Recommended B&M shops in LA?

[ame]

A friend of mine in the LA area would like to start learning and looking at stones. She hasn't ruled out online, but her fiance would prefer to buy locally. Besides Singlestone and 23rd Street, who else would be a good suggestion to check out before they go to the diamond district and potentially get eaten alive.

 

[tuffyluvr]

Vartan's Fine Jewelery and L. Wilmington (both downtown) for modern stones, and custom work. Claude Morady in Bev Hills for vintage jewels.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Advise them to leave checkbooks, debit and credit cards at home! Once they see those prices, they can check comps online and realize how much better they can do!

 

[ame]

Her fiance is less concerned about the better pricing of online, than the local issue. But for now they just want to see what's out there.

 

[shortee78]

Liberty Diamond Cutters is great. They have locations in downtown LA as well as one in Irvine. The yelp reviews are fabulous. I like them for their diamonds as well as their bench work. As they are diamond cutters, they will educate customers about the importance of cut, and will give advice on recutting an existing stone, etc. They also have handmade micropave rings, so gorgeous!

I love Singlestone's for their old cuts and repro jewelry, and everything is handmade. Pricier due to being all handmade.

 

[kohl_mascara]

Thank you so much ame for creating this thread for me!

Also, thank you everyone for your suggestions. We are looking for modern stones though hopefully I can get a magnificent oec in the future. I will talk it over with my guy and see which ones he will be interested to visit. We have also heard good things about intagems, icing on the ring, Eli's, bridal rings, and I believe pop gems. All what we have gathered about these places are from yelp, but I did a quick search of these places on ps and didn't find much. Anyone have any insight on any of them? My guy prefers to buy locally and happens to love Iotr but in my own research, i have have checked out sites like gog, and I wonder if these places can compete!

 

[shortee78]

Hi and welcome! I used to live in LA, and now I live in OC, and I've purchased diamonds both via real life stores as well as online.

I find that the prices in general are slightly higher in LA, even in the jewelry district, but you do get the benefit of seeing stones in person. Also, many of the diamond vendors in the jewelry district offer a trade up policy, which is great. Another thing to note is that they all seem to get their diamonds from the same place (they have stapled packets of their diamond inventory and often have the same diamonds on them. They send "runners" to fetch the diamond to show you, so oftentimes they distract you while cleaning your jewelry, haha). This is based on my limited experience, and it's just a guess at how it works there.

I visited Intagems before and they had limited inventory compared to the online vendors. But, I remember that they were one of the very few vendors that were busy with lots of customers, vs other vendors who had no customers at all. I remember one positive thing about them is that they offered to purchase my diamond, if I wanted to get one of their diamonds. That's actually pretty common, especially if you have a nicely graded GIA diamond. I was just browsing at the time so I cant remember anything else about them.

Lately, I formed a relationship with Singlestone and purchased a 35" diamonds by the yard necklace there, and plan to go back for a custom halo pendant in the future. They have a large selection of gorgeous rings (MUCH better in real life than in photos, especially their not-so-great photos on their website). I used Patti as my main point of contact, often showing up without an appointment, and she has always been very gracious. She takes her time trying to understand your style and providing lots of options. While they specialize in old cuts and repro settings, they have a fabulous bench, so they can make custom settings for your modern cut stones, if you wanted to go that approach. I cant get over how great their handmade stuff is, so I plan on going here for future custom projects. What I think is their differentiator is that they have a sample of their work so you can try it on before ordering, which is something that may be challenging for independent craftsmen to do, as they make jewelry "on demand" and don't have as many real life samples to show.

This is getting long and I apologize. Just wanted to give a Socal girl's perspective I have also worked with Liberty Diamonds and even *gasp* Robbins Bros before so I have lots to share if you are interested

I would also give Liberty Diamonds a shot. They have a trade up policy as well and they do not push you or pressure you into a sale.

 

[kohl_mascara]

Hi and welcome! I used to live in LA, and now I live in OC, and I've purchased diamonds both via real life stores as well as online.

