L
Lula
Guest
Hi, everyone,
A few weeks ago I posted my story about my decision to return a .45 D VS2 and start over in my search for a half-carat diamond for an anniversary ring.
previous post
For those of you who don''t want to take time to read the other post, the upshot is that the diamond was beautiful, but I felt like the diamond''s "personality" was not for me. Just another reason to read John Pollard''s article on Laboratory Cut Grades: What the Lab Report Doesn''t Show, which discusses differences in appearance between ideal cut diamonds. The vendor was great about the return -- so all of you lurkers out there who are still afraid to buy from online vendors can take comfort in that, too
In the previous post, I mentioned that I''d found a .53 J VS2 Crafted by Infinity stone that I e-mailed Wink from High Performance Diamonds about on Memorial Day (the day I decided to return the other ring).
.53 J VS2 Crafted by Infinity
Wink not only called me on Memorial Day after reading my e-mail, but he also offered to send the stone out to me ASAP so I could see it in person. I promised I''d follow-up after I received the Infinity, so here goes:
My reaction to the stone when I opened the package and saw it in its little ring holder was Wooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!! It was exactly what I was looking for. Wonderful contrast and the J color was soft and elegant looking. It looks wonderful in all sorts of lighting conditions and it has a complexity and depth to it that the other stone lacked. Storm and others on PS are always saying "Buy the stone that speaks to you" and I finally get what they''re saying. This stone spoke to me loud and clear -- it was really how I imagined my diamond would look.
Wink was at the Vegas convention when I received the stone, but still took time to check in with me via e-mail. His staff was great to work with and the package with the diamond contained a copy of the AGS report, a loupe, a hearts and arrows viewer and an Idealscope.
A few days after it arrived, I took the little guy to an independent appraiser and the first thing she said was "very pretty diamond." Then she put it under the microscope and said "This stone is really well-cut." She showed me what to look for under the scope so I could see the inclusions, and she showed me the girdle inscriptions -- the "VENUS by Crafted by in Infinity" mark and the mark that showed the stone was cut from Canadian rough. She was surprised the stone was a J, and she showed me the master stones that she uses to grade color. She was not dismissive at all about where I bought it (online) and was very interested in the fact that it came from an independent cutting firm (Crafted by Infinity, owned by Paul Slegers). Most important to me, she appraised the stone at nearly 2 times the amount I paid for it (she never saw the receipt, so she had no idea what the cost was).
Speaking of Paul Slegers, I just have to say I am so impressed by his vision and his principles. I was so happy to be buying a stone that was cut by an artisan-owned business. The cool -- kewl -- thing about Crafted by Infinity stones is that if you see a video of one of them (check out Wink''s site) and like the look of the stone, you can be assured that your very own Infinity will look the same. His stones have a very consistent "look" to them and the cut parameters are very, very tight, and I love that. Paul is well-known around PS for remembering the history/details of his stones and I asked Wink if he thought Paul would remember anything specific about my stone. Wink forwarded my question to Paul and Paul e-mailed me back right away with some details about the Canadian rough that my stone was cut from. First my husband did not believe me when I said, "I just got an e-mail from my diamond cutter in Antwerp," and now my husband thinks I have a secret crush on Paul, and he''s probably right !!!
Seriously, though, my husband said he was completely uninterested in diamonds and that I had free reign to find one, just don''t ask him to go shopping, yada-yada. This same guy has now admitted that he''s really happy that I found a diamond cut from Canadian rough and that I bought it from an independent retailer (Wink) and that it was cut by an artisan (Paul). My husband and I are committed to buying from local, independent artisan-owned businesses whenever we can, and we felt like in dealing with Paul and Wink, that we were able to honor that commitment. This whole process just felt "right" to us, even though the whole thing was conducted via the web. Hey, maybe globalization isn''t so bad after all.
After Wink got back from Vegas, we spoke on the phone about the Infinity, and Wink spent a long time with me discussing various settings. He is very patient!!! When I settled on the Royal Empress from Vatche, he got the Vatche rep on the phone with us so we could talk about price comparisons between white gold and platinum. I chose platinum. There are no Vatche dealers in my area, so this was a setting I wouldn''t be able to find easily without using the web.
It was so easy to work with Wink and I was really impressed (again) with his willingness to go the extra mile. He has a wonderful ability to put people at ease and I felt like I''d known him for years. Wink asked me if I''d seen a video of the stone. I said no, but that he might want to put one together since I was going to post my story on PS and that there would be a loud clamor for pictures! He promised to make a video of the stone when it comes back from Vatche. So, until then, the only thing I can post is a picture of my Vatche setting...I just can''t wait to see my finished ring and post the video and the requisite hand shots...Thanks to all of you who helped me with this process; your help has been invaluable. I promise to repay you with a boatload of pics!
