Overexcited about my MDX purchase?

[asblackrock]

I am so excited I can’t resist posting! After 3 months of research, dreaming and planning, I purchased a diamond today from MDX (Melbourne Diamond Exchange). My husband John and I celebrated our 25th anniversary on October 5th and in September I was given a free reign to find my dream ring.

Knowing nothing about diamonds and having seen loads of lifeless stones in my lifetime, my personal mission was to first find out what made a diamond sparkly. The more I learnt, the more I wanted perfection and unfortunately the more expensive my purchase became! My initial plans for a 3 stone setting (1ct with 0.5ct either side) altered to a single stone with a similar total weight, which meant just a slight increase in budget (well OK, I admit a big increase).

You have all heard of “AGS Ideal”. Well I have recently developed the “Angela Ideal” as a new benchmark. When I was finally ready to buy recently, an embarrassing number of certificates for beautiful stones were rejected before finding close to what I wanted. My thanks to Stacy and Johan for their patience.

Here is what I am finally getting:

2.233ct G VS2
8.29-8.35 x 5.18
Table: 54.8% (edited to 54)
Depth: 62.1%
Crown angle: 34.7 deg
Pavilion angle: 40.5 deg
Girdle: 1.4-1.9
Culet: none (0.1%)
Polish: GIA excellent
Symmetry: GIA excellent
Fluorescence: none
H&A cut
HCA score 0.6


Absolute perfection would have been a shallower depth and less than 0.7% variation in diameter (and perhaps a D IF if unlike me you have had a Tattslotto win or money to burn), but I don’t think I can complain! I needed a medium to slightly thick girdle, as the ring will rarely be off my finger and I wanted to resist the risk of chipping. I hope so much that it lives up to my expectations. I know that since I am relying on figures alone I am not guaranteed this. Having discovered the price difference between purchasing online and at a B&M store, I have taken the terrifying plunge to purchase sight unseen and I hope that it looks spectacular. My engagement ring was a tiny chip of a stone and I have worn no rings other than my wedding ring for close to 20 years, so it will be unbelievable seeing this new ring on my hand.

It will probably not arrive before Xmas, as the stone will have to clear customs when it reaches Australia. This will give me plenty of time to find my husband some new sunglasses, so that he doesn’t get a migraine induced each time my hand moves (flashes of light will do this). Do you think he would appreciate this as a Xmas present or should I find something else? Advice would be welcome.

It was absolutely nerve-wracking depositing a huge sum of money into someone’s account this afternoon and having nothing to show for it yet. Does everyone making an internet purchase for the first time experience this concern? I don’t think I will sleep at all for the second night running, as with the time difference I had been waiting from 4pm yesterday until this morning to have it confirmed the stone had not been sold. I received a call from Wayne at MDX when they opened first thing this morning to tell me the diamond was mine if I wanted it.

My husband has been amazingly patient the last few months, although he has occasionally requested that I try to refrain from mentioning the word diamond for at least a 10 minute period each day. In the past I have always tried to comply with his difficult requests (the secret to 25 blissful years), but this was the hardest yet!

Does anyone have any experience having stones set through Diamond Exchange in Melbourne? I would like a low set, 6 prong, knife-edge “Tiffany” setting in platinum with superb workmanship. Finding someone to set it will be my next quest.

If anyone is interested, I will post photos of the diamond and its Idealscope image when it arrives and the final product when set.

 

[belle]

how very exciting for you angela!!

of course we want to see pics!!! hope you remember to take some after all of the excitement of finally getting the stone!

looking forward to seeing it!!

 

[asblackrock]

Hi Belle

Many thanks for the reply.

I don’t know how I am going to have the patience to wait for my diamond to arrive! Having spent 2 sleepless nights now (it is Saturday morning in Australia) I am probably not thinking too straight any more, but I was starting to worry I had heard nothing from anyone here as I had missed something vital and no one was game to tell me. Taking the final plunge has been such a nerve-wracking process.

Does anyone have any comments about my choice?

 

[beauty]

Hi asblackrock,
I think your stone will be truly magnificent.

