Hi all, I'm a new member, but not new to the forum per se. For months I've poured over this forum and others researching gemstones for my future fiancé's e-ring. I'm fortunate that my girlfriend has given me complete autonomy to choose the engagement ring. I'm familiar with what she likes and I've totally sold her on a colored stone for an e-ring.
For the stone I wanted a natural stone from the U.S., I was originally after benitoite, but lost interest after losing an auction on ebay for $800 and seeing the same stone listed a few weeks later on a website for $6700. I also realized benitoite was too soft for every day use, regardless of how much I tried to ignore that factor. After a long exhaustive search, I found what I believe is the perfect stone, a color change Montana Sapphire. The color change is quite drastic. An employee from Jared insisted it was amethyst until I asked her to look at outside. I could tell she felt kind of dumb, I promptly went elsewhere.
I found a local jeweler who's well reviewed and been in business for a few generations. I'm curious what PS members think of the settings pictured below. He does custom settings, but these settings he says are from a designer in New York. The first one is $950 and the 2nd is $1950.Yea - nay? I'm open to thoughts and other recommendations.
For whatever reason, my camera (Galaxy S5) cannot capture the stone when it's blue. In your hand it's blue, in the camera screen it's violet. There first 2 pics are from the Faceter, Earth's Treasury, and the 3rd is one I took.
![20151111_134455_zpsl4mqsxbl.jpg 20151111_134455_zpsl4mqsxbl.jpg](https://www.pricescope.com/community/data/attachments/412/412100-8e0650afca49391943ad673dcab96ec7.jpg)
For the stone I wanted a natural stone from the U.S., I was originally after benitoite, but lost interest after losing an auction on ebay for $800 and seeing the same stone listed a few weeks later on a website for $6700. I also realized benitoite was too soft for every day use, regardless of how much I tried to ignore that factor. After a long exhaustive search, I found what I believe is the perfect stone, a color change Montana Sapphire. The color change is quite drastic. An employee from Jared insisted it was amethyst until I asked her to look at outside. I could tell she felt kind of dumb, I promptly went elsewhere.
I found a local jeweler who's well reviewed and been in business for a few generations. I'm curious what PS members think of the settings pictured below. He does custom settings, but these settings he says are from a designer in New York. The first one is $950 and the 2nd is $1950.Yea - nay? I'm open to thoughts and other recommendations.
For whatever reason, my camera (Galaxy S5) cannot capture the stone when it's blue. In your hand it's blue, in the camera screen it's violet. There first 2 pics are from the Faceter, Earth's Treasury, and the 3rd is one I took.
![12095151_819115354872002_2490760191709013057_o_zpstj2cp1f6.jpg 12095151_819115354872002_2490760191709013057_o_zpstj2cp1f6.jpg](https://www.pricescope.com/community/data/attachments/412/412097-8fdab4060ace5a18923548aed00fa724.jpg)
![12109871_819115361538668_5549455035402437231_o_zpsjwbxgazm.jpg 12109871_819115361538668_5549455035402437231_o_zpsjwbxgazm.jpg](https://www.pricescope.com/community/data/attachments/412/412098-ce63f72a3b68c5dbf5c5f7d1b31febc8.jpg)
![20151112_111804-1_zpsvbckv2ym.jpg 20151112_111804-1_zpsvbckv2ym.jpg](https://www.pricescope.com/community/data/attachments/412/412099-b571eaffa70cd8120bf992c352628cc8.jpg)
![20151111_134455_zpsl4mqsxbl.jpg 20151111_134455_zpsl4mqsxbl.jpg](https://www.pricescope.com/community/data/attachments/412/412100-8e0650afca49391943ad673dcab96ec7.jpg)