justginger
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- May 11, 2009
- Messages
- 3,712
A lovely Christmas for me -- I was presented with this fabulous antique cushion from Grace, which was set by Leon. I''ve had the stone for 8 months now (maybe 9?) and the setting was done by the end of October...and I''ve been (nosovery) patiently waiting for it to be given to me ever since.
The stone is a 1.71 ct, I/J, SI1 stone that took me FOREVER to decide to buy. I was in contact with Grace via dozens of emails and just couldn''t possibly recommend her more. She took extra photos, comparison photos, videos, etc for me and held my hand every step of the way. It was very overwhelming buying an antique cut stone from the other side of the world, but she worked extra hard for me and did such an excellent job. I won''t hesitate to buy from Jewels by Erica Grace again.
Grace sent my stone on to Leon, who I had contacted about regarding the setting. I changed my mind (and I''m talking major design changes) multiple times, waffling back and forth, he refigured quotes for me no less than 4 times, and I found him to be extremely pleasant throughout. I appreciated all of the advice he offered me and was pleased that he was willing to do whatever I decided on, despite his own preferences. In the end, I chose the basic elements I wanted and had him redesign the basket for me. I was basing my ring on the infamous cushion of Reena''s -- but I wanted the basket to be different, so it wasn''t an exact replica. He did a fabulous job of feeling out exactly what kind of shapes I liked and executed it perfectly. I corresponded with him via email and phone calls (multiple) and never felt as though he were losing patience or being short with me.
When I received the ring, I immediately noticed that the centerstone was loose. It was a bit dramatic, as I was on a pretty tight timeframe (due to international flights). I took it to my local jeweler, who was unable to tell me anything about how to fix it. I overnighted it back to Leon, who fixed it in less than 2 hours, and returned it via overnight delivery. He called me to let me know what was going on every step of the way, reimbused my shipping costs, and was very graciously apologetic for the issue. I think it must have shifted during transit, but he seemed to take it very personally that he had delivered an item that wasn''t perfect. I found his customer service to be excellent.
On to the pictures! I''ll try not to overwhelm you guys, but it''s so much fun to photograph!
The unset stone from Grace:
The stone is a 1.71 ct, I/J, SI1 stone that took me FOREVER to decide to buy. I was in contact with Grace via dozens of emails and just couldn''t possibly recommend her more. She took extra photos, comparison photos, videos, etc for me and held my hand every step of the way. It was very overwhelming buying an antique cut stone from the other side of the world, but she worked extra hard for me and did such an excellent job. I won''t hesitate to buy from Jewels by Erica Grace again.
Grace sent my stone on to Leon, who I had contacted about regarding the setting. I changed my mind (and I''m talking major design changes) multiple times, waffling back and forth, he refigured quotes for me no less than 4 times, and I found him to be extremely pleasant throughout. I appreciated all of the advice he offered me and was pleased that he was willing to do whatever I decided on, despite his own preferences. In the end, I chose the basic elements I wanted and had him redesign the basket for me. I was basing my ring on the infamous cushion of Reena''s -- but I wanted the basket to be different, so it wasn''t an exact replica. He did a fabulous job of feeling out exactly what kind of shapes I liked and executed it perfectly. I corresponded with him via email and phone calls (multiple) and never felt as though he were losing patience or being short with me.
When I received the ring, I immediately noticed that the centerstone was loose. It was a bit dramatic, as I was on a pretty tight timeframe (due to international flights). I took it to my local jeweler, who was unable to tell me anything about how to fix it. I overnighted it back to Leon, who fixed it in less than 2 hours, and returned it via overnight delivery. He called me to let me know what was going on every step of the way, reimbused my shipping costs, and was very graciously apologetic for the issue. I think it must have shifted during transit, but he seemed to take it very personally that he had delivered an item that wasn''t perfect. I found his customer service to be excellent.
On to the pictures! I''ll try not to overwhelm you guys, but it''s so much fun to photograph!
The unset stone from Grace:
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