Pair0Ducks
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2004
- Messages
- 36
I''ve been mainly lurking on Pricescope since March after I decided to buy my wife a 3 stone ring for our 10 year anniversary. I gobbled up all the info I could, asking a question here and there, then started hunting for diamonds. I checked out most of the Pricescope vendors and found myself going back again and again to the DirtCheapDiamonds site. Their prices seemed competitive, I had seen a few good reports and no bad ones, and their search engine was easy to use.
My budget was about $3500 and I knew there was to be no compromise on cut while I was realistic about color and clarity. I finally settled on this Signature Series diamond:
Shape: RB
Measurements: 5.98x6.02x3.70
Size: 0.805 ct
Color: G
Clarity: SI2
Fluor: neg
Cut: AGS 0
Depth: 61.7%
Table: 56%
Crown: 34.7 deg
Pav: 40.8 deg
Girdle: 1.0-1.7%
Sym: Ideal
Polish: Ideal
The stone scores a 1.4 on the HCA. Jim was very patient with me and pulled out 4 or 5 Signature stones to give me a personal accounting of each while looking under a loupe. This stone has a large feather outside the table and a very small inclusion dead center (hence the SI2). I was a little nervous about the feather, but Jim felt we could easily prong it and gave me lots of reassurance that it was a gorgeous stone. (He would compare one to the other among those I was looking for and felt this was among the best.) We picked a white gold setting from LeoIngwer with .25 ct sidestones and he said it would come in 2-3 weeks. After all was said and done I came in $50 under budget. Well, I was excited/nervous to get it and to my surprise it came in 5 days to my work. Now this is a 100% surprise for my wife. We are very practical when it comes to money and have a hard and fast rule that anniversaries and valentines present cannot cost more than $10. OK, so I cheated a little. Anyway, I had it sent to work so there would be no chance of it coming to her. I also used an old bank account we had left over from our last move. It''s hard to hide that much money in a healthy 10 year old relationship (especially when she does the books), but I managed to do it with some on the side moonlighting.
So I tear the box open, again a little nervous. I felt like I had done enough research that I knew what to expect, but there is always that little chance that you get a stone that doesn''t meet expectation. Would that feather show? Would it not be brilliant? etc. Well, I was floored. It is gorgeous. Even the side stones are brilliant. (My cynical side figured that non-certed side stones would be two diamonds pulled from a bucket of .25 stones with little thought put into matching them to such an ideal cut. I needn''t have worried.) Even with my ophthalmascope I cannot yet find that feather. It seems to perform best in direct sunlight where it is simply blinding (literally, you have to look away) with quite a bit of scintillation coming from the crown facets. However, it also looks excellent in indirect/indoor light, and even in candlelight it gives off warm sparks.
My only problem now is that the ring is boring a hole in my brain. Our anniversary isn''t until July 23rd and I will not give it to her before. I basically am a wreck because I''m so excited to let her have it. Currently it is hidden in the house up high because she''s 5 feet nothing. I plan to give it to her at dinner. I''m going to slip it to the dessert chef and have them make up a presentation plate and serve it to her as dessert.
I took some pictures, but my 3.0 digital isn''t doing it justice. The files are also a little large so I had trouble uploading. I may try to post them later, but my photoshop is at home and I don''t want to be caught working on it.
Anyway, hats off to Jim.
He provided excellent service at an excellent price. Now I did know exactly what I want (a point Jim poked some friendly fun at since he pegged me as the engineer/physician anal retentive type), but I had no hints that Jim was trying to steer me wrong. He even provided me with all the firescope images I wanted. His sales rep Joshua was also very helpful. If I had any criticism it was that any stone I would pick off the database which was not signature would be not available. Joshua said it was just a matter of my good taste. In the end, I''m happy I went with a signature anyway because someone I could talk to could look the stone over in person and give me details.
So I offer an unreserved recommendation for DirtCheapDiamonds. I had no problems and would shop there again if I ever get a girlfriend on the side.
My budget was about $3500 and I knew there was to be no compromise on cut while I was realistic about color and clarity. I finally settled on this Signature Series diamond:
Shape: RB
Measurements: 5.98x6.02x3.70
Size: 0.805 ct
Color: G
Clarity: SI2
Fluor: neg
Cut: AGS 0
Depth: 61.7%
Table: 56%
Crown: 34.7 deg
Pav: 40.8 deg
Girdle: 1.0-1.7%
Sym: Ideal
Polish: Ideal
The stone scores a 1.4 on the HCA. Jim was very patient with me and pulled out 4 or 5 Signature stones to give me a personal accounting of each while looking under a loupe. This stone has a large feather outside the table and a very small inclusion dead center (hence the SI2). I was a little nervous about the feather, but Jim felt we could easily prong it and gave me lots of reassurance that it was a gorgeous stone. (He would compare one to the other among those I was looking for and felt this was among the best.) We picked a white gold setting from LeoIngwer with .25 ct sidestones and he said it would come in 2-3 weeks. After all was said and done I came in $50 under budget. Well, I was excited/nervous to get it and to my surprise it came in 5 days to my work. Now this is a 100% surprise for my wife. We are very practical when it comes to money and have a hard and fast rule that anniversaries and valentines present cannot cost more than $10. OK, so I cheated a little. Anyway, I had it sent to work so there would be no chance of it coming to her. I also used an old bank account we had left over from our last move. It''s hard to hide that much money in a healthy 10 year old relationship (especially when she does the books), but I managed to do it with some on the side moonlighting.
So I tear the box open, again a little nervous. I felt like I had done enough research that I knew what to expect, but there is always that little chance that you get a stone that doesn''t meet expectation. Would that feather show? Would it not be brilliant? etc. Well, I was floored. It is gorgeous. Even the side stones are brilliant. (My cynical side figured that non-certed side stones would be two diamonds pulled from a bucket of .25 stones with little thought put into matching them to such an ideal cut. I needn''t have worried.) Even with my ophthalmascope I cannot yet find that feather. It seems to perform best in direct sunlight where it is simply blinding (literally, you have to look away) with quite a bit of scintillation coming from the crown facets. However, it also looks excellent in indirect/indoor light, and even in candlelight it gives off warm sparks.
My only problem now is that the ring is boring a hole in my brain. Our anniversary isn''t until July 23rd and I will not give it to her before. I basically am a wreck because I''m so excited to let her have it. Currently it is hidden in the house up high because she''s 5 feet nothing. I plan to give it to her at dinner. I''m going to slip it to the dessert chef and have them make up a presentation plate and serve it to her as dessert.
I took some pictures, but my 3.0 digital isn''t doing it justice. The files are also a little large so I had trouble uploading. I may try to post them later, but my photoshop is at home and I don''t want to be caught working on it.
Anyway, hats off to Jim.
So I offer an unreserved recommendation for DirtCheapDiamonds. I had no problems and would shop there again if I ever get a girlfriend on the side.
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