Sagefemme
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2015
- Messages
- 290
It's been a long time since I posted (or even looked at) anything on Pricescope, but I need to show you my recent "acquisition" from Crafted by Infinity, High Performance Diamonds, and Sholdt Jewelry. It's a long meandering story, where one thing leads to another which leads to another and before you know it you have a ring you never would have gotten from inception!!
The story begins a few years ago, when I bought a ring from website pictures, of an oval pink tourmaline from Greenwich Jewelry. The stone seemed fine, nothing super-special, but it was set in a ring I had admired previously, from Sholdt. It's from the Fern collection and is pictured here with a diamond. The tourmaline ring from Greenwich Jewelers was on sale and was greatly discounted. I don't seem to have a picture of the setting with the tourmaline in it.
So I get the ring with the tourmaline and over time I decide I do love the setting but I don't love the stone. It just was not a great color, more shrimp or salmon than pink, and a bit muddy-looking. I had started looking at CBI diamonds and High Performance Diamonds and got the idea of replacing the tourmaline with a CBI diamond. The purchase of a 1.29, J, SI1 stone went beautifully with Wink and his team and I ended up with a solitaire I loved, and wore with all different types of wedding bands and it looked great.
Fast forward a bit and the ubiquitous diamond upgrade fever overtook me.......one of my issues is that my hands, always biggish and strong (I'm a midwife by training and these hands always served me well at work), are becoming increasingly thick as my arthritis progresses. I have no pain at all in my fingers, but comparisons to sausages are sadly becoming more apt over time......... I loved the 1.29 but felt something larger would suit my size 7.5 ring finger better.
And guess what? Wink had the perfect stone for an upgrade, a 2.25, J, SI1. Wink's upgrade policy made it relatively painless (one feels one has not incurred any losses in the exchange).
But now there's a new issue (remember I said one thing leads to another). The new stone is a bit too big for the original setting. Wink and I discussed at length his bench making a larger replica but eventually he felt it best for Sholdt to make a larger version to accommodate the larger stone. I found Sholdt very easy to communicate with, but HPD did most of the logistics and eventually the new, upsized setting and the new stone are merged. Perfection, right??
I don't know how it happened, after not looking at PS, jewelry, diamonds, and the like for quite a while, but one day I noticed there was a cut-to-order diamond pending completion on Wink's website, in the 2.7 carat range, and predicted to be in the "lower" color range which is my personal sweet spot for getting more size out of my purchases. I went from thinking my jewelry life was complete to thinking, should I contact Wink? When we first talked about the stone-to-be he told me there was already a buyer for that stone. Whew, saved, I thought. But wouldn't you know, that buyer backed out and Wink made it mine. BUT NOW I REALLY AM DONE! YOU ARE MY WITNESSES! Here's the vid from Wink:
This stone and the overall ring are just as wonderful as the other two, smaller versions, of it (but bigger!). I have been wearing it exclusively since I received it in June. The bigger stone has a much bigger impact on my finger. It goes without saying, in this crowd, that a CBI diamond is a blinding, scintillating, wowing work of art, and at 2.77 carats I know how lucky I am to wear a ring of this quality and size.
I would never in my wildest dreams have purchased a such a large, valuable stone outright. But here is where the amazing lifetime upgrade policy from HPD comes in. I know, of course, that the 2.77 cost exactly what it cost. But the ability to arrive at this stone incrementally, stepwise, is what allowed it to happen relatively painlessly, for me. I don't know where else in the retail world you get full credit for a previous purchase after having worn and enjoyed it for years. It's remarkable.
But one of the most important parts of the story is the customer service piece. I know everyone here already knows this, but I'll say it again: Wink and his team are a pinnacle of knowledge, enthusiasm, attention to detail, and sincere (I mean SINCERE, you can feel it in every interaction) desire to make their customers happy. Down to the last detail. Every time. I know, because I keep going back! They simply have uber high standards and meet their own standards unfailingly, at least in my experience. Unequivocally recommended. Plus they all seem like lovely human beings.
Ok, I'll shut up now.
