Jeweler recommendations in Chicago

[sneakyp]

On with the Hunt (trumpets blare and the foxhounds are yelping!)! My search for the perfect radiant cut diamond has begun. My wife and i will be in Chicago in about 10 days and i am arranging to view some Original Radiant Cut Diamonds. However i would like to go to a couple of reputable jewelers that same weekend and compare some radiant cut diamonds that are of the non branded variety. Does anyone have a recommendation for a jeweler? I have really not seen a radiant cut up close and personal so i just want to see some comparisons with my naked eye and then worry about ASET and the other technologies later on. I think my wife and i will probably head to New York and possibly Houston for a weekend as well at some point in the future to see what the vendors have to offer. Thanks!

 

[woofmama]

Make an appoinment with Dimend Scassi. Many people on this board have bought from them and they have beautiful settings. They're in the Chicago Diamond District so I'm sure there are other jewelers you can visit. I know that you do have to have an appoinment though. Here's the link: http://www.dimendscaasi.com/

Happy shopping!

 

[Rosebloom]

Make an appoinment with Dimend Scassi. Many people on this board have bought from them and they have beautiful settings. They're in the Chicago Diamond District so I'm sure there are other jewelers you can visit. I know that you do have to have an appoinment though. Here's the link: http://www.dimendscaasi.com/

Happy shopping!

I second this recommendation! He's the only jeweler in Chicago that I've dealt with that has and uses an ASET. He's extremely knowledgable. Yes you'll need an appointment and let him know what kind of stones to pull for you to check out.

 

[Rosebloom]

Make an appoinment with Dimend Scassi. Many people on this board have bought from them and they have beautiful settings. They're in the Chicago Diamond District so I'm sure there are other jewelers you can visit. I know that you do have to have an appoinment though. Here's the link: http://www.dimendscaasi.com/

Happy shopping!

I second this recommendation! He's the only jeweler in Chicago that I've dealt with that has and uses an ASET. He's extremely knowledgable. Yes you'll need an appointment and let him know what kind of stones to pull for you to check out.

 

[sneakyp]

Thanks woofmama and rosebloom. i had DS on my list after i started the thread and was doing some trolling with a general chicago jeweler search and DS popped up and found quite an extensive number of threads on that jeweler. Have any of you knowledge of M. Martin and company, new york jewelers, steve quick jewelers ( i am actually going there to see some original radiant cut diamonds as he is one of their dealers...gotta see what all the fuss is about these ORCD's). Most of these are clustered in the jewelry district except for Quick who is not too far north of the Loop. My wife and I are just trying to get a first impression of the branded and non branded radiants so it should be fun. No pressure of deciding which stone, which vendor, how big, how small, settings etc. Yeah, i guess the FUN comes later.

 

[Rosebloom]

I've been to New York Jewelers. They had a big selection but I had such odd conversations with the staff member I met with (kept trying to convince me that all of James Allen's and GOG's images were all fake and other random tidbits). And he had never heard of an ASET. So personally I don't want to shop there, but they may be perfectly fine for your needs. Maybe just don't put too much stock in what they tell you especially if it doesn't mesh with what you've read here.

 

[Rosebloom]

And Quick is one if the nicer places in town - should be fun!

 

[woofmama]

I went to Steve Quick to try on the Sholdt setting and brought my diamond which I had purchased online. They were quoting an extremely high price for the setting-$2700.00 and telling me there was an upcharge for the size, insurance, $300 to ship my diamond,etc. The setting is a plain 18k WG solitaire. Thru Pearlmans I paid under $1400.00 for the exact designer setting.

I strongly advise you to only window shop there! I guarantee their prices will be way over what you could do elsewhere.
Make sure you post any stones you are considering here with the gia cert numbers, photos, etc. You can get valuble feedback if the price is fair or not.

