Pics of my stone and mounting, and my diamond buying experiences

Decided on a stone!  Thanks to all those following my saga and helping me decide!  Specs:

RB
1.74
G VS2
7.83-7.89 X 4.70 mm
Depth: 59.8% (59.7% Megascope)
Table: 59% (59.1% Megascope)
Crown angle: 32.5
Crown height: 13.5%
Pavilion ange: 41.2 (41 Megascope)
Pavilion depth: 43.5%
Star length: 55%
Lower half: 80%
Girdle: Thin to Medium, faceted
Culet: None
Polish: Very Good
Symmetry: Excellent
GIA cut grade: Excellent
HCA score per GIA specs: 2.1
HCA score per Megascope specs: 1.1

The stone:

This was purchased from Diamond Source of Virginia.  I highly recommend - working with Denny Reinke, his wife Anne and their staff was a pleasure.  Denny is super knowledgeable and answered all my technical, detailed questions extremely thoroughly.  They find stones within your parameters and send you a list with the main stats, and then you narrow down what you want more information on.  They scan you the certs and you further narrow.  Once you decide which stone you want to see the most, they order the stone from the supplier, inspect it, describe it to the customer and if it meets expectations, ship it out to the customer (with a loop) for a 2 business day inspection.  If you decide to keep it, you pay; if not, you return it FedEx with their insurance carrier.  They pay the shipping costs both ways so there is absolutely nothing to lose.  I was hesitant using a diamond broker because I was concerned about markup and thought I could just search various inventories myself, but they found so many stones I didn't see anywhere. And of the 20+ stones they found for me, two were on Blue Nile, and their prices were only like $200 or $300 more than the Blue Nile price (I believe they have a price matching too, if you bring up to them that you found the same stone somewhere for less).  I also saw another stone for sale on another virtual website, but that stone was actually $200 more than the Diamond Source price.  It was hard to find stones within the size range I wanted, but they did a great job. 

I sent the first stone they sent me back to them because there was a ring of death effect.  Then when I told them how DOCD I was, we made sure the HCA numbers were good, and they even took Idealscope and H&A photos for me.  For a number of reasons, they don't normally use the IS and HCA in their business and analysis of stones, but when I told them it was important to me, they were happy to do this for me. 

The mounting:

The mounting was a custom semi-mount from Wedding Ring Originals on Lexington Ave in New York.  Big fan of Mel, the owner.  He is knowledgeable, if not a bit old-school (i.e. depth and table matter more than pavilion angle).  But rings, rather than stones, are their speciality.  I explained that I wanted a fairly common ring--princess channel set--but with slight tweaks.  We talked endlessly about prongs and heads and shanks and baskets and height and flush fits...very knowledgeable.  We ended up with 20 G VS princess stones set to about 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock down the shank and using a low (about 6 mm from my finger) basket style setting with prongs inserted into the shank rather than originating from a central point.

So, pictures!

~~~ When in doubt...don't.~~~

~~~ When in doubt...don't.~~~

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Piece of cake and a candle.
**ng gift**

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"You kept making all the stops?"
"Well, people kept ringing the bell!"
**ls gift**

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Baby Desmond Jacob arrived on 6/28. So in love with my little man!

*~~All I see are diamonds...~~*

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"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

-Albert Einstein

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"Life is what happens to you, while you are busy making other plans". John Lennon

........... Karl has joined the diamond trade and is now posting as Karl_K

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"It is also important for the State to inculcate in its subjects an aversion to any 'conspiracy theory of history' for a search for 'conspiracies' means a search for motives and an attribution of responsibility for historical misdeeds."

-Murray N. Rothbard, in The Anatomy of the State



John Swinton [1829-1901] Chief Editorial Writer of the New York Times (Considered "the Dean of his Profession" by his peers), when asked to toast an 'Independent Press' in a gathering at the National Press Club, circa 1880

"There is no such thing in America as an independent press unless it is in the country towns. You know it, and I know it. There is not one of you who dare express an honest opinion. If you express it you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid... for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for doing similar things....

The business of the New York journalist is to distort the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of Mammon, and sell his country and race for his daily bread, or for what is about the same thing, his salary. You know this, and I know it and what foolery to be toasting an 'independent press.' We are tools, and the vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are jumping-jacks. They pull the strings and we dance. Our time, our talents, our lives, our possibilities, all are the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes."

Hi Rogue ~

Congratulations!

Beautiful new ring!

I love channel set princess diamonds ... so yummy!

Thanks for sharing and of course, you can post more 's anytime!

Have a wonderful day!

LOVE ... is the Greatest Gift of all!