Boom
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2003
- Messages
- 394
For our 10th anniversary this year, DH agreed on an upgrade for me. I started out with a half carat Lazare (which I still have), upgraded briefly to a 96pointer in a MWM setting, and finally this one in a Leon. Along the way, I got a gorgeous ''push'' present as well as an Asscher RHR by Leon.
I knew I wanted to go as big as I could afford this time because I knew getting another upgrade would be too much of a hassle for me since I don''t live in the US. Of course I wanted to keep my options open just in case I win the lottery, so I wanted a vendor with an upgrade policy. I checked with WF (I got my Asscher from them) but they just weren''t getting in the size/colour/clarity combi I wanted in ES stones, so I expanded my search. After that, here were other little hiccups along the way, but I''m not going to get into that. Finally, I decided that Mark of ERD would be my best bet since he could eyeball several stones for me without charging me shipping.
It wasn''t easy finding the right stone, and I had Mark look at a few for me. I used PS''s search engine and BN''s to find stones that were close to what I wanted and emailed Mark to see which ones were available to him. Mark was very responsive to my emails but there was a time when Mark was away for personal reasons which coincided with the time I was trying to make the final decision with this particular stone that I felt a bit stressed because the extra information promised was not sent in a timely fashion and yet I was asked to make the decision quickly. It worked out in the end after I explained the situation to Mark and he gave me more time to decide. All in all, I would definitely recommend Mark!
Now for the setting, I knew I wanted something simple this time after the elaborate halo-ed setting for my Asscher. I considered SC''s Tiffany setting for awhile but decided I still preferred the 4 prongs look, so I went back to Leon for his ''classic'' setting. He was as nice as he was the first time I worked with him, and I hope this will not be the last time. I did ask for a little modification to the prongs (if feasible) which were not done in the final setting, but it''s really minor and something only I would have noticed. I am more than satsfied with the setting.
So the ring was ready early May, but I had to wait for DH to go on his biz trip to the US to pick up the ring. He was blown away by the ring and teased me over thousands of miles by putting on the ring on his pinky and showing it to me on the webcam! When I finally got it 2 days ago, the diamond was all smudged with his fingerprints
The stats of the stone:
2.41 H SI1
8.60 x 8.64x 5.32
HCA 0.8
Depth: 61.7%
Table: 54%
Girdle: th-m
Fluor: stg blue
Sym: vg
Pol: vg
8.60 x 8.64x 5.32
I haven''t been able to detect the fluor yet since I haven''t worn it out, but there is no haziness that I can see.
I also want to thank a particular PS''er who was practically holding my hand throughout this whole journey. Every time I couldn''t make up my mind or was having doubts, KristyDarling gave me her honest opinion and best advice. She was always reassuring and was a wonderful sounding board. At times this journey almost ground to halt, but having her be excited for my ring project kept my spirits up. So once again KristyDarling, I couldn''t have done it without you!
PS''ers are a wondeful lot. For my Asscher RHR, I had lots of help from stome wonderful members here (strmrdr, Ana, AllyCat and of course Chris aka cutie). This time, one particular PS''er who was practically holding my hand throughout this whole journey. Every time I couldn''t make up my mind or was having doubts, KristyDarling gave me her honest opinion and best advice. She was always reassuring and a wonderful sounding board. At times this journey almost ground to halt, but having her be excited for my ring project kept my spirits up. So once again KristyDarling, I couldn''t have done it without you!
So finally here are some pics!
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