Infinity diamond Antwerp-DC-Tokyo

[cardesigner]

This novice would like to thank PS for helping me find what I was looking for. I''m living in Tokyo at the moment, but was back in Europe around Christmas. After reading the post \"An afternoon at Infinity...\" I was inspired to visit Infinity diamonds and see for myself. I contacted Paul-Antwerp by mail about a potential visit and received a prompt response asking me what I was looking for. After telling him, he immediately offered to hold two stones, a 0.52 F-VS1 and a 0.50 G-VVS1. We made it to Antwerp on a cold and rainy winter day and Paul met us outside his office and guided us in. His partner Lieve also took time out of her schedule to show us the stones and even an AGS0 princess for comparisons sake. It was a wonderful experience and very, very difficult to decide which one to take. We really appreciated Paul''s patience and willingness to help us make an informed decision. We drove back to Rotterdam and it took us until the next day to decide to take the .52 F-VS1 and ask Paul to ship it to one of his dealers. For this stone, however, the journey was just beginning... to be continued

 

[belle]

aaarrrghh! another ''to be continued!''

glad you had such a nice visit with paul... i''m looking forward to ...the rest of the story

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Date: 2/8/2006 9:58:08 AM
Author:cardesigner
For this stone, however, the journey was just beginning... to be continued

Now, that is what is called a classic cliffhanger. Belle cannot wait for the next episode.

In any case, it was good having you here.

Live long,

 

[WinkHPD]

Date: 2/8/2006 2:07:56 PM
Author: Paul-Antwerp

Date: 2/8/2006 9:58:08 AM
Author:cardesigner
For this stone, however, the journey was just beginning... to be continued

Now, that is what is called a classic cliffhanger. Belle cannot wait for the next episode.

In any case, it was good having you here.

Live long,

One of the great things about being one of Paul''s vendors is that he always sells through one of us rather than selling direct to the public. It is a great pleasure to be associated with someone who acts so ethically to those who have helped him grow his mark.

I was not the lucky vendor this time, so I too will be waiting for "The rest of the story".

Wink

 

[cardesigner]

There are only a few dealers who carry Infinity diamonds, and none of them are in Japan. As mentioned above, Paul prefers to sell through his vendors so I contacted Wink (Winfield's), Gary (Dutton's), and Bill (Icemine). Just like choosing among Paul's stones, choosing between his dealers was also difficult since they were all top notch. They all responded positively to my inquiry to ship the stone from Antwerp and then on to Tokyo. I chose to stay with Bill because he responded first and his reply was just a bit more personal than the others. There was a slight mixup about whether he could accept credit cards or not, but his website was out of date. (Hint to Bill : update your website!) After contacting FedEx he told me that it would cost $100 for shipping and insurance and 5% sales Japanese value added tax. I had expected to pay some sort of extra duty and was actually able to save money compared to having it sent to Europe where sales tax/VAT is around 20%. He kept me updated at all times and was quick to respond to my questions. I would definitely recommend Bill for anyone considering buying an Infinity or other diamond

While the stone was starting its journey around the world, we took the time to look for some settings. I did a search on PS and liked this ADCT they had one setting similar to Niwaka's and were willing to change from the common pt900/palladium mix to a pt900/iridium which is harder. So now we just had to wait for the stone, but we decided to keep looking at other settings...

 

[cardesigner]

Two weeks ago Bill finally got hold of the stone and arranged to have it shippped to Japan. He gave me the tracking number and arranged to prepay all the taxes so that we wouldn''t need to pay anything on delivery. Day by day we could track the progress of the package as it first went to Memphis before crossing the Pacific to Narita airport. It was stuck in customs for an extra day, but it finally arrived last week Monday. I''ve tried to attach a picture of the unmounted stone, and right now it''s at our jewelry maker. And by the way here are the specs:

.525 cts
round brilliant
Cut: AGS Ideal 0
Color: F
Clarity: VS1
Depth: 61.3%
Table: 57.0%
Symmetry: Ideal
Polish: Ideal
Girdle: Faceted 1.5 to 3.9%
Culet: Pointed
Flor: Negligible
Measurements: 5.19-5.21x3.18 mm
Crown: 14.8%

 

[Capitol Bill]

Hi Nicki,

It was a pleasure working with you! Many thanks for the kind words! I can't wait to see photos of the finished ring!

(Just to clarify, sales tax was not charged because the diamond was shipped out of state - way out of state in this case. However, because I arranged to have the Japanese excise tax paid through my FedEx account, that fee was included at the time of your purchase and was noted on your receipt.)

Kind regards,
Bill Scherlag

P.S. I hear you loud and clear about the website - it will be updated soon.

 

[DiamondExpert]

Nice work Paul, Lieve and Bill!...nothing like worldwide service for our world class clients! Must do that Antwerp trip myself some time!