So, I am feeling a little better after a quiet day on my own. Now I've got new problems. Bling problems! I went to the Lanes today (the famous jewellery quarter in my hometown of Brighton, UK) and I saw some things that are competing with the Cartier Trinity that awaits me at Heathrow Terminal 5 airside.
I can only get one of the following:
a) A stunning large pendant consisting of an Art Deco-style diamond fan with a long drop beneath it, from which dangles a large teardrop aquamarine. 18k white gold. 695 pounds.
b) A sapphire half-eternity ring, all princess cut, 0.68 carats sapphire and 0.20 of diamonds. What's special about this is that the sapphires are a gorgeous mid-cornflower blue and so don't go dark in any light. 680 pounds.
c) A Cartier Trinity ring, the version where each band is 2.9mm, for 666 pounds.
Considering that a and b are practically the same price, choice "a" gives some serious bling and looks like it costs about four times as much as it really does. But I wasn't after a pendant like this, although it's gorgeous. I've been after a sapphire and diamond princess eternity for a while, but it looks like so much less than the pendant. The SA told me that the sapphires were not heat-treated but I don't think she knew what she was talking about as 99% of sapphires are heat-treated, and also she said that they don't deal in coloured stones. And indeed, the vast majority of the stock was diamonds.
The diamond and aquamarine pendant was there a few months ago and might be there at my next trip, and same goes for the sapphire ring. The turnover of jewellery in the Lanes doesn't seem very high. I often see the same things in the window at each trip. I might not get another chance to get the Cartier, since it's a crapshoot as to whether they will have my size at the airport, and there might be a price rise before my next trip, and the pound is strong right now. But I'm not sure if I want the Trinity. It's a lot of money for plain gold and no stones. A poster on another thread said that for $1k there'd better be stones, and I quite agree. It's the reason I haven't bought the Tiffany Luce earrings that really suit me. But how lovely to wear a Cartier every day, and the Trinity is very well made - rolls around like butter on your finger.
Decisions decisions! Yes, I know no one can advise me and it's my choice. But it's fun to muse aloud. Takes your mind off things.
That aquamarine is a serious case of putting on the ritz. God knows where I'd wear it!
I can only get one of the following:
a) A stunning large pendant consisting of an Art Deco-style diamond fan with a long drop beneath it, from which dangles a large teardrop aquamarine. 18k white gold. 695 pounds.
b) A sapphire half-eternity ring, all princess cut, 0.68 carats sapphire and 0.20 of diamonds. What's special about this is that the sapphires are a gorgeous mid-cornflower blue and so don't go dark in any light. 680 pounds.
c) A Cartier Trinity ring, the version where each band is 2.9mm, for 666 pounds.
Considering that a and b are practically the same price, choice "a" gives some serious bling and looks like it costs about four times as much as it really does. But I wasn't after a pendant like this, although it's gorgeous. I've been after a sapphire and diamond princess eternity for a while, but it looks like so much less than the pendant. The SA told me that the sapphires were not heat-treated but I don't think she knew what she was talking about as 99% of sapphires are heat-treated, and also she said that they don't deal in coloured stones. And indeed, the vast majority of the stock was diamonds.
The diamond and aquamarine pendant was there a few months ago and might be there at my next trip, and same goes for the sapphire ring. The turnover of jewellery in the Lanes doesn't seem very high. I often see the same things in the window at each trip. I might not get another chance to get the Cartier, since it's a crapshoot as to whether they will have my size at the airport, and there might be a price rise before my next trip, and the pound is strong right now. But I'm not sure if I want the Trinity. It's a lot of money for plain gold and no stones. A poster on another thread said that for $1k there'd better be stones, and I quite agree. It's the reason I haven't bought the Tiffany Luce earrings that really suit me. But how lovely to wear a Cartier every day, and the Trinity is very well made - rolls around like butter on your finger.
Decisions decisions! Yes, I know no one can advise me and it's my choice. But it's fun to muse aloud. Takes your mind off things.
That aquamarine is a serious case of putting on the ritz. God knows where I'd wear it!