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Wednesday, Jan. 29th:
Asha�
Asschers back in stock!: We've completed another batch of Asha�s, and
have already shipped out a number of loose Asscher backorders today. Both
2 and 3cts, our best-selling sizes, are now available. Our Asha� Asscher
page is here!
*Pear Asha�'s
and Radiant Asha�'s will be discontinued after current inventory is sold:
As part of our continuing focus on efficiencies of scale, we will no longer
offer our Pear cut or Radiant cut Asha�'s after the current inventory is
sold. At the rate of current interest in these cuts, that probably means
they'll be available for a while, but we wanted to give advance
notice.
*A note on
efficiencies of scale: We are going to be reviewing all
of our offerings over the next month and dropping those that are not selling in
larger quantity, so that we can focus on those that are selling in large
volume. This was part of the reason we discontinued doing custom rings
last year, and recently announced we will be dropping our all-metal wedding
bands. But, the tradeoff and the reason we are focusing on this issue:
volume/efficiency of scale was why we were able to keep the Asscher Asha� at its
intro pricing (high volume of sales means less need to make as much per
sale). In similar vein, last year we could not have offered the Timeless
Wedding Band at the price we are now offering. Why? Because last
year we were paying a lot higher prices for our diamonds from our suppliers, and
the greatest expense of making the Timeless Wedding Band is the cost of the
natural diamonds.
However, because we now sell a high
volume of rings that use natural diamond sides (especially the Cartier
reproduction), we have consistently improved our negotiating/buying power with
melee diamond manufacturers (melee = small diamonds, less than .25ct) as we now
buy in significantly larger quantities/volume, and those savings are then passed
on to you in the form of lower prices. Lower pricing means better bang for
the buck for you, our customers, which then normally results in increased sales
volume for us, and the cycle repeats as we negotiate additional melee purchases
or purchases for other parts necessary for the manufacture of our
products...meaning a continuous cycle of better 'bang for the buck' for our
customers. Dell computer is of course a classic example of this model
(sell direct and sell in volume), and its a model we are replicating here.
So, we wanted you to be aware of why you may see more discontinued items as we
review our sales - it is to allow us to improve our own efficiencies and our
cost of raw materials, so that we can continue to bring you top quality high-end
jewelry but at internet pricing, ensuring you can get the maximum bang (or in
this case sparkle) for your spending dollar.
*Nice feedback on an
Asha� Flanders ring!: We're
pleased to be able to share a very nice email we received recently from a new
customer about their Flanders ring. Thank you to that customer for taking
the time to write!
"I received my 3 carat Asha� Flanders in the
Aphrodite setting and I must say I could not believe how absolutely
flawless [it is]. I am so pleased! My husband and I have been married 15 years and I had a real diamond ring but my diamond was not of the best quality nor was it 3 carats! The ring was worth the wait!!! All my friends are extremely jealous of me for the 1st time and I love the feeling of having something beyond my reach on my finger. Every time I look at the ring I feel spoiled and smart! Thanks for the beautiful
workmanship and service!"
Tuesday, Jan. 28th: Timeless
Wedding Band now available - intro pricing until March 15th!: We're
very pleased to announce the availability of our anticipated Timeless Wedding
Band. This is the direct result of customer feedback from our Timeless
Eternity ring, and has produced a ring of exceptional beauty and
practicality.
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This band
features 11, VVS-VS/F-G, well-cut 2.5mm natural
diamonds (.66ctw), arrayed for over 180 degrees of brilliance. It also
features a euro-shank bottom, to ensure ease of wear and to ensure the diamonds
stay prominent and not spun upside down on your finger. We're offering
this ring at $940 in platinum until March 15th - more details and photos at our
new Timeless
Wedding Band page here!
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*Extension
on our discontinuation of all-metal wedding bands:
We
received some complaints that we did not offer any warning on our
discontinuing
of our all-metal wedding bands, as some customers indicated
they were
contemplating a purchase when we announced this. Thus, we're
happy to
correct ourselves and will offer our metal wedding bands (both
square and
die-struck half-rounds) until Feb. 7th to allow sufficient time for
any final
orders. You may view our metal wedding bands at our
Wedding
Bands Index page here! Thanks also to those customers for the feedback
about this on our
message
boards!
