HELP - Anyone have a lotus setting?

[ihy138]

Hi all,

I apologize for the double post (I posted in rockytalky), but I was told this board might have more responses. Has anyone sent their stone to Sally (from Etsy) to be set in a lotus setting? I have a diamond that I want to ship to her and now I'm just paranoid about sending it internationally.

Does anyone have experience shipping their gems/diamonds to Sally that they would like to share? It seems complicated and risky to me. Also, does anyone have experience with creating the setting separately and having it shipped to you to set here in the states? How did this work out for you?



Any information would be much appreciated! I'm nervous and super paranoid about this now. I would prefer to ship the stone out, but would like some confirmation from others that this is safe. THANKS!

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I've shipped numerous times to Sally, always Registered. Never a problem to date!

If you're really paranoid though, you can send the measurements to Sally, and she can make the setting without the stone. I did this with my padparadscha sapphire that I was a little paranoid about losing, lol. Sally made the setting based on measurements, and I had it set locally just fine.

 

[ihy138]

Thanks for the info! I am paranoid about shipping my stone but I'm even more paranoid about having a jeweler in my area set it. I don't really know of one that I trust and I would be devastated if the setting was destroyed after all that. Glad to know you were able to ship without any issues! Thanks again.

 

[LD]

I've sent a fairly valuable diamond to Sally for setting and also a package of about 20 diamonds! It's a bit heart-stopping and worrying until it gets there BUT if you follow her instructions and make sure the package is adequately insured you'll be ok. A huge tip is to make sure that the package doesn't look like it contains a valuable stone. It needs to look like a very bland package to avoid theft. Be very careful what you write on the customs declaration form as well. Sally will suggest some wording and I strongly urge you to use those words.

If you don't want to send to Sally then as MTG has said, send her the dimensions. If you're in the US or UK if you tell us roughly where you are, I'm pretty sure that there'll be a PS'er near you who can suggest a local jeweller.

Let us know what you decide to do.

 

[ihy138]

Thanks LovingDiamonds. I was unsure whether it was a theft or customs issue that needed to be avoided. That makes sense. I received Sally's instructions and, while they're quite thorough, I'm afraid I'm going to goof up. Its comforting to know that you sent her several packages safely. I guess what I'm curious about is how did you do it? Did you just walk into the post office and ask to have it shipped Registered Airmail? Also, how did you insure the package? Thanks for your help!

 

[ihy138]

And BTW I don't have all of the dimensions of the stone...just the width. It's not certed so I am unsure about the depth and all that. Otherwise, I would consider having her make an open setting.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I wouldn't worry too much about having someone local set it. The prongs on the lotus are fairly straight forward. You can always go to a big name chain store to do it, they are usually pretty good about simple settings since they do so many engagement rings.

 

[LD]

Are you in the UK or US? I can tell you how to do it from the UK but would have to let my US friends describe the process from there.

 

[ihy138]

I'm in the US..Southeastern Massachusetts. I'm fairly close to Boston, MA. Closer still to Providence, RI. They have some good jewelers there. I also don't know the exact proportions of the stone.

Do you have an estimate of how much it would be to have a third party set my stone?

 

[ihy138]

Thanks for your help LovingDiamonds...I'm assuming it's quite different sending something out from the states.

 

[LD]

Ok, then I'm going to have to let my American friends help you as there are different ways of sending things from the US/UK i.e. post offices, different types of mail, ways to insure packages etc. Sorry.

In terms of dimensions, a jeweller can always help you with them OR you can buy a cheap gem measuring kit from Ebay and do it yourself.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Setting a stone in a simple prong setting is usually 20-60$ depending on the area and who you ask.

 

[ihy138]

Thank you for the information! I really appreciate it!

 

[Arcadian]

Are you close to Arlington? if so try T&C http://tcjewelers.com/ I use them as does Kismet. They do very good work setting stuff, turnaround is generally a week, sometimes quicker. Setting price can depend on the stone. You may want to call and ask.

