Northern VA - jewelry store recs?

[SandyK]

Hi everyone! I recently bought an OEC for my Mom, and I want to take her to a jewelry store in Northern VA so she can try on different settings and get a feel for what she likes best (I think she is leaning towards a simple solitaire or a three stone with pear sides). I also *need* to play with some larger emerald cuts (3+ carats) so I can try to figure out if that is what I really want for my own upgrade. I know it is super tricky to find well cut, large fancy cuts in stores, but I'm hoping someone here will have some suggestions. I'm not yet at the stage where I'm ready to have anyone call stones in, I'm just trying to be smart about my upgrade do a lot of research in advance.

Thanks!

 

[LadyMCh]

Ehh...you're definitely going to have a hard time. Maybe Tiny Jewel Box or Boone & Sons near Farragut in DC. Maybe Liljenquist & Beckstead or Lenkersdorfer in Tyson's. And maybe Washington Diamond in Falls Church. King's Jewelry in Alexandria would have settings, but I don't think they keep 3ct stones in stock... Good luck!

 

[BlingDreams]

Ehh...you're definitely going to have a hard time. Maybe Tiny Jewel Box or Boone & Sons near Farragut in DC. Maybe Liljenquist & Beckstead or Lenkersdorfer in Tyson's. And maybe Washington Diamond in Falls Church. King's Jewelry in Alexandria would have settings, but I don't think they keep 3ct stones in stock... Good luck!

Exactly this. Great choices.

Surprisingly, Mervis carries quite a few nice settings too. Stay away from Jared's though; crappy settings abound....

If all else fails, head to Tysons Galleria; there's a Cartier in there and a few other high-end jewelry stores.

 

[landisone]

You could call up Protea diamonds - I went there during the course of my shopping and he was very nice, by appointment only. Tell him what you're looking for and see if he can help you!

 

[edelweissmaedl]

Charleston Alexander would also be good for trying on lots of settings, it is best to make an appt there.
The Tyson options above are good, always seem to have time to let me try things on without an appt.

 

[SandyK]

Thanks to everyone for all of the recommendations!! Really appreciate the input, I am googling those places now. I think it makes sense to just focus on the settings for this trip, so I'll just have to plan something separate for myself. But hopefully I will still find some fun things to try on

 

[Akalahab]

I've been to Ascot in Arlington and Quest in Merrifield. They have settings and and had at least fake round diamonds to get an idea for size. Didn't really like the customer service at Quest - the sales guy kept telling me to come back with my husband ( he works during their store hours) and kept telling me to get a 1.5 Ct diamond (mine is .79 and at the moment I'm saving all my pennies for a nice violin). I left pretty annoyed because it was like pulling teeth to look at anything and the sales guy was super snobby. Might have just been the one guy though as I've heard better things about them. Ascot has really good customer service - they were super friendly and fit us in to look at settings without an appointment (usually they don't take walk ins). Their quote for a particular custom setting (they said they would handforge it bc of my small sized finger) with 6 side diamonds (3 on each side) that I looked at in 18k gold was $1300. I didn't end up buying anything but will definitely keep them in mind for the future. Tyson's has a lot of jewelry stores, including Blue Nile - and even though they couldn't sell me any settings bc my stone was not from them, they were happy to just show me everything they had! Tyson's also has Helzberg (really friendly) and Finks (eh).

 

[edelweissmaedl]

I've been to Ascot in Arlington and Quest in Merrifield. They have settings and and had at least fake round diamonds to get an idea for size. Didn't really like the customer service at Quest - the sales guy kept telling me to come back with my husband ( he works during their store hours) and kept telling me to get a 1.5 Ct diamond (mine is .79 and at the moment I'm saving all my pennies for a nice violin). I left pretty annoyed because it was like pulling teeth to look at anything and the sales guy was super snobby. Might have just been the one guy though as I've heard better things about them. Ascot has really good customer service - they were super friendly and fit us in to look at settings without an appointment (usually they don't take walk ins). Their quote for a particular custom setting (they said they would handforge it bc of my small sized finger) with 6 side diamonds (3 on each side) that I looked at in 18k gold was $1300. I didn't end up buying anything but will definitely keep them in mind for the future. Tyson's has a lot of jewelry stores, including Blue Nile - and even though they couldn't sell me any settings bc my stone was not from them, they were happy to just show me everything they had! Tyson's also has Helzberg (really friendly) and Finks (eh).

Funny, I stopped by Quest last fall, based on old threads mentioning them for the DC area. I wasn't terribly wowed either. I brought my newly purchased OEC along....they did have settings I was able to set my stone on, but their starting prices for custom (even basic) were much higher than I anticipated.

 

[Akalahab]

Funny, I stopped by Quest last fall, based on old threads mentioning them for the DC area. I wasn't terribly wowed either. I brought my newly purchased OEC along....they did have settings I was able to set my stone on, but their starting prices for custom (even basic) were much higher than I anticipated.

The guy asked me where I'd learned about them, and I told him that I saw their name on Pricescope. He told me they don't really work with Pricescope anymore.



Also, for the OP - I think I got my malls mixed up and where I actually went into a Helzberg and Finks was Fair Oaks Mall, not Tysons. As I recall, Tysons no longer has a Finks. At least they have settings.

 

[EvaEvans]

My favorite brick and mortal store in Northern Virginia is Jewelry by Designs in Woodbridge, VA.