Ready To Build Your Ring? - My experience in VA/DC

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I have recently upgraded my ering and thought my experience might be helpful to those of you who are ready to build you rings in the area:





PURCHASE: I bought my center stone from Charleston Alexandra, a local store. My final selection was between the one from Charleston (2.26ct) and the other from GOG (2.14ct). Charleston asked for $22,836, I countered $19,500 and to my surprise they accepted my counter! So I went ahead with it. The stats are as follow: Round 2.26 H VVS2, H&A, AGS cert triple ideal. Table 57% Depth 59.9% Crown 34.5 Pavillion 40.6 Diameter 8.54mm. The HCA score is an impressive 0.4! People at Charleston are very nice and patient. (A little secret: they will not charge sales tax if you bought it via phone order and your shipping address is outside of VA.)




After much deliberation I decided to mount the stone with trapezoid step cut sidestones. Unfortunately I could not find a reasonable price offer for the pair I want. Very few online vendors carry them. Then I found Americanfancies.com, a business in New York ran by two brothers. They happen to have the pair I am looking for at a very good price ($1,300 vs. $3,000 quoted by my local jewelers) I called Americanfancies with more specific questions and spoke with Zed, a very nice guy. Not only did he answered all my questions, he also measured all sides of the stones for me. I ordered the pair (F VS1, total 0.51ct) and it arrived the next day.




I have also worked out a plan for my original engagement ring (1.0ct H VS1) - I will mount it as a pendant. For my design I will need a 16'' platinum cable chain width 1mm. Again my local jeweler quoted me something I could not accept. I shopped online and find the exact chain at Mondera.com for $100. After confirming its alloy (95%Plat 5% Rhethenium) I placed my order. It was a few days before Valentine's day and you know what - surprise - I got a 10% off - so I ended up paying $90 for my plat chain, free shipping!




MOUNTING: Now I have all parts I need. I visited Quest, a local custom jewelry maker, and met with Pete and his two brothers who run the business together. I showed them what I have and the design I have in mind. Let me say that my experience with Quest could not have been more pleasant! Not only did they tried very hard to turn my ideas into reality, but they also offered their inputs to refine the design. They send me CAD images of the design until I am happy with it then they went ahead to cast. The ring came out absolutely gogerous! Excellent job on the pendant too! (I will post pictures later) It is important to note that Quest charges a very reasonable rate. (especially for all the hours they spent with me) One down side is that the vender they use for side stones, or chains charge retail prices so my advice is get your sidestones yourself and have them do the mounting.




APPRIALSAL: To be continued...

 

[Mara]

Congratulations, your new ring sounds like it's going to be lovely and want to see the pendant too

Large center stone! How exciting, do you have pictures of just that? The combo of shallower depth there with the very low HCA score should be intruiging. The numbers are very nice!!

 

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Picture 1 of the Ring

 

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Picture 2 of the Ring

 

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This is the ring on my hand.

 

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This is the pendant.

 

[Mara]

Very nice!! I LOVE the ring, it's huge!! The pendant is beautiful as well..kudos on jobs well done!

 

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This is the side view of the ring.

 

[pqcollectibles]

Oh, WOW, Yingh!! The ring came out gorgeous!! And your pendant is very unique!! Both pieces are just beautiful!!

Many Congrats on both your saavy shopping and your lovely new jewelry!!

Wear them both for many years in good health!!

 

[Obsessed]

Yingh,

that is absolutely gorgeous. what a beautiful job. Here is an example of finding top quality work. The pendant was done very well too. Congratulations and enjoy.

 

[Patty]

Wow, how pretty! I love the side view of the ring.

I'd love to see more shots of the pendant. It looks very nice!

 

[hoorray]

VERY Nice! I love the V prongs on the ring, and it looks terrific on your hand! Enjoy wearing it.

 

[caratgirl]

Beautiful designs on both!!! And a gorgeous set of stones as well. Thanks for the details on your purchases, I am sure that it will help many people.