A few weeks ago I posted my story about my decision to return a .45 D VS2 and start over in my search for a half-carat diamond for an anniversary ring.
previous post
For those of you who don''t want to take time to read the other post, the upshot is that the diamond was beautiful, but I felt like the diamond''s "personality" was not for me. Just another reason to read John Pollard''s article on Laboratory Cut Grades: What the Lab Report Doesn''t Show, which discusses differences in appearance between ideal cut diamonds. The vendor was great about the return -- so all of you lurkers out there who are still afraid to buy from online vendors can take comfort in that, too
In the previous post, I mentioned that I''d found a .53 J VS2 Crafted by Infinity stone that I e-mailed Wink from High Performance Diamonds about on Memorial Day (the day I decided to return the other ring).
.53 J VS2 Crafted by Infinity
Wink not only called me on Memorial Day after reading my e-mail, but he also offered to send the stone out to me ASAP so I could see it in person. I promised I''d follow-up after I received the Infinity, so here goes:
My reaction to the stone when I opened the package and saw it in its little ring holder was Wooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!! It was exactly what I was looking for. Wonderful contrast and the J color was soft and elegant looking. It looks wonderful in all sorts of lighting conditions and it has a complexity and depth to it that the other stone lacked. Storm and others on PS are always saying "Buy the stone that speaks to you" and I finally get what they''re saying. This stone spoke to me loud and clear -- it was really how I imagined my diamond would look.
Wink was at the Vegas convention when I received the stone, but still took time to check in with me via e-mail. His staff was great to work with and the package with the diamond contained a copy of the AGS report, a loupe, a hearts and arrows viewer and an Idealscope.
A few days after it arrived, I took the little guy to an independent appraiser and the first thing she said was "very pretty diamond." Then she put it under the microscope and said "This stone is really well-cut." She showed me what to look for under the scope so I could see the inclusions, and she showed me the girdle inscriptions -- the "VENUS by Crafted by in Infinity" mark and the mark that showed the stone was cut from Canadian rough. She was surprised the stone was a J, and she showed me the master stones that she uses to grade color. She was not dismissive at all about where I bought it (online) and was very interested in the fact that it came from an independent cutting firm (Crafted by Infinity, owned by Paul Slegers). Most important to me, she appraised the stone at nearly 2 times the amount I paid for it (she never saw the receipt, so she had no idea what the cost was).
Speaking of Paul Slegers, I just have to say I am so impressed by his vision and his principles. I was so happy to be buying a stone that was cut by an artisan-owned business. The cool -- kewl -- thing about Crafted by Infinity stones is that if you see a video of one of them (check out Wink''s site) and like the look of the stone, you can be assured that your very own Infinity will look the same. His stones have a very consistent "look" to them and the cut parameters are very, very tight, and I love that. Paul is well-known around PS for remembering the history/details of his stones and I asked Wink if he thought Paul would remember anything specific about my stone. Wink forwarded my question to Paul and Paul e-mailed me back right away with some details about the Canadian rough that my stone was cut from. First my husband did not believe me when I said, "I just got an e-mail from my diamond cutter in Antwerp," and now my husband thinks I have a secret crush on Paul, and he''s probably right
!!! Seriously, though, my husband said he was completely uninterested in diamonds and that I had free reign to find one, just don''t ask him to go shopping, yada-yada. This same guy has now admitted that he''s really happy that I found a diamond cut from Canadian rough and that I bought it from an independent retailer (Wink) and that it was cut by an artisan (Paul). My husband and I are committed to buying from local, independent artisan-owned businesses whenever we can, and we felt like in dealing with Paul and Wink, that we were able to honor that commitment. This whole process just felt "right" to us, even though the whole thing was conducted via the web. Hey, maybe globalization isn''t so bad after all.
After Wink got back from Vegas, we spoke on the phone about the Infinity, and Wink spent a long time with me discussing various settings. He is very patient!!! When I settled on the Royal Empress from Vatche, he got the Vatche rep on the phone with us so we could talk about price comparisons between white gold and platinum. I chose platinum. There are no Vatche dealers in my area, so this was a setting I wouldn''t be able to find easily without using the web.
It was so easy to work with Wink and I was really impressed (again) with his willingness to go the extra mile. He has a wonderful ability to put people at ease and I felt like I''d known him for years. Wink asked me if I''d seen a video of the stone. I said no, but that he might want to put one together since I was going to post my story on PS and that there would be a loud clamor for pictures! He promised to make a video of the stone when it comes back from Vatche. So, until then, the only thing I can post is a picture of my Vatche setting...I just can''t wait to see my finished ring and post the video and the requisite hand shots...Thanks to all of you who helped me with this process; your help has been invaluable. I promise to repay you with a boatload of pics!
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