Here I go, summarizing my experiences of buying stones and making my own ring../www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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First of all, this is not my engagement ring. This is my 7th anniversary ring. Couple of months ago, my husband and I decided to start our (rather my) diamond research./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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Since we come from India, we don’t have any tradition of exchanging rings in our engagement/wedding. So, this was my sweet revenge, so to say!!/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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Couple of years ago, Internet would have been the last place I would have looked for diamonds. I started with Diamondtalk. Started reading all the testimonials, some online tutorials. At this point I only knew that I was looking for 3 stone platinum ring and that’s all I knew../www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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So, lurked on DT and on Pricescope. Learnt a lot from GOG tutorial. Visited some local jewelers.. By now I also decided to go for H & A stones../www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
Then came the million dollar question, budget!! As many of you, started out with$X in mind, but ended up spending $X++++++ !! So, I don’t see how I could have saved online ../www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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Then, my emails began going back and forth with many vendors. At this point, I should thank Jan from DBOF, she was the most prompt vendor to respond to my emails. I sent some emails to Lesly at WhiteFlash, for which I still haven’t received response. So, they disappeared very quickly from my favorite list of vendors. Another very good one was Barry from SuperbCert. He was quite quick in responses./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
I settled for GOG, b’cos: I heard nothing but good testimonials. I could drive and see his stones. And he seem to have so much information on his stones, everything online./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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So, I started short-listing stones on GOG site. Also, started looking for price comparison. Although some stones were little more expensive on GOG, I didn’t mind, b’cos he had lot of quality in his merchandise./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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I fixed an apptmt on a Saturday with GOG to view the stones. Only reason I didn’t visit Barry was they are not open on Saturday s. I wouldn’t take a day off to go and meet them../www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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When we went upto Long Island to meet Jonathan, me and my DH were pleasantly surprised. He spent solid 3 hrs in explaining his stones, showing different tools he uses. We were very impressed. Then we came down to 2 stones. In the whole process none of their staff pressured us to buy the stones./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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Finalized on .81/I/VS2. The color stood up very nicely, even though it is I. Here is the link for the stone.
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I put the deposit onthe stone and started looking for the mounting. I visited Fortunoff, and some local stores in NJ. But didn’t like anything. Almost came close to buying Vatche Truffle setting. Something made me back-off. Called Michael Fina in NYC, but their customer service really sucks../www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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Then emailed Juan at Van-Graff with what I wanted. Time was running out. He agreed to do my ring within short time (just about 10 days). This was something to go by faith, since he is in Mexico and I had to trust him with his work./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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He was very nice to work with and shipped the ring to Jonathan very much in time. I liked the ring, but I had imagined it to be little more heavier/bulkier../www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
Yesterday, we traveled again to Long Island to get the stones set. GOG people did an amazing job. Very nice and patient people to work with. Big thanks to Amy. But one thing is sure, they will not budge on their price! I tried bargaining, ha ha../www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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I am waiting for my ring to arrive tomorrow.. My anniversary on Monday. Talk about timing./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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I would recommend both GOG and Juan at Van-Graff./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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Please let me know how you like my ring../www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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Thanks for reading my long post. Also thanks for participating in these forums, which provides learning experience for all of us.
/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]side stones are .20/SI/I/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
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