shape
carat
color
clarity

New 1.03 RB Upgrade

Kunzite

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 17, 2009
Messages
1,183
First the stats:

Shape: Round Brilliant
Measurements: 6.45 - 6.49 x 4.00 mm
Carat Weight: 1.03 carats
Color Grade: H
Clarity Grade: SI1
Cut Grade: Excellent
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Excellent
Florescence: Strong Blue

The rings are 1.5mm each, size 6.5.

The Upgrade:

My original set was a three stone, Princess, trellis from The Shane Co with the center stone of .73 cts. I was always in love with Princess cut stones, but somewhere over the last few years (probably thanks to PS) I fell in love with rounds. I know there isn't a lot of love for chain stores on PS, which I understand, but the only way we had the budget to do an upgrade was to take advantage of Shane Co's upgrade policy. At first I was hesitant about trading in my stones knowing that I would get 2006 pricing as a credit, but after looking over the current inventory on their website the prices were nearly identical to what we purchased my original stones for. Next, I spent weeks trolling their online inventory for diamonds that would meet my standards. This was the hardest part of the entire process. After throwing out all diamonds without GIA or AGS certs the pool wasn't very big. I spent many days looking over certs and running HCA's on any diamond that met my criteria. In the end I only found three diamonds; one was sold while I was still looking, one was an SI2 that I wasn't so sure about, and the third was the stone I bought. Things did get a little tricky with my upgrade. Shane Co will send a stone from their online inventory to one of their stores for a refundable 20% fee. I'm okay with that, but we called twice to inquire about my stone and both times were told that their computers were showing it unavailable. I got a little annoyed about that since as you can see by my search results, good stones were few and far between! I didn't want to miss out on seeing this stone in person. So we did the only other thing we could, we bought the stone from the website knowing we could return it to the store if it wasn't right. Luckily that didn't happen! (Though I will say having the loose stone in my possession, at full price, was very nerve racking! I just kept thinking, "What if I lose it, what if I chip it, what if, what if!") One thing I noticed after looking over many, many stones on the Shane Co website is that their pricing doesn't take cut, polish, or symmetry into account at all. I would look at stones with exactly the same stats with exactly the same prices, but when I'd pull the certs on both they would be wildly different on cut (like poor and excellent). So that actually played to my advantage.

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Kunzite

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 17, 2009
Messages
1,183
8)

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Kunzite

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 17, 2009
Messages
1,183
8)

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Kunzite

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 17, 2009
Messages
1,183
8)

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Amys Bling

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jun 25, 2010
Messages
11,025
Beautiful upgrade! and your pictures are great- i need a photography lesson from you!!
 
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
214
Your upgrade is beautiful. Wear it in good health. :appl:
 

cokitty

Brilliant_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jun 5, 2011
Messages
1,298
Its lovely! Congrats!
 

wildcat03

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Apr 11, 2011
Messages
872
I love it! H/SI1 is such a sweet spot as far as I'm concerned! Love the arrows!
 

junebug17

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jun 17, 2009
Messages
13,648
Holy moley, that is just so beautiful!!! Classic, elegant and sparkly - it looks perfect on you!
 

Dandi

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 9, 2006
Messages
6,430
Gorgeous, I just love the setting, it's the perfect size on your lovely hand! Lucky girl!!! :love: :love:
 

lknvrb4

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
3,738
Gorgeous, I like that the band and ering match so perfectly.
 

mrsjacob

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jul 9, 2011
Messages
125
Very pretty! My mother-in-law gave me a diamond of hers (almost the same EXACT specs as yours), and I contemplated putting it in a very similar setting, so it's like I'm getting to see what it would've looked like...lol

It looks lovely on you. Really, really lovely!
 

luv2sparkle

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Feb 3, 2008
Messages
7,937
It looks like you did really well at Shane and Co, Kunzite! Your set is gorgeous!
 

marcy

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Feb 27, 2007
Messages
25,489
Kunzite, your upgrade is beautiful. I really like your rings together and you photos are fantastic!

BTW, our upgrade stories are almost identical except my 3/4 center stone was a RB. I worked hard to end up with my 1.03 RB Shane Classic too. :appl:
 

tannet

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Messages
204
It's a beautiful upgrade! Great job finding that needle in a haystack! In my opinion, it's the quality that matters, not who you bought it from. Enjoy your beautiful, big diamond!
 

AprilBaby

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jul 17, 2008
Messages
12,660
Gorgeous and fabulous photography!!!
 

Skippy123

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
Messages
24,299
Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!!!! :love: :love: :love: Looks perfect on your hand!!! Congrats, soooo HAPPY FOR YOU! :appl: :appl:
 

Sundial

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
5,532
You did such a good job putting to work what you learned on Pricescope and look what amazing rings you ended up with! Your set is so pretty and the diamond looks fantastic!!!
 

Shane Co.

Rough_Rock
Trade
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Messages
16
What an absolutely gorgeous stone! I'm really sorry to hear that you had such a hassle bringing in the stone to the store. I'd really like to follow up with the store and make sure that doesn't happen again. If you wouldn't mind, would you please email me more specifics about your visit? I'm not sure if you remember who you talked to, or any other details, but I would definitely appreciate any comments you have.
Thanks and again, I'm really sorry about the problems you had!
 

SC86

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Messages
195
I love how thin the bands are! It really makes the center stone stand out.
 
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