3.42 H&A Cushion/Square

[mandyd]

Here it is, my lovely 3.42 I H&A from GOG. I had it custom set in 18k gold with 1ct diamonds around and on the shank. I love that it is so over the top and seriously blinged out! I already have solitaire settings and platinum is all wrong for my skin tone. The picture does not do it justice but the H&A cut is absolutely stunning!

 

[tanuki]

very nice!

 

[lizz]

Ooh, pretty! That is a seriously big rock!

 

[IrishAngel7982]

Date: 7/8/2006 7:23:55 PM
Author: lizz
Ooh, pretty! That is a seriously big rock!

Agreed!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Wow, 3.42 square H&A!!! We need more pictures!!!

 

[bling*diva*]

~~Oh wow!! It''s pretty!!!

 

[mandyd]

Here are some more photos. I wish I could take better photos!

 

[mandyd]

Seriously in need of a manicure here!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

No worries about a manicure..all eyes will be on your beautiful ring! Thanks for posting more pictures!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Wow -- that''s some serious bling!

 

[AndyRosse]

WOW!!!!!!!!!

 

[FireGoddess]

Remind me never to piss you off....you could send me to the moon with that thing! Very nice!!!

 

[lizz]

Btiger, you say that you have other solitaire rings? Would you be able to post pics of them here? We are the type of people who seriously CRAVE more diamond pics!

 

[mandyd]

Give me a couple of days Lizz and I will put up pics of my other pieces. I am still feeling my way around this camera. Very frustrating! Had to take gazillion shots to get these 3-4 so-so pics. I switched off the flash but most pics are still out of focus. I am not able to capture the detail that I need. All ideas welcome!

 

[lizz]

Do you have a macro function on your camera? It''s the tulip icon. Hold the camera really, really still. You do have to take a lot of shots to get a few good ones.

 

[ivanadiamond]

Your ring is Stunning and looks amazing on your hand!

 

[SuzyQZ]

That is one serious rock!!
I thought PS had desensitized me to size, but your ring has just snapped my head around. That thing is huge!

 

[Rowan]

Beautiful! The yellow gold looks great on your skin.

 

[Dancing Fire]

congrats..WOW!!! a 3.42 ct H&A sq beauty, just don''t see many.

 

[mrssalvo]

I think that''s the largest square cushion we''ve seen here on PS. It''s gorgeous...

 

[Rosierock]

Wow, very pretty!

 

[KristyDarling]

That is a stunning, striking ring. So, do you get tons of jealous looks and open-mouthed stares whereever you go?

 

[Linda W]

OMG, that is one amazing, beautiful ring. I love the design of it. It looks lovely on your hand. Please more hand shots.


Linda

 

[mandyd]

Thanks for all the wonderful comments! Actually I haven''t really worn the ring in "''public" yet, so to speak. A few of my friends have seen it and they were stunned. I don''t blame them, I am still stunned myself! LOL! It''s not just the size but the brilliance of it. Jonathan at GOG outdid himself. He was an absolute pleasure to work with as was Tim. A very honest and forthright business indeed. I actually started out looking for a Original cut Radiant as I had my heart set on a very brilliant square, but I soon found out that it is almost impossible to get something over 2cts from that company. After searching for 2 months I narrowed it down to a 3.02 radiant from Mark Turnowski, who was also extremely knowledable and went out of his way to give me the complete specs on the stone. I cannot however say the same about WF who do not have the stones in their inventory so they cannot really give you anything other than a GIA cert. Since this was obviously a major purchase for me I was more comfortable working with those jewellers who were in possession of the stone and could supply me with light images etc. I am sure Mark''s radiant was a beautiful stone but Jonathan''s H&A was too enticing to resist. I then had Jonathan send the stone to Richard Sherwood for an independent appraisal who assured me that this was an exceptional piece and I believe it was a good decision I made. I don''t think a radiant''s brilliance would hold a candle to this one. Besides, it was larger and less expensive to boot!

