Patty
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2003
- Messages
- 4,456
Hi guys! I just found you all Friday and my eyes are bloodshot from reading this board and Jonathan''s site almost non-stop since then. I''m thrilled to find a forum with people as obsessed as I am with diamonds!
My story...and it''s a long one...so move along if you don''t want lots of details.(You''ve been warned!)
My husband and I got engaged in January 1979...Yes, 25 years ago next month. At that time, we knew not to buy from a mall store, so we went to a downtown jeweler who had much better prices. My sister had chosen her 3/4 carat solitare from them. I remember that we called before we went down to get a price idea on a 3/4 solitare and they said $1200. I didn''t want my fiance to put it on credit and he could afford to pay about $1000 cash, so that was our budget.
The first ring we saw on the tray was the one we chose. It was a 5/8 carat stone on a 4mm yellow gold rounded band for $900. The prong setting was a "tulip" setting. They sized it (4 1/2) and my fiance picked it up a couple of days later. That night, as we were sitting there looking at the stone, I noticed what I thought was a "crack" in the diamond. There was a flaw that you could see from the top of the stone near one of the prongs. My heart sunk. For one thing, I hated any kind of conflict and I felt like we''d been "taken." In 1979, I knew there were various qualities of diamonds and when we''d picked this one out, I''d asked about the quality and was told it was "good." LOL.
The next day my husband called the owner of the store and the owner assured him that the stone wasn''t cracked and told him to bring the ring in. I SHOULD have gone along, but like I said, I had that "avoiding conflict" thing going on back then. My husband said when the jeweler looked at the ring his comment was, "Oh yeah, that should be set down low in a man''s ring." He then brought out another stone which my husband approved and they replaced the flawed one.
When my husband (then fiance) brought the ring home and gave it to me that night, my first thought was, "This diamond is smaller." I couldn''t be sure, having only had the original one for a day, but this one didn''t look as big as the first. But I let it go.
Some time in the next year, I read about the cut of stones and how a deep cut stone would appear black in the center. Bingo! I realized that I had a deep cut stone. For the next 9-10 years, every time I looked into the center of that stone and saw that dark circle, it bothered me. Also, I became obsessed with wishing we''d gone with a bigger stone like a 3/4 carat. But, as you older folks around here may remember, the price of gold and diamonds skyrocketed in the early 80s. I remember asking about upgrading to a 3/4 carat stone once very early on (1980 or ''81) and was told it would be another $1100 plus my stone traded in. So, a $300 difference in 1979 between the 5/8 and 3/4ct. was now an $1100 difference...more than we''d paid for the original ring. It was out of our budget.
A note about the pricing at this paticular jeweler. At that time you paid by the carat size. They had a few stones/rings of different quality for various prices, but for the most part, all their stones were within a certain quality range and you paid $900 for ANY 5/8 carat ring in 1979 and $1200 for ANY 3/4 solitare. My appraisal listed the stone as a VS1 quality and "J" color and 5/8 carat size (no points listed).
So, by January 1989 I was ready to upgrade. I knew that the original jeweler where we''d bought my ring would give me $900 towards an upgrade but instead I went to another downtown jeweler that my friend had used. They had two stones that I chose between. By now I knew about colors and clarities somewhat. I was choosing between a .93 J color, I1 clarity and an .82 H color, SI2 clarity. The .82 stone was a shallow cut and the .93 was a deep cut so they appeared similar in size. The .82 stone was $2200 and the .93 was $1800. I remember the jeweler there really talking up the smaller, better quality stone, but to my eye they were similar enough that I went with the .93 stone. I had it put in my setting but I had my engagement ring band (shank?)filed down to a very narrow band...maybe 1 or 1 1/2mms. I LOVED that solitare. When I looked at it from the side, I could see a dark carbon spot, but it wasn''t visible from the top and I felt like I knew what I was getting and paying for at the time. BTW, this diamond did not appear dark in the center like my original deep cut stone. I loved it!
Oh, and I traded in my original stone. I had no qualms about doing this because I''d always felt like this was not the stone I''d chosen. When they took it out of it''s setting they confirmed that it was a VS1 clarity and "J" color, but it was only 54 points. Now, it may have been worth as much as my original stone considering the clarity, but it made me angry that they''d replaced a 5/8 carat stone with a 1/2 carat stone. No wonder it looked smaller...it wasn''t just the cut. And in a place that sold by the carat size, they should have only charged $600 for the stone I got (their price for a half carat in 1979.) But, at this point, I took the $750 that the new jeweler gave me for the trade in and was glad to be rid of that diamond.
