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Wednesday, Nov. 13: Sold out of 1ct and 2ct Asha� H&A until
December!: We have been
caught off-guard regarding the amount of orders
for jewelry using 1ct and 2ct.
Asha� H&A, and unfortunately are sold out for
now....we've re-prioritized the
cutting of 1ct and 2ct H&A's, and hope to
have more completed by the first week
in December....but we will be out of
stock for at least the next two weeks.
This will also correspondingly delay
the Asha� pears by another two weeks as
well.
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*Nice feedback from a
customer on their Asha� Asscher ring: We were very pleased to
receive an extremely nice customer email, and are happy to have permission to
post on our website. As always, we want to say a big thank you to that
customer for taking the time to write and allow us to reprint!
"It's been over 24
hours and I am still totally enthralled by my beautiful Asha� Asscher ring. It
is divinely gorgeous and a pleasure to wear and look at. It really does look way
better than I expected and way better than my other sims- and I thought it
couldn't get much better than that!"
Monday, Nov. 11: Introducing our Timeless Anniversary Ring!: After a lot of
consumer testing, research and many different wax carvings, we are pleased to
introduce our premiere eternity ring, suitable as an anniversary ring or wedding
band:
The only other place we have ever
seen an eternity ring with this much attention to detail is at Tiffany's, and
for about 3x the price as ours. This ring features 360 degree VS/G
diamonds (1.38ctw for a size 6), set with common prongs to minimize the metal
showing. Additionally, we've incorporated a comfort fit inner band (no
holes) and open side gallery work for an even lighter look. The end result
is a classic, elegant ring that will never go out of style - and hence the
anniversary ring for our Timeless Series. Additional details and photos at
our Timeless Anniversary Ring
page here!
Friday, Nov. 8: Significant business decision!: Based on your feedback via our
current poll, as well as an internal review, we are going to discontinue dealing in larger, all natural diamonds. Our primary success has been with
combining diamonds and diamond technology to create the Asha�, Takara and
Phoenix lines...so we will be selling off the remainder of our SuperbCert's that
are in inventory, and will offer our one and only Tiana all natural diamond for
sale when it comes back from EGL. But after that, we'll be focusing in
even further on diamond technology to expand our core offerings and jewelry to
house them. We will of course, continue to utilize natural diamond melee
(under .25ct) diamond for our rings (especially our upcoming Timeless Eternity
Band) and side stones, we'll just be dropping the Tiana and SuperbCert lines,
which are larger, all-natural diamonds. Thank you for your feedback in our
user poll, it was very helpful towards us reaching this decision!
*With that
decision....we've now added a new user poll! Here's a topic of
interest - most traditional diamond vendors feel that people will not accept a
cultured diamond as a symbol of eternal love. Our initial feedback has
been, as long as it is real diamond (and remember Takara's are pure diamond real
diamond), whether it was mined or not is not relevant....so now it is your turn
to vote your opinion in our new poll "Would you accept a cultured diamond as a
symbol of eternal love (i.e. engagement ring)?" Our new poll is here!
*Speaking of
technology....we are pleased to announce that we will be offering Asha� pears!
The modified ADT coating, expressly designed to correct the windowing issue we
found in the pear cut, has been proven a success. There is no doubt in our
minds this is the most realistic pear-cut diamond simulant anywhere. Thus, we
will be offering Asha� pears starting in December, though we will only be making
1.25ct - 3ct pears.
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Why not
larger ones? Even though the windowing
was corrected, the pear cut quickly loses
its sparkle on cuts larger than 3cts...and
since our goal is to create the ultimate in
diamond beauty, we are going to stick to
only the best looking sizes, which is the
3ct and under. We have had requests
for people who wanted to pre-order a pear
cut, and thus have created the Asha� pear
page to do that if you wish
here!
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Asha� Pear with modified ADT process
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Thursday, Nov. 7:
Asscher Trellis
Ring now available!:
We're happy
to announce that the requested
Trellis Asscher is now available for
the 2.0ct Asha� Asscher. In
addition, it is offered as a wedding
set with a matched diamond wedding
band. Details and pricing are on
our
new
Asscher Trellis page here! |
Trellis Asscher ring, with 2.0ct
Asscher
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*Nice
customer feedback on our Renaissance Wedding Set: We received a
very gracious email from a recent customer of our
Renaissance Wedding Set, and are happy to have permission to re-print on our
web site. Thank you to that customer for taking the time to write, and for
allowing us to share their feedback!
