CaptainCarat
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2008
- Messages
- 45
So, yesterday I popped the question and she said yes!
I put some pics in SMTR:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/quest-custom-asscher-setting-hand-pics.90570/
All in all, I had a really great experience in dealing with Quest Jewelers and Richard Sherwood for the appraisals.
I ended up purchasing the diamond from Quest as well as the setting since they gave me the best price on the stone and also had some other little incentives, like free resizing for life and a warranty now that I purchased the stone and the setting.
I ended up getting the stone last month and loved it! Pete at Quest helped me find a 1.54ct -- my initial specs were for a 1ct and I gave him my budget, and he came back with this 1.54 at $300 out of budget. Most of the 1ct stones I was looking at were maxing out my budget, so I plunked down the cash and figured what do I have to lose? G color, SI1, completely eye clean, GIA rated as good polish and very good symmetry. Medium blue fluorescence. I was initially put off by the good polish and was concerned that it would affect the look of the stone, but under a loupe I couldn''t see anything. I figured it was just my own inexperience but wrote it off as the polish not really having a negative impact on the stone''s quality at all. When I took it to Richard for the appraisal, he actually rated it as an ''excellent'' polish, not good...explains why I couldn''t see it!
Watching Richard work was amazing. There is a good reason why he has such a fantastic reputation on these boards. He explained everything about what he was doing during the grading process and it became a kind of game...he''d tell me he''s now evaluating the color and when he''d come up with his grading, he''d ask how he did compared to the certificate. He was dead on everything with the exception of polish, and explained the GIA grading process and why there would be a discrepancy. I wasn''t complaining since it was a better rating!
Feeling awesome about the stone, I sent it back to Quest and we started working on the custom stuff. Pete worked up some CADs for me which you can see in this thread if you are so inclined:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/got-an-asscher-today.87014/
After some back and forth about small parts of the design, he went ahead and cast the setting. He sent it overnight and it looked BEAUTIFUL! The prongs needed some work, however: they were bent and the table was not parallel to the shank. He explained that it sounded like the prongs needed to be thickened a little bit (this was a concern initially) so back it went. They fixed that and turned it back around and I noticed something else a hair off and sent it back for an adjustment. Had it back in my hand on Thursday, back to Richard for the final appraisal on Friday, popped the question yesterday, and here we are today
I live in the Tampa area and we went to Ikea in Orlando yesterday morning to do some shopping (man, I love that place). After a couple of hours we were done and hopped back in the car. I hit ''go home'' on my GPS (I''m horrible with directions) and we started back. The GPS said to turn off on route 27 about halfway back so I took the exit. She was on me immediately..."this isn''t the way home! I know where we''re going!" I had changed the ''home'' address to Bok Tower Gardens. I was expecting full well that she''d know what was happening anyways, since it was someplace special to us.
We got to the gardens and I gave her an early birthday present...a new digital camera! We started wandering around and taking pictures. At 1:00, the carillon started playing some musical selections (a giant bell tower) and I found a quiet spot and dropped to one knee. When she saw the ring she was FLOORED! Exactly the impression I wanted to make.
All in all, it was a fun ride. I couldn''t have done it without everyone''s help here on Pricescope. Thanks to everyone that comments on these threads and that I see posting on a daily basis...strm, lorelei, NewEnglandLady, mercoledi, gwendolyn, and everyone else...you guys are the BEST! Even for all of those that contribute to other threads, it''s just been a giant relief to come and see how well other people''s rings have worked out even when I''ve been stressed about my own.
I wouldn''t change a THING about the process...now it''s on to the custom wedding band, then the five year anniversary band, the ten year RHR...the 15 year bankruptcy
Thanks again all!
I put some pics in SMTR:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/quest-custom-asscher-setting-hand-pics.90570/
All in all, I had a really great experience in dealing with Quest Jewelers and Richard Sherwood for the appraisals.
I ended up purchasing the diamond from Quest as well as the setting since they gave me the best price on the stone and also had some other little incentives, like free resizing for life and a warranty now that I purchased the stone and the setting.
I ended up getting the stone last month and loved it! Pete at Quest helped me find a 1.54ct -- my initial specs were for a 1ct and I gave him my budget, and he came back with this 1.54 at $300 out of budget. Most of the 1ct stones I was looking at were maxing out my budget, so I plunked down the cash and figured what do I have to lose? G color, SI1, completely eye clean, GIA rated as good polish and very good symmetry. Medium blue fluorescence. I was initially put off by the good polish and was concerned that it would affect the look of the stone, but under a loupe I couldn''t see anything. I figured it was just my own inexperience but wrote it off as the polish not really having a negative impact on the stone''s quality at all. When I took it to Richard for the appraisal, he actually rated it as an ''excellent'' polish, not good...explains why I couldn''t see it!
Watching Richard work was amazing. There is a good reason why he has such a fantastic reputation on these boards. He explained everything about what he was doing during the grading process and it became a kind of game...he''d tell me he''s now evaluating the color and when he''d come up with his grading, he''d ask how he did compared to the certificate. He was dead on everything with the exception of polish, and explained the GIA grading process and why there would be a discrepancy. I wasn''t complaining since it was a better rating!
Feeling awesome about the stone, I sent it back to Quest and we started working on the custom stuff. Pete worked up some CADs for me which you can see in this thread if you are so inclined:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/got-an-asscher-today.87014/
After some back and forth about small parts of the design, he went ahead and cast the setting. He sent it overnight and it looked BEAUTIFUL! The prongs needed some work, however: they were bent and the table was not parallel to the shank. He explained that it sounded like the prongs needed to be thickened a little bit (this was a concern initially) so back it went. They fixed that and turned it back around and I noticed something else a hair off and sent it back for an adjustment. Had it back in my hand on Thursday, back to Richard for the final appraisal on Friday, popped the question yesterday, and here we are today
I live in the Tampa area and we went to Ikea in Orlando yesterday morning to do some shopping (man, I love that place). After a couple of hours we were done and hopped back in the car. I hit ''go home'' on my GPS (I''m horrible with directions) and we started back. The GPS said to turn off on route 27 about halfway back so I took the exit. She was on me immediately..."this isn''t the way home! I know where we''re going!" I had changed the ''home'' address to Bok Tower Gardens. I was expecting full well that she''d know what was happening anyways, since it was someplace special to us.
We got to the gardens and I gave her an early birthday present...a new digital camera! We started wandering around and taking pictures. At 1:00, the carillon started playing some musical selections (a giant bell tower) and I found a quiet spot and dropped to one knee. When she saw the ring she was FLOORED! Exactly the impression I wanted to make.
All in all, it was a fun ride. I couldn''t have done it without everyone''s help here on Pricescope. Thanks to everyone that comments on these threads and that I see posting on a daily basis...strm, lorelei, NewEnglandLady, mercoledi, gwendolyn, and everyone else...you guys are the BEST! Even for all of those that contribute to other threads, it''s just been a giant relief to come and see how well other people''s rings have worked out even when I''ve been stressed about my own.
I wouldn''t change a THING about the process...now it''s on to the custom wedding band, then the five year anniversary band, the ten year RHR...the 15 year bankruptcy
Thanks again all!
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