Monday, Jan. 27th: Lots
of Miscellaneous updates: We're getting very
busy with Valentines Day
orders, so updates have not been as frequent,
however, we've got a number of new
items to mention.
*Asscher
Asha�s
(2 and 3ct) will be available tomorrow: Our lab was
cleaning
the last batch today, and these will be back in stock tomorrow!
*Asha� Princess
1cts now sold out: We've sold out of 1ct. Princess
Asha�s, and
hope to have more ready in early March. Of note, we are
running low on 2ct
rounds as well, only 8 left, but we'll start a new batch this
week as well.
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*Cartier
Reproduction Engagement ring will now be offered with diamond and alternating
natural gemstones: We've
received a lot of requests to start offering these, and will have some photos
shortly. Instead of using all diamonds on each side of the ring, we'll
offer an alternating pattern of both diamond and natural, top grade (AA),
diamond cut rubies or sapphires. Thus, each side would have 3 diamonds,
and 2 gemstones. Cost is not that much cheaper than all diamond (in large
part because we do a lot of volume on small side diamonds), but these will offer
you a chance to add some color to our best selling ring.
Our
Cartier Reproduction page is here, though no photos yet on a ring with colored
gemstones.
*New center
stone options for Cartier Reproduction ring coming: Continuing
with offering options on our best selling ring, Darryl will be carving a new
Cartier-style heads for rounds and princess cut, allowing you more choices for
what type of center stone to use. We hope to have these available in the
middle of February.
*Discontinuing
all-metal wedding bands: Based on sales results (with diamond
wedding bands skyrocketing) and customer feedback, we will be discontinuing all
of our metal-only wedding bands. We still have some in stock that were
made last year, but rather than having a clearance sale on these, since platinum
and gold prices have shot up so much (gold hit a six year high today) we'll
simply be selling them for the metal price to a metal refiner. This is
part of our efforts to keep our product line focused on what our customers most
want, and it is clear that all-metal bands are not in much demand currently as
compared to ones with diamonds.
*Timeless
Wedding band should be available tomorrow!: Our Timeless
Wedding band (formerly titled Timeless Half-Eternity ring), will be available
for sale tomorrow assuming that we get enough sunshine to photo it! This
ring has turned out beautifully, and initial feedback from employees here has
been that it is more comfortable to wear than the full eternity ring. This
ring has .66ctw VVS-VS/F-G diamonds, and will be intro priced at $940 in
platinum.
Wednesday, Jan. 22nd: Cartier
Reproduction Ring, Matched Wedding Bands now available: The follow-on
to our best-selling ring, we're pleased to announce the immediate availability
of the Cartier reproduction Wedding Band. These bands are available for
1.5ct, 2ct, and 3ct. center stones, and each is sized to lock around the base of
the prongs of the engagement ring to prevent spinning. Unlike traditional
wedding sets where the band and engagement ring look like one solid ring, this
wedding set creates a "ribbon-effect" with tapered spacing between the
band and ring, to allow the band to form a straight backdrop against the tapered
engagement ring.
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When viewed
in person, the effect is very pleasing, and
it emphasizes the amount of diamonds now
wrapping around your finger
(20!). The Wedding band is priced at a
10% discount to reflect our wedding set
discount. These bands will only work
expressly for the Cartier reproduction
engagement ring.
Our
updated Cartier reproduction ring page is here!
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Zoom shot of our Cartier Reproduction
Wedding Set
to allow you to see the ribbon effect of the two rings together.
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Tuesday, Jan. 21st: "Floating"
3-stone pendant now available: Our three-stone H&A pendant is now
available! This pendant uses three H&A Asha�'s by default, a .25ct,
.50ct, and .75ct for 1.50ctw. We'll shortly have an all-natural H&A
SuperbCert diamond version available as well (using D&E color SuperbCerts).
This pendant has introductory pricing from now until Valentines Day, hopefully
making it a very sparkly gift for those who want to show their past, present and
future in one pendant! Our
floating pendant page is here!
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Our Asha� 3-stone floating pendant while being
worn for photos. |
Monday, Jan. 20th: Trillion
Ring finally available: We're
pleased to announce the availability of our overdue Trillion Ring. Our
first Trillion ring is one done in all diamond, we'll have photos shortly of the
Trillion ring with Asha�s as well. Without further delay, here are some
sample photos of the Takara/natural diamond Trillion ring to give you a feel for
the finished product - our Trillion
ring page is here!