"I received
my Renaissance wedding set yesterday after waiting impatiently
for the FedEx truck to arrive. I opened the beautiful box and was
just stunned. It was above and beyond all my expectations! The rings
themselves are beautifully crafted, perfect to carry the incredible Asha�
H&A round. The stone itself looks so liquid and silver with a deep,
satisfying sparkle in various lighting conditions. I waited until my
husband came home and let him slip it on my finger for the first time. We
said our "I do's" again after 20 years of marriage. He
thought it was absolutely the real deal and was impressed with the
craftsmanship, as well as the packaging. We go to a lot of social functions
filled with wealthy and sometimes a few snobbish people. I'm going to call
this ring "The Equalizer"! I will wear it proudly. Many
kudos to you and BTD for a job well done."
Wednesday, Nov. 6: Photo
of some of the first White Takara (cultured diamond) rough!: We
are very happy to be able to show you a photo of some of the first pieces of
White Takara rough. These are still R&D crystals, and thus we are not
yet selling white Takara's, but thought it would be nice to show you they are
real and in development! We estimate these crystals to be E color.
Our
white Takara page is here!
*New
appointment to our Advisory Board!: We are also pleased to
announce that Kathy Taylor, Graduate Gemologist (GIA),
will be joining our Board of Advisors. We are very pleased to have her
joining us, and she will be writing some articles related to Takara cultured
Diamonds for our Website. If you have specific items you would like to see
her articles address (or questions), please let us know at [email protected]
Tuesday, Nov. 5: 'Coming
Soon' Page added!: We are happy to bring back our 'coming soon'
page, which will help you to check what new products and jewelry designs (rings,
wedding bands) are scheduled for us to complete. We will also be using
this same page internally for our staff to check their own schedules...so
literally both customers and employees will be 'on the same page'.
This
page is here, and will be added to the menu system shortly.
*First pave
rings coming: As noted on our aforementioned 'Coming Soon'
page, we are working on our first ever Pave style wedding rings. These
will be Eternity style pave, as the stones will literally cover the ring, 360
degrees. We will be using Takara yellow melee and/or natural white
melee. These rings will average about 1ctw of diamond, and will be
approximately 3mm wide. We believe these will be eye-poppers when
completed.
*Trellis
Asscher Ring completed (for 2.0ct Asscher): This one
will be photographed and added to the site tomorrow. This has been a very
requested ring, so we'll look forward to the unveiling tomorrow.
*WA state
retail Jeweler carrying BTD's Asha� and Takara: We've had
a number of emails from WA state customers asking where they can view our Asha�
and Takara's...and so are happy to announce our first WA state brick and mortar
jeweler for you to visit. Please ensure you call ahead before stopping in
if you are after a specific cut or size stone!
Mill Creek Jewelers
16306 Bothell-Everett Highway
Mill Creek Plaza, #F-6
Mill Creek
WA 98012
Phone: 425-745-5122
*Customer
feedback on our Cartier Ring reproduction: We received a
nice email from a customer and are happy to have been given permission to share
it on our site. Thank you very much to this customer, both for taking the
time to offer their feedback and allowing us to reprint!
"I
am writing you to let you know that I have received my Asha� Assher
Cartier reproduction ring today. I had waited a long time to decide on the
right ring and I finally decided on this one. I have done a lot of research
on
simulants ( My husband and I want to spend our money on a new
house...) and when I checked out Asha� I was really impressed. I want prepared,
thought to be disappointed because I hadn't ever seen one [diamond simulant] that
was convincing enough.
Well, let me get into the reason for this email: The images on
your site do
not do the rings or stones justice! I am completely thrilled
with my ring
and have a very hard time discerning it from a natural diamond. The
craftsman ship of the ring is outstanding- weighty and significant,
unlike
other companies. You have a customer for life. Now, I will be able to
have a
great house and my gorgeous " diamond" too."
Monday, Nov. 4: Lots
of clean-up on the website itself!: We were able to get a
number of improvements done to the website this weekend, including:
a)clicking on the JVC logo above will
take you to the JVC website.
b)clicking on our BTD logo above will take you to our home page (this page).
c)clicking on the BBB online logo above will take you to our BBB profile page on
the Better Business Bureau website.
Asha� customer feedback page, and Asha�
overview page were updated. Asha� customer feedback page added to the menu
system.
Friday, Nov. 1: We
will be adding the heart cut Asha� next month!: We have received
a lot of requests for offering heart cuts in the Asha�, and so we will be cutting
hearts and hope to have them for sale early December.
