Results of diamond shopping this weekend...long..
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Results of diamond shopping this weekend...long..
For those of you interested in the outcome of my diamond search this past weekend from earlier thread last week.
I would like to say thanks to the O.S.O. members for their input. Here are the following results:
We stopped at Steve's store which is Diamond source in downtown Chicago first. For you guys who haven't had the chance to meet him, he is without a doubt a class act and an extremely nice guy. He educated us on diamonds and prices. He took the time to show my girlfriend a massive amount of diamonds from large to small. He showed her an array of all types of settings. He was more than fair on his prices with diamonds and settings. He was also throwing in an O.S.O. discount!! His store is well appointed with all types of jewelry besides just diamonds.
He has some beautiful diamonds! We looked at diamonds ranging from 1.2 to 1.53. He had the best color and clarity of stones we viewed in the 2 days of searching we did.
Thanks Ryan and thank you Steve for your time and patients.
On to the next store. We stopped at Artel's next. This is the store
(a.k.a. cashbrain turned us on to. This is a family owned store. Duane stopped everything he was doing when we told him who we were. He showed us the same graciousness as Steve at Diamond Source. Duane's store was smaller, but being family owned and in the business for 50 years, he was willing to get us anything we wanted at a reasonable price. Thanks cashbrain!!
That shot the day of saturday by the time we found everything in the city. We stayed and partied with some friends in Gurnee for the night because the last stop was in Milton Wisconsin.
Sunday was the trip to Milton Wisconsin, which I beleive was about 30 miles or so from Madison. This town has a total population lof 5090 people in it. We met up with (a.k.a. Active thundertodds buddy).
This guys name was Mike Hakula. This one is very interesting. He has his own business of buying and selling coins as well as jewelry. His website is halfpricejewelry.net. Remember its a dot net. He operates basically out of his house, but you wouldn't know that by viewing his web site. He took the time to show us diamond comparisons and settings. He showed us books upon books that diamond stores buy there settings as well as diamonds from. My girlfriend would pick something out of the book and he would do a quick calculation and beat it by half. I looked over his diamond prices and he would do a quick calculation and beat the other competitors by 400 to 600 dollars.
I was extremely impressed with his attiude about his customers. He would rather make a small profit and have repeat customers, than hit them for a one time big sell. He also gave me a better deal than some of the prices on his website. He had his wife helping my girlfriend and also took the time to get drinks and candy for my girlfriends 4 year old.
Before we left he gave my girlfriend copies of his books of diamonds and settings and told to call anytime night or day.
Something about the prices of diamonds the average Joe needs to know though. Its a big jump in price to go to a 1.5. I highly recommend something in the range of 1.08 to 1.43 if you want to stay in a reasonable ball park. It was a 1400.00 jump to go to a 1.5.
I know everyone's budget is different, so I'm speaking from mine. I am making concessions due to the fact I told everyone the first time I could find someone to keep up with me, I would treat them like a queen, so I am spending a little more. This is a one time buy or investment I should say.
Its a toss up between 2 people right now. I will let everyone know the outcome. Now I have to go find that money!!!
Thanks again for everyone's input!!!
I would like to say thanks to the O.S.O. members for their input. Here are the following results:
We stopped at Steve's store which is Diamond source in downtown Chicago first. For you guys who haven't had the chance to meet him, he is without a doubt a class act and an extremely nice guy. He educated us on diamonds and prices. He took the time to show my girlfriend a massive amount of diamonds from large to small. He showed her an array of all types of settings. He was more than fair on his prices with diamonds and settings. He was also throwing in an O.S.O. discount!! His store is well appointed with all types of jewelry besides just diamonds.
He has some beautiful diamonds! We looked at diamonds ranging from 1.2 to 1.53. He had the best color and clarity of stones we viewed in the 2 days of searching we did.
Thanks Ryan and thank you Steve for your time and patients.
On to the next store. We stopped at Artel's next. This is the store
(a.k.a. cashbrain turned us on to. This is a family owned store. Duane stopped everything he was doing when we told him who we were. He showed us the same graciousness as Steve at Diamond Source. Duane's store was smaller, but being family owned and in the business for 50 years, he was willing to get us anything we wanted at a reasonable price. Thanks cashbrain!!
That shot the day of saturday by the time we found everything in the city. We stayed and partied with some friends in Gurnee for the night because the last stop was in Milton Wisconsin.
Sunday was the trip to Milton Wisconsin, which I beleive was about 30 miles or so from Madison. This town has a total population lof 5090 people in it. We met up with (a.k.a. Active thundertodds buddy).
This guys name was Mike Hakula. This one is very interesting. He has his own business of buying and selling coins as well as jewelry. His website is halfpricejewelry.net. Remember its a dot net. He operates basically out of his house, but you wouldn't know that by viewing his web site. He took the time to show us diamond comparisons and settings. He showed us books upon books that diamond stores buy there settings as well as diamonds from. My girlfriend would pick something out of the book and he would do a quick calculation and beat it by half. I looked over his diamond prices and he would do a quick calculation and beat the other competitors by 400 to 600 dollars.
I was extremely impressed with his attiude about his customers. He would rather make a small profit and have repeat customers, than hit them for a one time big sell. He also gave me a better deal than some of the prices on his website. He had his wife helping my girlfriend and also took the time to get drinks and candy for my girlfriends 4 year old.
Before we left he gave my girlfriend copies of his books of diamonds and settings and told to call anytime night or day.
Something about the prices of diamonds the average Joe needs to know though. Its a big jump in price to go to a 1.5. I highly recommend something in the range of 1.08 to 1.43 if you want to stay in a reasonable ball park. It was a 1400.00 jump to go to a 1.5.
I know everyone's budget is different, so I'm speaking from mine. I am making concessions due to the fact I told everyone the first time I could find someone to keep up with me, I would treat them like a queen, so I am spending a little more. This is a one time buy or investment I should say.
Its a toss up between 2 people right now. I will let everyone know the outcome. Now I have to go find that money!!!
Thanks again for everyone's input!!!