An H&A that really caused a gag reflex

[Natylad]

Oh, my God! I created a huge mess without having any such intention! I''m terribly sorry...First of all, let me clear out that the...proud owner of the diamond with the ring of death is my...beloved daughter !!! I had promised to post pictures of the ring on her hand, so today we did the...photoshoot and all of a sudden, i realized that the ring of death was obvious in one of the pictures

I knew during all those years that the diamond''s cut wasn''t what it should be, but...A RING OF DEATH??? In my little one''s diamond???

It was never visible to the naked eye, probably due to the small size of the stone... Imagine the irony of it...a few posts earlier i was explaining how much i hate this and today i discover it in my daughter''s diamond...

Karpouzi: As'' ta...tin patisame poly asxima!!! Paei to daxtilidi tou paidiou, prepei na to steilo gia anavathmisi!!!

 

[Swirl]

Thank you so much for the picture of the ring of death! Now I know!

I have seen several terms on these forums and have wondered what actual diamonds look like with these traits. So far, I've found pictures of "frozen spit" , "ring of death", and "bow tie". Now, if only I could find pictures of "fisheye", "crushed ice" and "nail head" !

I'm new to these forums and trying to learn.

 

[WinkHPD]

Date: 3/16/2010 1:20:02 PM
Author: Todd Gray
I dislike diamonds which have been cut for weight rather than beauty... but more than that, I dislike pretentious people who wear large diamonds as a way of flaunting their wealth and who do so in such as way as to demean other people...

Case in point, a few years ago, we were sitting in a theater and a young lady was turning her hand about in awe of all the sparkle which was being cast about by a diamond which was about a quarter carat in weight, it seemed obvious to me that she was just recently engaged. At one point she notices the woman next to her watching her with amusement and she says ''I just got engaged. You have a very pretty diamond, how big is it?'' and the woman reaches out and grabs the girls wrist diamond hand over the girls diamond hand and smugly remarks ''yes, your diamond is ''cute'' but mine is a carat'' in this real condescending ''you are lower than me'' kind of tone that caused a crushed look to cast over the young ladies face. No worries, this was resolved easily by leaning in and saying ''her diamond may be larger, but yours is much better cut - which is why your diamond is so much prettier and more lively than hers... see how your diamond is exhibiting all of that brilliance and fire? See how hers isn''t? I''d much rather have your diamond and I''m in the business!'' You know, the older lady got pretty quiet after that and the newly engaged bride looked quite pleased and went back to watching her diamond flash about under the theater lights

LOL!

Those of you who have been lucky enough to know Todd in real life know full well that he did it with a tone of voice that probably knifed the old battleaxe right through the heart and both kidneys. Probably got so quiet because she could not draw a breath to speak with.

Well done buddy!

Wink

 

[karpouzi]

Date: 3/16/2010 1:29:21 PM
Author: Naty H&A
Oh, my God! I created a huge mess without having any such intention! I''m terribly sorry...First of all, let me clear out that the...proud owner of the diamond with the ring of death is my...beloved daughter !!! I had promised to post pictures of the ring on her hand, so today we did the...photoshoot and all of a sudden, i realized that the ring of death was obvious in one of the pictures

I knew during all those years that the diamond''s cut wasn''t what it should be, but...A RING OF DEATH??? In my little one''s diamond???

It was never visible to the naked eye, probably due to the small size of the stone... Imagine the irony of it...a few posts earlier i was explaining how much i hate this and today i discover it in my daughter''s diamond...

Karpouzi: As'' ta...tin patisame poly asxima!!! Paei to daxtilidi tou paidiou, prepei na to steilo gia anavathmisi!!!

xaxaxaxaxa... but not an upgrade... maybe just a nice eternity band to buy her forgiveness?

 

[Natylad]

Dear Swirl,
Since i started with the ring of death, i should finish the job with the nail head, the crushed ice look and the fish eye that you requested!

 

[Natylad]

The crushed ice look...

 

[Natylad]

Fish eye...

 

[Natylad]

Fish eye again...

