- Joined
- Sep 28, 2013
- Messages
- 2,663
My beautiful OEC solitaire from Love Affair Diamonds is here! After a long and circuitous journey, it is finally at home on my hand!
Background story (feel free to skip to the photos
):
I never liked diamonds too much before discovering PS, as all I had seen were MRBs. Once I found OECs, I fell hard for the chunky facets and flowery patterns. I started off with a 0.7 ct AVR back in May last year, which I set in rose gold and still adore, but I wanted something bigger and in a platinum setting to match my platinum wedding band.
My search for the perfect OEC for me began last summer, and I trawled various vendor sites obsessively, even made a detailed spreadsheet to track the stones I was stalking, and asked a bunch of learner questions on RT -- thanks so much to everyone who provided advice, opinions and counseling along the way.
Special thanks to Gypsy, Missy, Lorelei, arkieb, and Pyramid for their continued advice and support during my quest. 
Previous threads documenting my OEC quest:
July -- [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-would-you-get-on-a-15-20k-budget.203870/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-would-you-get-on-a-15-20k-budget.203870/[/URL]
August -- [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/quick-question-about-evaluating-oecs-without-aset-etc.204717/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/quick-question-about-evaluating-oecs-without-aset-etc.204717/[/URL]
September -- [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-i-did-during-my-lunch-hour.205774/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-i-did-during-my-lunch-hour.205774/[/URL]
November -- [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/which-oec-would-you-choose.207699/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/which-oec-would-you-choose.207699/[/URL]
December -- [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/need-help-on-cads.208496/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/need-help-on-cads.208496/[/URL]
I've become a firm believer in the philosophy that the perfect diamond may be an impossible search -- what is more important is finding the one that's perfect for you.
Back in August, I spotted a gorgeous OEC on Jewel By Grace's website that was described as 1.72 AGS K VS2 (see my Aug thread).
I was a bit leery at first because all my other diamonds are G or above, so I wasn't sure of an AGS K, but I fell in love with the faceting. This was a big purchase for me and I agonized over it for a while as I wasn't quite ready to pull the trigger. However, I kept it on my list and kept coming back to it. Eventually, sometime later (Sept/Oct?), the listing was taken off Grace's site so I sighed a little sigh and concluded that it must have sold, and therefore it wasn't meant to be mine... I continued my search for an OEC, mostly checking the sites of GOG, JBG and LAD on a daily basis.
Then, in late October, I found a 1.72 AGS K VS1 OEC with almost-but-not-quite identical measurements listed on Love Affair Diamonds's website. I had to take another look, because the faceting of the JBG stone and LAD stone was so similar, that I was ready to swear that it was the same stone. I couldn't be sure, though, because Grace's original listing was no longer up (VS2 vs VS1 and some of the two listed specs were off by a few tenths of a mm)
Eventually I found a way to view the Google cached copy of Grace's old listing, pulled the AGS report number off of it, and was able to verify that the LAD and JBG stone were one and the same.
I was overjoyed to find that the stone which I thought I had missed out on, was available again! It felt like a second chance.
I don't believe much in karma or destiny, but this coincidence struck me as a sign that this 1.72 ct OEC was meant to be mine.
I immediately told Erica that I would take it, and since it was much under my original budget for an OEC, I asked her to put it in a modified Elisabeth setting in platinum, with 10 small high-dome French cuts, milgrain and engraving. Since I live in Asia, I took a risk and asked to have it set without seeing the loose stone in person first. I was confident that if both Grace AND Erica liked this OEC so much that both of them had it listed on their sites, it must be a winner.
The OEC faces up very white -- I do see the tint from the profile in certain lighting, but it does not bother me. I do see the color difference with my AVR G, though, but I love the uniqueness of this vintage OEC, the warmer color is part of its specialness. The faceting of the OEC reminds me of my AVR's flowery petal patterns.
The ring turned out beautifully -- LAD and the CvB team did a fantastic job. The double claw prongs are so delicate, and I am in loooooovee with the gorgeous teeny French cuts. The engraving and milgrain are also amazing, and I'm very happy with the setting overall. It is the perfect home for my OEC.
Thank you again Pricescope for all that I have learned during this journey.
Vendor photos:
My photos:
The weather here has been terrible lately, all overcast and rainy monsoon weather, so the OEC looks much yellower than it is in real life. It faces up super white IRL but the camera isn't taking very accurate photos, sadly. I'll try again later when the weather improves!
