So as some of you know yesterday FI & I went to NYC to meet with a jeweler who specializes in antique cut diamonds for my engagement ring. OMG, what a day!We woke up early (about 6am) and left around 7:15am for NYC. FI woke up in a terrible mood and was being so edgy and short with me. Turns out he had a stomach ache and was sick, so once we got some food in him he was fine. It was pouring rain on the drive down, and didn't clear up until we hit southern CT. We got into NYC around 11am and it took us almost an hour to get to the diamond district and park the car. When we turned onto 47th St from 5th Ave we were like, "Oh. My. God." It was CRAZY. There were a zillion people everywhere, mostly a mix between Hasidic Jews and guys handing out cards or wearing sandwich boards that said "WE BUY GOLD!" The building was on 5th Ave, and we turned the corner and entered. Holy security! There were security guards and cameras EVERYWHERE. We had to show a photo ID and be FINGERPRINTED to get in the building! We went up the elevator and found the suite for the diamond guy. I rang the buzzer and a woman's voice asks, "Who is it?" I said our names and that we were there for a 12 o'clock appointment (it was like 12:05pm and FI was irritated bc we were late for our appt). The woman asked, "with who?" I said, "with Michael.""Michael isn't here today. In fact he's out of the country. I don't have you on the schedule."This is about when FI & I looked at each other and our stomach's dropped. OMG, what do we do now?!?!We told the woman that we'd just driven all the way from Boston and that I'd made the appt a couple weeks ago. Thankfully she buzzed us in. We entered through a huge steel door into a tiny room with one of those glass windows you pass things through underneath, and another door. She buzzed us through that door, and we entered into a normal looking office.Regina was AWESOME! She apologized and explained that her boss can be disorganized and she was so sorry that she didn't have anything prepared, but that she could still help us. She had us take a seat, while she asked us a ton of questions about what we were looking for, how much we wanted to spend, etc. The she started bringing out the diamonds--YAY! They were SOOOOO beautiful. She explained each one: they were all the same cut (old European), and she gave us the color, clarity, and price costs for each one. We examined them with the 10x loupe, and compared them to one another. Over and over my eye kept going to the same one. That was "it!" Regina told me that although all of the stones I looked at were old European cut, they had all been cut at different times and that the one that I particularly liked was an earlier cut, probably cut around 1920 and as she put it, was the "most European" of them all.
So I knew I wanted that one, and FI was happy with it as well. So told us the price, and asked if I knew about their payment policy. I said no. Well, they didn't take credit cards, only checks and cash and me, in an attempt to be safe, had cleaned out my purse before we left and only brought one debit card and one credit card. FI and I looked at each other and were like, what are we going to do. So we told her we had to run to the bank. Fortunately there were several nearby. The first couldn't help us, but the 2nd let us take out a cash advance on my credit card (already paid it back today). FI was so annoyed that I forgot to check to see if they take credit cards and didn't even bring a check with me, since we have to pay a fee for doing the cash advance, BUT it worked out okay because when we returned Regina said she'd made a mistake and it was actually $200 CHEAPER than what she'd first quoted us. Also, when we first went there she asked how we heard about them because they aren't a retailer. I explained that I'd done some research and found them online. She said they really are wholesalers. Well apparently because they are wholesalers (1) we got a wholesale price on the diamond; (2) we DIDN'T have to pay NYC sales tax on the diamond!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I was super excited about that)All in all, it was so awesome. Dispite FI's bad mood in the morning, and not finding parking right away, the guy not being there, and not being able to pay for it....somehow it all worked out and we ended up with a great deal on a gorgeous antique cut diamond that we both LOVE LOVE LOVE! Now to start working on the setting....
Yay! Finally able to update my signature
My hubby & I rock the frock.
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6.12.2010