 

[Lula]

Date: 3/16/2010 1:14:11 PM
Author: RaiKai

Date: 3/16/2010 1:03:26 PM

Author: Dancing Fire

Date: 3/16/2010 12:35:13 PM


Author: RaiKai

Date: 3/16/2010 12:33:19 PM


Author: MC

Date: 3/16/2010 11:26:28 AM



Author: RaiKai

Date: 3/16/2010 10:46:29 AM



Author: Naty H&A



And since Kswanson was wondering what is the ring of death, i attach a picture of it...

Yes, I would die a little death if I saw a ring like that in person too!

Watch what you post when pictures are shown. The ring could belong to a member here.

To clarify I did not mean that particular ring. I was referring to the ''ring of death'' phenomena that was being described and not that particular ring. My apologies if I offended anyone.

that was my ring.

Well, then.....I am sorry.


If they had a foot in mouth icon, you can bet I would use it.

RaiKai - Dancing Fire is joking! You''re new here; you''ll learn to recognize his sense of "humor" before too long

 

[Black Jade]

I actually like this one.
I think its pretty.

Date: 3/16/2010 2:25:34 PM
Author: Naty H&A
The crushed ice look...

 

[Black Jade]

Date: 3/16/2010 1:46:14 PM
Author: Wink

Date: 3/16/2010 1:20:02 PM

Author: Todd Gray

I dislike diamonds which have been cut for weight rather than beauty... but more than that, I dislike pretentious people who wear large diamonds as a way of flaunting their wealth and who do so in such as way as to demean other people...


Case in point, a few years ago, we were sitting in a theater and a young lady was turning her hand about in awe of all the sparkle which was being cast about by a diamond which was about a quarter carat in weight, it seemed obvious to me that she was just recently engaged. At one point she notices the woman next to her watching her with amusement and she says ''I just got engaged. You have a very pretty diamond, how big is it?'' and the woman reaches out and grabs the girls wrist diamond hand over the girls diamond hand and smugly remarks ''yes, your diamond is ''cute'' but mine is a carat'' in this real condescending ''you are lower than me'' kind of tone that caused a crushed look to cast over the young ladies face. No worries, this was resolved easily by leaning in and saying ''her diamond may be larger, but yours is much better cut - which is why your diamond is so much prettier and more lively than hers... see how your diamond is exhibiting all of that brilliance and fire? See how hers isn''t? I''d much rather have your diamond and I''m in the business!'' You know, the older lady got pretty quiet after that and the newly engaged bride looked quite pleased and went back to watching her diamond flash about under the theater lights

I hate hate HATE when people do this to other people. I''m glad you put the older woman in her place.

I have a brother who does things like this.When we were first married, my husband gave me a pair of diamond studs. They are very tiny-- .10 carat total weight and I am sure they are also like I1''s. But this was back in the 80''s when diamonds cost like $60,000/carat. So all our diamonds were small. A .33 carat engagement ring back then was like a ''rock''. I was proud of my little studs, in sweet little buttercup settings and I actually still do like them a lot. They remind me of my husband being romantic when we were young and poor. I still wear them, in my second piercing, quite a lot. Anyway, my brother does and did nothing but make fun of my earrings and it hurts my feelings every time he does it. He says things like, that they are invisible, and that he wouldn''t give that size to his little daughter--things like that. And I feel very put down.

On my 51st birthday, my husband gave me an enormous upgrade--1.80 carat ACA studs from Whiteflash. And my brother is terribly impressed with THOSE. And this makes me mad. It''s the same heart that gave me the .10''s that gave me the 1.80''s--and each time, it was what DH could AFFORD. He thought the same of me both times and was doing his best to show it.

But my brother works on Wall Street in New York and had learned there to entirely judge people by what they are wearing or own. I don''t think I could survive there. I don''t think I could manage to somewhere where your good intention and loving heart meant nothing and where you were REQUIRED to spend money you didn''t have on things that meant nothing.