Background story (feel free to skip to the photos
): I never liked diamonds too much before discovering PS, as all I had seen were MRBs. Once I found OECs, I fell hard for the chunky facets and flowery patterns. I started off with a 0.7 ct AVR back in May last year, which I set in rose gold and still adore, but I wanted something bigger
and in a platinum setting to match my platinum wedding band. My search for the perfect OEC for me began last summer, and I trawled various vendor sites obsessively, even made a detailed spreadsheet to track the stones I was stalking, and asked a bunch of learner questions on RT -- thanks so much to everyone who provided advice, opinions and counseling along the way.
Special thanks to Gypsy, Missy, Lorelei, arkieb, and Pyramid for their continued advice and support during my quest. Previous threads documenting my OEC quest:
July -- [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-would-you-get-on-a-15-20k-budget.203870/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-would-you-get-on-a-15-20k-budget.203870/[/URL]
August -- [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/quick-question-about-evaluating-oecs-without-aset-etc.204717/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/quick-question-about-evaluating-oecs-without-aset-etc.204717/[/URL]
September -- [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-i-did-during-my-lunch-hour.205774/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-i-did-during-my-lunch-hour.205774/[/URL]
November -- [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/which-oec-would-you-choose.207699/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/which-oec-would-you-choose.207699/[/URL]
December -- [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/need-help-on-cads.208496/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/need-help-on-cads.208496/[/URL]
I've become a firm believer in the philosophy that the perfect diamond may be an impossible search -- what is more important is finding the one that's perfect for you.
Back in August, I spotted a gorgeous OEC on Jewel By Grace's website that was described as 1.72 AGS K VS2 (see my Aug thread).
I was a bit leery at first because all my other diamonds are G or above, so I wasn't sure of an AGS K, but I fell in love with the faceting. This was a big purchase for me and I agonized over it for a while as I wasn't quite ready to pull the trigger. However, I kept it on my list and kept coming back to it. Eventually, sometime later (Sept/Oct?), the listing was taken off Grace's site so I sighed a little sigh and concluded that it must have sold, and therefore it wasn't meant to be mine... I continued my search for an OEC, mostly checking the sites of GOG, JBG and LAD on a daily basis.
Then, in late October, I found a 1.72 AGS K VS1 OEC with almost-but-not-quite identical measurements listed on Love Affair Diamonds's website. I had to take another look, because the faceting of the JBG stone and LAD stone was so similar, that I was ready to swear that it was the same stone. I couldn't be sure, though, because Grace's original listing was no longer up (VS2 vs VS1 and some of the two listed specs were off by a few tenths of a mm)
Eventually I found a way to view the Google cached copy of Grace's old listing, pulled the AGS report number off of it, and was able to verify that the LAD and JBG stone were one and the same.
I was overjoyed to find that the stone which I thought I had missed out on, was available again! It felt like a second chance.
I don't believe much in karma or destiny, but this coincidence struck me as a sign that this 1.72 ct OEC was meant to be mine.
I immediately told Erica that I would take it, and since it was much under my original budget for an OEC, I asked her to put it in a modified Elisabeth setting in platinum, with 10 small high-dome French cuts, milgrain and engraving. Since I live in Asia, I took a risk and asked to have it set without seeing the loose stone in person first. I was confident that if both Grace AND Erica liked this OEC so much that both of them had it listed on their sites, it must be a winner.
The OEC faces up very white -- I do see the tint from the profile in certain lighting, but it does not bother me. I do see the color difference with my AVR G, though, but I love the uniqueness of this vintage OEC, the warmer color is part of its specialness. The faceting of the OEC reminds me of my AVR's flowery petal patterns.
The ring turned out beautifully -- LAD and the CvB team did a fantastic job. The double claw prongs are so delicate, and I am in loooooovee with the gorgeous teeny French cuts. The engraving and milgrain are also amazing, and I'm very happy with the setting overall. It is the perfect home for my OEC.
Thank you again Pricescope for all that I have learned during this journey.
Vendor photos:
My photos:
The weather here has been terrible lately, all overcast and rainy monsoon weather, so the OEC looks much yellower than it is in real life. It faces up super white IRL but the camera isn't taking very accurate photos, sadly. I'll try again later when the weather improves!
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