I bought my engagement ring from Goldberry. Despite purchasing a piece on a somewhat restrictive budget, Margie (the designer) treated me as if I were purchasing a $50,000 center stone.
Over the course of a couple months (this pace was of my choosing because the diamond market was in flux, and I was putting together the appropriate funds) Margie helped me truly design and create the exact piece I wanted. There wasn't a single part of this ring that I didn't personally have a hand in choosing.
Margie really goes the extra mile. While I was in New York, a couple months from actually being able to set foot in her store in San Francisco, Margie graciously spent over an hour on the phone with me. Usually, her first meeting with any client is an optional 45 minute consultation where she educates you on all-things-diamonds. Because I was stuck in New York for a bit, she volunteered to walk me through it over the phone. She did a great job. Upon my arrival in San Francisco, we met several more times. She helped me maintain the utmost secrecy (she only called at times when I knew she'd be calling, and she was very happy to conduct business through email when secrecy required such).
After all of our education, design, and research oriented discussions - it was time to put everything together. Margie flew in 3 diamonds from various parts of the world (one was from Israel, another from Canada, and I think the 3rd one was here in the US somewhere). We had a meeting setup at noon (so I could see the diamonds in natural light) and then we looked at all 3 diamonds through a tool (a device which focuses light through the stone and shows you its reflective qualities, and whether it's ""losing light"" through the bottom of the stone, which is bad for a stone's shiny-properties). The most expensive stone was NOT the best performing stone - and the stone I went with, amazingly, nearly matched the reference picture of a perfectly performing princess. I couldn't have been happier.
The stone was set in platinum ring, and I chose to have 14 smaller princess diamonds channel-set in the ring. Because of the flux of the diamond industry at the time of purchase, it was impossible to obtain the 14 smaller stones. However, Margie used a connection in Israel and, while offering me the same price, got me 16 stones of slightly large size!
The end product is PERFECT and one of a kind. It's spectacular, and I have a sense of pride in knowing that I had a hand in designing this piece at almost every step of the way. My fiance loves it. We now have a princess stone, in a platinum ring with 16 surrounding channel-set diamonds. All of the diamonds are D in color - and this thing is nearly blinding! She can't stop looking at it.
I can't thank Margie enough. And it doesn't end there. Just recently, Margie called to follow up - and she'd like to spend a half hour with my fiance just to have an educational discussion on diamond-care, and to tell my fiance a bit about owning/wearing her new engagement ring.
In sum: Bravo. Top notch, white-glove service, and an immaculate piece.
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