I find that the prices in general are slightly higher in LA, even in the jewelry district, but you do get the benefit of seeing stones in person. Also, many of the diamond vendors in the jewelry district offer a trade up policy, which is great. Another thing to note is that they all seem to get their diamonds from the same place (they have stapled packets of their diamond inventory and often have the same diamonds on them. They send "runners" to fetch the diamond to show you, so oftentimes they distract you while cleaning your jewelry, haha). This is based on my limited experience, and it's just a guess at how it works there.

I visited Intagems before and they had limited inventory compared to the online vendors. But, I remember that they were one of the very few vendors that were busy with lots of customers, vs other vendors who had no customers at all. I remember one positive thing about them is that they offered to purchase my diamond, if I wanted to get one of their diamonds. That's actually pretty common, especially if you have a nicely graded GIA diamond. I was just browsing at the time so I cant remember anything else about them.

Lately, I formed a relationship with Singlestone and purchased a 35" diamonds by the yard necklace there, and plan to go back for a custom halo pendant in the future. They have a large selection of gorgeous rings (MUCH better in real life than in photos, especially their not-so-great photos on their website). I used Patti as my main point of contact, often showing up without an appointment, and she has always been very gracious. She takes her time trying to understand your style and providing lots of options. While they specialize in old cuts and repro settings, they have a fabulous bench, so they can make custom settings for your modern cut stones, if you wanted to go that approach. I cant get over how great their handmade stuff is, so I plan on going here for future custom projects. What I think is their differentiator is that they have a sample of their work so you can try it on before ordering, which is something that may be challenging for independent craftsmen to do, as they make jewelry "on demand" and don't have as many real life samples to show.

This is getting long and I apologize. Just wanted to give a Socal girl's perspective I have also worked with Liberty Diamonds and even *gasp* Robbins Bros before so I have lots to share if you are interested

I would also give Liberty Diamonds a shot. They have a trade up policy as well and they do not push you or pressure you into a sale.

Wow, thank you so much for your help! I actually have visited a few of the shops i listed already, but went over a year ago and with 0 knowledge about diamonds. I basically went off ratings from yelp. I have also been to single stone. I live very close to single stone's second location and have visited it a few times. They seem to focus more on jewelry while the one in dtla focuses more on erings. My guy and I have looked at rings there once and he found them too expensive for "being old" lol. I guess he doesn't understand the vintage style.

I was looking more for a plain, simple solitaire since I have a halo ring already. But I agree, the workmanship at single stone is just fabulous! Their attention to detail is magnificent. If I ever want to reset my diamond and/or buy an oec, they would be the first place I visit. I also love jbeg but unlike single stone, I can't try on the beautiful rings, hehe.

The last time I went to intagems, about a year ago, I think the person there tried to sell us an egl diamond. Not that egl is bad or anything, but I specifically asked for Gia, and I felt a bit like my requirements were being ignored. They are SUPER popular and like you said, always packed. A friend of mine has gotten his fi a ring there because of all the rave yelp reviews. I also thought their settings were a bit on the expensive side, so now they may be even more because prices have gone crazy since we last looked a year ago.

I like yelp for picking a restaurant or help when I want to find the best cupcake place, but I am a little wary about jewelry, especially when it's erings. I was hoping that there would be "reviews" on these places by psers, and I know just because there aren't any, it doesn't mean they are necessarily bad. But I suppose it would help put my mind at ease if I knew a little more about the shops from a forum with more diamond cred!

 

[shortee78]

Kohl mascara, wow, two rings huh? Lucky gal!

For my e-ring, I actually went all online, this time around. Got my modern round brilliant from Perry Chen at Leon Mege (check out my old topics next to my avatar for a review on this vendor) and I'm in the process of having it set from Mark Morrell. Both of these fellows are on the east coast, and it was all done via phone and emails. I went with online due to the lower prices and overall better inventory. Also, doing it on my terms on the phone or email allowed me to make a rational decision about the entire process, rather than me impulsively buying something pretty "on the spot" at a B&M store. I tend to be easily persuaded by a friendly salesperson

I do think honestly that a diamond, especially the modern cuts, are a little bit of a commodity (no offense intended for anyone). I discovered it the hard way when I was trying to sell my former diamond back to diamond sellers and cutters. After that experience, I am totally fine purchasing my main keystone online, as long as I can inspect the stone in person within a return period. Now, for antique cuts, I do feel they have their own personality, and for those, I am hesitant to purchase online. Never say never though

Good luck in your shopping experience and let us know if you have any questions! How exciting

Edited to add: here is a link to the simple solitaire I am having made by Mark Morrell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iVwAhwMbCQ
Except mine will be a smaller center stone. I just fell in love with the setting and did not find anything comparable to it in real life....