Oh, man...this story is taking longer than even I intended! Basically, I have since had this stone re-set into a ring by a local jeweler who I''m very fond of (our daughters are friends). It''s a wide (8mm?), yellow gold setting with 6 small stones on either side of the middle one. (Someone who posts here has a VERY similar setting.) The side stones are 7 or 8 points each and they are pave set. They came from two eternity rings that I''d had. I started with one eternity ring of 7 stones channel set. I then got another one just like the first and had the two made into a ring guard. I had this new jeweler come up with drawings of possibilities for me and I chose this setting which I do like very much. I like the idea of having just one nice ring, although I do wear a very thin (2mm) gold band with it sometimes.
So, now that January is coming up, and since it will be our 25th anniversary in May, I''m looking to upgrade again. I could replace this center stone or go with a new ring all together. Reading this board has thrilled me with all the possibilities. I love the look of the Regent stone and I also love sapphires so I love the look of...oh shoot...that one person''s ring with the regent and two round sapphires on either side. It''s gorgeous!
Also, I''m facinated by the whole H&A thing. I want an excellent cut this time. I saw a 1.35 stone at Superbcert that interests me because it''s only $4600. It''s an I1 with a noticable inclusion in the middle top part. But it''s a G color (which I think I want) and it''s a H&A which I think I may want. I don''t know if the inclusion would drive me nuts or not. I think the H&A sparkle would make up for it, and the price is SO attractive. BTW, my current jeweler pointed out that my .93 stone has a visible flaw through the top (table?). There is a dark spot that I always though was part of the shadow from the stone being a deep cut. It doesn''t bother me b/c the stone has good sparkle and like I said, I got what I paid for.
Our local jeweler ordered in a stone for me to see last year but we decided to wait until this year to upgrade. The one he got in was a "Premium" cut, VS2, G color. It was $7800. I''m fairly sure now that I will buy from the internet to get a better price and to get an "ideal" cut. I''m still a little confused as to the the various "ideal" cuts versus "H&A cuts" versus "superbcert cuts" etc. But I''m sure that I will sort all of that out before I decide on a new stone or new ring.
Okay...enough, right?! Sorry to bore you all, but if you''ve read this far, all I can say is...I warned you! I''m so glad to be here and I enjoy reading all of your posts. I think I''ll hang around a while.
My story...and it''s a long one...so move along if you don''t want lots of details.(You''ve been warned!)
My husband and I got engaged in January 1979...Yes, 25 years ago next month. At that time, we knew not to buy from a mall store, so we went to a downtown jeweler who had much better prices. My sister had chosen her 3/4 carat solitare from them. I remember that we called before we went down to get a price idea on a 3/4 solitare and they said $1200. I didn''t want my fiance to put it on credit and he could afford to pay about $1000 cash, so that was our budget.
The first ring we saw on the tray was the one we chose. It was a 5/8 carat stone on a 4mm yellow gold rounded band for $900. The prong setting was a "tulip" setting. They sized it (4 1/2) and my fiance picked it up a couple of days later. That night, as we were sitting there looking at the stone, I noticed what I thought was a "crack" in the diamond. There was a flaw that you could see from the top of the stone near one of the prongs. My heart sunk. For one thing, I hated any kind of conflict and I felt like we''d been "taken." In 1979, I knew there were various qualities of diamonds and when we''d picked this one out, I''d asked about the quality and was told it was "good." LOL.
The next day my husband called the owner of the store and the owner assured him that the stone wasn''t cracked and told him to bring the ring in. I SHOULD have gone along, but like I said, I had that "avoiding conflict" thing going on back then. My husband said when the jeweler looked at the ring his comment was, "Oh yeah, that should be set down low in a man''s ring." He then brought out another stone which my husband approved and they replaced the flawed one.
When my husband (then fiance) brought the ring home and gave it to me that night, my first thought was, "This diamond is smaller." I couldn''t be sure, having only had the original one for a day, but this one didn''t look as big as the first. But I let it go.
Some time in the next year, I read about the cut of stones and how a deep cut stone would appear black in the center. Bingo! I realized that I had a deep cut stone. For the next 9-10 years, every time I looked into the center of that stone and saw that dark circle, it bothered me. Also, I became obsessed with wishing we''d gone with a bigger stone like a 3/4 carat. But, as you older folks around here may remember, the price of gold and diamonds skyrocketed in the early 80s. I remember asking about upgrading to a 3/4 carat stone once very early on (1980 or ''81) and was told it would be another $1100 plus my stone traded in. So, a $300 difference in 1979 between the 5/8 and 3/4ct. was now an $1100 difference...more than we''d paid for the original ring. It was out of our budget.