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Our Trillion Ring shown with center 1.02
princess Takara Vivid Yellow Orange Princess, and side F color, VS natural white
trillion diamonds. 1.65ctw diamond.
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Thursday, Jan. 16th: Misc.
Updates: We'll have a number of
completed designs available early next week, including the overdue trillion ring
and three-stone emerald ring. Leading the list is our Cartier reproduction
wedding bands, which will form the second half of our top-selling Cartier
reproduction engagement ring. We've already cast 6 of these, and are now
setting the side stones and sizing to get ready for photos.
We'll also have the three stone
floating pendant made in both Asha� and SuperbCert H&A (D & E color
diamonds) among others next week as well.
*Platinum
prices have risen significantly over the past year: On a
related note, platinum prices have been rising steadily since last year, going
from $480/oz a year ago to $620/oz. This is having a significant impact on
the cost of manufacturing our platinum pieces, and so as an early warning, we
may be raising prices if platinum raw metal cost continues to rise. Don't
take our word for it, though, you may view a chart of platinum's steady price
rise for yourself
here!
Note: Platinum price chart is at the bottom of the page.
*Fraudulent EBay auctions: Please
also be aware that we have continued to see a lot of fraudulent EBay auctions,
some claiming to be selling amorphous diamonds and using photos stolen from our
website, others claiming to be auctioning "cultured diamonds" or
"man-made diamonds" that are in fact not diamond but simulants, either
cz or moissanite. There are very, very few places that are selling true,
lab grown diamonds such as the Takara. True lab grown diamonds, while
cheaper than their mined counterparts, are still expensive and difficult to
grow, so the odds that you can buy a real cultured white diamond for $56 on EBay
are basically nil. Please be extremely careful when considering any
purchases like this through an auction format. The easiest way to check on
cultured diamond claims is to ask the seller for a copy of the diamond grading
report from a reputable independent gemological laboratory such as EGL. We
have contacted EBay's fraud department in the past, but they have been useless
in preventing these type of auctions. As the old saying goes, buyer
beware!
Friday, Jan. 10th: Upcoming
designs for Valentine's Day!: We're pleased that we were able to make
a lot of progress this week on some new jewelry items that we hope to have
available in time for Valentine's Day. These are all in the 'wax' stage,
and so will look more bulky and not nearly as nice as the finished
jewelry, but we've taken some photos (shown below as well) and placed them on
our upcoming jewelry page.
Thursday, Jan. 9th: Nice
feedback on the Asha� princess!: We're pleased to be able to share a
new customer's feedback regarding their recent purchase from us. Thanks
very much to that particular customer for taking the time to write back and for
allowing us to reprint!
"I got my finished ring today. All I can say is WOW.
I am a teacher and work with other teachers who know their diamonds. They will DISSECT any jewelry that comes into range. For me that was the big test. I had moissanite and it fooled everyone---when I was INSIDE.... outside was another story. It was icky green. I actually would hide my hand when I was outside. I knew that I had made a mistake. Moissanite was not going to fill the bill and I would not be happy with this as my engagement stone.
Well the Asha� ring was delivered to me at work. EVERYONE was fooled. Trust me, these women are as eagle-eyed as any senior jeweler with a
loupe. That means so much to me. The stone is sparkly, but not pasty-white like a regular CZ . It has that silvery color like diamonds do. This really is incredible and I am so thrilled."
*Takara Yellow Price
Increase after Jan. 31st: After
reviewing the profit/loss for the Takara program from last year, we will need to
raise prices for our Takara yellows from their current $2750/ct
to $3250/ct. We had earlier mentioned that
this might happen in October, but we opted to keep prices the same until after
the Holidays. So, for those deliberating, please try and decide on your
purchase before the 1/31 price increase - there will be no exceptions after Jan.
31st insofar as pricing. Our
Takara yellow
inventory page is here!
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Tuesday, Jan. 7th:
Our
new Regalia Pave Eternity ring ready!: We're happy to announce our
pave ring is now available. This ring is very hard to photo, but it is
simply outstanding in terms of light dispersion and sparkle, in large part due
to the 54, VS/G, well-cut natural diamonds that encrust it. A size 6.5 has
1.08 total carat weight of pave set diamonds! Our new
Regalia
Eternity ring page is here!