*'Coming Soon'
page will be added next week: We will also be setting up a page
dedicated to tracking what jewelry items, new cuts, and other items are in
progress. This was the suggestion of a poster on our message boards, and
so thank you to that poster for this suggestion. On a related note, we
expect to have photos of our first Phoenix diamond (finally) available next
week, as well as some photos of some small white Takara cultured diamonds and
rough (just R&D stones though, not for sale yet). Finally, final
testing results for the Asha� pear will be posted next week as well!
*Nice feedback
on our Asscher cut Asha�: Thanks to a recent Asha� customer for
sharing their feedback on their Asscher Asha� purchase and allowing us to post an
excerpt of their email!
"Got my 1.5 Asscher on Friday, and was quite impressed.
I suspect witchcraft really. The colors and flashes are just
unbelievable. I looked at it for an hour with a loupe. Amazing symmetry and crispness.
Good show!"
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Thursday, Oct.31:
New heart cut Takara!We
are pleased to show one of
our first heart cut
Takara's. We have
received a lot of requests
for heart cuts, and are
pleased to start offering
them in limited
quantities. Shown below:
1.23ct VS Vivid Golden
Takara. More photos
and pricing at our new
Takara hearts page here!
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1.23 ct Takara Heart
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*Asha� care and
cleaning page added back to the website:
This page was accidentally lost during our move to our new server, but has been
brought back and is available here, or
under the Asha� Diamond Simulant menu above!
Wednesday, Oct. 30:
More Takara Yellow H&A's, including matched pairs for earrings!:
We have been getting very positive feedback from customers who have purchased
one of our H&A Takara yellows, and are pleased to add two 1.04ct's and a .66ct
to our online offerings. In addition, we have gotten requests for matched
pairs for earrings....and now have been able to produce two sets of gorgeous H&A
yellows for earrings. One pair is 1.28ctw, and is a fancy intense yellow,
the other pair is 1.44ctw and a deeper golden yellow. Both pairs are at
EGL now for grading, but we are offering them for sale now since we have had a
number of enquiries on earrings. Additional info and pricing are at our
Loose Takara Yellow H&A page here!
6 A
very poor photo (but all we had time for before shipping to EGL) of our new
matched H&A Takara's.
*Nice
feedback on our Asha� princess from a new Asha� customer: We
received a very nice email from a new Asha� customer and were pleased to get
their permission to post an excerpt of their email. Thank you very much to
that customer for taking the time to write their feedback to us!
"The Princess
Asha� set in my engagement ring came today - it was the most breathtaking
experience to see it - even knowing it wasn't a real
diamond. It has
the same amount of fire I am drawn to window shopping at jewelry shops.
Only I have never been satisfied with any other simulated stone as I am with
yours. It has gorgeous light return and color that I couldn't be happier
about. The "steely grayness" is unbelievable, resembling an actual
diamond instead of that 'glassy whiteness' other simulated diamonds have. I have
owned many cubic zirconia's (not pleased to say) and other fine simulated stones
that I have paid decent money for and I must admit that the Asha� is
spectacular, even compared to other higher end simulated diamonds available.
Originally I held back ordering the Asha� due to the price difference compared
to other manufacturer's prices but I tell you, I am not disappointed. By
the way, until actually going with the Asha� I had already spent a couple
hundred on a stone that comes nowhere near the Asha�. Had I not doubted
your site, I would have been able to afford a larger Asha� with my money already
spent."
*Update
on status of Asha� Pears: Our lab has competed a first run of a
few completed Asha� pears, and visually, they are outstanding. We need to
mount a few into rings to verify that the windowing issue has been completely
minimized, and if that works, we'll begin full production of the Asha� pears.
We'll announce final testing results by next Monday, please be patient while we
ensure these are the best pear diamond simulants on the market today!
Saturday, Oct. 26: More
people buying engagement rings online!: Newsweek recently
had an interesting article titled "Dot-com Diamonds" and noting the trend of
more and more people purchasing engagement rings online because of the cost
savings. You can read the full article here:
"Dot-Com
Diamonds" (msnbc.com)
*Extremely nice
story/feedback from a recent Asha� customer: We were very
pleased to receive the following email from one of our recent customers relating
their experience with their H&A Asha�. As always, we want to thank them very
much for taking the time to write us about their experience and for granting us
permission to share it on our site!