My brother says that where he works, if you get a small engagement ring, they disrespect your fiance for buying it--and you for accepting it. Loudly and vocally. He has heard other men in there describe how they gave a fiance a large ring and she eyeballed it and said, "This will do as a starter ring uptil my fifth anniversary trade-up.''

Sorry for the threadjack. But you''re right, this is worse than ''fisheye'' and ''the ring of death.''

 

[Black Jade]

I like hearts, especially as pendants. This pendant started out as a ring.

 

[Black Jade]

You can see the sparkle better in this picture. I like marquises, too, just not the big, cloudy dead ones. They suit my hand--I have short fingers. I don''t find any particular shape of diamond tacky in and of itself if its well cut and sparkly.
They go in and out of style (except for RBs, which are always stylish) and all can look good. The only thing is does the shape look good on your hand. The current square shapes are lovely on many people, but tend to shorten my fingers even more and make them look stubby, so I don''t like them on ME, but would never say that I didn''t like them in general.

 

[jan can]

The story from Todd was wonderful. I respect a person who respects and defends another person''s feelings.

 

[Natylad]

Black Jade, i was really moved by the wonderful story of your husband who was treating you to diamonds since the beggining of your relationship, when you were very young and he couldn''t afford much. I really respect that he did the best he could to please you and offer you the best within his financial ability. That''s why all those pieces that you have, will always sparkle, first in your heart and then in your eyes...And they are full of beautiful memories and sentiment. I totally despise the mentality of the people you are describing in your post and i''m very sorry if you feel that your brother shares too this mentality because of his professional environment. My...long (very long) distance boyfriend of more than 4 years, proposed to me last summer and we''re getting married coming May. He too, is working in such an environment and he feels sick of it and of the behaviour of people around him. They are extremely superficial and they definitely judge people by their...materialistic assets...He was telling me that they were even amazed by the fact that he maintained this relationship with me from such a huge distance for all those years and that now he decided to marry me...obviously because in their minds anything that''s not convenient and practical, is not worthy of someone''s efforts...Well, i''m happily engaged with a wonderful, .90 diamond, which they definitely find "not appropriate" and i''m extremely happy! I wonder if people who live their life like this and think like this can ever be happy

So wear both your old and new studs in pride and enjoy all the beauty of your DH''s gifts, especially the sentimental one...

And i''m sorry for threadjacking...

 

[loriken214]

Date: 3/16/2010 1:20:02 PM
Author: Todd Gray
I dislike diamonds which have been cut for weight rather than beauty... but more than that, I dislike pretentious people who wear large diamonds as a way of flaunting their wealth and who do so in such as way as to demean other people...

Case in point, a few years ago, we were sitting in a theater and a young lady was turning her hand about in awe of all the sparkle which was being cast about by a diamond which was about a quarter carat in weight, it seemed obvious to me that she was just recently engaged. At one point she notices the woman next to her watching her with amusement and she says ''I just got engaged. You have a very pretty diamond, how big is it?'' and the woman reaches out and grabs the girls wrist diamond hand over the girls diamond hand and smugly remarks ''yes, your diamond is ''cute'' but mine is a carat'' in this real condescending ''you are lower than me'' kind of tone that caused a crushed look to cast over the young ladies face. No worries, this was resolved easily by leaning in and saying ''her diamond may be larger, but yours is much better cut - which is why your diamond is so much prettier and more lively than hers... see how your diamond is exhibiting all of that brilliance and fire? See how hers isn''t? I''d much rather have your diamond and I''m in the business!'' You know, the older lady got pretty quiet after that and the newly engaged bride looked quite pleased and went back to watching her diamond flash about under the theater lights

AWESOME!!!

I wish I had had you there to defend my very first engagement diamond ring. It was a .30 ct. round brilliant set on a thin band with small round channel set diamonds. It was part of a set that included matching wedding rings for DH and me. We were both poor college students and put the rings in layaway until we could afford to pay them off. Once we had them, and I was wearing my ER, some of our "friends" made fun of my "tiny" little diamond. It was really horrible to hear/see the reaction to my ring from some of the people that we thought would be excited for us.