I looked at MDE THIS week but couln't get a budget or quality in my head . I am still looking and am very interested in your experience with them as there hasn't been any one else here that sells anything on the specs. I believe the information on the certicate any I see this as the best way to assess a diamond as sometimes similar ones look good but how do you know unless you try them out in all light.
Keep in contact as I would like to follow but with a 1.1ct. How do they work their prices as they couldn't explain the difference between UA and AUD plus the extra. Their prices quoted still need GST added on.

 

[fortheloveofdiamonds]

Hi Angela!!

I think you have done an excellent job finding a stone!!!!!! It must be a real stunner and I can''t wait to see pictures of this BIG girl!!!!!!!

 

[asblackrock]

Hi everyone
I have just got home from a pre- Xmas brunch with friends, and I made a beeline straight for the laptop of course.

For theloveofdiamonds – many thanks for your response. Your new ring looks just stunning and I can understand your countdown before it arrived. Happy 5th anniversary! I hope you have decades of happiness ahead. Good luck with your thesis too.

Beauty - I will keep you posted about how I go.
I have no idea how MDX convert to US dollars. There is an option of displaying their prices as US or AUD $. Their current US prices are 0.73 x AUD price for 2.0-2.6 ct F-H H&A diamonds. Current Interbank Exchange rate is 0.7558 on Teletext this minute. You would probably lose close to 2.6 cents in the conversion process here. I have not explored this, as paying in US dollars is presumably not an option in Australia (unless you front up with cash on their doorstep in Melbourne?????????). If anyone from MDX is reading this thread perhaps they could respond.

I am posting this now, as I know it is late Friday evening in the US and it is probably going to take me another hour to finish this, as I am a very slow typist and very exhausted, with a couple of glasses of French bubbly under my belt after brunch.
Isn’t it a wonderful time of year? (especially this year for me!).

 

[Richard Sherwood]

I would say that''s a long way from a 1ct with .5''s on the side... Wow.

Angela, it looks to be a gorgeous stone. I can''t wait to see pics.

 

[asblackrock]

Thank you so much Richard.

Yes, I need to sheepishly admit my budget went up while I was waiting to buy. I have a very understanding husband who knows I have been waiting for a dream ring for a couple of decades and he actually encouraged this. This shows an educated customer will benefit good vendors (but not necessarily husbands), as I would have been very happy spending much less before!

In a fatigued state I had a moments panic when there was absolutely no response for many hours when I posted this thread initially, thinking as a novice I must have made some awful mistake and no one wanted to break the news! I had woken up at 4am to check the forum and found nothing after posting at midnight here.

I am in the middle of finishing my reply to Beauty, but as I may fall asleep in the process, I needed to thank you first.

PS I will need to have the stone appraised when I receive it, but other than MDX’s and Gary Holloway’s, I don’t know of another Sarin analyser in Melbourne and I would not be very comfortable sending the stone interstate. If anyone knows of a good appraiser in Melbourne I would welcome any advice.

 

[fortheloveofdiamonds]

Date: 12/17/2004 9:53:41 PM
Author: asblackrock
Hi everyone

I have just got home from a pre- Xmas brunch with friends, and I made a beeline straight for the laptop of course.


For theloveofdiamonds – many thanks for your response. Your new ring looks just stunning and I can understand your countdown before it arrived. Happy 5th anniversary! I hope you have decades of happiness ahead. Good luck with your thesis too.



Oh! Asblackrock!! Thank you SO much for your kind words!!!!!!!! Since my husband will be deployed for our 5th wedding anniversary, he wanted to get me something special since he will miss that, plus so many other important events over the course of the year

! Thanks for the compliments on my ring!! I loove it, and I am sure that yours will be SO fabulous that you will have to be careful while driving (I get VERY distracted) and you will be bombarded with compliments. I am done with my thesis now!! So thank you so very much for your kind words!!!!! Happy Holidays!!!!

 

[Patty]

Angela, it sounds like it will be wonderful! You don''t have a lot of responses because people are interested but they do not get REALLY excited until they see the pictures. Be sure to post your pictures in the "Show Me The Ring" forum when you get them. And congrats on your anniversary and on your beautiful new stone!

