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- Aug 14, 2009
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These two stones, purchased five years apart from different vendors, could be proportions twins 
A)
2.69 GIA J SI2 EX/EX/EX, Fluor None
Upgrade from Whiteflash
From WF's Sarin:
Table 54.4, Crown 34.6, Pavilion 40.9, Star 50, LGF 76
http://www.gia.edu/cs/Satellite?reportno=2106541738&childpagename=GIA%2FPage%2FReportCheck&pagename=GIA%2FDispatcher&c=Page&cid=1355954554547
B)
2.71 AGSL J SI1 0/0/0, Fluor Neg.
TrueHearts from James Allen
From the AGS DQD:
Table 54.5, Crown 34.6, Pavilion 40.9, Star 45, LGF 77
http://www.agslab.com/pdf_sync_reports/104077709002-PDQDFK.PDF
Earrings... have always been my sweet spot when it comes to jewellery. Of the pieces most likely to haunt my dreams and walk off with my wallet... the vast majority are earrings!! After a happy few months admiring beautiful, sizable studs from M2B, Phoenix, ClassyRocks, derbygal, DS, Megeve, and oh so many other PSers who've contributed to the "Show Me Your Diamond Studs" thread I half-heartedly started scouring various vendors' inventories for a mate for my E-ring stone, fully prepared to wait several months...
...And, of course, the perfect match materialised at JA within a couple of weeks, well before I was ready to commit to or pay for anything! And so the scramble began. I'd originally planned to have David at Diamonds by Lauren source a second stone and have his hand-forging bench adapt their "Uber Flower" setting, which I completely adore and which I thought would complement the modern RBs nicely, but I'd sold my OEC studs several weeks earlier (to another wonderful PSer!) and missed them... and decided to go with a possibly-anachronistic 'estate-y' aesthetic anyway. I've loved Erika's "Grace" setting since I first saw photos of it, so the obvious next step was to reach out to Grace with my inspirations And after a few sanity-check emails to other PSers and some unexpected luck I snagged the stone and off to the West Coast it went
Both Grace and Erika are wonderful to work with!! Erika is a marvellously talented designer with an exceptional bench, and communication with both vendors was consistently remarkably quick and extremely thorough. Lists of questions were answered one by one with extra commentary, requests for assistance with logistics, design adjustments, and additional photos were indulged without hesitation, and I believe at one point I referred to Erika as a "nitpicker's wet dream" she's a persnickety perfectionist and I, contrary to my usual disposition, was completely at ease leaving this project in her hands: I trusted her to address the details and ask me about those I'd want input on. Of course, loving the first iteration of the design she came up with was a good sign
I think I've actually never exchanged fewer emails with a vendor
Erika's work is definitely pricey, IMO, but it brings a commensurate experience. I felt she was "looking out for" my project and was invested in ensuring nothing slipped through the cracks. The workmanship on my earrings is exquisite 
- I wholeheartedly recommend both Erika and JbG and will happily go back with other projects!!
Re. the stones themselves - owning a pair so closely matched on paper is very interesting. I find that I always know which is which in-person, without a loupe, no matter what lighting environment I'm in. In sunlight I expect to see slightly bigger, slower flashes of colour from the WF. In diffuse lighting I expect the JA to "turn on/off" with slightly less tilt. Unsurprisingly, they look most similar in spotlights To my eyes the AGSL J has slightly more body colour than the GIA J, but that difference is only visible in profile (and even then isn't noticeable unless one is specifically looking for it and the lighting is favourable). I honestly can't say that one is objectively prettier than the other but they definitely are *different*, and to me it's just testament to the refrain of needing to see a stone with one's own eyes to fall in love with it because the tools we commonly use on RT to simplify selection just aren't sensitive enough to capture and convey the nuances... And, well, beautiful as they both are I do have a favourite - I still like my old stone better. Maybe it's a long-term relationship thing
A)
2.69 GIA J SI2 EX/EX/EX, Fluor None
Upgrade from Whiteflash
From WF's Sarin:
Table 54.4, Crown 34.6, Pavilion 40.9, Star 50, LGF 76
http://www.gia.edu/cs/Satellite?reportno=2106541738&childpagename=GIA%2FPage%2FReportCheck&pagename=GIA%2FDispatcher&c=Page&cid=1355954554547
B)
2.71 AGSL J SI1 0/0/0, Fluor Neg.
TrueHearts from James Allen
From the AGS DQD:
Table 54.5, Crown 34.6, Pavilion 40.9, Star 45, LGF 77
http://www.agslab.com/pdf_sync_reports/104077709002-PDQDFK.PDF
Earrings... have always been my sweet spot when it comes to jewellery. Of the pieces most likely to haunt my dreams and walk off with my wallet... the vast majority are earrings!! After a happy few months admiring beautiful, sizable studs from M2B, Phoenix, ClassyRocks, derbygal, DS, Megeve, and oh so many other PSers who've contributed to the "Show Me Your Diamond Studs" thread I half-heartedly started scouring various vendors' inventories for a mate for my E-ring stone, fully prepared to wait several months...
...And, of course, the perfect match materialised at JA within a couple of weeks, well before I was ready to commit to or pay for anything! And so the scramble began. I'd originally planned to have David at Diamonds by Lauren source a second stone and have his hand-forging bench adapt their "Uber Flower" setting, which I completely adore and which I thought would complement the modern RBs nicely, but I'd sold my OEC studs several weeks earlier (to another wonderful PSer!) and missed them... and decided to go with a possibly-anachronistic 'estate-y' aesthetic anyway. I've loved Erika's "Grace" setting since I first saw photos of it, so the obvious next step was to reach out to Grace with my inspirations
And after a few sanity-check emails to other PSers and some unexpected luck I snagged the stone and off to the West Coast it went Both Grace and Erika are wonderful to work with!! Erika is a marvellously talented designer with an exceptional bench, and communication with both vendors was consistently remarkably quick and extremely thorough. Lists of questions were answered one by one with extra commentary, requests for assistance with logistics, design adjustments, and additional photos were indulged without hesitation, and I believe at one point I referred to Erika as a "nitpicker's wet dream"
she's a persnickety perfectionist and I, contrary to my usual disposition, was completely at ease leaving this project in her hands: I trusted her to address the details and ask me about those I'd want input on. Of course, loving the first iteration of the design she came up with was a good sign I think I've actually never exchanged fewer emails with a vendor
Erika's work is definitely pricey, IMO, but it brings a commensurate experience. I felt she was "looking out for" my project and was invested in ensuring nothing slipped through the cracks. The workmanship on my earrings is exquisite - I wholeheartedly recommend both Erika and JbG and will happily go back with other projects!!Re. the stones themselves - owning a pair so closely matched on paper is very interesting. I find that I always know which is which in-person, without a loupe, no matter what lighting environment I'm in. In sunlight I expect to see slightly bigger, slower flashes of colour from the WF. In diffuse lighting I expect the JA to "turn on/off" with slightly less tilt. Unsurprisingly, they look most similar in spotlights
To my eyes the AGSL J has slightly more body colour than the GIA J, but that difference is only visible in profile (and even then isn't noticeable unless one is specifically looking for it and the lighting is favourable). I honestly can't say that one is objectively prettier than the other but they definitely are *different*, and to me it's just testament to the refrain of needing to see a stone with one's own eyes to fall in love with it because the tools we commonly use on RT to simplify selection just aren't sensitive enough to capture and convey the nuances... And, well, beautiful as they both are I do have a favourite - I still like my old stone better. Maybe it's a long-term relationship thing 
What a perfect match (can you tell us which is which for us novice PS'ers)! They look glorious on your earlobes, too! 
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