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Regalia ring above with our Timeless
Anniversary ring for comparison.
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*Friday, Jan. 3rd: New
rings nearly ready: With the holiday rush over, we're working
on completing the Cartier Wedding Bands that match our Cartier Reproduction
ring, as well as the eternity Pave band, and of course the Trillion Ring.
We hope to have these introduced on the website over the next two weeks.
*Updates on
the website: We've added some new menu items to hopefully make
navigation on the site a bit easier, including the introduction of a
miscellaneous products section for items such as our ultrasonic jewelry cleaner.
*Very nice
feedback from a recent customer: We're happy to have permission
to share another email we recently received from a new customer below. We
want to say 'Thank you' to that customer for taking the time to write us and for
allowing us to share their feedback!
"I just wanted to write and let you know that
for Christmas I received two most wonderful presents; a fianc� and the Tiffany Channel Set Solitaire with the 1ct H&A Asha� set in platinum! I was,
and still remain speechless. My ring is the most gorgeous piece of jewelry I have ever owned hands down. The
Asha�
definitely out sparkles any diamond I have ever seen, and the craftsmanship is phenomenal. Also, the side channel
set diamonds are the perfect compliment, and match the Asha� to a T. The shank is so shiny and smooth, it looks like liquid. The whole ring flows
together beautifully! Finally, after such a long wait I finally have the man AND the ring of my dreams! Thank you so much for an absolutely stunning
product! I will wear it with great pride!"
Tuesday, Dec. 31: Happy
New Year!: We'll
be closed for the the rest of today and closed tomorrow to celebrate the New
Year. From all of the staff here, we wish all of our customers a Happy and
Prosperous New Year!
*Extremely
nice feedback on our Cartier Asscher ring: A customer wrote us
a very nice feedback email over the holidays, and we're pleased to be able to
reprint their feedback here. Thanks very much to that customer for
entrusting us with their jewelry order and for taking the time to write!
"I had to write to tell you about our experience with BTD. My husband has been was very hesitant to get me a new wedding ring because of the high price of the size of diamond I have wanted. We have 3 rapidly growing boys and we need to save up for their college education. When I sent him the link to your site a while back, he was nervous about buying online and was terrified to get me something without seeing it in person first. I didn't know it, but he went ahead and bought me the
Asha� Assher ring and gave it to me Christmas Eve. It brought tears to my eyes when he asked me if I would marry him all over again and slipped the ring on my finger. My husband was also very impressed and happy with how incredible the ring looks. Many people in my family saw my ring on Christmas Eve and jaws dropped and eyes popped! A summary of the comments: "It is so sparkly!", "That is ! amazing." "WOW!"
Also, I am not sure where I read that someone had taken their BTD ring into a jeweler and fooled them but I have to also tell you that over the weekend, I went into some local upscale jewelry stores just to see what they would have to say about it. I went under the pretense that why is it I can not find another stone (didn't say diamond) cut this way (assher style)? I had 2 different jewelers that looked through their Loop and tell me that my "diamond" has to be worth at least $25,000 to $30,000. They were so amazed - one even interrupted a different sales associate that was with another customer to have them look at my ring up close. Both stores also commented / asked if I had my ring insured. I couldn't believe what I had heard from two different jewelers/stores and all I could say was, "Really?!, Wow - I have such a great husband!"
Monday, Dec. 30:
Asha�
Asscher intro-pricing made permanent!:
We're
pleased to announce that based on the high volume of sales for our Asha� Asscher
during the intro pricing period, that we have decided to simply make the
intro-pricing the permanent price for the Asscher cut. Thus, Asha� Asschers
will permanently be $150/ct. This was an interesting experience for
us, in that we never expected the sales of this cut to be so high, but the
tradeoff was that because of the high volume, we are able to cost-effectively
sell them at cheaper pricing since we were selling such a high number (i.e. the
total profit of selling more at lower cost exceeded the profits of selling fewer
with better profit). Our
Cartier
reproduction ring with the Asha� Asscher was hands-down our best selling ring
this year, even though it was not introduced until late September. The one
drawback to the high volume is that we are currently again out of stock on the 2
and 3ct Asschers, but hope to have more ready the first week in February.
Nice customer
feedback: Speaking of the Asha� Asscher and Cartier repro, we're
pleased to be able to share a recent email from a customer of that ring.
