Long Distance Stone and Ring Purchase

[Italian Engagement]

Hi everyone - I'm brand new here, but I've been appreciating all the helpful advice everyone gives. I've searched and searched for some help for two issues that I need to address, but I don't have a good solution, and I hope you can all help me out.

First, I am trying to buy a suitable engagement ring. I work in Italy, my SO lives in the USA. I need to do my diamond shopping and ring shopping long distance. I did a fair amount of searching while I was last in the states, and believe it or not, my preferred setting is coming from Shane Co. I appreciate a little bit of miligrain, a little bit of metalwork, but not too much, and not too dense. Here's the ring:

http://www.shaneco.com/Catalog/ProductDetail.aspx?O=AA&X=41015153

Of all the hundreds of settings I have reviewed, I haven't seen anything else like it. Here's the problem: it's obviously a mass-manufactured ring, so some of the fine details aren't to my liking because they just aren't of high enough quality. Can you recommend anywhere else to purchase such a setting? Honestly, I have found nothing similar.

Second, I also am trying to buy a suitable diamond. There's a 1.34 carat diamond at GOG that I can afford at just under $8k, but it is an I color diamond. On GOG's educational videos for color, he purposely mentions that in order to see color variation, the person wearing the ring must have alabaster skin or albino skin or something. Since my SO has darker skin (Indian background), should I not worry about the color at all? I am not particularly color sensitive personally, so I'm balancing that against the price and the skin tone issue in this purchase decision.

If I were in the states, I would just buy it, take a look, try it out, and send it back if necessary. But since I'm not located in the states, it's a lot riskier to be shipping diamonds around, and I want to avoid it.

So this is a two-part question...(a) do you have any thoughts on skin tone versus diamond color grade, (b) any other ideas on how best to deal with reviewing the diamond?

I'm working on a bit of a timeline here because she's coming to visit in November, and I want to make sure that the ring is in my hand when we're floating around the canals in Venice!

 

[TheDoctor]

Are you in Italy for a long while? If so, best to look for a good manufacturer/retailer there. Close service is way better than the long-distance variety.
Honestly, any ring can be made by local craftspeople wherever you happen to live, but it's sometimes a hard uphill bit of work to find them. They hide in office towers in clusters for security reasons. If you read Italian you can use Google to find local jewellery manufacturers. if you don't, have someone who understands the language help you.

 

[yssie]

Thoughts? Yes.

1. I am Indian. I have owned F, G, I, and J diamond rings.. in that order. Slightly tinted diamonds look much whiter on my hand than they do on my best friend's (she is very pale) - makes sense, the slight variations in diamond tint pale in contrast to the very different background colours, and in that size range I personally would look at an "I" on my finger and think "white", but that is me, not your intended. When not worn the difference in tint between a J and a G will become very visible, and for some owning a "white" diamond is as much a mind-clean thing as it is visual.

2. Talk to your GOG rep, they have worked with international clients, best bet is to ask them for assistance and ideas. Perhaps a video would be helpful..

3. You could have a similar setting custom-made, which would ensure the quality meets your expectations..?

 

[stone-cold11]

With your timeline, going custom is going to be iffy.

 

[Italian Engagement]

Thanks guys. Yssie - that's a big relief. You've just helped answer my main concern about color. I'll also give them a call, and perhaps they can help come up with a method for dealing with the possibility of a return.

TheDoctor, I have also considered that, but it seems the local jewelery hotspot here is about an hour away, and a tricky bit of negotiation will undoubtedly occur, in a language I\m only beginning to learn...and yes, I'm here for three years, give or take.

I've thought the idea of having a similar setting done here, but I really didn't think it would be a good idea.

 

[stone-cold11]

Have you shown GOG the ring you like and ask them to come up with something similar?

 

[bricklayer]

I have purchased from GOG and I purchased an I. I am what some may call "albino" as I am whiter than paper. But I don't see yellow or "off color" anything in my ring. It is set in platinum, and the platinum doesn't affect that either.

From the side I can see a hair of warmth but definitely not what I would say is yellow.

If you send Jonathan (actually I think Marie does setting stuff) an email with a link to that setting, they might be able to find similar.

 

[mr.ingocnito]

I got a 1.7 something RB BGD Signature H&A AGS000, I color, VS2 with platinum pave ring and my FI is Indian (she looks like Rebecca Hazlewood from Outsourced and about the same skin color). The ring looks extremely white on her. Staring at her ring in many different lighting and angles it still looks extremely white...sometimes I can see a darkness (not in a bad way...looks actually pretty cool to me) that you would see with any well cut stone in cetain beaming sunlight. When she's wearing it you would think for sure it's in the colorless range...We went to a B&M jewerly store in the mall and one of the workers thought it was a E or F... It definitely contrast very well with her skin color...On the other hand if it's just in the box or if I hold it up close I can definitely see a slight tint in certain lighting, even face up...

At first I was a little disappointed that I didn't sacrafice size and go for a G, but once I put it on her finger all that changed...What was even better is the first time I had it cleaned it sparkled like no other, but I'm sure the quality of cut played a role in that!

 

[antelope1]

I'm working on a bit of a timeline here because she's coming to visit in November, and I want to make sure that the ring is in my hand when we're floating around the canals in Venice!

If she's coming closer to Thanksgiving, I think you still have time to go custom if you get started ASAP.

Given that you already have an image of the ring from 2 angles, ask yourself about the finishing details that you would like to see (how wide a band, where is the widest point, how thin do you want the scrollwork to be, comfort fit, height, prong styles, etc) and call GOG immediately. The hardest part of the design process is the design collaboration, but if you already know what you want.

If you can finalize the CADs really quickly, then you can get it into production really quickly...and I think you just might make it by the 3rd week of November. I got my ring fabricated in the beginning of September in something like 10 business days from CAD approval, for reference.

Venice! Are you going to propose in a gondola? The Peggy Guggenheim Museum (IMO) has a super charming terrace facing the Grand Canal, if you are worried about her getting really excited, topping the gondola and falling into an icy canal.... Make sure you came back and tell the proposal story!

 

[purplesilk]

Hi ItalianEngagement, where are you currently living? If you're living in Vicenza, Padova, Verona or somewhere in the north of Italy, I can suggest you some places to purchase your e-ring : even inItaly you can buy good diamonds and nice settings.

http://www.jeneralcom.com/ located near Vicenza
RobertoCallegari gioielleria Padova

If you buy the ring in the US and you want it to be sent in Italy, keep in mind that you have to pay Italian taxes (20% of the price), so, in my humble opinion, no advantage in buying out of Italy.