My ring

[foxglove]

Hello! This is my first post - however, I''ve been addicted to this site since I got engaged almost 2 months ago. All I can say is wow - what wealth of information and awesome bunch of people! And I can''t believe that I''ve found a forum that would render it socially acceptable to "show off" my ring!

Now I have to admit that I wish I had found this site earlier. You see, I''ve been "against" diamonds, so to speak, since I learned the geology and about De Beers in school. And so I knew that I wanted a corundum as opposed to a diamond for my e-ring. And I''ve been quite opinionated about appreciating gem stones for their geological improbability as opposed to the marketing hype of De Beers and the diamond cartel, blah blah blah.

And then I got my e-ring.. and yes I *love* it. But looking at the 2 sparklies on the side.. I knew that I couldn''t stay on the anti-De Beers high horse for too long.. Oh so conflicted!

But after reading so many posts here, I realized that I can appreciate diamonds for the "technical precision" (term I am stealing from one of Richard Sherwood''s old posts) of a lovely cut. Hmmm.. so maybe I''d also like diamond jewelery after all... (Oh no!!)

Anyways.. enough late night blabbing from me. I hope the picture of my ring attaches properly.

foxglove

 

[sevens one]

Yeah, another one sucked into the vortex.

Beautiful ring. But ofcourse you knew that already.
Congrats. Lovely

 

[foxglove]

Here's another shot. Taking these pictures was quite a ridiculous process. I don't know how some of you are able to take such beautiful pics!
The centre stone is 0.87 ct
The diamonds are:
0.15, F/G, VS2
Ring size: 3.5 (Hand shot to follow.. yup, small hands)
Plat

foxglove

 

[foxglove]

I wonder if there is a way of posting multiple pics at once. I am feeling kinda silly replying to myself..

foxglove

 

[KBerly]

Very pretty!

Hand pics are a challenge if someone else is not taking the pics for you!

 

[MrsFrk]

Oh, your ring is divine! I adore sapphires, they are my favorite gemstone- your ring is stunning. Don't worry about replying to yourself, and the more pics the better!

 

[sevens one]

Believe me, you are not replying to yourself. We're all out here for ya.

 

[quaeritur]

Love it love it love it. It looks perfect on your hand! Now your other hand just needs some diamonds to keep that ring company!!!

 

[sevens one]

You're bad Q. Just rotten to the core!

 

[valeria101]

Awesome

So blue! Where is the sapphire from? It has such a nice cut and color.

Of course, the size is perfect on your hand as is on my own 3.5 finger.

Good for you

 

[foxglove]

Thanks guys!

And you're right about being "sucked into the vortex", sevens one! As if I don't already spend enough time merely lurking in this forum.. must resist participating..

foxglove

 

[sevens one]

I think it may be safe to say that it's too late.

 

[glitterata]

Mmmmm, Foxglove, I just LOVE that! Such a blazing blue! So elegant and clean! Heavenly.

(You know what they say about small hands, don't you? Small hands...small gloves.)

 

[chrono]

What a beautiful blue colour. Welcome to the forum, foxglove. Do not feel bad about replying to yourself. We love pictures of rings and all sorts of jewelery here so it's better to have more pictures.

 

[gingerBcookie]

wow

i love that blue! i also love the proportion and height set of your stones! i love your ring! I've been wavering netween a pave solitaire design and a three stone design and your ring has definitely tipped the scale way back to three stone.

so so pretty. let me drool for a little while longer...

ok out of my system

(or maybe not

)

 

[alexah]

I luv that ring foxglove! That's some mesmerizing sapphire - i love proportion of the sapphire to the diamonds

very beautiful!

 

[lsmathis1]

Very pretty!!

 

[Rowan]

Beautiful!!!

 

[innerkitten]

what a beautiful ring. Do you have any more pics, and where did you get the stone?

 

[Patty]

Your ring is beautiful!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

WOW, the blue saphire in your ring is gorgeous. . .

Like everyone else, I too want to know where you purchased this stone from!

Michelle

 

[BTO]

Beautiful Ring!

Congratulations!

 

[foxglove]

Thanks for the compliments! You guys sure make a gal appreciate her ring even more (if that's possible).

In terms of where the sapphire came from -

We're in Toronto, Canada. My fiance bought it at Birks. In truth, I have some mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I'm sure the mark-up is just ridiculous.. on the other hand, I really don't know where my fiance could have gone to comfortably select a loose stone on his own without getting swindled. (I didn't know about PS back then!)

I didn't want to be involved in the e-ring selection process.. but I read a lot about sapphires and rubies on Richard Hughes' ("Richer Hues"

) site (http://www.ruby-sapphire.com/home.htm).. I did try to subtly (or not) warn my then-BF about surface diffusion treatments and just generally talk about heat treated vs. not, colour, hues, origins of stones, etc. But I wasn't sure how much of that sunk in.

And we never went shopping together.

And then, for fun, a friend and I visited various B&M stores to look at sapphires/rubies, on different occasions. And this is when I realized that there was NOT a heck of a lot of knowledge on coloured gems in these stores. And apparently, unless you are looking at a huge stone... there was no information on treatment nor origin. And some stores just seemed a little.. well, shady. Or at least, made me feel uncomfortable. It was quite disappointing. And a little scary too.

So in this regard - I am glad that he went to the Birks route.. because presumably, we should be able to trust their product. And they do have some beautiful coloured gem pieces. I once even saw a nice padparacha ring .. Although due to the size of my stone, they don't seem to have the origin of the stone on file. And while they claim it to be natural.. I will assume that it was heat treated.

Apparently, my fiance did ask all the questions about treatment and origin, etc. (So maybe some of my blabbing did sink in..), and refused to deal with sales persons on the floor. Birks actually let him select the stones from what they had to offer (they shipped in many sapphire rings from their various locations for him to pick).. he then picked the stones and had them make it into this style. They had a ring in this style, but the original designer apparently refused to make another one with the different stones (??!!)... so Birks custom made it, and from what he has told me, the customer service was good, even though he had to make many trips over.

Now I don't know if what he did was sound practice.. but it amuses me to no end to think that he chose the stone based on what he thought was beautiful.

foxglove

 

[Jennifer5973]

Congratulations.

Your ring is gorgeous--another stunning sapphire.

And this is a classic, elegant style. perfect!

 

[Lynn B]

OH! GORGEOUS!

Next to diamonds (of course!

), sapphires are my FAVORITE! Mmmmmm, just beautiful! Enjoy!

Lynn

 

[researcher]

Your ring is GORGEOUS! I LOVE LOVE LOVE sapphires, and yours looks phenomenal! Congrats on your engagement and welcome to the PS community!