 

[beauty]

Thanks for the reply. How do I contact Gary Hollaway please?
I asked about the exchange because if you work the math to convert from the US prices to AUD the converted AUD result is too high. Does this include an import tax?

I asked at MDX but the person couldn''t tell me.
I think this is the way to go with me too but I need to see more stones

 

[fortheloveofdiamonds]

Beauty: Send Gary a PM on Pricescope....he goes under the handle Gary Holloway Cut Nut or something or other.....

 

[asblackrock]

Hi Beauty
I am SLOWLY typing a long reply regarding my purchasing experiences so far. No use posting until it is finished. Could be tomorrow.
A quick reply to your query regarding Gary Holloway. Are you in Melbourne too? He has 2 “Precious Metals” stores, one in Canterbury (03 9830 5600) and one in Brighton (03 9593 1385). I think he spends most of his time at the Canterbury one.

 

[asblackrock]

Hi Beauty
9 am here and I have finally had a good night’s sleep! I have outlined my buying process to date and detailed my experiences with MDX.

I have had a very good experience purchasing so far. MDX were very patient with my narrow range of criteria and handled a fussy, inexperienced buyer well. Despite being the peak of the “silly season”, and a VERY busy time of year for them (have you been watching how rapidly their stones are selling in December?), telephone responses were prompt and I never felt they were rushing to hang up when speaking to me.

I have watched their prices and the availability of the 1.0-1.2ct stones on their website almost daily since October when after a few weeks of extensive research I decided to purchase through them. I would recommend people do this before buying. Towards the end of November I had changed my mind about what I wanted (a woman’s prerogative) and decided to get a single bigger stone. This is how it happened (skip this LONG paragraph if not interested):

On the 28th of November I visited Sotherby’s prior to their Jewellery auction which they hold a few times a year here in Melbourne, to round off my “diamond education” and explore all options. Although he didn’t want to be involved much, John insisted I had to make a very informed decision before purchasing anything at all and I got tired of him asking me if I had looked at the option of an auction house. I went armed with my 10x Idealscope (actually very good for inclusions as well), paper, pen and calculator. Amazingly I was the only one there looking at stones closely. To my surprise if you asked for it, crown and pavilion angles as well as all the rest of the data were available for most of their round brilliant cut diamond rings. I am still puzzled how they had this, as some of the settings (all obviously old and some bezel set) looked too complicated to remove the stone easily and I would have thought they would not want to risk damaging the stone or setting taking each diamond out to get a proper analysis. None had proper certificates. I had not expected to find anything, as apart from Tiffany & Co (and even the certs I saw there I considered not quite good enough), most B&M retailers in Melbourne had nothing suitable for me, but my very sensible, logical husband needed to be satisfied this was indeed the case. I would also NEVER consider buying a second hand set diamond at auction, as you could never know what the prongs are hiding, but John said to go and check it out. Interestingly, expected price range for round brilliant cuts varied from 40% less to 50% more than stones matched for all 4c’s on MDX’s site. It shows you need to do your homework before considering bidding. Anyway, to cut a very long story short (well shorter) I tried on a 1.5 ct ring and despite a yucky setting, I LOVED the look of it on my hand. I had previously never really considered a single stone, as I had never tried a big stone on and I did not really like how little solitaires look on my hand, if you can call 1ct little! I have long fingers. I had not realized a 1.5 would look so much bigger than a 1ct. Looking at how minimally the diameter increases from one to the other, I had not expected this (obviously AREA certainly does increase a fair bit though, a very basic principle). Suddenly going larger and downgrading colour seemed like a better option. I had been considering an E or F colour (even D initially), as I love ICY, ICY white stones, but I started looking at what cost a 1.5 ct G stone would be, leaving all my other criteria the same. The one thing I knew for sure was that there was to be no compromise at all on cut! I knew John only likes single stone rings, so this swayed my decision further. He was in town with me the next day and I dragged him into my favourite store with the little aqua boxes to show him what type of diamond I was getting. The white gloved sales assistant pulled out the 1.5ct solitaire I requested and he suggested I try on a 2ct, and “just for the fun of it” a 2.5ct as well. John’s response was immediate - go for something closer to 2.5!! WOW!!! My heart stopped! It was huge! But for the colour “I” stone I looked at, I could pick the warmth reasonably easily (John couldn’t tell the difference at all between their “D” and “I”, even when all the stones were shaded with paper to eliminate the effect of their brilliant spotlights) and although their “I” was stunning, l hankered after something whiter. This needed to be a “mind clean” purchase for me (can you use this term for colour & cut as well as clarity?) as it will probably be the only ring I will wear for the rest of my life. John said he couldn’t understand why I would accept an “H” if I didn’t want an “I”, but I left this option open as I was very conscious what was happening to the cost.