 

[tuffyluvr]

My ring is from Vartan's downtown. I was really paranoid that my guy didn't get a good deal, but in actuality, I think it was more a control issue Mr. Tuffy chose Vartan because his best friend's mom gets all of her jewels from Vartan. And she has a fabulous collection! Vartan has relationships with cutters that sell GIA stones. Tell him what you want and he calls it in, and gets it in the shop in minutes! They also do all of their work in house. Here is their website:
http://www.alekvartan.com/collections.cfm
[/url]
And here are a couple photos of my ring, so you can see the work. It was a custom design that my guy worked on with Vartan. I love my ring.

We also looked at L. Wilmington. Lynn is super nice and talented, but her work is pretty expensive.
http://www.lwilmington.com/

 

[tuffyluvr]

Oh! And also, at Vartan's if you pay cash they won't charge sales tax. I don't know if that's common, but with sales tax as high as it is in CA, it's definitely nice!

 

[shortee78]

Oh! And also, at Vartan's if you pay cash they won't charge sales tax. I don't know if that's common, but with sales tax as high as it is in CA, it's definitely nice!

Grr I totally hate our sales tax here. Close to 10%, that's a lot!!!

 

[tuffyluvr]

Oh! And also, at Vartan's if you pay cash they won't charge sales tax. I don't know if that's common, but with sales tax as high as it is in CA, it's definitely nice!

Grr I totally hate our sales tax here. Close to 10%, that's a lot!!!

Ugh, it's terrible!!! It really adds up!

 

[kohl_mascara]

Kohl mascara, wow, two rings huh? Lucky gal!

For my e-ring, I actually went all online, this time around. Got my modern round brilliant from Perry Chen at Leon Mege (check out my old topics next to my avatar for a review on this vendor) and I'm in the process of having it set from Mark Morrell. Both of these fellows are on the east coast, and it was all done via phone and emails. I went with online due to the lower prices and overall better inventory. Also, doing it on my terms on the phone or email allowed me to make a rational decision about the entire process, rather than me impulsively buying something pretty "on the spot" at a B&M store. I tend to be easily persuaded by a friendly salesperson

I do think honestly that a diamond, especially the modern cuts, are a little bit of a commodity (no offense intended for anyone). I discovered it the hard way when I was trying to sell my former diamond back to diamond sellers and cutters. After that experience, I am totally fine purchasing my main keystone online, as long as I can inspect the stone in person within a return period. Now, for antique cuts, I do feel they have their own personality, and for those, I am hesitant to purchase online. Never say never though

Good luck in your shopping experience and let us know if you have any questions! How exciting

Edited to add: here is a link to the simple solitaire I am having made by Mark Morrell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iVwAhwMbCQ
Except mine will be a smaller center stone. I just fell in love with the setting and did not find anything comparable to it in real life....

Omg, you have impeccable taste because I was looking at that exact same setting!! Hehe, I saw it on the gog website and it was I also saw that another pser had the same setting and it is as stunning in the video as it is in pictures. I have no idea how much a setting like that costs so I have a few others in mind when I finally pick out my stone, but I know I want six prongs and a slimmer shank. Just gorgeous!!

Yes, I am very lucky...and my fi is totally on board and encouraging. We are considering buying an idealscope to look at loose diamonds when we go to the jewelry district. I wanted to go on Monday but the whole jewelry district is going to be closed for the bank holiday. Oh well, I guess it gives us more time to get our tools ready so we can start looking at stones, learning, and researching!

I look at sites like dbl and jbeg and I am seriously tempted by the beautiful set rings. Part of me wants to go the easy route but I kinda did that for my halo ring and want a more hands on approach this time.

As for online vendors, I see a lot of idj being mentioned. What I see are some beautiful diamonds, bands and rings. Maybe if we can't find anything and exhaust our options at bm places in la, we'll start consulting online vendors such as idj and gog. Gog has STUNNING diamonds but their prices are a little steep for us, but I understand why because they must have a lot of overhead since they are an actual jewelry store, submit their diamonds to a lot of invaluable analyses, and is not a drop ship type of place sites like bn or ja are (what I learned from ame, thanks!).

