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It''s done! A 1.60 J SI2 has found a new home...

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Mara

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Oct 30, 2002
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in my engagement ring!!!
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yep...I bit the bullet and did the 2005 upgrade early this year.
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For those interested in something other than just the sparkly bling bling pics of the new amazing stone (and it is amazing!), here is the saga..be forewarned, it is very long and rambling....just the way I like to speak!
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As many of you already knew…my goal for 2005 was to get a diamond upgrade on my engagement ring. The hope was that I could jump to something like a 1.80c H SI2 later this fall, and had already started putting out feelers for WF to stay alert in case the elusive creature found itself available. I already knew that it could take a while to find a stone in that size with that color and clarity—as I have only seen about 2 stones in that SIZE in the last 2 months on vendors websites…nevermind the H SI2 designation I was looking for.


However, this year for us is also a ‘recovery’ year in terms of getting our finances back in order after the new house, the wedding, the dog, etc etc! No big trips planned this year, a lot of saving…so it became apparent to me that even though we had talked about and Greg had ‘pre-approved’ an upgrade this year…it would not be the grand 1.80 H SI2 that I was hoping for..should it even become AVAILABLE.

BUT denial ain’t just a river in Egypt and I am a believer in the impossible..so I figured I could make it happen. This is…until the day my best diamond pal Aljdewey dropped me an email in her usual manner, with the subject line something along the lines of ‘OH MY GOD’ and the body holding only a link to a stone…ahh the mark of the truly diamond obsessed.
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I checked out the link, it was an amazing 1.79 I SI ES stone..which was absolutely fabulous and seriously drool-worth EXCEPT that it was about $6k over my trade-in value for my stone..almost double the entire amount!! I started surfing around checking out the other new stones on the WF site (which by the way, these had all just gone up less than a day before)......and happened upon a few ~1.6 J SI stones.

Now up until this point I was strictly an H SI girl. I was not sure about I’s, though maybe with fluor, and certainly not J’s though maybe for earrings. This color snobbery was not because I had seen anything in person that I disliked, but rather just the ‘rule’ of thumb that is always bandied about that ‘I’ is where people begin to see color. However, it was at this point that I realized that these ~1.6 J SI stones were far closer to my available budget this year than the 1.79 I SI would be, even if I waited until later this year.

I decided to at least look into the J stones, they had good numbers...so I spoke to Brian about them the next day. We discussed the 1.6 J SI2 ES and the 1.64 J SI1 ACA stone. Amazingly enough, he seemed to prefer the 1.6 J SI2 to the 1.64 J SI1 for me..he noted that the inclusions in the J SI2 seemed better in terms of color and placement. He also noted that the 1.6 J SI2 had a more steely color to it and almost thought it had some fluor in it (it does not according to the GIA cert). He told me, rightly so, that he could not say ‘Mara, you should without a doubt get this stone’ but that it was a fabulous, beautiful, faces-up-well stone with an exceptional price.

So I mulled it over for a weekend. I had Lesley put the stone on hold in case it grew legs, and then started thinking it over.

I really wanted to think about the color, not necessarily the clarity…but rather the color. Would it bother me? I kept coming back to this previous history…Before I found PS, Greg and I happened upon an old European cut stone that was I VS. We thought it was fabulous, looked beautiful, white ? I can’t recall but I loved it. It certainly wasn’t shooting off horrible color to us. We were all set to buy it! So I don’t think my eyes are that sensitive, and I certainly can’t pick out differences in color between Greg’s E and my H. My I SI ACA earrings, while much smaller, are so blindingly white, especially when set against my skin tone, that I think that the fact that my skin tone is slightly warmer may work in our favor for a near-colorless stone.

Also, as many of you know, I am a chronic upgrader. I won’t rest until I have my 3c honker. So this is just a baby step along the way, a very affordable step that could get me a beautifully cut stone for relatively little extra money. It’s perfect for this year, gets me an additional 0.5mm which is a huge amount in terms of visuals, and works for the budget. We have other priorities this year, but it was great to be able to still get what I really wanted....aka a slightly bigger diamond without breaking the bank or even denting it.

