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Hello,
I’ve read a lot on your site and have found it super helpful in educating myself for this very important purchase. So thank you for that.
I want to buy the perfect engagement ring for my woman (obviously). I want an 18k white gold setting, solitaire with a bit of flair around the stone. I’m looking for a princess cut, excellent/ideal (although I understand that GIA does not grade the cut of a princess), G/H, VS1/VS2 between 1 and 1.5 carats (I think 1.25 is big, but not too gaudy), less than $7,000 for the stone so I can drop $3,000 on the setting and keep it all under $10,000.
I’ve spoken with a couple jewelers and I’ve searched online for a million hours. I feel as though the only way I’m going to get what I’m looking for is to buy my own stone loose on the web and have a jeweler custom make a setting for me (that way my wife’s ring doesn’t have some other man’s name printed inside the ring, like “James Allen” or whatever. That’s worse than a Nike swoosh, in my book).
A jeweler in Atlanta came highly recommended by a friend, so I’ve started working with him on the design. He says he can design a ring, send me renders, then a wax mold before making the final ring and that he will only charge me $125 to mount someone else’s stone. Also that he can avoid taxes by shipping it out of state.
1) What are your thoughts/precautions regarding the way I’m going about this?
2) How can I tell if the geometry on my princess cut is poor or excellent, since there doesn’t seem to be a standard for those?
3) Will you help me find the perfect diamond at a great value?
Thank you kindly!
1) Because you want a custom made design and you don’t want the name of the company on it, the way you’re doing it is the only option. A lot of people do it that way.
2) I will help you with this. We use strict filters for searching for diamonds that we know works the best when it comes to brilliance.
3) I found these diamonds that will look great:
Blue Nile LD06923774
Let me know what you think.
I just bought the $6,800 stone from James Allen. I used this email.
Thank you SOOO much for your assistance. I ran that rock past my jeweler and he was like: “Wow. Yeah, that’s a great stone. I have nothing bad to say about it to try to sell you one of mine.” Hahaha.
Let me know if I can do anything else for you to make sure you get your due credit from JA. I appreciate it.
That’s fantastic. I’m glad to hear that even the jeweler was impressed. Let me know how it looks when you receive it.
What we love about them:
- No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. James Allen will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free International Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisals
- One free resizing within 60 days of purchase
- Free ring inscriptions
- Best-in-class high quality imagery of all diamonds in stock
- 24/7 Customer Service
- Best-in-class packaging
What we love about them:
- No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. Blue Nile will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisal
- One free resizing within the first year of purchase
- High quality images of about half of their diamonds
- 24/7 Customer Service
- 100% credit towards future upgrades (must be at least double in value)
- Best in class fulfillment
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