Here''s my ring story. I began looking in October of last year and got tons of great information from this and other forums. However, the information from Jonathan''s website was in my mind the best, and I really appreciated his upfront, fact-based approach to purchasing stones. I never could get 100% comfortable with buying a stone sight unseen, so I drove down to Long Island to see Jonathan in January. I had reserved a stone that I had seen on his site that I liked. While I had originally wanted something around a 1.5 - 1.7 carats, I ended up going w/ a 1.3 carat stone that was thousands less and -- to my eye -- not too much smaller. What I did find interesting was that I perceived a big difference in color -- an "F" color, which I had originally planned on, was simply not white enough for my taste, so I ended up choosing a D. Throughout this, Jonathan was fantastic and never pressured me or encouraged me one bit to go with the more expensive stones. After 3 hours, I had made my choice.
Dave Atlas did the appraisal, which came out perfect. If I had to do it over again, I might not necessarily go w/ an appraisal because of the quality of information provided by Jonathan (and his reputation, which he''s not going to blow by trying to screw one customer). It was a nice to have, but I’m not sure it told me anything I didn’t already know.
Mark Morrell was absolutely wonderful to work with in designing the ring. I live close to Concord, MA, and it was easy for me to meet with him in person. The man is truly gifted. He listens well, and he designs to create a great ring / diamond combo, not just a beautiful ring that then overwhelms the diamond. He made several fantastic suggestions and overall was just a pleasure to deal with. He is busy and if you''re under a time crunch he might not be ideal, but if you have the time I highly highly recommend him. He absolutely will be designing the wedding bands and maybe some other things for me. He also was great at translating my incoherent ideas into an output that I was pleased with, and his attention to detail is beyond what I''ve ever seen. Not enough nice things to say about him.
I also purchased a Rucinni turtle box for the ring, which was a big big hit. In terms of "bang for the buck", the turtle box went a long way. Website is here: http://www.lotofleather.com/rucminturbox1.html
The actual asking part was quite nerve wracking but ended up wonderfully...we''re both grad school students and met at school, so I proposed on the steps of the library. She happily accepted and we''re both thrilled.
Thanks again for the people here for your help and guidance...it''s amazing what you can learn by lurking!
Oh, and details of the stone: H&A, 1.3 carat "D", VS2. More details on it can be found on Jonathan''s website here: http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_30ct_d_vs2_h&a.htm
Hope this is helpful to others! More pictures to follow...
Dave Atlas did the appraisal, which came out perfect. If I had to do it over again, I might not necessarily go w/ an appraisal because of the quality of information provided by Jonathan (and his reputation, which he''s not going to blow by trying to screw one customer). It was a nice to have, but I’m not sure it told me anything I didn’t already know.
Mark Morrell was absolutely wonderful to work with in designing the ring. I live close to Concord, MA, and it was easy for me to meet with him in person. The man is truly gifted. He listens well, and he designs to create a great ring / diamond combo, not just a beautiful ring that then overwhelms the diamond. He made several fantastic suggestions and overall was just a pleasure to deal with. He is busy and if you''re under a time crunch he might not be ideal, but if you have the time I highly highly recommend him. He absolutely will be designing the wedding bands and maybe some other things for me. He also was great at translating my incoherent ideas into an output that I was pleased with, and his attention to detail is beyond what I''ve ever seen. Not enough nice things to say about him.
I also purchased a Rucinni turtle box for the ring, which was a big big hit. In terms of "bang for the buck", the turtle box went a long way. Website is here: http://www.lotofleather.com/rucminturbox1.html
The actual asking part was quite nerve wracking but ended up wonderfully...we''re both grad school students and met at school, so I proposed on the steps of the library. She happily accepted and we''re both thrilled.
Thanks again for the people here for your help and guidance...it''s amazing what you can learn by lurking!
Oh, and details of the stone: H&A, 1.3 carat "D", VS2. More details on it can be found on Jonathan''s website here: http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_30ct_d_vs2_h&a.htm
Hope this is helpful to others! More pictures to follow...
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