Lucky for me....Greg was more than happy to pay a ‘tiny’ amount for me to be happy for another year (or so!) without having to fork over the $6k or so that a bigger and higher color upgrade would take. Note to other gals, approaching hubby saying…’I’d rather spend under $1k this year than $6k on a diamond…what do you think?’ is almost always guaranteed to work! HEE!
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Fast forward a few weeks…I had to wait because we had guests from out of town, I was traveling etc…so it was not until the first week of March that I was able to focus on sending out the ring. Remember my ‘USPS Priority Registered Mail’? thread..well I wasn’t checking it out for a friend…it was me researching the best way to send the ring. In the past I’d sent it FedEx to WF overnight, didn’t worry because it was insured through Chubb. However, I let the Chubb policy lapse a few months back, so the ring is not insured right now. No way was I sending it through FedEx with no insurance. But it also went against my grain to send it slow boat USPS Registered Insured even though everyone was saying it was the only way.

Long story short, you can actually send JEWELRY via UPS and they will insure it. Not a loose stone, but they will insure jewelry. So I did the deed, insured the ring and sent it via UPS. It cost about $75.00 to send it overnight next AM delivery with insurance on it, but it was not much to pay for peace of mind and to know it would be in WF’s hot little hands by 10:30am the next morning. Much better than thinking about it floating around out in the wilderness for 6 days via USPS!

I asked WF also if they could use the original head from the ring, and also if possible, shave down some of the ring width. This second request was just an idea…my e-ring is very sturdy and heavy, and as I have noted previously many times, I would have preferred for it to be a bit thinner than the 2.9mm we ended up with, my max request for the designer had been 2.5mm. I see a huge difference between my w-ring at 2.3mm and my e-ring at 2.9mm, so I was hoping to get it down to a 2.7mm or something to maybe bridge the difference slightly and to also make the new diamond look bigger of course...isn't that what it's about?! So they were able to take the ring down a tiny amount, how much I don't yet know, but anything helps I guess!

So the bottom line is that the ring is done! They used the same head and stretched it a bit which I hope looks fabulous since I like my head...and the pictures look absolutely breathtakingly amazing! The diamond looks HUGE!!!

It's on it's way and will be here tomorrow AM by 10:30, I will pick it up at FedEx. I am SO EXCITED to see this new stone for various reasons, of course the size but I want to see the cut, check out the color, etc. I have neve seen an ideal cut J in person before so I think I will be surprised. From the looks of the pictures, it's fabulously white, with only a small tinge of any color from the bottom side picture, but I think in reality it won't even be an issue.

Oh and for those who were wondering...that "J Colored Stones in Platinum" thread I started helped me out IMMENSELY...some people know me too well, aka those who were going 'hmm what is Mara up to?'...but I really loved seeing all those amazing J stones in rings, it really helped me make my decision on the stone, and now I also will be part of the club!

Lastly, and never least...thanks so much to WhiteFlash for putting up with my very detailed requests of X or Y or Z and making sure I got what I asked for...alj for her patience, pq for helping me see the wisdom in a J stone, and of course my dear husband Greg for tolerating the madness yet again! It's only just begun....
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Enjoy the pictures...I know I did!!!
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new J SI2 ring.jpg
 
here is the GIA cert...

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and the IdealScope image which is just beyond fabulous!!!
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IS_GIA-13695999.jpg
 
YAY - great choice. It looks SO big......

HA - and that''s what Mara said.....which will probably be the case for all of a WEEK until HER shrinkage schedule sets in! ROTFLMAO .......

Enjoy!
 
and here is something I requested from WF...my previous stone was a 1.29c and I asked them to take a picture of a 1.28c they had in stock with a similar mm diameter and compare it side by side to the new stone...I wanted to be sure there was enough of a visual difference for me. Boy it sure looks like it eh?! (note, the pic says 1.26 and 1.60 but it's really 1.28 and 1.60)

Oh and also this 1.28c stone is a G and the 1.60c is a J...what also helped me decide was that they look pretty much the same in the image in terms of any type of color!


160 compared to 128.jpg
 
Mara!

So happy for you! Did I read correctly that you did not see the stone before you had it set? Maybe I missed something there! Anyhoo, it looks wonderful!
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Can''t see any color from the photos! I can''t wait till I upgrade.... Lucky you!!!
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Wow, there is a very noticeable difference between the 1.28 and the 1.6!! You never think 0.5 mm is going to make a difference (I know I don''t)...but in jewelry, that really is a huge difference!!!

The IS looks amazing and the pics from WF look scrumptious...esp all those arrows...

