local custom setting in northern VA

[johnfish]

I recently purchased a beautiful sapphire and am ready to get it set for a an E ring. Can anyone recoomend a local vendor in nothern Virginia? I live in Manassas.

Thanks!

John

 

[chrono]

Not sure how far they are from you but they are certainly in VA.
http://www.questjewelers.com/

 

[minousbijoux]

Here's another one, though it may be farther South?

Hunt Country Jewelers http://huntcountry.com/

 

[pinkjewel]

Here's another one, though it may be farther South?

Hunt Country Jewelers http://huntcountry.com/

I just checked out their website-love them!! They have some wonderful organic style rings- exactly what I was thinking of for a new project!! Have you or anyone else here used them for custom work?

 

[chrono]

I think Kelpie (pink tourmaline ring) and Arkteia (pink spinel ring) have used Hunt.

 

[pinkjewel]

I think Kelpie (pink tourmaline ring) and Arkteia (pink spinel ring) have used Hunt.

thanks, Chrono! I just did a search and found a few rings from them- awesome work! I will definitely be contacting them in the future. I used to travel a good bit up through that area when I did pharmaceutical sales, but just don't remember that town. Of course- that was almost 20 years ago and my memory just isn't what it used to be-LOL.

 

[minousbijoux]

Chrono: you constantly amaze me with your memory! I remember Kelpie's Sinister ring, because it is one of my all time favorites and what put Hunt Country on the map for me, but others? No way! I don't know how you do it!

 

[johnfish]

Thanks to all who responded. We are on our way to check out Hunt this afternoon. I will let you know how it works out.

 

[pinkjewel]

Oh good-please let us know how it goes! I have been drooling over some of their settings and would love to have them work on a piece for me,too!

 

[vc10um]

Hunt Country and Quest are the two I would recommend.

I've personally worked with Quest on a custom project (amethyst RHR) and also worked with them to rehab and reset my grandmother's wedding set (my avatar) and we purchased my engagement ring setting from them, into which they set a BN diamond. All interactions have been extremely professional and courteous, and their bench does lovely work.

 

[Jereni]

I also have worked with Quest on several occasions and they are fantastic. Good to know about Hunt too, their work looks great.

 

[johnfish]

I just wanted to let everyone know how we made out with our visit to Hunt County Jewelers. We met Ed and Claire at Hunt County Jewelers yesterday. It is in the town of Hillsboro Va about 40 minutes north of us (we live in Manassas). I was so impressed with both Ed and Claire. They are both really nice people and have some beautiful merchandise in thier shop.

Claire spent quite a bit of time with us looking at the stones we brought and showing us different designs based on what we told her we were looking for. After a time she had her husband Ed join us. Claire is a stone cutter and Ed is the jewelery designer and maker. Between the 2 of them they came up with a design that both Bonnie and I loved.

But before we even got to the ordering of the ring Ed asked Bonnie if she had any issues with nickel. And it was a good thing as Bonnie does have a reaction even to small amounts of nickel. it is interesting as I did not know that most gold is alloyed with nickel. Ed alloys his own gold and is going to use palladium in Bonnies ring. This extra customer service just makes me that much happier with our decision to have Hunt County design and make the ring.

We spent over 2 hours with them discussing the ring and getting an eductaion in colored stones and setting. We had a wonderful experience and can't wait to see the finished product. Of course this is the easy part. Now I have to come up with a really uniques way to give Bonnie the ring!

Below are pictures of the stones we are mounting (a central blue sapphire and 2 smaller color change sapphires) and the ring that our design is going to be based off of. As soon as I have more pictures I will pass them along.

Thanks again to everyone for pointing us in the right direction!

John

 

[minousbijoux]

I'm so happy to hear it went so well! It sounds like you got pretty far in one afternoon. Please let us know when you make some more progress and you can share renderings.

 

[minousbijoux]

...and they look like very pretty stones from your pic

 

[chrono]

I have worked with Quest and found the service and quality of work excellent. Although I have not worked with Hunt, I did consider them for at least one of my projects but have yet to take the plunge.

 

[pinkjewel]

Can't wait to see the progress- thanks for the report!!