The Good & The Bad, yet still gave 5 stars!! ....So my husband is an exceptional man, whoops, I meant to put 'frugal' before 'man.' He has done well in his life (in many aspects, including financially) and he feels strongly that he deserves every penny he has ever earned. However, he also feels that life should be enjoyed, and does not mind spending money on purchases he can justify for either bringing joy to his family, or himself. He just demands one thing, he get a great deal on them. Often times, he'll spend more time 'researching' the things he is interested in purchasing for many more weeks/days/hours then is justified because often it only amounts to some marginal percentage off. Admittedly though, sometimes he finds exceptional deals/values in this research so I will never break him of this habit.
Now you know the man (ok well not really.. he's far more complicated and lovable). So for my birthday he tells me that he is finally going to get me a ring that he promised me over a year ago. His frugal side likely told him 'two birds with 1 stone.' So he had me pick out the details of what I wanted in/for a ring, and then he did his nerdy little research and dragged me (ok I willingly went) to at least a dozen Jewelers to see what they would charge to make the ring we wanted. 90% of the people at the stores were either 'phony nice' (which drove my husband nuts) or took us for either suckers or window shoppers. We dispatched the majority of them. But a number of them were acceptable enough for my husband and I to ask for a quote.
Somewhere in the middle of this activity, we entered International Diamond Co, and met Nick. The interaction was a little odd at first because Nick was a little to soft spoken and not the typical 'sale person' we had come to expect. We went though the normal explanation of what we were looking for and what we wanted made. Nick came back with a price that made my husband later tell me 'THATS the price I want to pay, not these jacked up prices from the other places.' I was skeptical and said 'ok honey, but you better hope he is legit.' We asked for the guys business card, and he gives us a generic one, and scratches on the name 'Nick.' We didn't close the deal yet, my husband went home and kept price shopping and we visited a few more store. 2 days later though my husband calls nick, and to his surprise finds out nick is a little more then just jeweler of the week at the store, he is part owner. So my husband gives him a deposit on the ring, required to get past the first phase, the creating of the WAX MOLD (that was the tough part, we had to 'trust' Nick before he had to trust us). Nick claimed the whole process would take about 2.5 weeks. 1 week to make the wax mold, 10 days to make the ring. Reality is it took almost a month (the wait almost killed me). But Nick had an exceptionally good reason for the delay, the ring has over 200 diamonds in it, placing them took a very long time.
Now for the results... ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. This ring (just received it today), is the finest piece of jewelry I own. I am on cloud nine, I have looked at it at least 5X as many diamonds as it has, and I continue to be blown away by its quality and beauty. My husband is so impressed he has commissioned Nick to create another beautiful masterpiece (that my husband and I have created by taking picture snippets of other rings and asking the various things we like to be combined into this one new ring). If you don't hear from me again (within say a month or so), then assume the second ring was just as spectacular as the first. If it is not, I will share that result also. But given the experience we have received this time, we have no doubt this next one will be just as exceptional... or better! read more