But I am definitely not going to rule out buying online! My fi is frightened about buying online and not seeing a diamond in person before making such a large purchase, but as you mentioned, many of the vendors have an inspection period. But before we do that, we want to learn as much about diamonds so we can make educated and informed decisions when the tine comes

But thank you! All the info you provided has been so helpful! I took a look at liberty diamonds and so far I like their diamond pricing!

 

[kohl_mascara]

My ring is from Vartan's downtown. I was really paranoid that my guy didn't get a good deal, but in actuality, I think it was more a control issue Mr. Tuffy chose Vartan because his best friend's mom gets all of her jewels from Vartan. And she has a fabulous collection! Vartan has relationships with cutters that sell GIA stones. Tell him what you want and he calls it in, and gets it in the shop in minutes! They also do all of their work in house. Here is their website:
http://www.alekvartan.com/collections.cfm
[/url]
And here are a couple photos of my ring, so you can see the work. It was a custom design that my guy worked on with Vartan. I love my ring.

We also looked at L. Wilmington. Lynn is super nice and talented, but her work is pretty expensive.
http://www.lwilmington.com/

Gorgeous!!! mr tuffy definitely did VERY well! I am a bit of a control...person haha and I am so glad my guy is involving me so much in the diamond process. I love learning about diamonds and he knows it, so I'm very happy he's letting me in on the fun. And thank you so much for the link!!! I will definitely check out vartan! And saving close to 10% in tax is not too shabby either

Now I wish the jewelry district was open on Monday. I want to start looking ASAP lol.

 

[mincooly67]

I recommend checking out Oscar's Design Jewelry in downtown LA. The service at Icing on the Ring was also excellent, but the diamond I was interested in was about 1k more than it was at Oscar's.

 

[ame]

Kohl--
MWM settings are in the mid 2k's and he will NOT make the prongs thinner. He pretty much told me we were not going to be able to work together because I wanted high settings and thinner prongs than he would give me.

 

[shortee78]

Kohl, if you are going soon just to look around, here is some more info that may or may not be helpful for you. The stores located in the buildings near the intersection of 7th and Hill seem to have less quality stuff,and they get a lot more foot traffic. I had better diamond browsing experiences at the stores at the 625 Hill St building,on the first floor. And, someone once told me the "really" good stuff is always away from the public eye, so they may be on the second floor of buildings, etc. Like whenever I visit Singlestone, I noticed that Eli's right across the hall from him is super packed, even though it's further away from the public eye, so something must be good to attract those customers.

Also, I'd recommend bookmarking the HCA calculator on your smartphones and running the calculations on the spot, if you don't have an idealscope by then. Also, pre-filter the diamonds you look at by telling the vendors you only want to see ideal cuts. While GIA don't give out "ideal" grades, the vendors at the LA district all seem to use that term for GIA Excellent cut round brilliants.

 

[kohl_mascara]

I recommend checking out Oscar's Design Jewelry in downtown LA. The service at Icing on the Ring was also excellent, but the diamond I was interested in was about 1k more than it was at Oscar's.

Thank you! I think I went there last year -British dude right? He was kinda sarcastic/rude but I think that's just how he is (or it might be a British thing because He reminded me of my old boss.) I will give him another shot. I was kinda turned off by him initially because I hate my old boss and he looked and acted like him, haha, but I know he does amazing work!! And it's good to know that their diamond prices are more reasonable. I'll need to do a search of your ring!

 

[kohl_mascara]

Kohl--
MWM settings are in the mid 2k's and he will NOT make the prongs thinner. He pretty much told me we were not going to be able to work together because I wanted high settings and thinner prongs than he would give me.

Oh really? Hmm. Well, I'll consult you and maybe create a thread once I get a diamond for ideas on a setting. All I know is I want six prongs, Tiffany style but i don't want an exact knock off of their knife edge style. Though I saw a pretty nicely made handmade one on ja! Anyway, thanks for the info! I'm not sure how high or thick/thin I want the prongs, so i guess I should keep that in kind when I look at rings. I didn't think those things mattered, but now I do!