Thanks to that customer for their order, and also for taking the time to write
such a nice feedback email!
"What can I say, other than, absolutely AMAZING. I have looked in jewelry shops - the most exclusive to the antique
jewelers, NEVER did I think that I would be the proud owner of such a STUNNING piece. HOW do you guys do it, you must have a REAL gift, it is SOOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!MORE exquisite than any diamond I have seen, I have looked at Many!
One thing I will say is the photos on your website MOST DEFINITELY do not do the ring justice, the workmanship is exquisite, attention to detail and solid feeling, the stone is SPECTACULAR, and can I say to any future perspective client YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!!!!!! the only problem is choosing which
one..."
Nice customer
feedback on the Asha� princess cut: We also received a nice
feedback email on the Asha� princess cut, and our thanks to that customer for
taking the time to share their experience. Of interest, this customer
informed us that they had also ordered princess cut simulants from two other
companies to compare, and noted that none of them came close to the beauty or
realness of the Asha�. Thanks again to that customer for taking the time to
write!
"I just wanted to let you know I received the .75 loose Princess cut
Asha� today�I am thrilled. I spent hours agonizing over the decision of which
simulant to purchase�I definitely made the right choice. I just wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity to own a simply beautiful and elegant stone�my platinum/diamond engagement setting has a new life!"
Saturday, Dec. 28: Branson
Ultrasonic jewelry cleaners are now available!:
We're
pleased to announce that after a long wait, we recently received another large
shipment of Branson Ultrasonic jewelry/eyeglass cleaners. As you may have
read on our Asha� cleaning page, we highly recommend true ultrasonic cleaning as
the premiere way to keep your Asha� and/or diamond jewelry at its maximum
sparkle.
Ultrasonic cleaning has been shown to
clean items up to 16x better than manual cleaning, and that is why every jewelry
store cleans their jewelry with an ultrasonic. Beware of cheap imitation
"ultrasonic" cleaners - these are ultrasonic in name only, and their
cleaning power is derived purely by the chemicals (that they sell) that are
required to use in it. We know because we bought and tested a number of
them - many of these sell for about $15 - $40, and if you just clean it in water
(no chemicals) it will be just as dirty as when you dropped your jewelry
in. As one manufacturer told us, if it is for sale for less than $50, it
is almost certainly a fake ultrasonic because the parts and assembly necessary
to produce true ultrasonic cavitation will cost the manufacturer around
$50. We tested a number of different cleaners, and consistently found that
the Branson model was the best if you are after a true, professional ultrasonic
cleaner for in-home use. This cleaner will work just fine using a little
hand dishwashing soap and water, because the cleaning power again comes from
true cavitation. Branson was the pioneer in developing desk-top size
ultrasonics, so it was not a suprise that they won our in-house competition for
the best jewelry cleaner. We offer both the US version, as well as the
international model (220V) at our ultrasonic page here!
Tuesday, Dec. 24: Happy
Holidays!: We're
closing early today and will be closed tomorrow for Christmas - we wanted to
wish each and every one of our customers a safe and happy holiday season.
Looking back, our sales for the year 2002 have grown over 300%, and we look
forward to bringing you new jewelry and new designs, and perhaps most
importantly, true blue Takara diamonds, in this coming year! Happy
Holidays!
Monday, Dec. 23: New
knowledgebase/FAQ software up and running!:
We're
pleased to announce that we have nearly implemented our new FAQ/Knowledgebase
software, and wanted to give you a first look. This software will shortly
become our default system for handling customer emails as well, for now it will
just serve as a searchable FAQ and knowledgebase until we have tested it
more. While we are steadily adding questions and answers to it, we'd
appreciate your feedback on this new functionality.
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3The photo is
one we took of the Takara ring before sending it to the studio.
Friday, Dec. 20: New
photos from upcoming movie "Beyond Recognition"!:
One
of our Takara rings was used in the filming of the upcoming movie "Beyond
Recognition" and we're pleased to be able to show some quick photos taken
from the film. The film itself will premiere in April - we'll have
additional details in the near future, but for now, though you might enjoy some
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Thursday, Dec. 19: New
additions to the website coming:
December
has been another record month, and to handle our growth, we will shortly be
installing a new software system on the website to allow you to dynamically ask,
search and find answers on all of our products and jewelry. More
importantly, you can then email us with additional questions, but the side of
the software you won't see is that it will allow us to track each and every
email with a support ticket for us to ensure all emails are responded to.
