Jewelers in the Midwest...?

[cdander2]

Hoping to gather some information on jewelers in the Midwest. I am looking at settings for an engagement ring and would really like to go with VC, LM, or SK. I love the looks and the idea of a hand forged setting. The problem is that I live in Iowa and would prefer to work with someone a bit closer to home.

So, are there any jewelers who do hand forged settings in the midwest? Or do any of you PriceScoper's have any recommendations for other Jewelers closer to where I live?

 

[ame]

Not sure where in Iowa you are but Dimend Scassi in Chicago is great, and there are a few in STL and surely KC that will work with you. As far as completely hand forged, the only one that springs to my mind is Adam Foster http://www.fosterjewelry.com/ and that assumes he really does hand forge. Jim Summa may also. There's another I cannot think of the name of. Both are in St. Louis.

I have never met Adam, he's got a shop in Clayton in St. Louis, but Jim rules.

 

[ame]

Not sure where in Iowa you are but Dimend Scassi in Chicago is great, and there are a few in STL and surely KC that will work with you. As far as completely hand forged, the only one that springs to my mind is Adam Foster http://www.fosterjewelry.com/ and that assumes he really does hand forge. Jim Summa may also. There's another I cannot think of the name of. Both are in St. Louis.

I have never met Adam, he's got a shop in Clayton in St. Louis, but Jim rules.

I wanted to bump this tonight because tonight I met Adam in person. He's pretty damn cool. But he did tell me he does cast work from wax (and some AMAZING wax work), so if anyone wants totally hand forged, that might not be what you want. However...for a cast work from wax...HOLY. CRAP. His work is absolutely unbelievable. He works at 200X for setting stones. Which to me was music to my ears! Most of his work is custom, so there are not just cases in his shop full of things. He does not work with branded stones or settings, he does it all in house on his own. He does some absolutely divine pave work too, btw, from what I saw.

He has been putting pieces on Etsy lately, in a specific price range on purpose, and the pieces are quite nice.

Just wanted to update this!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Oh, he has some unique settings, Ame! Lots of rose gold.

This is pretty:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/103325074/diamond-halo-heart-basket-engagement?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=adam+foster&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=all

 

[ame]

Yea the baskets are SO NEAT. Dainty but seem strong. He doesn't have a lot if any plat in his Etsy store but he can and does work in Plat. I made sure. The designs are super cool. There are a couple antique-look settings that with an AVR or AVC...holy smokes.

 

[packrat]

Oooo the gallery of that ring is amazing! I have to go do some browsing now!