justginger
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- May 11, 2009
- Messages
- 3,712
My lovely new husband and I are on the first part of our honeymoon - New Orleans. Wandering down Royal Street yesterday, we found ourselves looking in the window of a very elegant antique store. I thought I'd wander in to see what shiny objects may have been contained in their display cases.
Holy moly, I knew I had hit the motherload when the first piece of jewelry I spotted was a 40 carat diamond necklace, with a cross pendant containing another 10-odd carats. Amazing. Flitting down the counter, I passed one-of-a-kind pieces the whole way. Burmese rubies, a Tiffany star ruby in platinum, a 20 carat Alexandrite pendant, South Sea pearls the side of Globe grapes! A 12 carat antique cushion cut (mine looked like it's miniscule sister!), a D/IF/2a asscher, sitting around 10 carats, a black opal the size of a ping pong ball.
But...the biggest prizes were at the end of the case. The dealer behind the counter had a bit of a smirk when I nearly hit the ground. There was the most beautiful 7 carat Argyle FIPP pear set in melee as delicate as I have ever seen. The color...
He pulled it straight out of the case and put it on my hand as if wearing an $800,000 ring would be a daily occurence for me! As beautiful as it was, my eyes locked on another ring in the case and I was mesmerized. It was the largest fancy diamond I've ever seen in person - and probably the largest I'll ever see. A TWENTY NINE carat Fancy Yellow radiant, flanked by a couple of colorless diamonds. It was so incredibly large, the cut was hypnotizing. I could have stared into those lucious depths for hours. I was honestly surprised that it wasn't graded intense - possibly with a bit of cutting magic it could gain a color grade? Regardless, I shoved that puppy on my hand and grinned like a maniac. On a size 3 finger, it looked comical - but delightfully so! 
I will be forever grateful to that gracious antiques dealer who was willing to indulge in my happiness for a few minutes. I can't imagine I'll ever have a million and a half dollars on my finger again! I only wish I could have taken some photos of those incredible gems to share with everyone.
Holy moly, I knew I had hit the motherload when the first piece of jewelry I spotted was a 40 carat diamond necklace, with a cross pendant containing another 10-odd carats. Amazing. Flitting down the counter, I passed one-of-a-kind pieces the whole way. Burmese rubies, a Tiffany star ruby in platinum, a 20 carat Alexandrite pendant, South Sea pearls the side of Globe grapes! A 12 carat antique cushion cut (mine looked like it's miniscule sister!), a D/IF/2a asscher, sitting around 10 carats, a black opal the size of a ping pong ball.
But...the biggest prizes were at the end of the case. The dealer behind the counter had a bit of a smirk when I nearly hit the ground. There was the most beautiful 7 carat Argyle FIPP pear set in melee as delicate as I have ever seen. The color...
He pulled it straight out of the case and put it on my hand as if wearing an $800,000 ring would be a daily occurence for me! As beautiful as it was, my eyes locked on another ring in the case and I was mesmerized. It was the largest fancy diamond I've ever seen in person - and probably the largest I'll ever see. A TWENTY NINE carat Fancy Yellow radiant, flanked by a couple of colorless diamonds. It was so incredibly large, the cut was hypnotizing. I could have stared into those lucious depths for hours. I was honestly surprised that it wasn't graded intense - possibly with a bit of cutting magic it could gain a color grade? Regardless, I shoved that puppy on my hand and grinned like a maniac. On a size 3 finger, it looked comical - but delightfully so! I will be forever grateful to that gracious antiques dealer who was willing to indulge in my happiness for a few minutes. I can't imagine I'll ever have a million and a half dollars on my finger again! I only wish I could have taken some photos of those incredible gems to share with everyone.
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