We'll have more details as we begin implementing this software shortly, and of
course, we'll welcome your feedback on it via our message boards as we add it to
the site. We believe it will further help ensure that you can easily find
the answers to all your questions conveniently and easily.
*Ultrasonics will be
available again: We'll
have our Branson Ultrasonics back for sale again after the Christmas
holidays. They were slated to arrive today, but instead we got an urgent
call from our accounting firm informing us that their UPS driver was filling
their entry way from floor to ceiling with large boxes...the manufacturer
shipped them to our accounting office and not our business office, so we are
still working on getting them to our main office.
*Nice feedback on
our Princess Asha� Earrings: Thanks
to another kind customer, we're pleased to be able to share an excerpt of an
email we received yesterday. Thanks go to that customer for taking the
time to write back and for allowing us to reprint!
"I got my wife's Princess Cut earrings today. Unbelievable!!! They are gorgeous!! I don't have the words to describe them. I wasn't sure what I was going to get, you know? I could go on with random thoughts but, I'm now sure you've heard them all before."
Wednesday, Dec. 18: Sold
out of 3ct Asscher Asha�'s:
Demonstrating
how beautiful this Asha� cut is, we have sold out of our 3ct Asha� Asschers now as
well.
*Asscher Asha�,
stud earrings coming: With our focusing on completing
Christmas orders, we forgot to note that we now have 6mm Asschers (1ct) in
stock, and Darryl will be carving a new head for these (matching our Cartier
reproduction ring) that will be used to create Asscher stud earrings.
We'll have the earrings ready in January. You may order your pair of 1ct
Asschers and view them loose, then return for mounting into the earrings if you
want to have this as an option for a Christmas gift (though today is the last
day for loose stone orders). Our Asscher
Asha� page is here!
*Last day for orders
(earring and loose stone) today: Today
is the last day for Christmas orders for earrings and loose stones. We are
on on-track to ensure that all Christmas orders will arrive to you before
Christmas, we may have a few orders that will ship on Monday - if so, we will
overnight at our cost to ensure that it arrives before Christmas as promised.
Tuesday, Dec. 17: Sold
out of 2ct Asscher Asha�'s:
We've
sold all of our inventory of 2ct Asscher Asha�'s - we are manufacturing another
batch now, but probably won't have these completed and available for sale until
first week of February.
*New brick and
mortar jeweler carrying the Asha�:
We're
pleased to announce the addition of another retail jeweler carrying the Asha�.
Their contact info is listed below, if you are in the area please stop by and
visit their new store!
Love, Diamonds &
Dreams
3433 South Mooney Blvd
Visalia CA 93277
phone: 559-625-5899
Holiday hours:
Please note that we will be
closed Dec. 25th (Christmas Day) and Jan
1st (New Years Day), and our offices will only be open 8-12am on Dec.
24th (Christmas Eve) and Dec. 31st (New Years Eve).
Nice Asha�
feedback: We're pleased to share an excerpt of a nice feedback
email we received from a new Asha� customer. Thanks to that customer for
taking the time to write and for allowing us to reprint!
"When I got the ring all I could say was WOW, it is prettier and more sparkling than any of my friends' real diamond engagement rings. Honestly I will not trade it for a real diamond because I have been to jewelry stores and compared my ring to similar rings and they do not measure up. Everyone that sees
it is speechless, and the most important thing is my fianc�e is not
broke. Thank you for an exquisite piece of jewelry, as I describe it:
"THE MOST BEAUTIFUL RING IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!"
Monday, Dec. 16: Will
need to make a new wax for the three stone emerald:
We
are completing some three stone emerald rings now that were ordered already, but
have found that the setting is taking 2x as long as it should in order to fix
the angle of the side emeralds. Thus, Darryl will be re-carving this week,
but we won't have volume production available until after Christmas. We
will complete those rings already ordered the slow way to ensure they ship out
this week.
Trillion ring:
This one will also have to wait until after Christmas due to several delays in
the casting and modeling - we are now at the point where we have to first
complete all our Christmas orders before we can worry about a new ring.
