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newbie thanks pricescope, rock-doc , and 8star

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N8-Star

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 9, 2007
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37

Hey fellow pricescopers, I'd like to preface this topic by thanking everyone who participates in this forum. I've been lurking here for about 4 to 5 months now reading nearly every single post and gathering and compiling data before making a decision about a diamond and a setting. I'm nearly complete in my conquest and thought that I would show my gratitude to those who've helped shape my decision. I've been influenced by opinions that I've come to admire…. Marty Haske, Rock-Doc, Rhino, and Wink.. and many others...



To make a short story long, I have been on a search to find a stone in the color, clarity and size that I am looking for. (Emily-my GF... left the diamond buying decision all in my hands). CUT, thanks mostly to pricescope, has been my biggest learning experience since shopping for a diamond. I admit that going through the local Brick and Mortars had left a bad taste in my mouth and I felt I was always getting the same sales pitch from every person behind the counter. Every store I visited had a vested interest in selling what they currently had in stock. (which is understandable of course).. But, it wasn’t like comparing apples to apples.. more like apples and onions. (oranges weren’t even in the picture here). Several B&M’s had made attempts at getting in other diamonds that were assured to be of the highest quality. I just didn't see anything that jumped out and grabbed me (or my gf for that matter). It was around that time I started doing my homework on diamonds. I discovered pricescope, discoverd diamonds, and discovered that I was in way over my head. It's taken a few months to dig into the technical aspect of diamonds. For that I really enjoyed reading the debates between Marty, Gary H, Rock-Doc, Wink, and others. Everyone from GOG and Whiteflash are amazing sources of knowledge.



Thankfully, there are thousands of other people who have posted great sources of information over the years... and I've spent many months searching archives and current topics narrowing it down to several diamond dealers and several ring manufactureres.



We fell in love with the idea of a tension set ring... I like the contemporary non-traditional look. Gelin-Abaci has an amazing selection of tension rings and several styles that we liked. But, our Gelin dealers in this area were less than helpful and disliked our idea of purchasing a diamond elsewhere and getting just the setting from them. They weren't against that notion... but our idea went off like a fart in church. How could we possibly know THAT much about diamonds? They were the experts and happy to show us diamonds of "equal quality". Ummm, no thanks. At least we were able to find out that we would have a size limit on our diamond due to a ring sie of 3.5. This was the only thing I wasn't able to find on pricescope. (FYI: Smaller ring sizes through Gelin or any tension ring may have restrictions on diamond sizing. I contacted a Gelin rep and they said that the largest stone that could be set in their TR40 with a ring size of 3.5 would be a .9 ct. They've set one of that size before. )



My pricescope experience has been all about gathering as much information as I could, and learning how to search till I found what I wanted. I kept leaning towards the elusive Eightstar and researching everything I could about them. from what I have learned about their stone, I feel that there is no other diamond like theirs. Others have tried, or copied... but that would be like buying a fake Rolex. Sure it's about 98% of the way there... but it's not the same. I'll stray from sounding too much like a salesperson for them... But, let's just say that I am extremely happy with my selection... Dealing directly with Richard Von Sternberg, president of EightStar, has been an absolute pleasure!!

Here's the fruit of my efforts....

Diamond: .925 Eightstar, F, VS1

Oddly enough, GIA lab tested:



Diameter 6.3-6.33
Depth % 61.4
Crown% 16.0
Pavillion% 43.0
Crown Angle 34.5
Pavillion Angle 40.8
Table % 54.0
Girdle Thickness- Medium-Sl. Thick
Culet- None
Polish- the official language of Poland. Excellent
Symmetry- Excellent
Flourescence- None

Currently, this stone is in the very capable hands of Bill Lieberum (aka Rock Doc)... and going through some rigorous testing I might add. WOW…. I will sing his praises soon enough… For those who are looking for an amazing appraisal, Rock Doc is phenomenal.



It shall soon be sent to Bruce Boone, who will be creating the tension setting for this ring. I've decided that Titanium will have a deeper meaning for us than going with Gelin and platinum as initially planned. Emily, GF of two years, had major back surgery about 18 months ago… and now has a spine fused with foot and a half long titanium rods. Despite amazing posture and no longer any pain… no super human abilities. But, having a ring made of this material will be sentimental.



I will post photos for this ring when it all comes through.... The proposal will be the end of Feb, somewhere near a volcano in Costa Rica... more details about that another time. I've been lucky to have escaped being caught in searching for this ring and stone.... It's all still a surprise... She has no idea what's going on while I sit at the computer every night for hours.... Sssshhhhh!



Thanks again Pricescope... and sorry for the lengthy accolades. Now, that I’m out of the shadows I’ll try to make more posts… it seems that a lot of newbies bail out after getting what they need. I’ll do my best to hang in there.