 

[kohl_mascara]

Kohl, if you are going soon just to look around, here is some more info that may or may not be helpful for you. The stores located in the buildings near the intersection of 7th and Hill seem to have less quality stuff,and they get a lot more foot traffic. I had better diamond browsing experiences at the stores at the 625 Hill St building,on the first floor. And, someone once told me the "really" good stuff is always away from the public eye, so they may be on the second floor of buildings, etc. Like whenever I visit Singlestone, I noticed that Eli's right across the hall from him is super packed, even though it's further away from the public eye, so something must be good to attract those customers.

Also, I'd recommend bookmarking the HCA calculator on your smartphones and running the calculations on the spot, if you don't have an idealscope by then. Also, pre-filter the diamonds you look at by telling the vendors you only want to see ideal cuts. While GIA don't give out "ideal" grades, the vendors at the LA district all seem to use that term for GIA Excellent cut round brilliants.

Ooo good stuff! Thanks! I noticed that too, that a lot of the better reviewed and higher rated places are in buildings, on the second floor, or tucked away in the back, etc. I wonder what that makes intagems? Lol

I will check out Eli's again but my fi didn't like them the last time we went because they were kinda pushy and ignored us a lot. I completely forgot about this but my fi reminded me of what happened. Like a customer would come in and they would excuse themselves and help another client (I guess they were old/established clients) and we ended up having three different people step in to help us that day because they would all leave us at one point to help someone else. Needless to say, we were there for like an hour and only looked at one diamond and maybe two settings haha so we left a little frustrated. But if they do amazing stuff maybe I'll go back to them.

Okay, good idea, I'll bookmark the hca calculator. I think I read somewhere that iotr has an idealscope so maybe I'll check them out first next week when they're open. I hope I get all my dorky tools in by then!

 

[tuffyluvr]

Yeah, the better stores are all upstairs. You need to make an appointment at L. Wilmington--they're in a building with a security guard that won't let you upstairs unless the tenant is expecting you. Vartan's doesnt require an appointment , but they are upstairs in the 4th floor (I think?)

 

[blingityblangityboop]

Hi everyone! I'm new and am also in the Los Angeles area. My boyfriend and I have just started looking for diamonds and rings as well and this thread has been so so helpful in helping us narrower down the choices. We also plan on visiting the diamond district as soon as the holiday is over. I'm so excited!

A quick question - is the HCA calculator essential? Should I also buy an ideal scope? Is one better than the other?

Thanks!

 

[blingityblangityboop]

Also, anyone heard of Mark Broumand or been to his store? I see his ad on the forum and found he is located in LA. I looked at his website and think a lot of his rings look really nice! And prices seem reasonable, too.

 

[mincooly67]

I recommend checking out Oscar's Design Jewelry in downtown LA. The service at Icing on the Ring was also excellent, but the diamond I was interested in was about 1k more than it was at Oscar's.

Thank you! I think I went there last year -British dude right? He was kinda sarcastic/rude but I think that's just how he is (or it might be a British thing because He reminded me of my old boss.) I will give him another shot. I was kinda turned off by him initially because I hate my old boss and he looked and acted like him, haha, but I know he does amazing work!! And it's good to know that their diamond prices are more reasonable. I'll need to do a search of your ring!

No, I think that you could be thinking of LA Diamond Factory (based on Yelp reviews). I think Oscar may actually be Russian... anyway I found him to be very friendly and professional. He is not pushy at all and pretty laid back. I think he showed great integrity... I wanted to save on sales tax and a way to do that was to have him ship the diamond to me in Hawaii (I was stopping there on my way back to Australia). He could have given me the diamond and shipped an empty package (as some unscrupulous jewelers may do), but he didn't, he followed the procedure to the letter. When I went to Eli's, he said that wasn't necessary and that he would just take a copy of my passport (which I believe is incorrect). The first diamond Eli showed me was a 10 year old trade-in. He did not mention this until I picked it up on the GIA Report. I just found him to be a bit dodgy IMO.

