Enough lurking...I''ll start here with my ring!

[ksinger]

Well, after much lurking here, I''m finally taking the plunge. Here is my engagement ring. I''m right fond of it. We (mostly me, actually, he just told me to find what I wanted and let me do the fun stuff. There ARE some advantages to knowing your intended for 28 years.), got the stone from Blue Nile. The setting is Gottlieb and Sons, purchased locally.
The numbers are:
Shape: Round
Carat weight: 0.81
Cut: Ideal
Color: J
Clarity: VS2
Certificate: GIA
Depth: 61.8%
Table: 57.0%
Crown Angle : 35.0
Pavilion Angle : 40.6
Star Facet Length %: 50%
Pavillion Facet Length %: 80%
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Excellent
Girdle: Medium to slightly thick, faceted
Culet: None
Fluorescence: None
Measurements: 5.96*5.98*3.69

 

[marcy]

Welcome to PS. Your ring is very pretty. Congratulations.

 

[Shay37]

Oh, my, your ring is lovely. We really need more pics, you know.

shay

 

[Ninama]

Beautiful... thanks for sharing your pretty precious - it''s just lovely - and welcome!

 

[kellyfish]

Beautiful!!!

 

[Lv2shopp]

Lovely and congrats!

 

[ksinger]

Thanks! I certainly like my ring, although I admit that isn''t the best picture in the world. I mess with Fireworks so little, that it''s a new adventure every time I need to use it. LOL! And I''m sure there are photography tricks I know not.

I also wanted to say how much I''ve enjoyed PS. The people here are unfailingly gracious and the education you receive and the sheer volume of knowlege on this single site, is just stunning. Although I''m thrilled with my beautiful diamond, I suspect that if I had it to do over again, I would do things a bit differently. That in no way is saying purchasing from BN was a negative, it''s just that I know SO much more than I did then. Even though I knew enough to get a lovely stone, I think I also just got lucky on some of it. This site slowly turns a person into a cut freak, doesn''t it?

Love the site! The pics! The stories!

 

[ksinger]

OK...I don''t have many pics at this time, but here is another - lighter - one. Please forgive that the stone in ridiculously dirty. Geez, but these cameras show EVERTHING don''t they!

 

[Jenn5504]

Your ring is very pretty! You MUST share more pics! Is the setting yellow gold? It looks just gorgeous. Thin prong set is what I see, mmmmm!

Please share more pics soon! Hooray for another GREAT J stone!

 

[ksinger]

Yeah, I love the warmer stones. Color is never an issue for me...sparkle and flash ARE. In fact, I just LOVE brown diamonds, but that''s another topic I''m sure.

An interesting note about the stone, the GIA cert states that there is another inscription on the girdle: H&A. Now, I did not choose the stone for that reason. I chose the stone based on pretty narrow ideal ranges, not on whether it was H&A. I didn''t trust that anyway. I''ve also found that there''s something of a minor? scandal with some people taking issue with the GIA not noting on their certs that THEY didn'' t put that there, and that in the context of them noting that, it is only for identification purposes: maybe it''s H&A and then again maybe it''s not. In any case, I loved the stone and naturally was in a rush to get in in the ring. I knew the H&A thing was iffy. But as I looked it became pretty clear that it really IS H&A, and while I was out the other night, I stopped in a local jeweler''s and they were nice enough to clean it and let me use their H&A viewer. Sure enough, H&A. Of course since I can''t see the back, well....I can''t see the back. But in my classic way of doing everything backwards (I''ll have to relate the "proposal" story, but that''s a long one) I''m going to have to have the stone taken BACK out and have it properly appraised. After the fact. I know...weird.

 

[ksinger]

Yes, it is yellow gold. My guy likes yellow, and while I have a platinum ring I love, I thought it would be good to go back to gold gold.

Yes, it is very thin - there is only .10 carat in the band...very very delicate. I don''t have large hands so big jewelry, no matter how lovely, looks silly on me.

And if I''d been smarter I''d have NOT put the wedding band in the safe deposit box. Like the ER, the WB is yellow gold, sandblast finish, hammer set randomly all the way around with .63 tcw (38 tiny stones) of diamonds ranging from light brown to orange and everything in between EXCEPT white. It''s about 3 times the width of the ER. It is an original design called "Freckles" by a Santa Fe jeweler by the name of Nancy Brown. I"ll try to find time to go get it and post some pics....

 

[Diamond*Dana]

Gorgeous ring, I love the YG! Your wedding band sounds so interesting...I hope that you can post pictures of it soon

 

[Kaleigh]

It''s stunning. I love YG!!

I think ths setting really shows off your lovely stone.

 

[ksinger]

One final one. I keep looking at the other pics on PS and keep wondering why I''m so backward at photographing this stuff. That and I wish my hands were prettier....oh well...

 

[coatimundi_org]

Lovely ring!

That last shot is just so pretty!

Congratulations!

 

[Angel7]

Beautiful! Hand shots please!

 

[monarch64]

Beautiful!! I love the yellow gold setting, it''s stunning. Congrats on your engagement!

 

[D2B]

Love to see YG, some hand shots please .

It looks lovely!!!!