Sorry for the bad news about the delays on this, the only positive perhaps is
that you can see just how tough it is to get a perfect model made for any new
ring (example: for our three stone round, we had to make four models before we
got the tolerances and shrinkage just where we wanted them, Cartier reproduction
also required two different models, etc.)....this is another reason we stopped
doing custom rings, because one bad wax and there goes our profit on that custom
ring. On a web-site ring, we normally have to sell the first seven or
eight at a loss to account for the work that went into getting the final model
made, but after that we start making a profit on additional rings sold.
Cartier reproduction
wedding bands:
On a more positive note, Darryl did get all three Cartier wedding
bands done and Peter will be working on them next week as far as modeling and
casting (we're going to make a change so that going forward, Peter does all the
modeling and casting for our new pieces to avoid some of the previous
problems). We had to carve a separate band for each size Asscher stone, to
ensure that it has a seamless fit snug against the engagement ring. We'll
hope to have these out the first or second week in January.
Wednesday, Dec. 11:
Asha�
Pears now in stock: We
are happy to announce that our Asha� pears, using a modified form of the ADT
coating specifically designed for them, are now available. Our loose Asha�
pear inventory is here!
*Low on
inventory: Just as we have rebuilt inventories on our
H&A rounds, we are now almost out of Asha� Asschers (only 1, 2ct, and 1, 3ct
left), and are low on several sizes of Asha� Flanders. We are cutting more,
but just a fair warning that we may be out of stock for about a month on
these.
*3 stone
emerald: This ring is basically ready, but in our first
mounting, we discovered that we angled the side Asha�'s too steeply, meaning the
view from the top down was not as symmetrical as we would like. We're
remounting another one, and hope to have photos shortly. Pricing will be
intro priced at $975 for platinum, $730 for white gold - we will do our best to
make these available for those who want to order before Christmas.
*Earrings may
still be ordered for Christmas delivery: We've made one amendment to
our pre-Christmas cutoff - earring orders may still be placed until December
18th for Christmas delivery, as they take substantially less time to set and
polish.
Tuesday, Dec. 10: 1
and 2ct H&A Asha� now back in stock:
We
now have the 1 and 2ct Asha� H&A's back in stock, though we don't have a huge
amount left after filling all the backorders. Our Asha� H&A round
inventory is here!
*Nice feedback
on Asha� Asscher cut: Received a very nice feedback email
from a new customer, an excerpt of which is reprinted below. Thanks to
that customer, both for their order as well as for taking the time to share
their feedback!
"We received the Asha� Asscher ring yesterday and I have not been able to stop
looking at it. The ring itself is superbly made with great attention to
detail. Without a doubt, it is the most comfortable ring I have ever worn.
The craftsmanship of the ring is equally matched by the fire, brilliance and
quality of the Asha� stone. It makes the other sims I have seen (those who
purport to be the top percent of diamond sims) look like glass."
Wednesday, Dec. 4: Emerald
three stone and Trillion ring will be posted next week:
We
are currently working hard to keep on top of orders, but hope to have sample
rings for our upcoming three stone emerald and the new trillion rings posted
next week. We will try to extend the deadline for Christmas orders for
these two rings since we are behind on getting them finished and available for
sale.
*News updates will
be a bit sparse for the rest of December: As
noted, with the holiday rush, we won't have as much time to do website updates
as frequently as regular visitors are used to...we'll get back to our
regular frequent updates in January.
*New ring
ideas: We've seen some very striking combinations of Asha� cuts
and ring styles over the past week, many of whom we wish we had had time to
photo for the website. Among the most striking are the Aldora Beveled
Tiffany ring with an Asscher Asha�, and the Artemis ring with a center Flanders
using our Cartier reproduction head. We'll definitely make some samples
for photos in January for the site.
Wednesday, Nov. 27: Happy
Thanksgiving!!: Our
office will be closed Thanksgiving day (Nov 28th), but our workshop will still
be working to keep up with orders. Our office will re-open on Friday,
Nov.29th..
Please note:
We are now averaging 7-10 business days from order date to shipping
date. That will stay the same or worsen until after Christmas.
Finally, the last day to guarantee
Jewelry orders will arrive before Christmas is December
10th. Loose stone orders may be placed up until Dec. 18th.
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Monday, Nov. 25:
Wax
completed for Three stone Emerald ring!: We've
completed the wax for our upcoming Three stone emerald ring, which has been a
highly requested design. Photos and details are at our new
Three
Stone Emerald ring here!