 

[jfmiii]

ill be another recommendation for DS. although I ended up getting my stone elsewhere, Isaac was awesome. sat with me for a few hours on 2 occasions and was VERY helpful. he ended up making my setting for me and my fiancee's ring is beautiful. his prices are very good but will be cheaper from PS vendor online. that being said, if you are one of those people who cant make that big of a purchase sight unseen, DS is your best bet in chicago. even if you buy a stone online, id go to Isaac for the setting.

 

[04diamond<3]

I've been to New York Jewelers. They had a big selection but I had such odd conversations with the staff member I met with (kept trying to convince me that all of James Allen's and GOG's images were all fake and other random tidbits). And he had never heard of an ASET. So personally I don't want to shop there, but they may be perfectly fine for your needs. Maybe just don't put too much stock in what they tell you especially if it doesn't mesh with what you've read here.

That's where my center stone was from. They showed me like five and in their lighting ended up giving us what GIA would consider an I1 stone and the cut isn't that great. I wish I'd known more about diamonds then so I could have gotten the best stone from them. They're also a bit steep.

But the diamond district has a number of places you could see. I used to work their at a casting manufacturer so there are definitely a lot of options. I'd still stick with getting the stone from one of our vendors unless you find a better deal.

 

[sneakyp]

I went to Steve Quick to try on the Sholdt setting and brought my diamond which I had purchased online. They were quoting an extremely high price for the setting-$2700.00 and telling me there was an upcharge for the size, insurance, $300 to ship my diamond,etc. The setting is a plain 18k WG solitaire. Thru Pearlmans I paid under $1400.00 for the exact designer setting.

I strongly advise you to only window shop there! I guarantee their prices will be way over what you could do elsewhere.
Make sure you post any stones you are considering here with the gia cert numbers, photos, etc. You can get valuble feedback if the price is fair or not.

Thanks, i really appreciate that. we are going there mainly because it's the only place close that we can view the Original Radiant Cut diamonds. hopefully we will be able to view at some of the other vendors mentioned non branded radiant cuts for comparative purposes. the sales rep e-mailed me and said they would have some other stones for me to look at after i sent her our parameters for the stone. plus, this is just the first part of what i feel will be a quest of epic proportions...a proverbial search for the Holy Grail!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

The people at Steve Quick are very nice but their stones and settings are high priced. Dimend Scaasi is nice and they have a great selection of AGS/GIA rounds (didn't look at fancies, but I'm sure they have a nice selection of those too). DS was the only place in Chicago that carried Infinity diamonds, IIRC.

My personal favorite was Windy City Diamonds, also in the Diamond District. Less fancy shopfront (unless they've changed things in the last couple of years) than DS or SQ, but they have an excellent bench - I used them for many of my colored stone pieces, had my five-stone made by them, same with my bezeled band. If you look through my previous threads, almost all of my pieces were set by WCD. Also, pricing is competitive. However, I don't know what their selection of radiants is like - worth a call to ask though.

 

[sneakyp]

The people at Steve Quick are very nice but their stones and settings are high priced. Dimend Scaasi is nice and they have a great selection of AGS/GIA rounds (didn't look at fancies, but I'm sure they have a nice selection of those too). DS was the only place in Chicago that carried Infinity diamonds, IIRC.

My personal favorite was Windy City Diamonds, also in the Diamond District. Less fancy shopfront (unless they've changed things in the last couple of years) than DS or SQ, but they have an excellent bench - I used them for many of my colored stone pieces, had my five-stone made by them, same with my bezeled band. If you look through my previous threads, almost all of my pieces were set by WCD. Also, pricing is competitive. However, I don't know what their selection of radiants is like - worth a call to ask though.

Thanks BEG....they are on the list

 

[CharmyPoo]

If you want to see some old stones, go down a few floors to My Diamond Zone who carries lovely old stones.

 

[sneakyp]

If you want to see some old stones, go down a few floors to My Diamond Zone who carries lovely old stones.

hey while why not, it's a weekend of "Jewelry, Jewelry, Jewelry!"