"First off, we
loved the Asha� H & A Round that [we] purchased. We took it to the
jewelers to see it with the setting we have been looking to get and they offered
to look under the scope to see if the diamond we had was a H & A cut (we had
told them it was a family stone, I wanted to see if they'd catch it as not being
a real diamond.) Under the scope we saw the H & A and the clerk was
looking under the scope and said it was a very well cut stone. She then
asked how old it was, and I finally told her it was a simulant. You should
have seen her jaw drop!!! She was shocked. She then called her
jewelry store manager over who was also shocked. They looked under the
scopes not only at the H & A, but for any flaws. They were highly impressed and
admitted that they wouldn't have known with their naked eye and without the
diamond tester. They compared it to another same sized H & A real diamond
they had in the store, that didn't even have the same high color quality as the
Asha� and that stone was over $5,300. They even admitted that we had a
great stone for a great price, to quote them "how can you go wrong." They
wanted to look at the site, one of them was interested in earrings now. It
made us feel right about our decision to save money and go with the Asha�. So we
are really excited and pleased with the Asha�! Thank you!!!"
Friday, Oct. 25: Policy
update and revision!: We have gotten lots of feedback since we
made some policy changes regarding resizing and remounts. As a result of
your feedback and our looking at where the problems lay with remounts, we will
be reverting back to Free mounting of your loose stone purchase as long
as it is mounting into a NEW ring or jewelry item. Since we are not
in the jewelry repair business, we will generally discourage people from sending
in worn jewelry items for remounts, and those will be handled on a case-by-case
basis. This will help us to ensure fairness to those customers who are
sending us reasonable mountings vs. those who have been taking advantage of our
free mountings policy as an excuse for a complete ring repair.
So, to recap (we'll update this as well on a
forthcoming page), loose stone purchases for any of our stones (Asha�, Takara,
Phoenix, Tiana and Superbcert) includes the following for a NEW mounting of your
choosing:
a)One free resizing (if it is for a ring) to
the size of your choice.
b)One free mounting of your loose stone purchase as long as it is into a NEW
mounting suitable for the stone you have purchased.
c)One free second day FedEx shipping of your purchase.
Thank you to those who participated in the
on-going discussion of our new policies on our message boards. We believe
the above changes will help us to continue to offer the benefits you have come
to expect with a purchase from our company while ensuring we don't get taken
advantage of by trying to offer such benefits.
Thursday, Oct. 23: Additional
Takara!: We are pleased to add another Takara Asscher to our
online inventory. The Asscher cut has been a very consistent seller, and
this latest Asscher is the only one we have currently available that has not
already sold. It is a 1.44ct, Golden Yellow Asscher cut - it has not been
graded at EGL yet, but we fully expect VS quality in clarity.
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Additional
details and shopping at our
loose Takara
Asscher page here! Of note, if this stone is still available within
the next two weeks, we are planning on mounting it in our Cartier reproduction
ring for photos, which we believe will make a very stunning ring with the side
white diamonds.
4
Takara Asscher, 1.44ct, Golden Yellow
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Wednesday, Oct. 22: *Tiana�
natural H&A diamonds coming!
Thank you for your votes and feedback on our latest poll regarding whether we
should expand into natural diamonds as well. The overall consensus was we
should not, but there was still a sizable voting block that did want to see us
offer it. Thus, in a compromise, we will be cutting and selling natural
H&A's but will not be maintaining a large inventory of completed stones.
Rather, we will do it more on a per order basis as we are taking completed,
certified round cuts from diamond site holders who buy the rough directly in
South Africa, (thus we already know the color grade and clarity as the stone has
already been reviewed by EGL or GIA) and then re-cutting them to true H&A
standards for people who put diamond beauty as their priority. Probably
most important, under the Tiana�
diamond program, you may trade in your Asha� for an 85% credit of the purchase
price you paid for your Asha� stone and apply that towards the purchase of a
Tiana� H&A
natural diamond. We will have additional details tomorrow, as well as our
first H&A available (F/SI1 (inclusions are faint and white pinpoints, so a very
good SI1), 1.19ct, H&A round, $6950).
For reference, Tiana� is
Greek for 'Princess', and we thought it appropriate
for the receiver of one of these diamonds. Our naturals are cut by our
cutters, Jeff and Ronald, with a combined 73 years
of diamond cutting experience. (On a related note, Peter, our new diamond
setter, wanted it to be noted that he has 30 years
experience, rather than the 25 years plus we mentioned on yesterday's
news!).