Long story short, FI and I broke up and I traded in my rings for something else. This was back in 1985. We ended up getting back together in 1997 and got married on Valentine''s Day 1998. DH had kept his original wedding ring from the set we bought together in 1983 and wears it today. He will not allow me to upgrade it.

Here is a photo of the original ring on DH''s finger.

Lori

 

[Firestone]

LOL! I''m going to play devil''s advocate here. The girl waving her hand around to look at her small diamond wasn''t exactly acting appropriately. Just because she loved her small diamond doesn''t make her behavior appropriate. If she had a 2 caret rock on her finger, people would be criticizing her. What makes her behavior acceptable just because she had a small diamond? She asked that lady what size her stone was. That other lady didn''t just butt in and brag about having a one caret. Sorry Todd but I don''t think what you said was nice.

Black Jade...size does matter. That is why you now have 1.80 studs. If it didn''t mean anything you would still be wearing your .10 studs. Is there anyone here who wouldn''t prefer your 1.80 studs? How many threads are there here where people are willing to drop down color and clarity just for the sake of a bigger stone? We are all here because we love diamonds. Honestly, isn''t part of the reason why people trade off color and clarity for size is to impress others? Is it any different than wanting a nicer more expensive car or house? Your brother probably was teasing you because that''s what brothers do.

I''m not advocating looking down on anyone for having a smaller stone. But if I saw someone waving her hand around a theater showing off her .25 stone, I would think she was strange. Her small diamond might have looked big to someone there who couldn''t afford any diamond.

Anyways, thanks everyone for the photos. I haven''t seen any stones like those. Its good to know about these things.

 

[Natylad]

Firestone:

1. Nobody said that size doesn''t matter and that in general people wouldn''t prefer a bigger than a smaller diamond. What we said (and what i personally meant) is that when somebody is wearing a set of studs with tiny diamonds, or an engagement ring with a diamond smaller than what is genereally seen, it is inappropriate and a sign of lack of good manners to make negative remarks and put down the owner of them (I''m not referring to the young lady who was showing off her tiny diamond. Maybe she was asking for it). Don''t you agree that it is dispeakable when somebody is happy to be engaged and then people see her ring and start making negative comments on the size of it

? Or when somebody receives a pair of tiny diamond studs from her husband who couldn''t afford something more expensive and then she has her brother making fun of them for years until she upgrades to what HE thinks is...appropriate???

2. You are wrong if you think that everybody on Pricescope would go down on clarity, color, etc in order to get a bigger diamond and...impress other people. I personally own a 0.90ct, VVS2, E, ex ex ex, Hearts & Arrows, which i bought from my local jeweller in Greece and who charged me both for the stone and the custom made setting 8.000 EUROS (yes, euros, not dollars). Don''t you think that with that money and having settled for a stone with lower clarity and color i could have bought online a huge rock and start showing it off to people? Well, i haven''t...Because i don''t care about showing off, i mostly care about wearing what pleases me, what makes me happy and what i personally think is of good quality and mind clean, without giving a dime what other people will say. And i can assure you that contrary to what you believe, there are many people on Pricescope who share my opinion on this. So don''t generalize and take as a given fact that all people think and take decisions according to how much other people would be impressed...Many of us couldn''t care less...

 

[Natylad]

Oh...And Loricken: That was a GREAT story!!!

I''m soooo happy that things worked out in a magical way and you'' re now together and very happy!!!

 

[Lula]

Firestone,

I read Black Jade's post and the first thing that came to mind was "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." The second thing that came to mind was, people who work on Wall Street still have money (and the gall) to buy diamonds? Off with their heads.

 

[Black Jade]

Thanks for your kind posts, Loriken and Naty. I was happy to hear your stories.

 

[Natylad]

Hmm...i don''t think that Black Jade''s post deserved that particular Shakespeare line...but then again that''s my personal opinion...

