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Sara's Ring

Hi, Wink, I just wanted tell you that today I visited a store named Kessler's in Madison , WI . I wanted to see their Ritani line. Also, this store advertises that they carry only "well-cut diamonds." So I was curious, and a bit skeptical. Well, it turns out that 1) they do train their staff -- very well, as a matter of fact; and, 2) they do carry diamonds that are much better cut than the average retail store.

They have a proprietary cut with 81 facets that has a lot of pinflash. Terry, the saleswoman who worked with me was wearing one. And though I'm not a big pinflash fan, I have to say the stone looked great (1.20 carats), and it was set in a beautiful custom setting done by their in-house designer. And the cut quality of the rest of their diamond stock was noticeably better than the average store. Terry explained to me that the owner hand selects his stock and works with a cutter in Israel on his proprietary cut.

Right away, Terri noticed my ring, and she was literally speechless. She asked me where I got it and I told her I got it from High Performance Diamonds dot com. She said, "Well, this must have taken your breath away when you saw it for the first time." I said it literally did take my breath away when I opened the box. And she said, "We do custom design here, and our designer is very good, but I haven't seen anything like this since I lived in Thailand."

She went on to say how unusual it was for her to see a ring executed with the skill and detail of my ring, especially the gallery work. She asked to see it under the microscope, and she literally gushed at how perfectly the sapphires were set and the quality of the milgrain. She asked if she could show my ring to a couple of her colleagues. One walked over and said, "Wow, nice diamond."

And then she looked at the setting under the scope and also said how amazed she was at the design and the craftsmanship. She asked me if the stones in the halo were amethysts, and I told her, no, the jeweler I bought it from wouldn't allow amethysts because of how soft they were, and she said, "That's good; he's right." She loved the mix of unplated white gold and yellow gold, and loved the yellow gold prongs. She was sincere. It made me appreciate the beauty of my ring all over again.

We talked about diamond cut, and I told her about you and Paul, and she said, "So you know a diamond cutter." I told her I was still getting used to owning an I1 and she said "There's absolutely nothing eye visible to me" and "Clarity is a rarity quality not a beauty factor. Cut is the only beauty factor. My diamond is an L color. Color is a rarity factor, not a beauty factor"!!

It was such a relief to hear this from a B&M store. I've spent so long steeling myself for the usual sales person garbage about "Color and clarity make the diamond sparkle" that I was shocked to hear something different.

Sometimes we Pricescope members get spoiled. We are so lucky to have access to the vendors we do. We get the best in cut quality and our pick of incredible settings. It really is a bubble far away from "real life," but today I felt like I met someone who was a kindred spirit.

Sara

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