evansjm1
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2009
- Messages
- 146
So, my ring journey has unfortunately been pretty difficult over the last several years. Here's the story if you have time to read before getting to my new Blue...
My now husband proposed in Napa Valley around our two year anniversary in April of 2008 with a beautiful, custom designed platinum setting with 3-sided micropave & milgrain. It was also eternity and had embellished prongs. Basically the entire thing was diamonds. The main stone was a 1.62ct HOF, I, VS1. I do not think the designer realized this when making the ring but having the entire thing full of little holes seemed to make it even more malleable and within the first month of having it, the ring was shaped like an oval, the milgrain was all messed up on the inside of my hand, and I even broke one of the pave stones! Very upsetting for a newly engaged girl! I took it in to be repaired but quickly decided I should get a more durable setting for daily wear. I kept that setting and picked out a black pearl on our honeymoon to put in it and now wear that as a pendant.
The next setting was the HOF Felicity Ribbon setting (https://www.pricescope.com/communit...nothing-really-new-just-consolidating.112818/). All shared prong set this time and no diamonds on the inside of the band (3/4 around though). After having this setting since October of 2008, this summer I noticed that one of the first diamonds on the inside of the band was "dead". Unfortunately, the original jeweler I purchased it from was no longer in business so I took it to another authorized Hearts on Fire dealer in Chicago to help. They sent the ring back to HOF and called me shortly after to inform me that I not only had 1 broken stone, there were EIGHT cracked/chipped/broken stones
To boot, the repair was going to be over $700. What was I going to do though? I sucked it up and had them fix it. After about 3 weeks of my ring being gone, I finally got it back in what I thought was "like new" condition.
Fast forward 3.5 weeks. I had been wearing my ring as usual and looked down one morning to see 3 of the newly repaired stones were MISSING
I had NEVER lost a stone before the repair. I also hadn't even left my house the day before I noticed the missing stones so it's not like I was doing anything unusual! Of course, I ran my butt back over to the authorized HOF dealer and they returned the ring to HOF for help.
After waiting another 2 weeks for information (and sending them all of my diamond/ring documentation immediately when requested), I was told that the ring was compromised by the original jeweler who sold it to me and was "beyond repair"!
I could not believe this. Basically, I was told I had to get a new setting...AGAIN. I honestly couldn't believe HOF acting like this and was totally furious with them. They returned the ring untouched and I went into the jeweler once more to look at various settings by Tacori & HOF as well as a potentially bigger stone (always dreamt of a 2ct) but PS has made me VERY picky and all of the stones I was showed looked too yellow to me....even a 2ct, I color HOF (which was the prettiest but I didn't want any more HOF stuff!) Setting-wise, I was really concerned with more pave or shared prong detail as you can imagine but I really didn't want to lose the detail. Sigh. I told them to send my ring BACK to HOF and MAKE them fix it.
After another week of waiting, I finally heard back that HOF was remaking me an entirely new version of my setting at no cost to me
BUT, this still didn't change the fact that I felt very jerked around for many weeks AND am still concerned about the durability of the setting going forward. Thus, I still planned to change the setting. And if I am going to spend the $ to get a new "dream" setting, I also want my dream "stone". Oh my, brig project here we come. My poor husband.
After HOURS of browsing settings online, trying them on in stores, and changing my mind several times on what I thought I wanted, I fell in love with Michael M's R399 (http://www.michaelmcollection.com/Engagement-rings/Vercelli/default.asp?Style=R399). The store I tried it on at assured me that because the stones are channel & bezel set, they should be much safer than my previous settings. I am not in love with the bulky prongs at the top so they plan to thin them into double-claws for me when setting my stone.
Now some of you may have seen me looking for help on Rocky Talky trying to decide between stones. I originally wanted to go with WF because I had always wanted an ACA and really like their return/upgrade policy. But there is something about the Brian Gavin Blues that kept pulling me back in that direction even though BG seems a bit pricier. BG didn't have the exact size I was targeting (2.2ct) but did have a 2.113ct which I figured was close enough (until awful PS DSS sets in anyway, jk). And even though I can get a 2.3ct ACA with the same specs and no fluor from WF for the exact same $, I just think there is something so special about the fluor....especially in an I color. I received the BG Blue this week 
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/d...2.113-i-vs2-round-diamond-ags-bl-104061006027
Wowza. I think it's the most beautiful stone I've ever seen and is SO white....a couple shades whiter than my grandmother's 1.09ct, F, VS2 that I have. I still am curious to see the WF one as it is .2mm bigger and the market says it is worth more but I honestly cannot believe how crisp this BG Blue is. Thus, first thing I did was....you guessed it....PHOTO SHOOT! I tried to catch some sun shots of the flour but it really isn't terribly noticeable to me (I was worried the SBF would make it too blue-purple in the sun). I actually think it is way prettier than my HOF stone which of course demands a ridiculous premium. Anyone who is considering a BG Blue....I assure you that you will not be disappointed. This one is spectacular.
Without further ado....here are the pics! Thanks for reading and I'll post again when the final product is complete
Full sun....*hint* of the fluor to my eyes...
