They wanted to keep my diamond for eight weeks.

[marlowe]

I have two questions I want to put out there…

1) My girlfriend really liked a setting at Derco. We looked all over the bay area (and online) and we just couldn’t find anything that she liked as much. I knew we were going to get the diamond from a jeweler I know and I thought we would get the setting at Derco. The jeweler offered to custom make a setting, but of course that’s very expensive. So I buy the diamond and go into Derco and they would absolutely not make this setting unless they had the diamond (for eight weeks). They wanted to ship my $9,000 diamond to their manufacturing plant somewhere so they could make a wax mold or something. I said they could make a photocopy of the GIA cert but they wanted the diamond. So I left and bought a different setting from my jeweler. Is Derco’s insistence on having my diamond to size the basket normal in the industry?

2) I read that even if the band is white gold the basket should be platinum. Then someone told be that gold and platinum have different melting points and because of this platinum baskets tend to separate from white gold bands. Anybody know about this?

Thanks!!

 

[FireGoddess]

My ring is entirely platinum, so I don''t know about the pt baskets separating from gold bands?!

As for question #1, it is not unreasonable. My jeweler had my pear the entire time they were doing the custom setting, including the wax molds. They took for-ever (try 2.5 times as long as what you were quoted) which was a point of contention but it is not unreasonable for them to want the actual stone in order to make the ring. Did your stone have a girdle inscription? Mine did, and I asked them to show it to me once the ring was made.

 

[marlowe]

Hi Firegoddess,

No inscription on the girdle. I’m going to get one though. Do you think I’m being too paranoid if I think someone would swap my diamond and put a duplicate inscription on it? How hard would it be to do if they had the equipment?

 

[FireGoddess]

They'd have to go through a heck of a lot of trouble.

Find diamond same dimensions as yours. Same color range as yours too.
Get inscription equipment or have it inscribed (though it's usually to match the report ID, which means they'd need a matching report too).

Even with that said and done, as long as your stone isn't FL or IF, it will have inclusions that can be mapped. That's impossible to copy.

 

[marlowe]

Very good point. I must remember to map the inclusions.

Thanks,

 

[FireGoddess]

No problem. And if your stone came with a report, they should have been mapped for you. Can take a look with a loupe yourself and see if you can locate them yourself...

 

[marlowe]

It’s an SI1. I’ve tried to find the inclusions on other SI1s and had a hard time. This diamond has some feathers that show on an ideal-scope, but I must be blind when it comes to a 10x loupe.

Another thing I just thought of… My initial step in learning about diamonds was reading Fred Cuellar’s book. He obviously has a bad rep here (PS), but he talks about only having the person you bought the diamond from do the setting. He states that some jewelers will intentionally
/maliciously damage the stone because they are mad you didn’t purchases the diamond from them. He even says beware of people who offer free cleanings etc ‘cause they will mess with the stone. Fred does install a deep mistrust of jewelers. I’m sure that was in my thoughts when Derco said they would have to have the diamond.

 

[FireGoddess]

LOL yes, I can see why you were thinking along those lines after reading what you read.

There is merit in one obvious area to having the seller of the stone do the setting of the stone: they assume responsibility for the stone if it chips during setting. Usually if you buy the stone somewhere and the setting elsewhere, it is wise to have the stone-seller do the setting, because the markup on a setting usually pales in comparison to the stone, so the person supplying the setting wouldn't want to risk chipping your stone and having to replace it.

I wouldn't worry about the switcheroo as much as potential damage to the stone during the setting process!! (I hope you will be insuring that lovely ring!!!)

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Yes, plenty of people here sent their diamond off to have the settings made. My current setting is all 18k white gold and I have not had any problem. There is no rule that the basket has to be platinum.

 

[neatfreak]

As others have mentioned, it''s normal for them to want the diamond while making the setting.

And as for the platinum basket, there are two reasons from what I understand to have a plat. basket:

1. If your ring consistently rubs against another band, platinum will not lose metal, it''s just moved, whereas gold will actually "scrape" off. So a gold basket might get thinner and thinner at the point where it hits a band (for example an eternity ring) and the gold metal would be worn down and eventually become so thin it might break.

2. Platinum is much more malleable than gold, so if you smack the basket on something a platinum one will bend, whereas gold might not, and it could make the difference between losing your diamond and just having a bent setting.

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 7/3/2007 7:43:44 PM
Author: marlowe

Very good point. I must remember to map the inclusions.

Thanks,

have an appraiser do it - if you can get all the up close documentation of your stone you're protecting yourself.... I sent my stone to my appraiser, he sent it to the designer, and the designer will send it to the appraiser and the appraiser will send it to me.

ETA my stone has been gone for over 16 weeks and will be a bit longer still... I've seen people with their stone gone for six months - sometimes even in foreign countries!

 

[mrssalvo]

6-8 weeks is normal for any type of custom setting and not unusual at all.

 

[snlee]

#1, It seems perfectly normal for the jeweler to request they have your diamond for 8 weeks while making your custom setting. I wouldn't worry about your diamond getting switched. I'm sure your GIA report has your inclusions mapped out. And #2, having a WG basket is fine.