I still haven't had my ring made... I only purchased the diamond. I couldn't make up my mind on the setting I wanted. FYI, I did see a custom ring that Oscar did for a customer and the quality was great. I also visited Victor Canera when I was in LA and his work is exquisite. He gave me a quote of $3,950 (Aug 2011) and I recently contacted him in late Nov and his quote jumped up by $400 so he is now sadly out of contention (I also have to factor in shipping and 10% GST in Australia). I think Victor's prices have risen with his popularity! Recent quotes from Leon Mege came in at $3,010 and Steven Kirsch was $3,800, so it made me wonder why Victor's quote was so high? You could also try Maytal Hannah... I believe she can source diamonds for you to look at. I think she has an office in downtown LA. Hope this helps

 

[kohl_mascara]

I recommend checking out Oscar's Design Jewelry in downtown LA. The service at Icing on the Ring was also excellent, but the diamond I was interested in was about 1k more than it was at Oscar's.

Thank you! I think I went there last year -British dude right? He was kinda sarcastic/rude but I think that's just how he is (or it might be a British thing because He reminded me of my old boss.) I will give him another shot. I was kinda turned off by him initially because I hate my old boss and he looked and acted like him, haha, but I know he does amazing work!! And it's good to know that their diamond prices are more reasonable. I'll need to do a search of your ring!

No, I think that you could be thinking of LA Diamond Factory (based on Yelp reviews). I think Oscar may actually be Russian... anyway I found him to be very friendly and professional. He is not pushy at all and pretty laid back. I think he showed great integrity... I wanted to save on sales tax and a way to do that was to have him ship the diamond to me in Hawaii (I was stopping there on my way back to Australia). He could have given me the diamond and shipped an empty package (as some unscrupulous jewelers may do), but he didn't, he followed the procedure to the letter. When I went to Eli's, he said that wasn't necessary and that he would just take a copy of my passport (which I believe is incorrect). The first diamond Eli showed me was a 10 year old trade-in. He did not mention this until I picked it up on the GIA Report. I just found him to be a bit dodgy IMO.

I still haven't had my ring made... I only purchased the diamond. I couldn't make up my mind on the setting I wanted. FYI, I did see a custom ring that Oscar did for a customer and the quality was great. I also visited Victor Canera when I was in LA and his work is exquisite. He gave me a quote of $3,950 (Aug 2011) and I recently contacted him in late Nov and his quote jumped up by $400 so he is now sadly out of contention (I also have to factor in shipping and 10% GST in Australia). I think Victor's prices have risen with his popularity! Recent quotes from Leon Mege came in at $3,010 and Steven Kirsch was $3,800, so it made me wonder why Victor's quote was so high? You could also try Maytal Hannah... I believe she can source diamonds for you to look at. I think she has an office in downtown LA. Hope this helps

Oh wow, you are so helpful, thanks! So I have not visited oscar's. I'm excited to visit and see his ering designs and diamonds. Also, thanks for sharing prices about sk, vc and lm. May I ask what kind of design you were considering? They seem a bit pricey. Maybe I will just get a plain setting and if the desire comes, I'll reset it in a vc masterpiece! for now, my fi and I will like to focus on putting in the money to get the best diamond possible and worry about settings later. But, congrats on your diamond! I'm excited to see what kind of setting you decide on!

 

[mincooly67]

I recommend checking out Oscar's Design Jewelry in downtown LA. The service at Icing on the Ring was also excellent, but the diamond I was interested in was about 1k more than it was at Oscar's.

Thank you! I think I went there last year -British dude right? He was kinda sarcastic/rude but I think that's just how he is (or it might be a British thing because He reminded me of my old boss.) I will give him another shot. I was kinda turned off by him initially because I hate my old boss and he looked and acted like him, haha, but I know he does amazing work!! And it's good to know that their diamond prices are more reasonable. I'll need to do a search of your ring!

No, I think that you could be thinking of LA Diamond Factory (based on Yelp reviews). I think Oscar may actually be Russian... anyway I found him to be very friendly and professional. He is not pushy at all and pretty laid back. I think he showed great integrity... I wanted to save on sales tax and a way to do that was to have him ship the diamond to me in Hawaii (I was stopping there on my way back to Australia). He could have given me the diamond and shipped an empty package (as some unscrupulous jewelers may do), but he didn't, he followed the procedure to the letter. When I went to Eli's, he said that wasn't necessary and that he would just take a copy of my passport (which I believe is incorrect). The first diamond Eli showed me was a 10 year old trade-in. He did not mention this until I picked it up on the GIA Report. I just found him to be a bit dodgy IMO.

