bunnycat
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2012
- Messages
- 2,671
We finally got it all together! And it just wouldn't have been possible without all the fantastic information here on PS and sites like GOG.
After several months of searching for a setting we liked, going back and forth on diamond versus colored stone and then another month of pondering what kind of diamond (old or new) we finally got everything sorted out and we are now officially engaged as of last month! YAY! We had several contenders...ok, ok...we went through 6 diamonds until we got this whole thing sorted out.
We started with a MRB K that I admit was very nicely cutand sparkled like mad, and an M AVR but both were a no go on color. So we went back to the drawing board and found a J MRB that just didn't do anything for either of us. Turned out the LGF lengths were 80% and neither of us like that look (and the J was still too much color). I believe his words were "yes, it's nice, but you're not drooling over it". Fair enough, so we went back to look one last time and came up with these- a J SI1 AVR and an H SI1 MRB:

The day of reckoning arrived and I still hadn't decided on the stone and so I said "Let's just let the setting decide" and we took the stones down to the store to see them together. The jeweler and I both agreed that the H was the right one for the setting and the deal was sealed. Surprisingly (or not), I ended up choosing the smallest of the stones we looked at having just missed the .8 mark clocking in at something like .794 but I call it an honorary .8 cuz that's just too many number to say.
So here is my engagement ring, which we spent more time thinking (obsessing) about than the house we purchased last year.
Setting is by Simon G in 18k white gold (I can hardly believe it, but that's what I thought would look best and still do)
Stone is .794
AGS 000 H SI1 (though one jeweler was surprised by that and said he would have thought a little higher clarity)
dimension: 5.96x5.99mm
lgf length is 76% (much more to my liking sparkle-wise)
Crown: 34.3
PA: 40.8
depth: 61.4
table: 55.1
HCA was 1.1
ring is 5 7/8 and my finger size is 5.75
Caution, I went crazy with the glamor shots on my I-phone....
In the flowers:

In dim light with reflections from the dark marble and sage walls (sorry, the program keeps flipping it sideways and I can't fix it):

Fire:

And because we knew pave was delicate, and we both have a fixation with old cuts, we decided to take an old setting I had bought back in college and have an OMC plunked in it for my "alter ego" that I can feel comfortable wearing to the gym or grocery store. Luckily, we have a jewelry store here in town called Bell and Bird that deals in antiques (150-200 years on average) and he is well equipped to deal with older things and had some spare stones handy. We picked out a little 4.5mm stone that was about .38ct and he said it would fit, no problem, in my old illusion setting.
So, now I joke that I've never had an engagement ring before, and now I get 2!

Both will go fabulously with the bands we are having made. Mine is a VanCraeynest band with 5 blossoms around it (something like 910 or 810 in the new numbering system) and his coordinating Damascus Steel ring with a bezel set diamond to add cohesion for his ring to the rest of the set. Now, to decide on the venue!
After several months of searching for a setting we liked, going back and forth on diamond versus colored stone and then another month of pondering what kind of diamond (old or new) we finally got everything sorted out and we are now officially engaged as of last month! YAY! We had several contenders...ok, ok...we went through 6 diamonds until we got this whole thing sorted out.


The day of reckoning arrived and I still hadn't decided on the stone and so I said "Let's just let the setting decide" and we took the stones down to the store to see them together. The jeweler and I both agreed that the H was the right one for the setting and the deal was sealed. Surprisingly (or not), I ended up choosing the smallest of the stones we looked at having just missed the .8 mark clocking in at something like .794 but I call it an honorary .8 cuz that's just too many number to say.
So here is my engagement ring, which we spent more time thinking (obsessing) about than the house we purchased last year.

Setting is by Simon G in 18k white gold (I can hardly believe it, but that's what I thought would look best and still do)
Stone is .794
AGS 000 H SI1 (though one jeweler was surprised by that and said he would have thought a little higher clarity)
dimension: 5.96x5.99mm
lgf length is 76% (much more to my liking sparkle-wise)
Crown: 34.3
PA: 40.8
depth: 61.4
table: 55.1
HCA was 1.1
ring is 5 7/8 and my finger size is 5.75
Caution, I went crazy with the glamor shots on my I-phone....
In the flowers:

In dim light with reflections from the dark marble and sage walls (sorry, the program keeps flipping it sideways and I can't fix it):

Fire:

And because we knew pave was delicate, and we both have a fixation with old cuts, we decided to take an old setting I had bought back in college and have an OMC plunked in it for my "alter ego" that I can feel comfortable wearing to the gym or grocery store. Luckily, we have a jewelry store here in town called Bell and Bird that deals in antiques (150-200 years on average) and he is well equipped to deal with older things and had some spare stones handy. We picked out a little 4.5mm stone that was about .38ct and he said it would fit, no problem, in my old illusion setting.
So, now I joke that I've never had an engagement ring before, and now I get 2!

Both will go fabulously with the bands we are having made. Mine is a VanCraeynest band with 5 blossoms around it (something like 910 or 810 in the new numbering system) and his coordinating Damascus Steel ring with a bezel set diamond to add cohesion for his ring to the rest of the set. Now, to decide on the venue!