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Three stone emerald wax
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*Wax
completed for our upcoming Pave eternity ring!:
We're
casting this as we speak, and will hope to have it completed and modeled and on
the site by early next week. It appears this ring will be 3mm wide, use
about 1.40ct total weight VS/G diamonds, and should be one of the nicest wedding
or anniversary rings you will see.
*Nice
feedback from a new customer: We're pleased to be able to share
part of a recent email we received from a new customer. Thank very much to
that customer both for taking the time to write, and also for allowing us to
share it on our website!
"After much anticipation and many months of research I finally got my hot
little hands on the Asha�. After looking at it for a few minutes I put it
back in the box and back in my bag (it arrived at work). "It is far too
perfect", I thought, "I'll never be able to get away with it". And it is -
the stone is very clear and sparkly under just about all conditions &
lighting. "Sparkly" is an understatement, especially in sunlight.
The good thing is, I now have my 1.2ct G colour, round brilliant diamond
ring on my other hand, so I have been "road testing" it against the diamond
for the past few days. I must say that whenever I look at the Asha� and it
doesn't look too good, I also take a peek at my diamond and realize that the
diamond actually looks WORSE under the same unflattering conditions. IMHO,
the main reason why it looks authentic is the "depth" the stone seems to
have, perhaps this is due to to the coating or the cut? It certainly does
not look flat, or too white. It really does mirror my diamond, I must say
I'm really impressed. If anything, it has more coloured flashes, whereas my
diamond flashes mostly white. I'll be going to some jewelry stores today
waving my hand around, just to see their reaction!
The platinum setting is also beyond my expectations, the 3mm shank is
perfect for my size 4 finger. Again "impressive & quality" are words that
come to mind. I just love the weight of it and the fact that it flatters
the Asha�. It is the first platinum piece of jewelry I have ever owned,
mainly because the pieces I have seen before looked so much like gray
stainless steel. I think I may have been looking at the cobalt mix
platinum, this setting is certainly not that [editors
note: we don't use the cobalt alloy with our platinum, it oxidizes rapidly
and turns grey].
AND, the prongs are not as square as they look on your site. The proportions are just perfect in
relation to the stone. In fact, the whole ring has a very simple, classical
& elegant look and feel to it. Jaws have been scraping along the ground at
work for a few days now.....
Overall, the most telling compliment has been from my uber-skeptical
husband. Silence. Stunned silence and eyes wide as saucers!"
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Friday,
Nov. 22: New
Asha� Princess Pendant!:
We've had a number of requests to begin
offering a Princess pendant, and after some
failed attempts earlier this summer, we're
pleased to add our first Princess pendant to
our jewelry. This pendant is the same
scroll style offered with our Princess
earrings, and is available in both white and
yellow gold. More photos and pricing
at our
Asha� Princess Scroll Pendant page here!
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Our new Princess Asha� pendant
*Nice feedback on our
Cartier Reproduction ring: One of
our international customers wrote us a very nice email after receiving their
Asha� Cartier Reproduction ring, and we are happy to have permission to share
their thoughts. Thank you very much (grazie molto) to this customer! |
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Saturday, Nov. 16:
3.5ct H&A rounds are now back in stock: We're starting to catch
up on H&A production, and 3.5cts are now available. 1 and 2cts will be out
of stock until first week in December.
Friday, Nov. 15: Timeless Engagement Ring now
available!: We're proud to announce the counterpart to our
timeless anniversary ring, namely our matched Timeless Engagement ring.
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This ring
has the elegant simplicity of a tiffany
solitaire, complete with knife-edge sides,
and our own custom made crown style prongs
for rounds. More details and photos
are available at our new
Timeless Ring page here!
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The Timeless Wedding Set:
our Timeless Engagement ring and our Timeless
anniversary ring.
This photo shows the Timeless Engagement ring with a 1.01ct, D/IF Ideal cut
Phoenix Diamond.
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*Phoenix
Diamond back from EGL! As shown
above, our first Phoenix diamond (ultra-pure natural diamond that has been
de-stressed by a trip to the diamond growth chamber) is now available.
This is the 1.01ct, D/IF Ideal cut round - details and complete grading report
are available at our Phoenix
inventory page here!
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