 

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Thank you all for your kind words. I am enjoying the pieces very much! Here is the story continued:




APPRAISAL: Since advices from all sources pointed me to Martin Fuller, the independant appraiser in McLean VA, I visited him twice and got the appraisal done. He is a very nice guy with soft voice, solid accreditations. He is even among the crew that examined the Hope Diamond recently! Martin told me that my center stone is among the top 1% he had appraised, and that I got a super deal on the price.

He also confirmed that the trapezoids are of high quality too. It was an enjoyable experience to sit with him and watch him using all his gadgets. His final report is very professional looking and detailed to everything you need. For an extra $30 he will do a photomicrograph of the stone that includes a microscope view, the enlarged culet, gridle, and marked inclusions. Definitely worth the $30. Below is an microscope image he took on my center stone.


Although I will still recommend Martin's service (there isn't much choices in the area), I do have some reserved observations from my visits:




1. Without seeing the AGS cert first, he graded my center stone to be IF or VVS1 while it is actually VVS2. The two pinpoints are indeed tiny, but is it common for someone at his skill level to overlook it?




2. Martin told me that the AGS 000 is the same thing as AGS triple ideal, which I think many of us here wouldn't agree.




3. Martin doesn't specify hearts & arrow on the appraisal unless it is branded H&A. His point was that H&A is not a GIA standard, plus, when you have a stone cut to that triple ideal range it will diaplay H&A pattern anyway.




4. I have read about Martin's under-charging practice for his fees, I wasn't that lucky. He goes by $150 per hour, which is on the higher end of appraisal fees. My first visit for the loose stone lasted 1 hour and I was charged 1 hour. We spent 1hour and 45 minutes together at my second visit for the completed ring and pedant. Believe it or not, this time we were interrupted by 1 phone call, 2 visitors he had to quickly greet, 4 questions his receptionist stepped in to ask, PLUS twice he need to be seen outside the office for some important matters. Finally he charged me 1.5 hour and told me I got at least a $50 discount. I was not happy about that but decided not to make it an issue.

INSURANCE: I have my house insured with Liberty Mutual so they were the first one I called. For $223 annually, the jeweries were scheduled for a total value of $37, 300. The agent told me the coverage is worldwide, all risks covered except insects, radiation, or war. The insurance company will choose to offer replacement or cash out if a loss occurs, but I pay the same premium up front. The agent told me that she had never heard of a replacement actually happened, people always get a check. I asked about the language in jewelry description, she told me they will keep the full appraisal (faxed copy) in their file center and refer to it in the policy. Does all that sounds right?




If anyone has more specific questions or need help, please feel free to send me an email!

 

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Top view of the pendant.

 

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Side view of the pendant.

 

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Back of the pendant that bears my initial - H. Y.

 

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Okay - the last picture - one more side view of the ring.

 

[Nicrez]

Oh my Lord! What a lovely ring! It's so sleek from the side. I usually like low set, but that's a true stunner! Congrats and wear it in good health! You can keep posting pictures, I'll come back!

 

[pqcollectibles]

Of course the ring is lovely, but I am soo glad you posted more pics of the pendant. It is really beautiful. I like the diamonds around the bottom. A very unique bezel look for sure!!

Rich Sherwood has said it is not uncommon for an independent appraiser to vary from the Cert on clarity from time to time. I wouldn't worry about that comment at all.

When Mr. Fuller said AGS000 to you, he was most probably speaking in laymen's terms. Even tho AGS000 refers to an Ideal D, IF, lots of regular folk use it to describe an AGS0,..... Ideal Proportions, Ideal Polish, and Ideal Symmetry.

Two beautiful pieces that I hope you wear many years in good health!!

 

[Patty]

Thank you for the extra views of the pendant. It's very unique and beautiful!

And again, I just love the view of your ring from the side!

 

[valeria101]

Both pieces are very nice! Not surprising given the attention you gave to the process and the top quality of every detail. There are not too many rings with such sides around here... I hope more will come after this one