I still haven't had my ring made... I only purchased the diamond. I couldn't make up my mind on the setting I wanted. FYI, I did see a custom ring that Oscar did for a customer and the quality was great. I also visited Victor Canera when I was in LA and his work is exquisite. He gave me a quote of $3,950 (Aug 2011) and I recently contacted him in late Nov and his quote jumped up by $400 so he is now sadly out of contention (I also have to factor in shipping and 10% GST in Australia). I think Victor's prices have risen with his popularity! Recent quotes from Leon Mege came in at $3,010 and Steven Kirsch was $3,800, so it made me wonder why Victor's quote was so high? You could also try Maytal Hannah... I believe she can source diamonds for you to look at. I think she has an office in downtown LA. Hope this helps

Oh wow, you are so helpful, thanks! So I have not visited oscar's. I'm excited to visit and see his ering designs and diamonds. Also, thanks for sharing prices about sk, vc and lm. May I ask what kind of design you were considering? They seem a bit pricey. Maybe I will just get a plain setting and if the desire comes, I'll reset it in a vc masterpiece! for now, my fi and I will like to focus on putting in the money to get the best diamond possible and worry about settings later. But, congrats on your diamond! I'm excited to see what kind of setting you decide on!

I'm leaning towards a Tiffany inspired ring on a 2mm shank with shallow u cut diamonds approximately 3/4 the way around.
The ring Leon quoted me on was his "Tulip" style like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIEARvIpoaM
Leon also does this ring without the diamonds on the shank. http://artofplatinum.com/vault/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&category_id=1&product_id=1507&Itemid=1
Victor and Steven quoted me on a Tiffany Novo inspired ring (same shank as described above).
I hope to make a decision on which setting I want by the end of January. I've had my diamond since late August and my boyfriend is pushing for me to make a decision... it's been 13 months since we first went looking at engagement rings together!!!

 

[shortee78]

Hi everyone! I'm new and am also in the Los Angeles area. My boyfriend and I have just started looking for diamonds and rings as well and this thread has been so so helpful in helping us narrower down the choices. We also plan on visiting the diamond district as soon as the holiday is over. I'm so excited!

A quick question - is the HCA calculator essential? Should I also buy an ideal scope? Is one better than the other?

Thanks!

Hi blingityblangityboop! You know, I don't really use the HCA calculator in person, even though I advise it for others. The reason is that I like to do my research far away from other people, so I don't like to show my "nerdiness" per se in front of the vendors, hehehe. Same goes for the idealscope, I never purchased one. However, I would definitely advise you to become familiar with putting in as many stones as possible within the HCA during your pricescope-browsing hours, just to become familiar with what range of values come up with good HCA values. Also, as I wrote before in this thread, if you pre-filter your diamond viewing by only asking for ideal round brilliant cuts (aka GIA Excellent cut grade), you may be able to just choose one with your own eyes. The LA diamond vendors don't seem to carry AGS graded stones, from what limited experience I have, but maybe they do? I dunno....

Make sure to ask to see the diamond in different lighting conditions, like outdoors in natural lighting, etc. Also, make sure the vendor has some type of trade-in or return policy, you never know what could happen! You may love it at the store/booth, but then hate it at home or at your work place, etc. Who knows? *shrugs*

Good luck to you and your bf!

 

[shortee78]

I recommend checking out Oscar's Design Jewelry in downtown LA. The service at Icing on the Ring was also excellent, but the diamond I was interested in was about 1k more than it was at Oscar's.

Thank you! I think I went there last year -British dude right? He was kinda sarcastic/rude but I think that's just how he is (or it might be a British thing because He reminded me of my old boss.) I will give him another shot. I was kinda turned off by him initially because I hate my old boss and he looked and acted like him, haha, but I know he does amazing work!! And it's good to know that their diamond prices are more reasonable. I'll need to do a search of your ring!