Seems to be reflecting my tan couch here...
GLOWING!
My now husband proposed in Napa Valley around our two year anniversary in April of 2008 with a beautiful, custom designed platinum setting with 3-sided micropave & milgrain. It was also eternity and had embellished prongs. Basically the entire thing was diamonds. The main stone was a 1.62ct HOF, I, VS1. I do not think the designer realized this when making the ring but having the entire thing full of little holes seemed to make it even more malleable and within the first month of having it, the ring was shaped like an oval, the milgrain was all messed up on the inside of my hand, and I even broke one of the pave stones! Very upsetting for a newly engaged girl! I took it in to be repaired but quickly decided I should get a more durable setting for daily wear. I kept that setting and picked out a black pearl on our honeymoon to put in it and now wear that as a pendant.
The next setting was the HOF Felicity Ribbon setting (https://www.pricescope.com/communit...nothing-really-new-just-consolidating.112818/). All shared prong set this time and no diamonds on the inside of the band (3/4 around though). After having this setting since October of 2008, this summer I noticed that one of the first diamonds on the inside of the band was "dead". Unfortunately, the original jeweler I purchased it from was no longer in business so I took it to another authorized Hearts on Fire dealer in Chicago to help. They sent the ring back to HOF and called me shortly after to inform me that I not only had 1 broken stone, there were EIGHT cracked/chipped/broken stones
To boot, the repair was going to be over $700. What was I going to do though? I sucked it up and had them fix it. After about 3 weeks of my ring being gone, I finally got it back in what I thought was "like new" condition.Fast forward 3.5 weeks. I had been wearing my ring as usual and looked down one morning to see 3 of the newly repaired stones were MISSING
I had NEVER lost a stone before the repair. I also hadn't even left my house the day before I noticed the missing stones so it's not like I was doing anything unusual! Of course, I ran my butt back over to the authorized HOF dealer and they returned the ring to HOF for help.After waiting another 2 weeks for information (and sending them all of my diamond/ring documentation immediately when requested), I was told that the ring was compromised by the original jeweler who sold it to me and was "beyond repair"!
I could not believe this. Basically, I was told I had to get a new setting...AGAIN. I honestly couldn't believe HOF acting like this and was totally furious with them. They returned the ring untouched and I went into the jeweler once more to look at various settings by Tacori & HOF as well as a potentially bigger stone (always dreamt of a 2ct) but PS has made me VERY picky and all of the stones I was showed looked too yellow to me....even a 2ct, I color HOF (which was the prettiest but I didn't want any more HOF stuff!) Setting-wise, I was really concerned with more pave or shared prong detail as you can imagine but I really didn't want to lose the detail. Sigh. I told them to send my ring BACK to HOF and MAKE them fix it.After another week of waiting, I finally heard back that HOF was remaking me an entirely new version of my setting at no cost to me
BUT, this still didn't change the fact that I felt very jerked around for many weeks AND am still concerned about the durability of the setting going forward. Thus, I still planned to change the setting. And if I am going to spend the $ to get a new "dream" setting, I also want my dream "stone". Oh my, brig project here we come. My poor husband.After HOURS of browsing settings online, trying them on in stores, and changing my mind several times on what I thought I wanted, I fell in love with Michael M's R399 (http://www.michaelmcollection.com/Engagement-rings/Vercelli/default.asp?Style=R399). The store I tried it on at assured me that because the stones are channel & bezel set, they should be much safer than my previous settings. I am not in love with the bulky prongs at the top so they plan to thin them into double-claws for me when setting my stone.
Now some of you may have seen me looking for help on Rocky Talky trying to decide between stones. I originally wanted to go with WF because I had always wanted an ACA and really like their return/upgrade policy. But there is something about the Brian Gavin Blues that kept pulling me back in that direction even though BG seems a bit pricier. BG didn't have the exact size I was targeting (2.2ct) but did have a 2.113ct which I figured was close enough (until awful PS DSS sets in anyway, jk
). And even though I can get a 2.3ct ACA with the same specs and no fluor from WF for the exact same $, I just think there is something so special about the fluor....especially in an I color. I received the BG Blue this week http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/d...2.113-i-vs2-round-diamond-ags-bl-104061006027Wowza. I think it's the most beautiful stone I've ever seen and is SO white....a couple shades whiter than my grandmother's 1.09ct, F, VS2 that I have. I still am curious to see the WF one as it is .2mm bigger and the market says it is worth more but I honestly cannot believe how crisp this BG Blue is. Thus, first thing I did was....you guessed it....PHOTO SHOOT! I tried to catch some sun shots of the flour but it really isn't terribly noticeable to me (I was worried the SBF would make it too blue-purple in the sun). I actually think it is way prettier than my HOF stone which of course demands a ridiculous premium. Anyone who is considering a BG Blue....I assure you that you will not be disappointed. This one is spectacular.
Without further ado....here are the pics! Thanks for reading and I'll post again when the final product is complete
Full sun....*hint* of the fluor to my eyes...
Seems to be reflecting my tan couch here...
GLOWING!
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