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Husband Exchanges Ruby for Sapphire; I Get A Unicorn! Everybody Wins!

natasha-cupcake

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Ruby.jpeg This is Ruby.

Sapphire.JPG This is Sapphire.

Ruby has been in the family for a while and was quite the work horse. Her biggest job was plowing our 700 ft driveway in the winter. As much loved as she was, hubby grew tired of freezing his posterior off in the cold. So enters Sapphire—smaller, newer, more powerful and best of all, much warmer! But enough with the guy stuff and on to the good stuff!

1.23 E SI2 Wink 2.jpeg This is my Unicorn—an absolutely gorgeous eye clean 1.23 carat E color SI2 CBI. My original CBI was a .82 E VS2. I was very happy with it, but was not averse to upgrading. I was hoping to find something right around the one carat range in a D-E color (because I’m a color snob). Then, to my delight, up popped my Unicorn as a new cut-in-progress future stone. The price was unbeatable and I knew that I would not be able to justify a stone of this size in the color I wanted, at a higher clarity. I had always said that clarity was my least important parameter, so it was time to put my money where my mouth was.

I had to wait to sell another diamond before I could take on the upgrade, so I kept tabs on the inventory and prayed that no one would snatch it out from under me. And then, a savvy PSer posted a thread on this stone, urging someone to go for this awesome deal. I screamed NOOOOOOOO!!! Please, DON’T!!!! Immediately, I sent out an invisible internet shield protecting the diamond from any other purchaser. Yay! It worked! Ok, no invisible shield--sweet @LaylaR allowed me to put it on hold until I was ready to do the deal. I finally sold my other diamond and was ready to make the move.

Now, here’s the real kicker. I bought this diamond COMPLETELY BLIND. I knew nothing more than the bare minimum—1.23 E SI2 CBI. I did not know the exact dimensions, I did not see an inclusion plot, I did not know the AGS certificate number. There were no pictures. no videos, no perusal of angles, no obsessing over ASETs. Nothing. At. All. And I didn’t even ASK for details! Was this an idiot move? A decision to be regretted? A crazy unjustified leap of faith? None of the above. I knew that it would be spectacular because it was a CBI. I really didn’t need to know anything else. And I was right.

When my ring arrived, the first thing I did, was to look at the inclusion plot on the certificate and for a second, my heart sank. The plot showed a sizeable inclusion right smack in the center of the table. I thought, “Oh no, how could this diamond be eye clean with an inclusion right in the middle of the table?” And then the next thought that popped in my head was this—"No way would Paul Slegers let this diamond out of his cutting facility with a big ol’ ugly inclusion in the middle of the table. In fact, no way would he let the rough into the facility in the first place!” Confidence restored, I opened the box.

I stared at the diamond up close (very close!) for a while looking for the scary SI2 inclusions and I saw...NOTHING! My 20-year-old daughter (with perfect 20/20 eyesight) grabbed it from me and gave it a thorough inspection. She couldn’t see any defects either, with the diamond right up to her eye. We whipped out the loupe and I grabbed the diamond from her. I found the inclusion, but it took me a while and no matter how hard or how close I look at the diamond without the loupe, I can’t see a thing. It really is eye clean, at 3” from my eyes!

This diamond is just perfect--clean, icy white, a great size for me and super sparkly. I'm totally thrilled. @LaylaR and @Wink were amazing, as always. Thanks for reading my ridiculously long post! Pictures to follow!
1.23 E SI2 20.JPG 1.23 E SI2 10.jpg
 

maita13

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Wow, @natasha-cupcake! She is white and bright!! Your powers of protection is pretty impressive :D Glad she ended up with you. Congrats on this beauty and same to your husband for acquiring Sapphire!
 

foxinsox

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That is a great story and I love your upgrade! It’s beautiful
 

marcy

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Your diamond and ring is gorgeous
 

MissGotRocks

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A new tractor and a new diamond - I call that a pretty special Christmas!!

Your ring is just beautiful - congrats and enjoy!!
 

YadaYadaYada

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Gorgeous, so happy for you! Can't wait to see it in person.
 

monipod

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Congrats! I'm kinda on the colour/carat over clarity/cut side of things so your upgrade is awesome. Enjoy!
 

junebug17

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It's a gorgeous diamond and ring! Looks perfect on your hand. What a great way to celebrate the holidays, congrats on your fantastic upgrade!
 

luv2sparkle

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It's beautiful! Congratulations!!!! The new tractor is pretty impressive too! Is it heated inside? That would definitely be a must.
 

