Ok, I''ll make every attempt to keep this from just being me rambling on. First, wow, so much information around here and so much I don''t know.
So by gf and I started looking at rings and diamonds about 6 weeks ago. We went to about 10 different jewelry stores, from family-owned, one location to nation-wide, well recognized names. A couple had very helpful sales people. A few were pushy...trying to tell us they had a perfect ring without even talking to us about what we liked. A few acted like we weren''t good enough for their store. So we found the "perfect" ring at one of these nation-wide chains. It was one of their "standard" 3 stone rings, but the stones weren''t the quality we thought we wanted.
My original thought on budget was 3500-6000 range. I really had no clue. I still am not sure what my final budget will be. It depends on what kind of deal I can get.
So I went to a few of the store we looked at plus a couple others, since I knew what we wanted. Anyway, to get to the point, we thought we wanted:
~.60 VS2/SI1 F/G GIA Ex with ~.50 tcw similar quality side stones in a 3 stone basket setting with a single prong on the outside of the side stones, white gold or platinum
One of the stores I stopped in today, which we hadn''t been to before, was a HoF dealer. We hadn''t seen HoF before, nor had anyone mentioned H&A to us at all. That jeweler (as well as my favorite from another store) strongly suggested we go with a standard basket setting versus the single prong on the outside for safety/security of the stones.
So now I''m trying to learn about all the H&A stuff (I''ve been staring at this site for about 6 hours already tonight), but I have a couple questions based on what the HoF dealer said.
A HoF stone at H, for instance, will look the same as a non-HoF at F.
A HoF stone at SI2, for instance, will look the same as a non-HoF at VS2.
HoF are graded on all 58 facets, as opposed to only 17 facets for all other stones.
HoF are cut under 100x magnification versus 10x for other stones.
How true are all of these statements? I''ve seen posts indicating that the first two may hold some truth due to the level of perfection in the cut, but is it really 2 levels of color and clarity?
What about the last two points?
Anyway, we''ll be going back to look at some loose stones and ask about H&A and AGS gradings and stuff after we get a better understanding of it from around here.
So by gf and I started looking at rings and diamonds about 6 weeks ago. We went to about 10 different jewelry stores, from family-owned, one location to nation-wide, well recognized names. A couple had very helpful sales people. A few were pushy...trying to tell us they had a perfect ring without even talking to us about what we liked. A few acted like we weren''t good enough for their store. So we found the "perfect" ring at one of these nation-wide chains. It was one of their "standard" 3 stone rings, but the stones weren''t the quality we thought we wanted.
My original thought on budget was 3500-6000 range. I really had no clue. I still am not sure what my final budget will be. It depends on what kind of deal I can get.
So I went to a few of the store we looked at plus a couple others, since I knew what we wanted. Anyway, to get to the point, we thought we wanted:
~.60 VS2/SI1 F/G GIA Ex with ~.50 tcw similar quality side stones in a 3 stone basket setting with a single prong on the outside of the side stones, white gold or platinum
One of the stores I stopped in today, which we hadn''t been to before, was a HoF dealer. We hadn''t seen HoF before, nor had anyone mentioned H&A to us at all. That jeweler (as well as my favorite from another store) strongly suggested we go with a standard basket setting versus the single prong on the outside for safety/security of the stones.
So now I''m trying to learn about all the H&A stuff (I''ve been staring at this site for about 6 hours already tonight), but I have a couple questions based on what the HoF dealer said.
A HoF stone at H, for instance, will look the same as a non-HoF at F.
A HoF stone at SI2, for instance, will look the same as a non-HoF at VS2.
HoF are graded on all 58 facets, as opposed to only 17 facets for all other stones.
HoF are cut under 100x magnification versus 10x for other stones.
How true are all of these statements? I''ve seen posts indicating that the first two may hold some truth due to the level of perfection in the cut, but is it really 2 levels of color and clarity?
What about the last two points?
Anyway, we''ll be going back to look at some loose stones and ask about H&A and AGS gradings and stuff after we get a better understanding of it from around here.
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