Should I cancel BGD baby bezel purchase?

[NonieMarie]

I have been looking for a pair of .25ctw bezel earrings. I checked all the ps vendors and the prices were $750-$825, no sales this weekend for such small diamonds. My specs were g/h, si, excellent cut. I decided to upgrade BDG's ready set to H and their excellent cut for an additional $175 which bumped it to $750. IDJ was $750 (ps diamonds) and WF $825 (their site does not say they use ACA in their pre sets).
I just received a reply from an Esty vendor(samnsue) saying that they can make them for $500 using G, SI, and what they say is excellent cut. Sue sent pics of their bezels and they look well made. Would there be a big difference in sparkle if I went with the esty vendor? Are the diamonds so small I should save the $250?

 

[CharmyPoo]

In that size, I would go cheap and sparklie. I find I don't need ideal cut for that.

 

[yssie]

WF uses ES stones in their RSG studs, not ACAs, but you could call in to confirm.

In those sizes I tend to think that diamonds are diamonds, for the most part - you may see some difference between reasonably well-cut RBs and SuperDuperLoupers but it won't be night and day or anything close.
So, I guess the questions are
1) How confident are you in this vendor's classification of "good cut"? As in, how confident are you that you're going to get at least reasonably well-cut stones?
2) How confident are you in this vendor's workmanship?

They are not a popular Etsy vendor on PS. That doesn't mean they aren't good - there are lots of vendors who do good work who haven't come to the board's attention. It does mean that you don't have the safety net of having confidence that others who are equally particular about their jewellery have been satisfied with their experiences.

 

[yssie]

Did you contact DanielM? What did they say?

 

[mercoledi]

I would second Yssie's thoughts.
It's a significant cost savings, so probably well worth exploring with the Etsy vendor, but you might want to see pictures of the stones before you sign on. Has the vendor done other baby bezels?

Having said that, at this size the cut is less important. Just today I sent a pair of .25 ctw studs from Zales off to DanielM to be rest in bezels. The earrings were a gift, and the stones have decent performance but are clearly non-ideal and I1 on a good day. But they're so tiny that it's not noticeable to anyone but me when I clean them.

DanielM has really raised his game over the last few years, and his baby bezels are lovely. I would suggest having a chat with your Etsy vendor, and maybe contacting DanielM as a back-up option, but either way I'd lean toward the cheaper options over the BGD studs. As wonderful as they will surely be, I doubt they'll be 50% better!

 

[NonieMarie]

Yssie, I did get a quote from DanielM. The settings would be $395 if I supplied the .25ctw diamonds and $785 if he did. I do have a source who can sell me a couple .15ct stones (g, vs, maybe excellent cut) for $290 which would make it $685 for the earrings. They would be a little bigger but maybe too big for my second hole. I would need to have them mailed to me then send on to Daniel. It seems like a lot of trouble for $65. I'm just so surprised that such small earrings can be so expensive but if I'm going to wear them everyday over the next 20 years maybe it's not that much. Amortization...that's my rational.

 

[yssie]

Yikes! Are they quoting melee with GIA reports or something? $400 for generic uncerted melee of that size is absurd. I got a perfectly good (loose) 0.25ctw pair of eyeclean Jish-es for $180 in NYC a few weeks ago.

I will say that my baby bezels are my daily go-tos. I've basically worn them every day since I got them three years ago and it's not like I don't have other earrings that deserve some attention... so if you think you'll wear them regularly the one thing I'd recommend is not to skimp on the quality of the settings! You definitely want them to be super smooth/well-finished/easy to clean, they should hold the stones securely, the backs should be sturdy - the stones are probably the least important things, IMO

Amortization... Mine were hideously overpriced - can't get around it buying branded - but in terms of dollar for wear they fare wayyy better than any of my other jewellery...

 

[MichelleCarmen]

oooh, I would be inclined to stick with the BGDs. I have a .10 H&A that sparkles like crazy. Even in that tiny little diamond, the perfect cut really makes is sparkle from across the room! If you think you'll wear these frequently AND you aren't on a tight budget, it would be worth paying for the comfort that you are getting well-cut stones.

 

[stargurl78]

oooh, I would be inclined to stick with the BGDs. I have a .10 H&A that sparkles like crazy. Even in that tiny little diamond, the perfect cut really makes is sparkle from across the room! If you think you'll wear these frequently AND you aren't on a tight budget, it would be worth paying for the comfort that you are getting well-cut stones.

I think I would go for the BGDs as well. It would be different if they were a well-known Etsy vendor and you knew that others were happy with the quality of their ideal cut stones. You don't want to go that route, receive the earrings, and then be disappointed that you didn't go with someone else. With BGD you know you will receive great quality. Just my thought though... Be sure to post pics once you receive them either way!