With the Tiana natural diamond line, we believe
this will mark the completion of our expected offerings in the arena of diamond
beauty, as we now offer the gamut from diamond simulant (Asha�)
to man-made diamond (Takara) to enhanced natural (Phoenix)
and finally, to pure natural (Tiana), thus making
us a true diamond super-store. Of note, we now have
73 years of diamond cutting experience backing our cutting (Jeff and
Ronald), and 60 years of diamond-setting experience
for working on the jewelry of your choice (Duane and Peter), plus
27 years of jewelry design (Darryl). If you have questions on our
Tiana's, you may email us at
[email protected]
or simply wait and we will post a new page (with photos!) and additional info
over the next few days as we flush out this expansion.
Tuesday, Oct. 22: New
diamond setter joining us!: We are extremely pleased to
announce that we have hired another goldsmith to help us out with the production
of our jewelry. Peter joins us with over 25 years of stone-setting
experience, giving us over 55 years of combined stone setting experience between
he and Duane. Peter will start work tomorrow and this will certainly help
reduce the current backlog on our orders.
*Darryl will be taking
on custom work! On a related note, we are also pleased to
announce that our wax carver and jewelry designer Darryl has asked to start
taking on custom work again. We had stopped doing custom because we found
it unprofitable, but Darryl will be running this as his own business (and
working with Peter to do the stone setting), and he had done custom work for
many, many years before joining us and he basically misses the customer
interaction. Thus, he will continue to do our design work for our Aldora
line of jewelry, but will be willing to take on a limited number of custom
designs as well. Thus, if you are interested in doing a custom piece, you
may email him directly via his email at
[email protected].
Nice email from one of our
first Cartier reproduction ring customers!
We recently received an email from a customer who
purchased our Cartier reproduction ring with a 2ct Asscher Asha�, and they were
kind enough to allow us to post their feedback. Thank you very much to
this customer for taking the time to write us!
"I just wanted to write a thank
you e-mail to all of you there at BTD. I received my Cartier reproduction
ring with 2 carat asscher today - and it blew me and my husband totally away!
It is so spectacular, and so far beyond any of the other rings we had looked at
in the jewelry stores. It is absolutely breathtaking. Thank you for
the gorgeous ring and the incredible customer service!"
Thursday, Oct. 17: New
waxes carved this week!: We are happy to announce that we have
approved several new waxes this week, and hope to have them molded, cast, set
and photo'ed within another week and a half.
The first is the Asscher
Trellis Wedding Set. This holds a 1.5ct Asscher cut Asha�, mounted
in our Trellis style ring but with split prongs (8 prongs) to hold the center
Asscher cut. Matching it is a side ring that sets flush, and will be
brightset with natural diamonds.
Secondly, the first half of our
'Timeless' Wedding set is under way. This is a common-prong
eternity band, featuring 2.4mm VS/G natural diamonds (extremely well cut natural
diamonds), and forming 360 degree ring of round diamonds encompassing your
finger. The only place we have seen a ring with this much attention to
detail in an eternity ring is Tiffany's. The ring has a smooth,
comfort-fit inner shank, open galleries in the sides of the baskets holding the
stone, and is optimized to minimize the amount of metal showing on the top of
the ring (the goal is for it to look like a seamless band of diamonds).
The first master is carved to fit a 6.5 ring size, we will then be re-molding
based on the master and adjusting to make the other ring sizes as we receive
orders. Please note that eternity rings, by their nature, cannot be
re-sized. This ring, in size 6.5, will be 1.10cts total weight of natural
top grade, top cut diamond. Set in platinum, this ring will probably sell
for about $1900 (but we won't know until we have completed one for sure).
*Diamond size photo
has been moved to our new page, 'Diamond Size comparison'.
You can find it under our menu 'General Info', this is the photo of the model
with 4 different size diamonds on her finger. We have gotten very good
feedback on this photo, and are planning to do more for larger size rounds, as
well as different cuts (ala princess, emerald, etc.). You can also jump
directly to the new page here!
*Very nice feedback
from an Asha� customer on their Asscher/Artemis ring!: We
received another very kind email from a recent customer today, and want to say
thank you to them for taking the time to write us their feedback as well as to
allow us to share it on our website!
"I got my 2 ct.
Asscher Artemis platinum ring and may I say "WOW!" When I first opened the box
and saw the ring, my jaw literally dropped.
To say the ring is
beautiful is an understatement. It is elegant and a timeless classic addition to
my jewelry wardrobe. Thank you so much for this lovely, well crafted piece of
jewelry.
And thank you also
for your customer service. I will be doing business with you again in the
future."
