how long did you wait for your cushion?

[sweetpea&babycorn]

thanks all! i''m so excited!! i''m thinking about getting the WF legato solitaire. i love the head!

Date: 12/1/2009 11:29:21 AM
Author: Madam Bijoux
I''m still waiting. Still looking at as many of them as possible until the right one jumps at me.

madam, if you like the left stone, it''s a 1.57 J VS2 from james allen. mark still has it so if you call him and refer to it, i''m sure you can work it out. he said great things about this stone and was pleasantly surprised by it. it''s just my personal preference to go with the other one. it''s also a great price, under 6K. beautiful stone!

 

[Madam Bijoux]

Thanks, sweetpea & babycorn!

 

[ChunkyCushionLover]

Date: 12/1/2009 11:09:23 AM
Author: sweetpea&babycorn
ok so here goes (this is going to be long).

we met with mark at his house in upstate NY (beautiful place!). we were in a room with lots of natural light. we also we there when the sun was setting and it was getting dark, so we got to see it in different light settings etc. mark was amazing! he walked us through all the parts of the cushion and explained the difference between cushions and rounds, and how cutters can make more money by cutting rounds, etc. which is why cushion brilliants are so hard to find despite being the 2nd most popular stone.

he then explained the difference between the 2.09 cushion brilliant and the 1.57 modified cushion brilliant. a lot of it has to do with saving weight and making more money. the modified one is an 8-main but its pavilions only extend to the end of the table. by doing this, cutters save a lot of weight, but they also preserve the brilliant performance of a cushion brilliant in the center of the stone. A cushion brilliant takes a lot more diamond to make, but the pavilions will extend to the end of the stone.

we got to take a close look at both. first, under the loupe. both looked beautiful, and we could identify the pattern in the modified 8 better than the brilliant. looking at the stones as a whole, i liked the larger one better. the problem with the smaller modified one was that because the pavilions only extend to the end of the table rather than to the end of the stone, it looks like the table of the stone is framed and the edges of the diamond look lifeless to me. i didn''t like that because it made the edge of the diamond look like glass. mark said setting it wouldn''t fix that appearance. so bf and i had a long discussion in the car and he is so sweet, he said to pick the one that would make me the happiest. despite the price difference of almost 2-fold, i chose the 2.09 cushion brilliant. it''s a great size, beautiful diamond, and it also seemed to be mark''s choice too. so now we will pick a solitaire setting!!!

the cushion i picked is the one on the right in the picture above.

Congratulations on finding your stone! Looking forward to seeing it set. For education sake did you happen to get mark to do an ASET for you of the one you chose?

 

[sweetpea&babycorn]

oh!!! i just called ERD and left a message for mark about getting the ASET done. I think he will, since my bf sent the bankwire i''ll post it here. i''m starting a new thread about settings

 

[Lorelei]

sweetpea, you picked a beautiful cushion, congratulations!!!!

 

[bgray]

ERD normally doesnt supply any of those things...........ASET etc.

 

[dani13]

Date: 12/2/2009 10:36:41 AM
Author: bgray
ERD normally doesnt supply any of those things...........ASET etc.

Ditto. Your appraiser can most likely do it for you.

Sweet pea- Im going to need your help now!!! See my most recent thread!!!

 

[sweetpea&babycorn]

thank you everyone!!!!! i LOVE the support here

it''s great we got our perfect cushion, but i can''t decide on a setting. i will make another thread asking for help

bgray - i had no idea ERD doesn''t do it

i left a message for mark which hopefully he''ll call me back. and you''re right, i can just get an appraiser to do it.

dani - i''ll try to be as helpful as possible!!! but ChunkyCushionLover helped me find the cushion we are purchasing but like i said to Madam Bijoux, the James Allen stone is still up for grabs (it''s back on their site). it is a beautiful stone, and mark liked how it performed. and to me, it is a STEAL. it''s under $6K with the pricescope discount, a little lower color (J, but a high J/low I), and VS2 clarity. and it''s also within your carat range - 1.57ct, 6.82mm.

 

[ChunkyCushionLover]

Date: 12/2/2009 10:36:41 AM
Author: bgray
ERD normally doesnt supply any of those things...........ASET etc.

He does upon request I got several.