Bonfire

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What a fun story! Upgrades abound!
Congratulations, Sapphire and your CBI are both gorgeous, I love it when everyone is happy! =)2 Enjoy your beautiful new ring!
 

plad25

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What a great story and a beautiful ring! Congrats!!
 

diamondseeker2006

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Love your tractor names AND the gorgeous new ring!!! :kiss2: I certainly could order a CBI without having all the specs.That's the great thing about brands with a narrow range of specs...all the diamonds will be beautiful!
 

natasha-cupcake

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Thank you, everyone for your kind comments! I'm enjoying my ring immensely. Thanks to an early snowfall, my husband has already had an opportunity to enjoy plowing while comfortably sitting in Sapphire's nice heated cab, as well. We both feel like kids at Christmas. And we got to open our presents early!
 

tyty333

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Very pretty...both your new ring and Sapphire! Glad to hear your DH wont be freezing his derriere off anymore and everyone in the family got a special
gift!

Ruby is super cute too in a vintage kind of way!
 

carbonfan

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Congratulations on your upgrade! Your unicorn is definitely a beauty!! :love: Thank you for sharing your story, and enjoy!
 

Lykame

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I love Ruby, Sapphire and your unicorn! It's all an awesome story.

I'm glad you cannot see the inclusion even with knowing where it is with the plot and the loupe. The thing that scares me about SI2s (even from CBI, who I know are utterly epic) is I would be scared of seeing the inclusion and never unseeing it... But it sounds like that's never going to happen with this diamond or indeed with any CBI SI2.

Would you be willing to share the diamond certificate?
 

KristinTech

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That was me, lol! I am the proud owner of a 1.23 E SI2 and I was so excited when I saw it on the website as “future!”

Congrats on a fabulous upgrade! I am considering a 3-stone in 2020 for our 20th anniversary, and there are lots of .40-.50 Es available.... decisions, decisions!

Beautiful ring, and now you have a “blue sapphire” to go with the pad! ;-)
 

Catmom

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Love the Sapphire and of course your new stone is beautiful!
 

KristyDarling

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Simply beautiful. Icy white and in the most elegant, classic setting! Congratulations on this stunning upgrade!

And I really enjoyed reading your story. If there's any stone out there that I'd feel comfortable purchasing sight unseen, it would be a CBI. (Though I'm sure it helped a bit that you had already owned and loved one! 8) )

I'm glad your husband got some "bling," too :bigsmile:. I bet it's super fun and satisfying to sit in that heated cab, clearing off your driveway!

BTW, you have lovely hands. Are you sure you're old enough to have a 20-year-old?? :mrgreen2:
 

natasha-cupcake

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I love Ruby, Sapphire and your unicorn! It's all an awesome story.

I'm glad you cannot see the inclusion even with knowing where it is with the plot and the loupe. The thing that scares me about SI2s (even from CBI, who I know are utterly epic) is I would be scared of seeing the inclusion and never unseeing it... But it sounds like that's never going to happen with this diamond or indeed with any CBI SI2.

Would you be willing to share the diamond certificate?

Sure, it's AGS #104108764013. I was a little bit worried about finding the inclusion and not being able to unsee it, too. But luckily there's nothing there to see, unless I loupe it!

That was me, lol! I am the proud owner of a 1.23 E SI2 and I was so excited when I saw it on the website as “future!”

Congrats on a fabulous upgrade! I am considering a 3-stone in 2020 for our 20th anniversary, and there are lots of .40-.50 Es available.... decisions, decisions!

Beautiful ring, and now you have a “blue sapphire” to go with the pad! ;-)
So fun that we have twin diamonds!

Thanks, @carbonfan, @tyty333 , @Catmom and @KristyDarling!
 

Lykame

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57%, 34.5, 40.8, 76%...
:lickout::lickout::lickout:

I've seen SI1s with worse plots than that!

Well found!
 

Tonks

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What a gorgeous upgrade! It looks so beautiful on your hand! Super white and simply gorgeous. I understand your anxiety about an SI2, but I also know the feeling of realizing that CBI SI2s are AWESOME! Congrats and wear it in good health!
 

natasha-cupcake

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What a gorgeous upgrade! It looks so beautiful on your hand! Super white and simply gorgeous. I understand your anxiety about an SI2, but I also know the feeling of realizing that CBI SI2s are AWESOME! Congrats and wear it in good health!

Thank you!
57%, 34.5, 40.8, 76%...
:lickout::lickout::lickout:

I've seen SI1s with worse plots than that!

Well found!

I know! I am so happy I decided to do this. CBIs are so beautifully cut, so meticulously crafted and the rough so wisely chosen that it makes it ridiculously easy to go lower in color and/or clarity than you'd ever have imagined.
 
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