- Joined
- Oct 11, 2011
- Messages
- 6,146
Paraiba tourmaline from Cecile Raley Designs
2.25 cts
9.8 x 7.4 mm
Rose-cut halo ring in platinum by David Klass
.79 cts of diamonds
Stone purchase thread: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/looking-for-a-big-tsavorite.250371/
Setting thread: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/setting-for-paraiba-tourmaline.250530/
If you've read my previous threads, you know that I started off looking for a huge tsavorite, but when I saw that Yvonne had posted this paraiba, my search took a turn and I got this instead (well, and some nice tsavorites, but not as big as I'd originally planned on). I was lucky enough to be headed to NYC right then so I was able to meet up with Yvonne and see it in person. I'd only seen paraibas at gem shows before and they were mostly "windex blue," which isn't really my jam, so my socks were totally knocked off! It was more money than I'd spent on a whole ring before, let alone a single stone, though, and at the time I had very, very few prices comps, so I was really quite stressed about buying it, but Yvonne was patient and gave me plenty of time to make the decision. Eventually I decided that since I loved the look of the paraiba and had the money, I should just get it and not worry about it. (When I eventually got price comps, they were all in the same ballpark range, so I'm glad I didn't chicken out! It's a lot easier to buy a gem you've seen in person and know you love than shipping back and forth.)
Then I had to decide on a setting! You can see the finalists on my setting thread. I pretty quickly decided on a rose-cut halo because I thought the glimmer of rose-cuts would complement the paraiba. Coincidentally, David Klass had just posted on his instagram a rose-cut halo ring, so I decided to go with him for setting. My initial ideas were for something a lot edgier than what I ended up deciding to get. For instance, I had thought about black rhodium plating the entire ring, or at least the outer edges of the halo. But then I decided to not mess with stuff I wasn't sure I would like. I made a crappy little drawing of what I wanted and sent it to DK and they worked their magic. They were very quick and accommodating of my nitpicking and each round of CADs was better than the last until they finally looked perfect.
Then finally they sent me the glamor video and it was getting shipped! I am absolutely thrilled with the end result.
If I have one quibble, it's that I don't like the gallery design I chose... but I knew at the time I picked it that I wasn't that jazzed about it and was just picking something because I wanted the ring done and in my hands, so that's on me... and it's not like you can see it when I'm wearing the ring anyway. I also think my main problem with it is how much space between the metal there is, but I specifically requested making it easy to get a little brush in there to clean the diamonds - so that's a place where my ideal aesthetics conflicts with ideal functionality and I chose the latter because I don't want dirty diamonds.
Anyway, on to the pics!
Hugo needs to be the center of attention at all times so he invaded a lot of my shots... I tried getting T to pose with the ring but he wasn't interested. Very typical.
More pics in a moment, I have to upload them to the next post.
2.25 cts
9.8 x 7.4 mm
Rose-cut halo ring in platinum by David Klass
.79 cts of diamonds
Stone purchase thread: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/looking-for-a-big-tsavorite.250371/
Setting thread: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/setting-for-paraiba-tourmaline.250530/
If you've read my previous threads, you know that I started off looking for a huge tsavorite, but when I saw that Yvonne had posted this paraiba, my search took a turn and I got this instead (well, and some nice tsavorites, but not as big as I'd originally planned on). I was lucky enough to be headed to NYC right then so I was able to meet up with Yvonne and see it in person. I'd only seen paraibas at gem shows before and they were mostly "windex blue," which isn't really my jam, so my socks were totally knocked off! It was more money than I'd spent on a whole ring before, let alone a single stone, though, and at the time I had very, very few prices comps, so I was really quite stressed about buying it, but Yvonne was patient and gave me plenty of time to make the decision. Eventually I decided that since I loved the look of the paraiba and had the money, I should just get it and not worry about it. (When I eventually got price comps, they were all in the same ballpark range, so I'm glad I didn't chicken out! It's a lot easier to buy a gem you've seen in person and know you love than shipping back and forth.)
Then I had to decide on a setting! You can see the finalists on my setting thread. I pretty quickly decided on a rose-cut halo because I thought the glimmer of rose-cuts would complement the paraiba. Coincidentally, David Klass had just posted on his instagram a rose-cut halo ring, so I decided to go with him for setting. My initial ideas were for something a lot edgier than what I ended up deciding to get. For instance, I had thought about black rhodium plating the entire ring, or at least the outer edges of the halo. But then I decided to not mess with stuff I wasn't sure I would like. I made a crappy little drawing of what I wanted and sent it to DK and they worked their magic. They were very quick and accommodating of my nitpicking and each round of CADs was better than the last until they finally looked perfect.
Then finally they sent me the glamor video and it was getting shipped! I am absolutely thrilled with the end result.
If I have one quibble, it's that I don't like the gallery design I chose... but I knew at the time I picked it that I wasn't that jazzed about it and was just picking something because I wanted the ring done and in my hands, so that's on me... and it's not like you can see it when I'm wearing the ring anyway. I also think my main problem with it is how much space between the metal there is, but I specifically requested making it easy to get a little brush in there to clean the diamonds - so that's a place where my ideal aesthetics conflicts with ideal functionality and I chose the latter because I don't want dirty diamonds.
Anyway, on to the pics!
Hugo needs to be the center of attention at all times so he invaded a lot of my shots... I tried getting T to pose with the ring but he wasn't interested. Very typical.
More pics in a moment, I have to upload them to the next post.