D2B

 

[lumpkin]

Date: 2/9/2008 3:50:37 AM
Author: D2B
Love to see YG, some hand shots please .

It looks lovely!!!!

D2B

Mee tooo! I really enjoy seeing some yellow gold for a change, too. There isn''t so much of that right now and I think it really complements your diamond.

 

[Catmom]

Oooo, I love everything about it! I love that it is in YG. I love the stone. I love the delicateness of the band. I really wish that we could see the wedding band, it sounds amazing.

 

[violet3]

Gorgeous ring - i can''t wait to see the WB too - it sounds so unique! Would love to hear more about your FI and how you''ve known each other so long - sounds very romantic. Congratulations!

 

[ksinger]

OK...one last one. It''s blurry, but it''s the only one I have that shows those pretty arrows....

The short version of my man and I: We met when I was 16 (he''s a year older). Started dating at 18 at the end of highschool, all the way through college, 5.5 years. We were going to get married, but I nixed that (long story). We went our separate ways, each married someone else, each got divorced, got back together for a year, but then fell apart again. Five years later I got a heartfelt apology in the mail. About 1.5 years later, after all those years of total silence, I tracked down an email address and we began emailing. Mainly political/science related/funny stuff, very casual. That kept up for about a year or so...then we finally decided to SEE each other, face to face. It was nice. All platonic like. Pretty soon I was including him in my social circle. He fit in perfectly. All platonic like. (By this time all my friends are like "Yeah, whatever you think Karen"). Then finally one night he breaks down, confesses he still loves me, and always has. Sneaky little snot. But I guess I do too. So on we go, not talking marriage or anything, until one night I"m like "Gee, I wonder if we could live in the same house....", and he says "Yeah, I''ve been wondering that too...". The next night we''re out in the back yard talking about adding on to the house. After about a week of this, I thought wow....and asked him, "I''m assuming we''re getting married or something?", and he said, "Well, YEAH, I wouldn''t be talking about adding onto the house if we weren''t." And that was the proposal! Like everything else with us, backward and unromantic. But you know what? For us it works perfectly. He''s been a wonderful wonderful man, and we''ve already done a major kitchen reno and survived quite nicely. We''ll be married in the spring. Most people would do the reno AFTER, but we do...everything backwards! LOL! But any man who cooks like him, and who buys me garlic stuffed olives for no reason, is to be cherished. We can''t seem to get away from one another, and we''re old enough to be beyond all the 20 and 30 something angst, so we are stuck!

 

[Brilyant]

Great story, great ring, what more could you want?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Awww, I just love your story! How neat that you two ended up together!

Your ring is beautiful! Why would you take it out of the setting to have it appraised? You have the cert and know it is a great stone. You can insure with an insurance valuation from your jeweler. I''d tell him what you paid for the stone and ask him not to inflate the value so you don''t overpay for insurance.

 

[iheartscience]

Wow, your ring is gorgeous, and I LOVE the story of how you two got together!

Just one problem, though...your wedding band sounds AMAZING and I desperately want to see it!

Maybe the next time you do a photo shoot you can bust it out of its box?

 

[sera]

Welcome out of lurkdom. You''re ring is very pretty. Congrats to both you and your garlic-stuffed-olive-buying-sneaky-little-snot!

 

[Sha]

Wow, your ring is so beautiful! I like that it''s yellow gold too. I''ve been seeing mostly platinum and pave rings, so it''s cool to see a yellow gold setting for a change. It''s beautiful! I would be ''right fond'' of it too!

 

[motownmama]

LOOKS SO GREAT ON YOUR HAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ENJOY!

 

[Gemma12]

YAY Karen what a beautiful ring and such a sweet story!

And YAY for yellow gold!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[ksinger]

Sounds like a sound bit of advice on appraisal versus not. I could be wrong, but I DO feel we got a pretty stellar deal on the stone. I don''t know what exact criteria Blue Nile uses for their signature stones, but I suspect that the only reason this one didn''t make it, is that the original owner of the stone had "H&A" inscribed on the girdle, which meant of course, that BN probably would not be able to use it as one of theirs, since that extra inscription was on there. While I also know that BN is not the best at giving info about the stones, I''ve looked long and hard on BN for stones with similar stats, and they just don''t come up much when you look one grade down from their signature stones, which is what we were doing, and when they do, they are considerably more money than the one we got. Considering how much more I know NOW, (thanks PS!!) I would be more inclined to go to some place like Whiteflash or GoG, with more info and more personalized service. Of course next diamond will probably be a cushion, and thus not so easy to pick out as a round.

I will try to get my WB out of the safe deposit box and post some pics, since several people have expressed the desire to see it. It really IS a unique piece. Sadly, I am pretty sure the jeweler who made it is now probably not with us anymore. At the time of purchase, I was told she was in the last stages of ovarian cancer. Very sad...and her shop was one in probably the top 5 jewelers in Santa Fe. It''s still going though, I know her store still has an online presence.

And what IS the thing with YG? I''ve noticed too, in the last year, that YG is almost passe these days. My first inclination was "Yellow gold, how quaint.", but then I started looking, and realized, HEY! It''s GOLD. It''s SUPPOSED to be GOLD! LOL! So now I like YG again. And at the current prices...YIKES!