Monday, Oct. 14: New
'help me decide what size stone to buy' photo!: A
number of customers have requested a photo that would help them decide what size
stone (round) to buy, so in conjunction with SuperbCert, we are pleased to
present the following photo. We set 4 different SuperbCert diamonds, from
a 1.02 to a 2.01ct, and then placed them on a models hand to give you a true
overview of how the carat size looks. We'll have this photo moved to a
sizing page shortly, but for now, we hope this helps you visualize what size
round would work for you!
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Saturday, Oct. 12: Introducing
our newest ring, the Angelica!:
We're pleased to finally offer a ring
with natural side pears, as this has
been an often requested design.
The Angelica has 2 natural side pear
diamonds, VS clarity, G color for a
total of .41ctw. As usual, this
one has the euro-shank bottom and
comfort fit band. This ring is
designed to hold virtually any center
stone!
Our new Angelica ring page is here. |
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*Speaking of
pears, a possible breakthrough from our lab allowing us to do larger Pear Asha�s!:
Our scientists at our laboratory appear to have developed a new
amorphous diamond combination that corrects the windowing (see-through) problem
that had shown up in our larger Asha� pears (which is why we have not been
selling Asha� pears). We won't be commenting on how we did it (another
trade secret formulation), but are currently testing the new amorphous diamond
treatment designed expressly for pears (and also for larger marquise) that may
allow us to start offering pears, and possibly marquise cuts.
Thursday, Oct. 10: Duane,
our stone-setter, taking vacation from Oct. 17 - 25th!: We've got one
last vacation to get out of the way before buckling down for Christmas season,
and that is for Duane to take some time off next week. This means that
orders coming in after tomorrow probably won't be finished and shipped until the
last week in October (or about 2 week turnaround instead of our more typical 5 -
7 day turnaround). Orders will continue to be processed in the order
received, and we'll get as much done as we can (i.e. casting, sizing, polishing,
etc) for orders that come in while Duane is gone to expedite their completion
upon his return.
*Note for Christmas
orders: Based on our current volume, we will probably mark Dec. 10th
as the last day that we will guarantee delivery of orders (jewelry orders) for
pre-Christmas delivery. Loose stone orders can be done until Dec. 20th.
Wednesday, Oct. 9: One
ring omitted from our list of upcoming rings!: We had an oversight on
our list below (under Oct. 7 update) of upcoming rings - we are also planning a
three stone emerald ring. Size has not been finalized for the stones, but
the thinking currently is a 1.50ct center, and 1.05ct sides. We may also
look at cutting some smaller emeralds just for this ring, perhaps .75ct.
Feel free to provide your input on what you would prefer if you are interested
in this ring on our message boards, and thanks to those who noted our omission
on the list below!
Tuesday, Oct. 8: Common
FAQ (frequently asked questions) page added!: We've been lacking a
place to put some of the common questions related to our company and orders, so
we have created a new FAQ page that is not product specific, but rather a
general FAQ. Current questions and answers include:
-
How long have you been in
business?
-
I
live in (insert country name
here). Do I have to do
anything special to place an
order?
-
I
just placed my order - how long
until I receive it?
We'll continue to add other questions as well,
including some very basic product questions that we see a lot.
Our new FAQ page is here, please email us with suggestions if you think
other questions should be on this general page!
*Nice email from a new Asha�
customer: We received a nice
email from a new Asha� customer yesterday, and are pleased that they allowed us
to publish (anonymously of course) a bit of their feedback. Thank you to
that customer for taking the time to write us and allowing us to reprint!
"I received my ring back with
the Asha� center stone I ordered mounted beautifully on top!
I can not begin to tell
you how beautiful it is and how happy I am!! I have never seen
such clarity and sparkle!! I looked locally at a diamond of equivalent
size and it was discounted down to $21,000 - my beautiful Asha� was
$550! Just a little bit of a savings! haha
Thank you for making me a
Beautiful, Beautiful ring. I just can't get over how it glistens and
shines. No one will EVER know it's a sim.
I can't believe the speed of
BTD. I had my ring back in EXACTLY "1" week! And I'm quite far from you. What
Service!!!!
I am extremely pleased with the
entire purchase process. You have a wonderful product and top notch
customer service. I definitely feel I have been catered to and pampered.
Thank you for such a personal touch. It has meant a lot to me."
*Link to the prongs
page from the Artemis page fixed: We fixed a bug whereby the
link from the Artemis page to our prongs index page was not working, thank you
to those customers who emailed to alert us to the problem!
The Artemis page is here!