Can''t wait to see some blinding hand shots!
 
omg!! look at that IS image, beautiful
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mara, this was the last thread i thought i would be reading tonight, but such a great surprise
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there is a BIG difference in size between the two huh?! can't wait to see it on your hand tomorrow..we shall see how long this one lasts ya
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WOW!! bigger IS better!!
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congrats mara!! it''s a beauty, of course!!
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Lori..nope I did not see the stone beforehand, I went on faith with WF that I would like the stone. From the pictures, it sure looks like I will. I have worked with Brian in the past for my other stone, and I really trust his eye...he knows me and he knows particulars and he has a hawk eye...we were on the phone for almost an hour discussing everything. So I felt good about it. I could have had them ship it to me to compare against my stone but in reality I did not want to be comparing the new stone to the old one, to me they are entirely different birds and I would probably have picked out flaws in the new stone when compared side by side that I may otherwise not see if there is no side by side comparison (iif that makes sense).

These pictures look fabulous, I am blown away by the new size!

Al...you know me better, it will take at least TWO weeks to start having shrinkage set in!
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FG...I know, the side by side shot of that 1.28 and 1.60 is just amazing, .5mm in this size is pretty significant I guess!! Thank goodness!
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Wow! It looks fabulous!
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Congratulations. Can''t wait to see the hand pics!
 
Oh and something that I kept forgetting to mention...

The GIA cert is dated on my birthday .... in 2004 it was my 30th. This diamond was graded on my 30th bday!

So not to sound superstitious or anything but that did somewhat factor into my decision a tiny bit....aka maybe I was meant to get this stone!!
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I didn't notice that til almost the end of the decision making process, so it just added to my excitement!

Thanks everyone for the happy thoughts...I can't wait to see the ring tomorrow.

kberly...I told Greg until 2006 but you really NEVER know do you??
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He said well maybe you get the 2c when we have our first child.
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Gorgeous!
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Can''t wait for the hand pics!!
 
Date: 3/8/2005 8:50:37 PM
Author: Mara

Al...you know me better, it will take at least TWO weeks to start having shrinkage set in!
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Not unless it''s "martian" weeks!

One week is my story, and I''m stickin'' to it. And remember, I KNOW you....hehehehhehehehee
 
I knew it too!!! I knew it too!!!
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Wow--you found a real winner and I am also amazed in how much bigger those 34 points make the stone.
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Now your beautiful ring/set is further enhanced. Congrats on quenching your diamond thirst (for now) a bit earlier than expected. How exciting!
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And I do want to see lots of hand pics and shots in various "poses" a la SevensOne!
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Mara!

I thought I was the only one looking at certs to match important dates in my life!
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We should be neighbors! Can''t wait to see hand picks!
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congrats,

lori
 
Mara, congrats on your upgrade. The stone looks huge on your mounting.

Can''t wait to see the hand pics.
 
Wow, wow and wow again! Mara, how wonderful that you''re getting this beautiful stone! The difference in apparent size is quite significant. I hope you love this new "stepping stone"-pun intended!
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to your eventual 3 carat-er!

Luv
 
That''s great. Good for you.
Just another step towards the 3ct- and what a beautiful step.
What a great way to get what you want and not break the bank.
 
The GIA cert is dated on my birthday .... in 2004 it was my 30th. This diamond was graded on my 30th bday!
that was the first thing i noticed on the cert!!!.....that''s because it is my birthday too.....funny how certain dates jump out like that!
oh, i have a year on you though!
 
HI:

It looks wonderful. I am glad you got what you wanted!!

cheers--Sharon
 
Oh WOW! i''m dying to see hand pictures!!
 
Yay for you, you''ve done it again. What a beautiful stone, it looks amazing!! So happy for you!!
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Mara, when I saw those J''s at Whiteflash and then saw your post about "Post your platinum and J colored stones here," I KNEW what you were doing! But then when nothing appeared on the board I thought maybe I was wrong.

Great choice! I can''t wait to see what you think of the stone in person. It looks wonderful in the pictures!
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Wowy Zowy Mara!!!!!!! It looks beyond fabulous!! i too can''t wait to see the hand picks! and good job not changing the head! It''s awesome!!!
 
Mara- that stone is white, white, white from every angle!!! You are now more than halfway there to that 3ct honker and what a way to get there! Wear it in wonderful health and get those hand shots posted ASAP!!!
 
It looks like a great stone, Mara!! I''ll bet you''re excited!!!!!
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Wow, Mara. That''s awesome. I''ve been away from the computer most of the day, and what a nice surprise. Looking forward to those hand shots!!!

DiamondLil
 
Mara--

Beautiful stone and beautiful setting.

Who did the setting? Is it custom made? It is very classy.

Also, in the pic's of the 2 stones, side by side, I cannot tell a diff in color!
 
We knew it!
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Congrats on your upgrade! Hey wouldn''t this bring you even closer to that 3ct upgrade than if you had stuck to a H SI stone?
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