 

[Black Jade]

Firestone and SaraP,
I do wear my .10 ctw studs. I wear them a lot, as I said in my post, in my second ear piercings. There is no reason for me to do this, as my husband wouldn''t care if I retired them at this point, but I do still love them. I also love my 1.80 carat studs, which I wear somewhat more. To me, they represent different times and different finances, but the same love. Believe me or not as you wish.

My brother is a teaser, but he sort of goes too far and all his teasing is about materialistic things, size of house, price of car, etc. etc. I love him, but it gets exhausting and nothing seems to make him stop. However, I should say that he works hard on Wall Street where he rose up from being an elevator operator to a financial consultant, which I feel quite proud of him for. He does not get inappropriate bonuses. Many on Wall Street may have poor values, and there was financial wrongdoing, but I dislike the way that this is reported in the newspapers--and the desire to shift all the blame there, when a lot of people who weren''t on Wall Street were borrowing too much, using credit cards inappropriately and buying homes they had to have known they could not afford. It is too easy to put this all on Wall Street. I also think that jokes about beheading people are not in good taste at all.

I see nothing wrong with the girl that was admiring her .25 ring. Girls admire their rings, especially when they are new. I see her admiring the other lady''s ring as an attempt to start a conversation--she paid her a nice compliment--not as asking for such a rude putdown. I WOULD say the same about a girl waving around a 5 or 6 carat ring--she has the right to admire her lovely gift of love, too. Neither would have a right to put someone else down. That''s all I''m saying. You can think what you like--obviously I don''t admire all diamonds, or I wouldn''t have clicked on this thread (so thread-jacked at this point, sorry)--but I don''t think it''s nice to say something that takes away someone else''s pleasure in what they have.

 

[Todd Gray]

Date: 3/17/2010 2:50:31 AM
Author: Firestone
LOL! I''m going to play devil''s advocate here. The girl waving her hand around to look at her small diamond wasn''t exactly acting appropriately. Just because she loved her small diamond doesn''t make her behavior appropriate. If she had a 2 caret rock on her finger, people would be criticizing her. What makes her behavior acceptable just because she had a small diamond? She asked that lady what size her stone was. That other lady didn''t just butt in and brag about having a one caret. Sorry Todd but I don''t think what you said was nice.

You are correct Firestone by saying that what I said was not nice, it was not intended to be and I''m not saying that it was one of my finer moments - because it wasn''t.

However, I did not say that the young lady was waving her hand around, I said that she was turning her hand about. Specifically she was holding her hand directly in front of her chest, looking down at her diamond, moving her hand ever so slightly and admiring the sparkle of her diamond under the theater lights and it was well before the beginning of the performance, so it was not annoying at all... If I were not in the diamond business, I probably would not have given her behavior s a second thought. If she were "waving her hand around" and making a scene like "look at ME, I have a diamond!" it would definitely have changed the nature of the scenario and I most likely would have cracked up at the older woman''s response.

Don''t worry, I''m equal opportunity on the concept of "Here''s your sign" and this includes "me" as any of my friends will tell you that I''m likely to throw myself under the bus when it is appropriate to do so.

 

[joxxxelyn]

"Is there anyone here who wouldn''t prefer your 1.80 studs?"


Yes. For me there is a sweet spot of sizes, above which I do not feel well suited by the jewelry, uncomfortable, and like it doesn''t match who I am. I am the same way about costume jewelry. It also doesn''t have much to do with where I live, since a wide range of sizes are common in this city. In my particular part of town I''m more likely to run into large carat weights. There truly are some people who simply do not prefer larger sizes and have no other reasons than the aesthetics of large sizes are unappealing to them.

 

[RaiKai]

Date: 3/17/2010 12:33:55 PM
Author: joxxxelyn
'Is there anyone here who wouldn't prefer your 1.80 studs?'



Yes. For me there is a sweet spot of sizes, above which I do not feel well suited by the jewelry, uncomfortable, and like it doesn't match who I am. I am the same way about costume jewelry. It also doesn't have much to do with where I live, since a wide range of sizes are common in this city. In my particular part of town I'm more likely to run into large carat weights. There truly are some people who simply do not prefer larger sizes and have no other reasons than the aesthetics of large sizes are unappealing to them.