There's Barmakians in Framingham, I found that they did good work, but I hate most their sales people. They wanted to charge me 90 bucks for a basic set on one occasion when they normally charged 35. There are other reasons why I won't step foot in that store again, but for someone with less melanin than I may not have that issue. Snob level depends on the sales person you deal with, so be aware of that should you venture over there.

-A

 

[ihy138]

Thanks Arcadian! I'm about 1.5 hours from Arlington unfortunately. However, if I could somehow finagle a trip up to Boston, that might not be so out of the question! Thanks for the tip.

Framingham is probably about two hours from me. However, if I ever move there I will be sure to NOT go to that jeweler. Jeez! Sounds like horrible experiences all around with them. I appreciate the suggestions very much.

 

[Liane]

Just chiming in to say that I've sent a bunch of stones to Sally and only had a problem once (which was 100% my fault -- I hid one aquamarine a little too well in the package and didn't tell her where to find it, so it got thrown out with the packing materials! So, um, I definitely recommend telling her exactly what you are sending and where to look for it).

But other than that I've sent her... oh, gosh. Seven (maybe eight? I'd remember better if they were all mine, but several were gifts) stones so far in three sets, and never had any other issues. I'm getting another batch together to send sometime next week.

 

[ihy138]

Liane...I hope she was able to recover that poor little stone! Thanks for chiming in...I appreciate the confirmation. I am unsure whether or not to put my stone in a box and hide the box in the envelope (between magazines) or if I should be sneakier than that. I'm sure I will figure out a way to sneak it in there. Thanks again!! I'll be sure to let her know just where to find it haha.

 

[Liane]

No, it's gone forevermore. Once we figured out what happened, she replaced it with an aqua from her own collection, which IMO went above and beyond in customer service and is one reason that I've become a loyal client since (the main reason, though, is that I've never gotten anything from her benchpeople that was anything less than superb).

A small box between magazines is what I usually use, and I've never had a problem with that form of packaging.

 

[ihy138]

Wow! I've heard only good things about Sally's work...but that takes the cake. She really didn't have to do that. Glad you were able to see a finished product .


I believe I'm going to go the box/magazine route also! I feel more comfortable having her set the stone and send me a finished product. Thank you for the tip!

 

[claralyn]

Just wanted to add to the reassurances-- I just sent my sapphire to Sally and she received it fine. It took 13 days Priority mail Registered from Texas. I followed Sally's instructions exactly and taped the gem box in between some magazines. And actually, after I read this thread I sent a note to Sally as to where I taped the box, I was pretty afraid of it being thrown out too!

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

I actually printed Sally's instructions and took them with me to the post office so I could follow her directions to the letter.
I can't say there wasn't any anxiety involved.
Sally emailed me promptly when my stones arrived, so that was nice.
The rest of the process was wonderful.
I wouldn't ever hesitate to send to her again, I'm just watching my
finances more this year...... ugh.

BTW, I didn't like the tell-tale little "bulge" the gem boxes caused in the package when all was said and done,
so I wrapped my stones in bubble wrap with duct tape around it.

 

[ihy138]

Glad to hear the reassurances guys! (In case you didn't realize, I'm a huge worrier). Did you guys to US priority mail? Or registered international airmail?


Shiney: I'm thinking I might do something similar so as to not to give away a gem box inside. I did a trial run of putting the package together and I thought it was obvious something was hidden between the magazines. Maybe the box I have is too big. I might get a small velvet pouch and duct tape it to the magazines. Thanks for the tip!!

 

[packrat]

I couldn't send mine registered last week b/c they were in a padded envelope. I don't remember how I sent them the first time, it was over a year ago..but I thought I sent it the same way that time and it went fine, so hopefully this package will be too. I did convo Sally tho and tell her how I did the package. When I sent the first stone it took a little over a week..I was really surprised b/c I expected it to be about 2 weeks.