keep both but I doubt DH would have gone along with a plan to buy & sell either. No matter how good the deal was. Just too volatile a market & too tempting to keep the pretties.

 

[LoveDeco]

WOW! What a unique and incredible piece of history and jewelery!!!!

I love the way it is set now, but if you get the inkling to change it, what about setting it in yellow gold to bring out the warmth in the stone? You know the celebs who have a gorgeous white diamond set in platinum and then the STUNNING cocktail ring set in yellow? The setting you mentioned, is it Daniel K?, I''ve seen it with rose gold mixed in, right? How about with yellow and white? Just a thought! Yellow gold is definitely back! Doesn''t Leon have some white/yellow mixes on his site that are really incredible? Oh, or at Single Stone, maybe that''s where I''ve seen them! As for the side stones, perfect for earrings! No one will be able to see the inclusions.

Of course, the way it is now is also gooooorgeous!

 

[aggiebling09]

Date: 5/5/2008 5:10:35 PM
Author: LittleGreyKitten
Thanks for the kind words everyone!

I do rather like the idea of making earrings out of the side stones, slmulkey. Unfortunately I have a LOTTTT of hair, so I''ve never bothered with real-bling earrings, because nobody even sees my ears normally. Once I wore my hair up on a hot day and everyone at work was like ''you have HOW MANY ear piercings?'' Nobody''d ever noticed them before, hidden beneath the black-n-curly out of control-ness that is my hair. It''s tempting though... I''d know they were there, at least!! Perhaps if we do sell it I''ll do that, at least I''d get to keep some bling!

Possession is 9/10ths of it, though, right?? I''ll work on the boy about keeping vs. reselling- I mean, larger diamond prices have been rising, so it wouldn''t be a bad idea to sit on it for... 10 or 20 years or so!

Thing2, the setting isn''t antique, actually. It was a brand new custom made setting the seller made specifically for this stone, before ebaying it.

Imdanny, good eye! Yep, it''s 18K white gold.

I''m pretty surprised nobody has been like ''OMG get that halo off that enormous stone!'' Seriously, I''m not going to weep if anyone says they don''t like it. I will say at this point I''m actually leaning towards keeping it in this setting, at least until I can save up for a rosebud setting. (I''m thinking a year or two, probably- why must wonderful settings be so wretchedly expensive?? I mean a Leon made rosebud style setting would be half at least of the cost of this!) My reasoning for keeping it halo-ed is, I overdress all the time- I don''t even own jeans- why not wear an OTT setting, too? I also LOVE how clean it stays in this setting, and how easy it is to clean too.

Appraisal was rescheduled for tomorrow at 1, so we''ll see what''s what. I''ve been studying this little bugger under my loupe and I think I found an inclusion finally- an eensy beensy pin-point size clear dot located off the table, under one of the star facets I think. Either that or tenacious lint. It seems to always be there though. Besides that I can''t find a darn thing, except for the scratches of course. The chip is so shallow and small, I really think it could be removed REALLY easily- it just touches the girdle and goes up to one of the top facets, but it looks like it''s incredibly shallow... plus, I can''t see it without a loupe.

Again, thanks for all the input everyone

You really have made some great points. It''s an amazing ring and I hope you get to keep it

Keep us posted!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

If you''d be comfortable wearing that size stone, I would definitely try to keep it and reset in the rosebud setting. It would be too much for me in the current setting since it is quite large anyway. But if I could only keep one, it would be hard to let this one go!

 

[iheartscience]

I think your arguments are extremely compelling! They worked on me, although I was already on your side, of course!

There''s just no way you can part with that beauty...I can''t allow it!

 

[LGK]

I still haven't brought up keeping it. I'm such a dork! I'll probably brood on it for a few weeks more before springing it on him.

Catmom, thanks!!! I will keep it in this setting for a while- a couple years at least. While the triple halo isn't my absolute fave style ever, I realized I *have* to have it in a halo. It is large enough, I need something protecting the edges and the halo does a fine job taking the beating I would otherwise inflict on the stone. (*cough* I may have in fact dented the halo a tiny bit already.) So though I don't love it with a round halo (ideally, if I can't put it in a rosebud setting without risking it too much, I'd like a cushion shaped halo on it with no sidestones) I will keep in like it is for a time, because it is safe in this setting.

Eva17, I hope I can convince him- he is, unfortunately, not a pushover, but then, I'm wretchedly stubborn too!

Burk, thanks!! I will definitely let everyone know how it goes.

HollyS- yeah, I'm still not in love with the setting, either. It definitely has an interesting cut- the small table makes the Kozibe effect very noticeable, which I think is really cool. It scored as a 1.something on the HCA, in FIC territory, and it sure is firey! (And hello, fellow Holly!)

DecoDelighted, trust me, I've been wearing it every day since I got it!!

Heck, it's insured, so why not? However, I am a terrible collector of many, many varieties of antiques- hoard? Moi? (Let's see: Art Deco Verlys glass, R. Lalique art glass, any other 1920s French art glass, Art Nouveau sterling flatware especially with poppy motifs, Deco era prints, Fry ovenware from the 1920s- fun to use!, sterling Art Deco & Art Nouveau purses & card cases, diamond wristwatches from the 1920s-1950s, Juliana costume jewelry from the 1960s, Bogoff costume jewelry from the 1950s, and probably other things that I've got boxed up and forgotten.) So yeah, probably my Let's Hoard Things mentality comes into play some. However, I am absolutely in love with OEC stones- well, it fits so perfectly with all the other myriad collections, it's not surprising. Before I found this rock, I was thinking in a couple years I'd spend some $7-$9K from my makeup website profits to get myself a RHR OEC in the 2ct range, but when I found this one I couldn't resist finding a way to talk the boy into letting me have it even for a while. I don't think, if I do sell this one now and hunt for one later, that I will find one remotely as large and well cut. So, honestly, I'd say I'd want to keep it because I adore OECs and this one in particular a lot.

LoveDeco, I'm sure it would be absolutely smashing in yellow gold; sadly, it would then look terrible on my complexion! My mom looks great in yellow gold with her dark skin, but somewhere I got nearly albino white skin (and black hair, how does that work!?) and it just looks odd on me. Unfortunately. Yeah, the rosebud setting is a Daniel K originally, but I would probably go for a modified version from Leon if I got it. However, after wearing it for a while, I'm realizing it might not be protected enough from my klutziness in that type of setting, and it will probably end up in a different type of halo, someday.

Aggiebling, thanks!! I will be working on it for sure.

Diamondseeker, I am getting amazingly used to it on my hand, funny how that works! It seems so unhuge after a month. It doesn't seem actually small yet though- I'm hoping that won't ever happen. I will undoubtedly whine something awful if I have to part with it.

Thing2of2, as one of my arguements I'm gonna have to tell the boy that you said I had to keep it!!

I'm sure he'll go for it.

I'm a little surprised nobody said anything about how lame I am for wanting to go back on my plan/agreement of reselling it... I feel a bit lame about it, but ohhhh, it is hard to part with sparkly prettiness. And a girl can change her mind, right?

 

[reader]

Innerkitten, are there other antiques of equal value you could part with? Also, could we get a pic of all the rings on your hand together? It is stunning as is.

 

[gemgaga]

LittleGreyKitten,

Don''t you touch that setting ! It is magnificant as it is. It is not over the top.