A note about the pricing at this paticular jeweler. At that time you paid by the carat size. They had a few stones/rings of different quality for various prices, but for the most part, all their stones were within a certain quality range and you paid $900 for ANY 5/8 carat ring in 1979 and $1200 for ANY 3/4 solitare. My appraisal listed the stone as a VS1 quality and "J" color and 5/8 carat size (no points listed).
So, by January 1989 I was ready to upgrade. I knew that the original jeweler where we''d bought my ring would give me $900 towards an upgrade but instead I went to another downtown jeweler that my friend had used. They had two stones that I chose between. By now I knew about colors and clarities somewhat. I was choosing between a .93 J color, I1 clarity and an .82 H color, SI2 clarity. The .82 stone was a shallow cut and the .93 was a deep cut so they appeared similar in size. The .82 stone was $2200 and the .93 was $1800. I remember the jeweler there really talking up the smaller, better quality stone, but to my eye they were similar enough that I went with the .93 stone. I had it put in my setting but I had my engagement ring band (shank?)filed down to a very narrow band...maybe 1 or 1 1/2mms. I LOVED that solitare. When I looked at it from the side, I could see a dark carbon spot, but it wasn''t visible from the top and I felt like I knew what I was getting and paying for at the time. BTW, this diamond did not appear dark in the center like my original deep cut stone. I loved it!
Oh, and I traded in my original stone. I had no qualms about doing this because I''d always felt like this was not the stone I''d chosen. When they took it out of it''s setting they confirmed that it was a VS1 clarity and "J" color, but it was only 54 points. Now, it may have been worth as much as my original stone considering the clarity, but it made me angry that they''d replaced a 5/8 carat stone with a 1/2 carat stone. No wonder it looked smaller...it wasn''t just the cut. And in a place that sold by the carat size, they should have only charged $600 for the stone I got (their price for a half carat in 1979.) But, at this point, I took the $750 that the new jeweler gave me for the trade in and was glad to be rid of that diamond.
Oh, man...this story is taking longer than even I intended! Basically, I have since had this stone re-set into a ring by a local jeweler who I''m very fond of (our daughters are friends). It''s a wide (8mm?), yellow gold setting with 6 small stones on either side of the middle one. (Someone who posts here has a VERY similar setting.) The side stones are 7 or 8 points each and they are pave set. They came from two eternity rings that I''d had. I started with one eternity ring of 7 stones channel set. I then got another one just like the first and had the two made into a ring guard. I had this new jeweler come up with drawings of possibilities for me and I chose this setting which I do like very much. I like the idea of having just one nice ring, although I do wear a very thin (2mm) gold band with it sometimes.
So, now that January is coming up, and since it will be our 25th anniversary in May, I''m looking to upgrade again. I could replace this center stone or go with a new ring all together. Reading this board has thrilled me with all the possibilities. I love the look of the Regent stone and I also love sapphires so I love the look of...oh shoot...that one person''s ring with the regent and two round sapphires on either side. It''s gorgeous!
Also, I''m facinated by the whole H&A thing. I want an excellent cut this time. I saw a 1.35 stone at Superbcert that interests me because it''s only $4600. It''s an I1 with a noticable inclusion in the middle top part. But it''s a G color (which I think I want) and it''s a H&A which I think I may want. I don''t know if the inclusion would drive me nuts or not. I think the H&A sparkle would make up for it, and the price is SO attractive. BTW, my current jeweler pointed out that my .93 stone has a visible flaw through the top (table?). There is a dark spot that I always though was part of the shadow from the stone being a deep cut. It doesn''t bother me b/c the stone has good sparkle and like I said, I got what I paid for.
Our local jeweler ordered in a stone for me to see last year but we decided to wait until this year to upgrade. The one he got in was a "Premium" cut, VS2, G color. It was $7800. I''m fairly sure now that I will buy from the internet to get a better price and to get an "ideal" cut. I''m still a little confused as to the the various "ideal" cuts versus "H&A cuts" versus "superbcert cuts" etc. But I''m sure that I will sort all of that out before I decide on a new stone or new ring.
Okay...enough, right?! Sorry to bore you all, but if you''ve read this far, all I can say is...I warned you! I''m so glad to be here and I enjoy reading all of your posts. I think I''ll hang around a while.
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