-Nate
Virginia Beach, VA
 

diamondseeker2006

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Messages
58,547
What a nice post, Nate! It sounds like you have done a terrific job, and we will look forward to seeing that beautiful diamond and finished ring! I''m glad you plan to hang around! You''ll have great input on 8-Star as well as tension rings!
 

gailrmv

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Nov 8, 2005
Messages
3,136
Can''t wait to see the finished product! I love the story about the titanium - I am sure it will have a lot of special meaning to you both!
 

Ellen

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
24,433
What a great post. Can''t wait to see the pics!
 

Kay

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Feb 20, 2003
Messages
2,573
Congrats on your purchase, Nate. I have seen a few Eightstars and agree they look amazing. I can''t wait to see pictures of you finished project.

We spent part of our honeymoon near a volcano in Costa Rica. I''m not sure if you have booked the trip yet, but we loved our suite at Lost Iguana with a view of Volcano Arenal from our private patio and the open-air, rock-wall shower. I also highly recommend dinner at El Novillo (excellent $8 steaks and fantastic view of the lava after dark) and canyoning tours (rapelling down waterfalls) with Pure Trek. If you are interested, I posted a trip report with links to pictures at Fodors:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=6&tid=34904464
 

N8-Star

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 9, 2007
Messages
37
Hi Kay... actually I read your wonderful description of your trip. You posted on here on July 31st... amazing photographs and fantastic journal entry of your adventures( link.) I''m looking forward to many of the things that you had done. It looks amazing!!
 

N8-Star

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 9, 2007
Messages
37
Titanium is pretty nifty... it will be much prettier as a ring though.

Here''s a few x-rays to see the before and after...

Before
th_Before.jpg


After
th_After.jpg
 

RockDoc

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Aug 15, 2000
Messages
2,509
Hi N

What a dramatic improvement in the x-ray.

She is really lucky they could fix that. So many people have back problems that can''t be corrected.

Thank you for the exceptionally nice comments you wrote above

Rockdoc
 

Lorelei

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 30, 2005
Messages
42,064
Great to see that this back condition can actually be improved for some people!!!!
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Very nice post too and welcome officially to PS
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N8-Star

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 9, 2007
Messages
37
Well... an update. I just got my ring today!! It's been out of my hands for over a month now... and I'm glad to finally see the finished product.

I would like to thank Bill Lieberum aka Rockdoc... and I can not stress enough how grateful I am that I sent my diamond to him for the appraisal. I can not fathom purchasing a diamond without having an appraisal done. That's like buying a house without a home inspector!?
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And also thanks to Bill, I would not have caught GIA's error had I not sent this to get an appraisal (or purchased a loupe).... but, better to catch it early on and have this problem fixed. Here's the skinny....

I got the diamond from Eightstar after they had sent the stone to GIA to be laser inscribed. Then the diamond was sent to me from Eightstar (but I guess they missed re-checking the diamond)... I got the stone, sent it to Bill... and got a strange call from Bill a day later.... "Ummmmm, I've been checking this diamond over and over... and I see no laser inscription"...

Ugggh. Well, it is the diamond that was on the GIA cert.. thankfully... everything matched up. Apparently they forgot to laser the stone.

Bill had the great suggestion, since Eightstar was having it sent back to GIA for the eightstar inscription, to have the GIA # added to the diamond inscription as well... This was because Bill knew that they would have to do another certification. When Bill initially had done the testing on this stone, he disagreed with GIA's grading of the stone's finish... they called it "very good"... In his opinion, it should have been graded "excellent". Because of GIA's initial error in forgeting the eightstar inscription, I'm sure that it was recertified by someone with more experience. They regraded it, and not surprisingly upped the finish grade to "Excellent"... This is just one more reason to have a stone appraised and not take a major labs word for it. A second opinion does show consumers that just looking and relying on GIA's initial gradings may need some additional auditing.

Once all of this was taken care of, it was all sent back to Bill... everything matched the initial gem print that he had taken.

Then I had the stone sent from Bill to Bruce Boone.... Bruce got the stone, made the ring, and sent it back to Bill (for a final re-inspection) all within a day. Now, that is a fast turn around... This ring is flawless... I am so impressed with the quality and the fact that Bruce listened to all of my concerns and made the ring with such attention to detail. I was concerned with the thickness and width of the ring without sacrificing the integrity of a tension setting. I've seen a few that looked bulky... Also, I wanted to make sure the culet distance to the finger wasn't too great... Let me tell you, it's perfect!! it is likely, we may change the ring finish to completely polished.. But, that will be Emily's call...

I am amazed at the amount of information that I received from my appraisal. I have a 14 page report, Gemprint verification scan, Sarin reports, a cd full of pictures, Gemex light performance reports and all the other analytical stuff that makes the nerd in me very happy. I'm very pleased with all of this stuff... Plus, Bill sends off a nice little report to my Chubb agent for his records... what a deal!

I will post pictures soon... and it's only a few weeks till she gets to see it...



Thanks Bill and Bruce... I would highly recommend these two to anyone!!
 

Modified Brilliant

Brilliant_Rock
Trade
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
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