Ditto.

1.80 studs would just be way too big for me to wear on my ears. I am quite happy with wearing my plain white gold studs day in and day out. This is incredibly BORING compared to most of the PS earrings and styles I see around here, and I admit I am quite low-maintenance in that respect.

I also don't like large stones on my fingers. 1.25 - 1.50 ct is my upper range before I find it uncomfortable to wear and 1.50 ct is even REALLY stretching it for me. I find my sweet spot to be under 1.25 ct. Not just in respect of physical comfort (though that is there too) and lifestyle in particular, but also just in respect of a larger stone not suiting me as a person. I am just not a flashy type and don't like the look on me. That does not mean I do not admire them on other people, or think they are beautiful, I just don't want them for MYSELF.

It does not sound like that young lady was "waving her hand around" - she was just looking at her diamond and then admired and complimented the other woman's stone. The young lady OBVIOUSLY could see the other woman's stone was larger than hers and there was no reason for the other woman to be that condescending about it. I certainly would not have been offended by a young lady admiring her new ring in that manner, whether it was a 0.5 ct or a 5 ct stone.

 

[Lula]

Date: 3/17/2010 9:30:28 AM
Author: Black Jade
Firestone and SaraP,
I also think that jokes about beheading people are not in good taste at all.

Okay, then how about "Let them eat cake"?

Black Jade, I am just joking around.

Dancing Fire got in trouble earlier on this thread for kidding Raikai. I guess everybody's just in a literal mood around here today.

 

[Black Jade]

I guess I was literal. Sorry.
I do find it hard to get jokes sometimes online.
Peace.

 

[yssie]

I''m myopic, so I need bigger adornments to fully appreciate them

 

[Black Jade]

Date: 3/17/2010 12:33:55 PM
Author: joxxxelyn
''Is there anyone here who wouldn''t prefer your 1.80 studs?''



Yes. For me there is a sweet spot of sizes, above which I do not feel well suited by the jewelry, uncomfortable, and like it doesn''t match who I am. I am the same way about costume jewelry. It also doesn''t have much to do with where I live, since a wide range of sizes are common in this city. In my particular part of town I''m more likely to run into large carat weights. There truly are some people who simply do not prefer larger sizes and have no other reasons than the aesthetics of large sizes are unappealing to them.

I believe you. I think sometimes looking at ever and ever larger jewelry on P''scope can make it seem like everyone wants the biggest thing possible and this is absolutely not true in my experience. Some people (gasp!) actually don''t like jewelry at all.

I don''t wear rings with big stones--I have little fingers that easily look cluttered. Besides I am still in love with my old (small for Pricescope) engagement ring. I love my big studs, though. I have a relatively big head and REALLY big kind of wild hair and I think it all goes together somehow. And in my experience, people tend to assume that your studs are not real, they just don''t look too closely at them, especially if you have a lot of hair. When my hair is pulled back (rarely) my studs get attention. Otherwise, I feel as if they are sort of ''stealth jewelry''. People who know me well know that they are real, I don''t have to tell other people if I don''t want to. Which I usually don''t want to.
And this is going to sound kind of wierd, but I like the feeling of half forgetting I have them on and then being surprised by them in a bathroom mirror or the rear view mirror of a car, and realizing all over again how pretty they are. Or at least, how pretty I think they are, whether or not anyone else thinks so.
I guess I wear them for me.
And I also wear my little studs for me, with all their memories--and anyway, I think they are cute, darn it. they have a butterfly setting which is unusual for nowadays that I really like. But even if you''re wearing something for you, it''s hurtful to have someone smirking about it and cracking jokes that feel like putdowns. That''s all I''ve been trying to say. It can be nice when other people admire your things, but I don''t expect that; however, if they don''t admire, silence is golden. Why say anything at all? But I''m sure that no one in this discussion would behave like that woman in the theater who was so obnoxious to the girl with the pretty .25 ring.