Here are a few pictures. I'm not much of a photographer so none do the ring justice. I'm going to try to get my husband, who has real cameras and lenses and does take great pictures, to take some better shots for me to post. For some reason he finds blue herons and bald eagles better subjects than diamond rings. Crazy, right?
The story begins a few years ago, when I bought a ring from website pictures, of an oval pink tourmaline from Greenwich Jewelry. The stone seemed fine, nothing super-special, but it was set in a ring I had admired previously, from Sholdt. It's from the Fern collection and is pictured here with a diamond. The tourmaline ring from Greenwich Jewelers was on sale and was greatly discounted. I don't seem to have a picture of the setting with the tourmaline in it.
So I get the ring with the tourmaline and over time I decide I do love the setting but I don't love the stone. It just was not a great color, more shrimp or salmon than pink, and a bit muddy-looking. I had started looking at CBI diamonds and High Performance Diamonds and got the idea of replacing the tourmaline with a CBI diamond. The purchase of a 1.29, J, SI1 stone went beautifully with Wink and his team and I ended up with a solitaire I loved, and wore with all different types of wedding bands and it looked great.
Fast forward a bit and the ubiquitous diamond upgrade fever overtook me.......one of my issues is that my hands, always biggish and strong (I'm a midwife by training and these hands always served me well at work), are becoming increasingly thick as my arthritis progresses. I have no pain at all in my fingers, but comparisons to sausages are sadly becoming more apt over time......... I loved the 1.29 but felt something larger would suit my size 7.5 ring finger better.
And guess what? Wink had the perfect stone for an upgrade, a 2.25, J, SI1. Wink's upgrade policy made it relatively painless (one feels one has not incurred any losses in the exchange).
But now there's a new issue (remember I said one thing leads to another). The new stone is a bit too big for the original setting. Wink and I discussed at length his bench making a larger replica but eventually he felt it best for Sholdt to make a larger version to accommodate the larger stone. I found Sholdt very easy to communicate with, but HPD did most of the logistics and eventually the new, upsized setting and the new stone are merged. Perfection, right??
I don't know how it happened, after not looking at PS, jewelry, diamonds, and the like for quite a while, but one day I noticed there was a cut-to-order diamond pending completion on Wink's website, in the 2.7 carat range, and predicted to be in the "lower" color range which is my personal sweet spot for getting more size out of my purchases. I went from thinking my jewelry life was complete to thinking, should I contact Wink? When we first talked about the stone-to-be he told me there was already a buyer for that stone. Whew, saved, I thought. But wouldn't you know, that buyer backed out and Wink made it mine. BUT NOW I REALLY AM DONE! YOU ARE MY WITNESSES! Here's the vid from Wink:
This stone and the overall ring are just as wonderful as the other two, smaller versions, of it (but bigger!). I have been wearing it exclusively since I received it in June. The bigger stone has a much bigger impact on my finger. It goes without saying, in this crowd, that a CBI diamond is a blinding, scintillating, wowing work of art, and at 2.77 carats I know how lucky I am to wear a ring of this quality and size.
I would never in my wildest dreams have purchased a such a large, valuable stone outright. But here is where the amazing lifetime upgrade policy from HPD comes in. I know, of course, that the 2.77 cost exactly what it cost. But the ability to arrive at this stone incrementally, stepwise, is what allowed it to happen relatively painlessly, for me. I don't know where else in the retail world you get full credit for a previous purchase after having worn and enjoyed it for years. It's remarkable.
But one of the most important parts of the story is the customer service piece. I know everyone here already knows this, but I'll say it again: Wink and his team are a pinnacle of knowledge, enthusiasm, attention to detail, and sincere (I mean SINCERE, you can feel it in every interaction) desire to make their customers happy. Down to the last detail. Every time. I know, because I keep going back! They simply have uber high standards and meet their own standards unfailingly, at least in my experience. Unequivocally recommended. Plus they all seem like lovely human beings.
Ok, I'll shut up now.
Here are a few pictures. I'm not much of a photographer so none do the ring justice. I'm going to try to get my husband, who has real cameras and lenses and does take great pictures, to take some better shots for me to post. For some reason he finds blue herons and bald eagles better subjects than diamond rings. Crazy, right?
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