It has been a few weeks of high emotions and about the lowest I could go. Here''s the background:
I was engaged at 18 to a senior in college (USMA). He couldn''t afford a diamond and I said I would wait until we''d been married 5 years. Well, the year of our 5th we just had our second child. I said, "Don''t get me a ring now, I''ll wait until our 10th but you have to buy me 1 carat." I researched the diamond and we bought it for our 10th (it was a pretty round but had a flaw just off one of the prongs - kinda looked like a brown feather). Sadly, I was widowed (hub killed in a military helicopter crash, 11/90). A year later I had the diamond reset into a right hand ring. When I got engaged 4 years after that, I had the diamond reset into a pendant. Deciding that the setting was a little too flashy for me I had the diamond reset once more into a very plain setting - all three redone at the same store. I have the receipt for the ring resetting, I have the mounting for the second resetting (it was a designer that this store carried locally), but for the final remounting I remember it being so inexpensive that I paid in cash. I''m not even sure I got a receipt.
So, when my current hub said I could trade in my 1.08 Lazare for a bigger diamond, that sent me on an adventure that has been a blast up until this incident. I got this brainstorm and thought, "I''ll give my son-in-law the diamond that my daughter''s father gave me for our tenth, and he can have it set as a gift for their 5th anniv." I took the pendant in to the jewelry store where I am purchasing a 1.75 H VS1 diamond in a HOF Wondrous setting and asked him if he could give me an appraisal so I could give it to my son-in-law. I watched him take it, put it under the microscope and say, "This is not a diamond." I probably sat in shock for a few seconds before I jumped up to look. Sure enough, there was no flaw and the stone looked kinda blurry, rather than having crisp cuts. I''ve rarely worn it since I last had it reset, and have NEVER taken it in to have prongs checked or cleaned. I barely made it out of the store before I broke down. I called my DH and could barely talk. He was beside himself and insisted I not drive home (I was dealing with a respected jewelry store an hour from home) and go to my parents house (who lived around the corner). My mother thought someone had died (actually, I felt like he had, again). I just could not believe it. My first husband and I could not afford a gorgeous, huge diamond. I waited 10 years for this one and was so excited that I was going to pass it down to our daughter. I''ve found the first receipt, the second setting and am getting everything together to write the jewelry store in Virginia. I''m sure after all this time nothing will be done but hopefully I will feel better. Is this unusual?????? I mentioned this at a meeting (I feel like an advocate now for watching your diamond!) and a woman said, "You know, I used to work in a jewelry store when I was in high school. The owner had all CZ''s in the case because they showed better than some of the lesser quality diamonds. When someone purchased the item he would switch the CZ for a diamond." She said to him, "Isn''t that kinda like false advetising. They are seeing a flawless stone and you are putting one in with flaws." His reply, "But they are getting a diamond." Sheesh... So, how do you get prongs fixed? Do you sit in the workroom while they fix it?? I''m sorry this is so long, everytime I retell the story I get reworked up. Deb
I was engaged at 18 to a senior in college (USMA). He couldn''t afford a diamond and I said I would wait until we''d been married 5 years. Well, the year of our 5th we just had our second child. I said, "Don''t get me a ring now, I''ll wait until our 10th but you have to buy me 1 carat." I researched the diamond and we bought it for our 10th (it was a pretty round but had a flaw just off one of the prongs - kinda looked like a brown feather). Sadly, I was widowed (hub killed in a military helicopter crash, 11/90). A year later I had the diamond reset into a right hand ring. When I got engaged 4 years after that, I had the diamond reset into a pendant. Deciding that the setting was a little too flashy for me I had the diamond reset once more into a very plain setting - all three redone at the same store. I have the receipt for the ring resetting, I have the mounting for the second resetting (it was a designer that this store carried locally), but for the final remounting I remember it being so inexpensive that I paid in cash. I''m not even sure I got a receipt.
So, when my current hub said I could trade in my 1.08 Lazare for a bigger diamond, that sent me on an adventure that has been a blast up until this incident. I got this brainstorm and thought, "I''ll give my son-in-law the diamond that my daughter''s father gave me for our tenth, and he can have it set as a gift for their 5th anniv." I took the pendant in to the jewelry store where I am purchasing a 1.75 H VS1 diamond in a HOF Wondrous setting and asked him if he could give me an appraisal so I could give it to my son-in-law. I watched him take it, put it under the microscope and say, "This is not a diamond." I probably sat in shock for a few seconds before I jumped up to look. Sure enough, there was no flaw and the stone looked kinda blurry, rather than having crisp cuts. I''ve rarely worn it since I last had it reset, and have NEVER taken it in to have prongs checked or cleaned. I barely made it out of the store before I broke down. I called my DH and could barely talk. He was beside himself and insisted I not drive home (I was dealing with a respected jewelry store an hour from home) and go to my parents house (who lived around the corner). My mother thought someone had died (actually, I felt like he had, again). I just could not believe it. My first husband and I could not afford a gorgeous, huge diamond. I waited 10 years for this one and was so excited that I was going to pass it down to our daughter. I''ve found the first receipt, the second setting and am getting everything together to write the jewelry store in Virginia. I''m sure after all this time nothing will be done but hopefully I will feel better. Is this unusual?????? I mentioned this at a meeting (I feel like an advocate now for watching your diamond!) and a woman said, "You know, I used to work in a jewelry store when I was in high school. The owner had all CZ''s in the case because they showed better than some of the lesser quality diamonds. When someone purchased the item he would switch the CZ for a diamond." She said to him, "Isn''t that kinda like false advetising. They are seeing a flawless stone and you are putting one in with flaws." His reply, "But they are getting a diamond." Sheesh... So, how do you get prongs fixed? Do you sit in the workroom while they fix it?? I''m sorry this is so long, everytime I retell the story I get reworked up. Deb
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