Monday, Oct. 7: Remount
page added back to the site!: One of the trends has been for
customers to send us rings they already own to set a loose stone purchase from
us into (especially for Takara's). Thus, we've brought back our remount
page, which has all the details on how to send us a jewelry piece for having
your loose stone purchase set into it. We'll be adding this page to the
menu shortly, but for now, here is a
direct link.
*Upcoming rings: We get a lot of
questions about what designs are coming up next, here is a basic listing of what
is coming in the near future in no particular order:
-
Wedding Band for the Cartier
reproduction ring
-
Wedding band for the Premiere
ring
-
Wedding band for the Artemis
ring
-
Asscher Trellis ring with split
prongs (8 prongs)
-
ring with side pear diamonds
(unnamed as of yet) for any
center stone
-
ring with side trillion Asha�s
(unnamed as of yet) for any
center stone
-
our 'Timeless' wedding set
featuring a knife-edge Tiffany
solitaire and a matched eternity
ring (natural diamond, common
prong, 360 degree diamonds).
These will be available as
individual rings or a set
purchase.
After the above get done, we are
also going to cull our ring
inventory and get rid of the rings
that sell the least. We prefer
to have a small selection of
best-sellers, rather than
continuously adding rings to the
site. Thus, currently the Joli,
Shooting Star and Valentia ring will
probably no longer be made after
next month. If these names
don't mean anything to you, you
might want to visit our
ring index page here!
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Saturday, Oct. 5: Trellis
Wedding Band available, and
new 2.0ct Princess Trellis
Engagement ring!: One of our top selling
rings for the past year has
been the Trellis engagement
ring. Following
through with our new policy
of offering matched wedding
bands for all our rings, we
are pleased to now announce
the Trellis Wedding band.
In concert, we are also
offering a new Trellis
Engagement ring for 2.00ct
center stones as well.
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Trellis wedding set with 2.00ct Trellis.
(note: the band and ring are
apart for
the photo, the band sets flush
against
the ring for wear).
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The Trellis wedding band has
10 natural diamonds
brightset, with a total
carat weight of .17ctw.
It has been carved to set
flush against the Trellis
engagement ring, with the
band curved to account for
the side supports on the
Trellis ring. Photo's
are below, details and
pricing for both the band
and our new 2.0ct. Trellis
ring are at our
Trellis page here!
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A closeup of our Trellis
wedding band. The
wedding band has been
discounted by 10% to reflect
the fact that many customers
have already purchased the
Trellis ring (since we
normally offer a 5% discount
on both rings when purchased
as a set).
Friday, Oct. 4: Largest
Takara ever finished = Yellow 1.80ct
Premiere Asscher!: We were very happy to hear that one of our
Takara crystals finished out to a VS2 1.80 Premiere Asscher cut. This is
our largest cultured diamond to-date, and since we have consistently sold all of
our Premiere Asscher cuts very quickly, are pleased to be able to offer this
one. The weather was not conducive for photos, so we'll hope to have some
early next week. Our
loose Takara Asscher
page is here!
*Continued strong
sales growth: We are also pleased to report that our accounting
summary for September sales (2002) showed a 400% sales increase as compared to
Sept. 2001. As part of that, we are also working on hiring additional
customer service representatives to help handle the phone call volume which has
been rapidly increasing.
*La Poussette earrings
showing up at other top notch jewelers: We couldn't help but
notice that Tiffany & Co. has now started using La Poussette backs for their
stud earrings as well, the same type we switched to for our Asha� and SuperbCert
earrings some time ago. We think this helps validate our claim that we
only use the very best quality for our jewelry settings.
Our earring page is here
if you wish to see what the La Poussette earrings look like!
*Asha� Pendant page
updated: There was a lot of confusion on our method of
pricing the Solstice pendants (we had listed the metal pendant and stone
seperately, and people thought the metal cost was the cost of a completed
pendant), and since these pendants have been one of our top selling jewelry
items, it only made sense to make the page a bit easier to understand.
We've reverted the page to simply having one button pricing for the pendant and
Asha� already mounted together, which should help make pricing easier to
understand. Our pendant page is here!
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Thursday, Oct. 3: Introducing
(at last) our Cartier 1922 Asscher
reproduction ring!:
We're very pleased to finally be
able to offer our Cartier 1922
reproduction ring. With a
total of .20ctw natural side
diamonds, a dainty shank of 2.60mm,
and a low-set, integrated 8 prong
head, this ring has the makings of
being our best selling ring ever.
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We've also made a matched wedding
band, which we will offer next week
for sale as well. Details and
pricing are at our
Cartier Reproduction ring page here!