I then took my stone with me on vacation to Calcutta, India (where I am originally from) and landed at my family jewellers who has made probably well over 100 pcs over the last 50 yrs or so. I showed him some pictures of rings I liked. There wasn''t any one particular ring that I fancied, I liked different aspects of several rings so we went with his suggestion of the millegrain edging and the lower set basket and the ring was a wonder to behold, ready in 2 weeks as promised. I did contact Leon Mege and some other designers and I am sure they are wonderful but the time factor was very long and of course they were quite expensive at $8000 for a similar design. I hope I am not going to offend anyone by saying this, but we Indians have a whole other perspective on jewellery. Not to sound pompous or anything but most people don''t realize how much jewellery we make over a lifetime. I will post some pictures of my "medium sized" collection. Had I continued living in India I would probably have a collection at least 2-3 times larger as do my friends and my sister. Anyway what I am trying to get to is that labour for hand made items is very cheap in India as compared to the west. And being that each family has, what we refer to as a "family jeweller" who operates on a trust basis since all the members of my extended family are his permanent customers, so to speak. Without further ado, here is the price I paid for the setting of this fabulous stone:

9.8 gms of 18 kt gold $165.00
1.15 cts (36 pcs) of G VS1 surrounding diamonds $630.00
Labour $275.00
Total cost: $1070

Now, I am not suggesting that anyone should rush off and do what I did because if you don''t know what you are doing you could get hurt. The advantage of the lower cost is that every few years when we get tired of our jewellery we just have them reset. All jewellers buy back their own or other reputed jewellers products. The loss is usually just the small labour cost and you lose about 3% of the current gold or diamond price. In most cases it is balanced out considering that the price of gold/diamonds has gone up since one had it made. We Indians prefer yellow gold so all jewellery is made of 22kt and stone settings are in 18kt. White gold is available but not popular since it requires a lot of other metals added to gold to make it look white and therefore it has less market value. Platinum is available but we are a nation of gold lovers besides it really does not work with our skin tone! Many people believe that 22kt gold is too soft to make jewellery but that is not at all true. Hand made jewellery requires a lot of gold and our jewellery is several times heavier than western jewellery. On average a machine made chain can be constructed out of 5gms of gold but the same thing handmade requires a minimum 30 gms of gold therefore it is much more durable.

Anyway, on with the photos. Lizz, thanks for the macro tip. I am having so much fun. Hope no one minds me posting pics of all my lovely pieces that I personally consider "works of art". The diamonds are the most difficult to photograph due to the bright reflection but I will post more as I go along.

 

[mandyd]

Does the ring look better with my rose gold Patek 24?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

btiger,

Thank you for sharing your story of having jewelry made in India! That is fascinating and sounds wonderful! I will certainly look forward to seeing more of your collection!

 

[mandyd]

Here''s a one carat and a 3 stone ring with 3 diamond bangles.

 

[mandyd]

These earrings are called Polki. They are basically uncut diamonds.

 

[dbgaap]

Date: 7/10/2006 8:47:32 PM
Author: btiger

The advantage of the lower cost is that every few years when we get tired of our jewellery we just have them reset.

I think this is a concept that could take hold in these parts!!

Your jewelry is just spectacular! Please post more pics when you get time.
I work with a few people from India and your description is consistent with what they tell me. Gotta love India!!!

Beautiful!!!!

 

[mandyd]

Here''s my one carat solitaire engagement/wedding ring. Still getting the hang of taking a better picture.

Something else I want to share. Although we have a love affair with jewellery in India there is no concept of a wedding ring. We have borrowed the engagement ring concept from the west but the traditional signs of marriage is still the red powder in the hair parting called sindur or a special black beads and gold necklace called a mangalsutra and also toe rings in certain areas. All for the women, of course. Too much of a macho society to expect the men to wear anything denoting they are married! Although my husband is an Italian and we got married in a chapel in Vegas I used my engagement ring as a wedding ring as having a wedding band was basically a foreign concept for me. However I do not wear any of the above mentioned "markings" either! My husband wears his diamond wedding ring with pride though.