 

[texaskj]

Just to confuse you even further.....
Have you checked with any local mom and pop stores about making you some? I got kind of the same thing two years ago (.25ctw, white gold martinis) for $220. I know prices have gone up but yeow! The guy I used made up three pairs and let me pick. He said he could easily sell the rest for Christmas. I told him just because I wanted small didn't mean I wanted junk. He understood and I've been more than happy with them.

 

[Circe]

oooh, I would be inclined to stick with the BGDs. I have a .10 H&A that sparkles like crazy. Even in that tiny little diamond, the perfect cut really makes is sparkle from across the room! If you think you'll wear these frequently AND you aren't on a tight budget, it would be worth paying for the comfort that you are getting well-cut stones.

I think I would go for the BGDs as well. It would be different if they were a well-known Etsy vendor and you knew that others were happy with the quality of their ideal cut stones. You don't want to go that route, receive the earrings, and then be disappointed that you didn't go with someone else. With BGD you know you will receive great quality. Just my thought though... Be sure to post pics once you receive them either way!

Thritto to these fine ladies. I actually have the BGD baby bezels, and I LOVE them. They're pretty perfectly constructed, and awesome as secondary (or in my case, tertiary) studs. I did the same comparison shopping, and between the higher quality melee and the reliable workmanship as compared to the pretty much equal pricing ... it seemed like a no brainer. I say keep!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Diamonds that aren't excellent cut would never be mind-clean for me, and I think even small stones will benefit from being excellent cut. So I'd go with a PS vendor who will use excellent/ideal cut diamonds in a high quality setting. I have a milgrain bezel pendant from BGD, and it is very nice quality. I'd use them or WhiteFlash because I think they make nice handmade bezel settings.

 

[AprilBaby]

I have aca earrings and each stone (flower design) is 7pts. They sparkle like mad! I would stick with Brian Gavin.

 

[NonieMarie]

I think I will keep the BGD earrings. A few years ago I went looking for a used car. I was paying cash and really wanted a Lexus I saw. I talked myself out of it and chose a Camry because it was a few thousand less. To this day I kick myself for not buying what I wanted. I had the cash from my husband's life insurance and could have bought anything I wanted but I guess I thought I didn't deserve to splurge on something that was just for me. I'm not going to do that again.

 

[AprilBaby]

Good for you! You will not be sorry!

 

[stargurl78]

I think I will keep the BGD earrings. A few years ago I went looking for a used car. I was paying cash and really wanted a Lexus I saw. I talked myself out of it and chose a Camry because it was a few thousand less. To this day I kick myself for not buying what I wanted. I had the cash from my husband's life insurance and could have bought anything I wanted but I guess I thought I didn't deserve to splurge on something that was just for me. I'm not going to do that again.

Good for you!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I think I will keep the BGD earrings. A few years ago I went looking for a used car. I was paying cash and really wanted a Lexus I saw. I talked myself out of it and chose a Camry because it was a few thousand less. To this day I kick myself for not buying what I wanted. I had the cash from my husband's life insurance and could have bought anything I wanted but I guess I thought I didn't deserve to splurge on something that was just for me. I'm not going to do that again.

I also tend to do that with cars, but I don't do it with jewelry! Glad you are sticking with highest quality! You'll be glad you did!

 

[Dreamer_D]

I think I will keep the BGD earrings. A few years ago I went looking for a used car. I was paying cash and really wanted a Lexus I saw. I talked myself out of it and chose a Camry because it was a few thousand less. To this day I kick myself for not buying what I wanted. I had the cash from my husband's life insurance and could have bought anything I wanted but I guess I thought I didn't deserve to splurge on something that was just for me. I'm not going to do that again.

I also tend to do that with cars, but I don't do it with jewelry! Glad you are sticking with highest quality! You'll be glad you did!

In this case I would go for the known commodity. But I would not upgrade the stones. The usual quality are good enough from BGD in that size.

 

[marcy]

I think you will love them.

 

[NonieMarie]

I received my BGD baby bezels today. I did go with h/si, and h&a cut. They are perfect for my second hole. The h color looks slightly tinted under my loupe but white on my ears. With my loupe I can see arrows in one but not complete arrows in the other. I'll check them out better later. IMO they don't perform any better then my 20 pt IDJ eternity ring. I do love them but I just thought the better cut would outshine IDJ. I will be ordering a bezeled tennis bracelet at the end of the week and got quotes from BGD, WF & IDJ. Now that I've seen 3mm diamonds with a premium cut I'll be thinking long and hard about spending the extra almost $2k for my bracelet.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Please post pictures of the earrings!

Wasn't the pricing difference on the bracelets partly due to 18k gold and VS2 clarity vs. 14k and SI1 for IDJ? WF does use ideal cut ACA melee for their bracelets. I do think you'd get what you pay for. But I thought it was less than $2000 difference. I'd have to go back and look at that other thread.