I have a question

[Manwithaloosestone]

I have had a 1.78 carat IF diamond in my possession for two years now. I've been a bit lazy in getting it mounted and "doing the deed". I would love to learn more about the tension-set design. I've read a few posts which suggested two quality companies and I'm hoping someone will finally post the names of those companies.

How reliable are the these companies?
If I mail this thing off to them... how will I know its the right one coming back?
any advice or wisdom would be much appreciated
p.s. I love the site - well designed

-thanks and happy holidays!

 

[RockDoc]

RE: Identification of diamond.

There are two ways to potentially identify the diamond.

Each has its plusses and minuses... and as such I'd probably recommend that you have both done.

One.. is to have the stone laser inscribed by GIA. Its a little pricey, but then protecting your stone with the number as well as the GIA trademark would work well. Identification would be easy... Just examine the stone afterwards with a microscope. But the number can be polished off, unlikely and uncommonly done, but not that hard for a dealer who has larceny in his heart.

There are other companies that will inscribe a stone, but they can't put the GIA logo on it. The problem with these inscriptions is that the machines that do these are being sold widely in the industry, so a number without the GIA logo potentially could be duplicated on a different diamond.

The second method is Gemprint. Gemprint does not mark the stone, but to verify the identity you would have to go back and have this done by your closest Gemprint Center.

You can get more information on this by going to http://www.gemprint.com

The advantage of the Gemprint is that it doesn't mark the stone. No one knows its been done, except you. Gemprint is also probably less expensive than what GIA charges.


Most of the people doing the tension settings are reputable firms. But there are ways of making you have a higher level of peace of mind by having one or both of the above done, before the stone is submitted.

Hope this helps.

Rockdoc

 

[slmulkey]

The manufacturer that I used is Gelin and Abaci (GAI), and the company that I used is Mickey Roof Jewelers (http://www.mickeyroof.com/mr_gai.html). The other main manufacturers that I know of are Steven Kretchmeyer and Niessing. I choose GAI because they are supposed to be less expensive. I don't really know if the other two companies are better, as GAI are the only tension settings that I saw in person. Be aware that at most of the GAI tension settings are for 1.25 ct or less diamonds. They can make one for a larger stone, but it may overwhelm the setting a little bit.

As far as your concern about them switching the diamond, take it to an appraiser before you send it off to be set. When you get the stone back, take it to the same appraiser, they should be able to tell if it is the same diamond they originally saw. It may complicate matters that your stone is IF since there won't be any clarity markers to help identify the stone. However, you would at least be assured that the color, clarity and size of the diamond is the same. This would be a pretty good indication that it has not been switched.

By the way, I totally love my tension ring, it is really different than most rings, yet simple enough that I don't worry about it going out of style. The only concern I have is finding a wedding band to match it. It is seems very thick (I guess it must be to keep the diamond in place). I'm guessing that it is about 2.5 mm thick. The width of the band itself is 4 mm. I'm looking for a simple 2-3 mm wide gold half round band, but most rings that match those specs seem to be only 1.5 mm or so thick. I may end up getting the band custom made. It is something to think about anyways. If I had known before hand, I would have had one custom made at the same time.