Well, now I was looking for a “G” or “H” 2.2-2.5 ct on MDX’s website. This gave me some flexibility. The only problem was, they now started selling at a quick rate and prices went up rapidly as well. Up to now the price had been pleasingly dropping. You win some, you lose some! Stacy cheerfully provided copies of certs I wanted (all Ideal H&A) and Sarin analysis for GIA stones and after lots of “sorry, not quite right for me” replies, two weeks later (Friday 17th) I made the above purchase. Johan at MDX had assisted with hunting down stones not on their website. He is a joy to speak to – I had never before had a long conversation with anyone who is obviously so passionate and knowledgeable about diamonds. I have spoken to him twice now and he just oozes enthusiasm. He has promised to send me a DiamCal analysis while I am waiting for my diamond and I will get an Idealscope image and other photos of the stone when they receive it here. I would have much preferred to get all the information beforehand, but this is how they do things and they have a 30 day exchange policy.

I am so pleased I discovered Pricescope. Thank you to all contributors. I have had the time of my life learning about diamonds (can’t understand why some people consider it a chore when purchasing), dreaming of what I would get and reading about other people’s purchases. I look forward to reading about CEP’s proposal. I didn’t want to butt in, he was being overloaded with tons of good advice, but I really hoped he would not get a pear with 2 square side stones!

So for now that is it. I will keep you posted as to how things go. There is a very slim chance it may arrive before Xmas. Hope Santa speeds up the process. He knows this is at the top of my wish list!

 

[mdx]

Hi Angela
The difference in the direct conversion of Australian dollars to US dollars is essentially the bank or money traders Buy/Sell commission plus some forward cover provision..

In other words if you buy US dollars from your bank with AU dollars you would not be able to purchase them at the current rate.

On the other hand if you owned US Dollars or had a US dollar account you are always welcome to pay the US Dollar amount on our website directly into our US account via our New York office. This way there is no buy/sell commissions applied by the banks and also no provision for currency fluctuations.

I hope that explanation was not too complicated

Thanks for the kind words in the thread, much appreciated

Johan

 

[persistent]

Angela-
Congratualtions on your choice! It will be absolutely stunning, I''m sure! I can empathise with your concern and anticipation in making the deposit and waiting for the stone...we picked out an e-diamond about a month ago and we''re waiting for it to be set. It''s supposed to be here on Tuesday, and my b/f is making me wait for a formal proposal! Aaaa! I''m going to be crawling up the walls!

Fortheloveofdiamonds- Congratulations on finishing your thesis! Feels good don''t it?!


-j

 

[asblackrock]

Hi Persistent
You MUST be crawling up the walls if you are waiting for both the ring and the proposal. I know nothing about princess cuts, but your Tension setting looks beautiful.
Where did you purchase the stone?
Also has your thesis been reviewed yet? Masters or PhD? Topic?
I completed my Masters about 20 years ago (purely by thesis) and remember I hated the sight of the stack of typed (yes, typed!!!) pages in the last stages of the draft. Don't think I have opened my copy since submitting!
Anyway keep us posted about the proposal and how the ring looks.

I am heading into town to see MDX tomorrow (actually looking at the time, today) to discuss the possibility of them setting my stone. Looking forward to putting faces to names as well.

 

[asblackrock]

MY STONE HAS ARRIVED!

I have posted story and Idealscope photo under: "Santa has arrived early in Australia"