Wednesday, Oct. 2: Introducing
our Phoenix Enhanced Natural diamonds!: We're extremely pleased
to now offer another option for our diamond connoisseur's, our Phoenix enhanced
Natural diamonds! Phoenix diamonds are 100% natural,
mined from Brazil and South Africa, diamonds that are extremely rare and
ultra-pure. Specifically, they are what is termed "Type IIa" diamonds,
or diamonds with no nitrogen. Only 1 in 100 diamonds is this pure.
Many of these ultra-pure diamonds have a hard trip from their growth place
nearly 100 miles beneath the earth, to the earths surface via volcanic pipes.
The incredible stress and pressure placed upon these diamonds causes their
crystal structure to become compressed, and they thus arrive as brownish
diamonds when first mined. However, when placed back into an environment
similar to where they first grew (High Temperature, High Pressure), the crystal
structure is de-stressed and they revert to their original color which is
basically D-F (colorless) diamonds. Because the crystal structure has been
relieved of all stress, they are actually stronger than most natural diamonds,
and this is exemplified when placed in high temperature environments - Phoenix
diamonds are the last to destruct compared to other natural diamonds.
We have a number of our first Phoenix diamonds
available, though do not have photos yet as they are at EGL for laser
inscription (will have Phoenix Diamond engraved on the side, and their EGL
certificate number). A quick sample is below:
Ideal cut round....D
color, Internally Flawless, 1.01ct
Oval cut...D color, Internally Flawless, 1.00ct
Pear cut...D color, Internally Flawless, 1.00ct
Details and pricing are at our new
Loose Phoenix Diamond page
here!
*Cartier update is also
underway...should have pricing very shortly....
Tuesday, Oct. 1: Lots
of updates coming!: After concluding a number of business
trips, we'll have multiple announcements over the next 24 hours, including:
*Cartier ring- final pricing and
photos (at last!)
*Introduction
of our new line of HPHT enhanced "Phoenix"
natural white diamonds. We
will have a 1.01ct D/IF Ideal
cut round Phoenix available as our
first one.
*Details on our
trade-in policy for Asha�
and other miscellaneous updates. Stay
tuned!
Thursday, Sept. 19: Email
server down after maintenance: We are having significant delays
in receiving emails today, after our email server was taken down last night for
maintenance. We expect to have it corrected tonight, but please be patient
in getting replies to your emails as we basically received no emails today (they
are not lost, but stuck at the email server right now).
*New Takara slogan
chosen! Thanks to your votes, you've selected our new Takara
slogan: "Diamond by Man, Beauty by Nature".
We'll be refitting all of our web pages and other marketing around this slogan
shortly!
*Should we expand into
white natural diamonds????! As we've been expanding our
business, we have been approached with a new opportunity to directly import
natural white diamonds from a conflict free source. Since we already have
our own cutters for the Takara man-made diamonds (with 37 and 36 years of
natural diamond cutting experience), we are giving this serious consideration.
Thus, time for another poll to get your feedback - Should we begin
importing, cutting and selling our own natural white diamonds on our website?
We would offer cuts such as the Flanders, the Premiere, Emerald, etc.
Because we would follow the same model of selling direct, the prices would be
lower than found at typical retail levels, and we would allow you to trade-in
your Asha� for credit towards the purchase of a natural. We would also
certify the origin of the stone, and provide details of the rough crystal so you
can know that the diamond is 'new' and uniquely yours.
Please vote your thoughts at our new poll here!
*Our offices will be closed
Sept. 24th and 25th due to multiple business trips!
Our workshop will continue to be running, but
customer service will be closed both of these days. We'll resume normal
operations on Sept. 26th.
Wednesday, Sept. 18: Additional
Asscher Asha� completed: We are extremely pleased to announce
that we have completed another large batch of Asha� Asschers, and expect that we
now have enough to fulfill all of the pre-orders for this cut. We have
made it about 1/3 of the way through emailing everyone with pre-orders, and hope
to notify the remainder within the next two days that you now have an Asscher
ready for you. We are still working on the Cartier ring, but expect to
have it completed within 2 weeks (at last). You may request for us to hold
the Asscher until you see the final Cartier ring to decide whether to have us
mount it in that setting for you, or simply ship to you as a loose stone.
*Bringing back our
article on Rhodium plating: We have made it our policy for some
time now to always rhodium plate our white gold jewelry pieces, at our expense.
We've gotten a lot of questions about why we rhodium plate, and thus have
brought back a page that will help to explain why we do it - you can view our
page on 'Why we rhodium plate' here!
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