No, I think that you could be thinking of LA Diamond Factory (based on Yelp reviews). I think Oscar may actually be Russian... anyway I found him to be very friendly and professional. He is not pushy at all and pretty laid back. I think he showed great integrity... I wanted to save on sales tax and a way to do that was to have him ship the diamond to me in Hawaii (I was stopping there on my way back to Australia). He could have given me the diamond and shipped an empty package (as some unscrupulous jewelers may do), but he didn't, he followed the procedure to the letter. When I went to Eli's, he said that wasn't necessary and that he would just take a copy of my passport (which I believe is incorrect). The first diamond Eli showed me was a 10 year old trade-in. He did not mention this until I picked it up on the GIA Report. I just found him to be a bit dodgy IMO.

I still haven't had my ring made... I only purchased the diamond. I couldn't make up my mind on the setting I wanted. FYI, I did see a custom ring that Oscar did for a customer and the quality was great. I also visited Victor Canera when I was in LA and his work is exquisite. He gave me a quote of $3,950 (Aug 2011) and I recently contacted him in late Nov and his quote jumped up by $400 so he is now sadly out of contention (I also have to factor in shipping and 10% GST in Australia). I think Victor's prices have risen with his popularity! Recent quotes from Leon Mege came in at $3,010 and Steven Kirsch was $3,800, so it made me wonder why Victor's quote was so high? You could also try Maytal Hannah... I believe she can source diamonds for you to look at. I think she has an office in downtown LA. Hope this helps

Oh wow, you are so helpful, thanks! So I have not visited oscar's. I'm excited to visit and see his ering designs and diamonds. Also, thanks for sharing prices about sk, vc and lm. May I ask what kind of design you were considering? They seem a bit pricey. Maybe I will just get a plain setting and if the desire comes, I'll reset it in a vc masterpiece! for now, my fi and I will like to focus on putting in the money to get the best diamond possible and worry about settings later. But, congrats on your diamond! I'm excited to see what kind of setting you decide on!

I'm leaning towards a Tiffany inspired ring on a 2mm shank with shallow u cut diamonds approximately 3/4 the way around.
The ring Leon quoted me on was his "Tulip" style like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIEARvIpoaM
Leon also does this ring without the diamonds on the shank. http://artofplatinum.com/vault/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&category_id=1&product_id=1507&Itemid=1
Victor and Steven quoted me on a Tiffany Novo inspired ring (same shank as described above).
I hope to make a decision on which setting I want by the end of January. I've had my diamond since late August and my boyfriend is pushing for me to make a decision... it's been 13 months since we first went looking at engagement rings together!!!

Not to hijack the post, but I was also considering the Leon tulip style too I liked the 6 prongs. Heheh. Great minds think alike!

 

[blingityblangityboop]

Hi everyone! I'm new and am also in the Los Angeles area. My boyfriend and I have just started looking for diamonds and rings as well and this thread has been so so helpful in helping us narrower down the choices. We also plan on visiting the diamond district as soon as the holiday is over. I'm so excited!

A quick question - is the HCA calculator essential? Should I also buy an ideal scope? Is one better than the other?

Thanks!

Hi blingityblangityboop! You know, I don't really use the HCA calculator in person, even though I advise it for others. The reason is that I like to do my research far away from other people, so I don't like to show my "nerdiness" per se in front of the vendors, hehehe. Same goes for the idealscope, I never purchased one. However, I would definitely advise you to become familiar with putting in as many stones as possible within the HCA during your pricescope-browsing hours, just to become familiar with what range of values come up with good HCA values. Also, as I wrote before in this thread, if you pre-filter your diamond viewing by only asking for ideal round brilliant cuts (aka GIA Excellent cut grade), you may be able to just choose one with your own eyes. The LA diamond vendors don't seem to carry AGS graded stones, from what limited experience I have, but maybe they do? I dunno....

Make sure to ask to see the diamond in different lighting conditions, like outdoors in natural lighting, etc. Also, make sure the vendor has some type of trade-in or return policy, you never know what could happen! You may love it at the store/booth, but then hate it at home or at your work place, etc. Who knows? *shrugs*

Good luck to you and your bf!

Hi! thanks for the information, this is all so new to me so I really appreciate you taking the time to explain this and for giving me your advice! I have been burned a few times at small mom and pop type jewelers in the jewelry mart, so I think asking for an exchange, return, or guarantee is very smart. I definitely don't want to be burned on such a large purchase as this.