I'm posting the following for my beloved who has read-only access to this discussion group (damned firewalls at her office

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Thanks for posting your experience at Spence, Leonid. It was great to hear about another Canadian consumer's adventures. We went to Spence a few weeks ago, and here's what happened to us:After perusing their many diamond ring designs, an impeccably groomed salesman led us into a romantically lit office and introduced to the 4c's. Carat size, colour and clarity were carefully demonstrated and explained, but when it came to cut, we were shown the standard "too deep, too shallow, just right" diagram and were told, just as you were, that "All our diamonds are of very good cut." When I asked if their diamonds were certified, I was told that Spence did its own certification (in Belgium, where the diamonds are cut, apparently) for colour, clarity, and carat size, and that getting a GIA cert wasn't necessary and would only add to the cost. No mention was made of any other measurements, features, or characteristics which might be listed on a GIA or AGS cert.Then he got down to business, asking us what size, colour and clarity of stone we'd like to see. We mentioned the type of stone we were looking for and he said, "Oh, I'll go get one from the safe." When I asked if we couldn't see more than one, we were told that this wasn't usually done for "insurance reasons." After some persuading, he agreed to bring out two. One was listed as an H colour, but to our eyes looked more like an I when viewed beside their master set. The other also looked to be a step below what he claimed, though he insisted the colour matched the master and that the problem must be with us.He then showed us the stones in the proportionscope, which brings me to my question: What the heck is this proportionscope and how accurate is it? What we were shown was the silhouette of the stone we were looking at superimposed over a diagram of an "ideal" stone. Both of the stones we saw matched up perfectly with the "ideal" diagram. Coincidence?! It seemed to us that there was a lot of information were weren't getting from this type of analysis, but we wanted to hear some other opinions.As for the price, our experience was similar to yours. The salesman also seemed anxious to close, asking about which stone we preferred, our timeline, and when we'd be ready buy.Now we're waiting to hear about Leonid's visit to an independent jeweler ...!