I bought a stunning engagement ring - directly with Bitcoins!

[julz]

I am proposing to my darling in about a week - and I just bought a beautiful gold & sapphire engagement ring using Bitcoins.
Yes - I paid for it entirely and directly in Bitcoins!

It was bought from David Fortier of Tip Top Gem in Thailand. (He sells loose stones on bitmit but also does custom jewelry)

I highly recommend David's work. He was extremely helpful and knowledgeable and sourced some stunning stones for me before having them set into an 18K white gold ring.

I suspect there have been other engagement rings bought with Bitcoins by now -  I remember this thread from Roger Ver, where he was attempting to buy a diamond engagement ring with Bitcoins - but I don't know what the outcome was:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=74266.0;all

I only paid a bit less than 20 BTC - I'm not a Bitcoin mogul like Roger Ver!
At the time(s) of payment those Bitcoins were at a few different rates above $100USD/BTC - as I paid David as he sourced the stones and then again later for the final ring work.

The whole process really brought home to me how convenient Bitcoin is as a payment mechanism for projects.
The merchant can get fast payment so they're not out of pocket whilst sourcing materials.

I had the ring independently valued here in the Sydney CBD by a registered member of the National Council of Jewellery Valuers (Anania Jewellers) and they confirmed that the sapphires were genuine and as described and the gold tested as 18K.   They gave me a replacement value a fair bit higher than what I paid - so I believe David gives very good value for gems and jewellery.

My darling hasn't yet seen the ring - but once I've given it to her, I may post a photo here.

Edit: ok, I think my girlfriend is pretty unlikely to come into these forums unaccompanied by me.. so I'll put up the photos.
I'm no photographer - but I think these capture some of its beauty.





The 2 side stones are white sapphires. I like the idea of it being an all-sapphire ring.

[Lethn]

Grats and loose gemstones you say? I need to have a look at that.

[tiptopgemdotcom]

Thank you Julz!  We enjoyed working with you on this project and were thrilled with the finished ring.  It is true that bitcoin has many advantages over other payment methods when you are doing business across borders.  It is also true that the quality of clients is higher in the bitcoin world.  I am not sure why this is so but perhaps it is because there are a lot of IT professionals and small business people attracted to bitcoin.  Whatever the reason we are happy to be here and we have been doing business in bitcoin for about two years now.  It hasn't failed us once!

[inge]

My darling hasn't yet seen the ring - but once I've given it to her, I may post a photo here.

I definitely want to see a photo of it

[bohanz]

Best of wishes! Can't wait to see it

[Ente]

No, really: Show us your precious! :-)
Okay, I'd like to see the ring too, by the way.

Congratulations, Julz!

Ente

[Mike Hearn]

Congratulations julz! I sometimes use diamonds and jewellery as a good example of things you DON'T want to be selling with credit cards

[uMMcQxCWELNzkt]

You should have bought her a Bitcoin ring, in digital form lol.

[bitcoinminer]

50 BTC and you can get a bride from Russia, ring included

[str4wm4n]

50 BTC and you can get a bride from Russia, ring included

link?

[wetjet43]

50 BTC and you can get a bride from Russia, ring included

link?

LOL! For 50 BTC, that bride had better come with a gps tracker implanted in her uterus!

[proper_pizza]

Congratulations! I hope she accepts.

[deepceleron]

Congrats on sapphire: you still have Al after aluminum oxide melts at >2000C, making it much more forever than diamond (carbon), which turns into carbon dioxide at 700C and blows away.

* deepceleron makes extra-strength scrub-free shower cleaner out of sulfamic acid and 97% water...

[Elwar]

I am SO telling your girlfriend ruining the surprise.

j/k


Congrats.

[deepceleron]

Sapphire mine	Diamond mine

[WiseOldOwl]

Congrats!
I too have precious gems for sale (loose and set). Im sure tip top is way more established in the world of gems, but I do specialize in some rare stuff that he might even appreciate, my favorite being alexandrite

[julz]

Thanks to all for the congrats
It's not a total surprise to her, I did consult somewhat to make sure I was getting something she'd probably like.

She's more than cool with the whole Bitcoin thing really...  so it's not that I really needed to buy it with Bitcoins to prove anything - but we think it's nice that it was done a little differently and means something to us.  I've always loved sapphires as I was inspired by my geologist grandmother to collect stones as a kid.

[wopwop]

gratz

[w1R903]

I am proposing to my darling in about a week - and I just bought a beautiful gold & sapphire engagement ring using Bitcoins.
Yes - I paid for it entirely and directly in Bitcoins!

Congratulations, and thanks for letting us know.

How did you have it shipped?  Is shipping insurance expensive?

[Herodes]

Congratulations. Hope it will be well received, and not least, that the size will be right!

[julz]

Congratulations. Hope it will be well received, and not least, that the size will be right!

The size wasn't right, and you're correct - this is important.

I warned my darling that I'd goofed on the size and to be careful - but of course she wanted to wear it anyway.
Seeing as we were all in a celebratory mood - there was much alcohol consumed.

Sadly - this beautiful ring is now hiding somewhere in the sands of a beach on the island of Rarotonga

[smoothie]

The funny thing is if you look into the rarity and real value of diamonds you'll see they are much less than what the price is listed for.

But anyways people overpay for many things...to each his own.

[Ente]

Congratulations. Hope it will be well received, and not least, that the size will be right!

The size wasn't right, and you're correct - this is important.

I warned my darling that I'd goofed on the size and to be careful - but of course she wanted to wear it anyway.
Seeing as we were all in a celebratory mood - there was much alcohol consumed.

Sadly - this beautiful ring is now hiding somewhere in the sands of a beach on the island of Rarotonga

Oh no! I feel you pain, sorry to hear!
This ring will be hard to replace and difficult to "reach" again..

I have some vague idea.
How does it work over there, the bride wears an engagement ring? The, uhm, guy doesn't?
My idea is that it's impossible to replace such a ring with an equivalent. You two might still be sad about it in twenty years.
So, replace it with something totally different, from an emotional view: Visit a one-week goldsmith course where you will create your own ring!
It would work even better if both of you do, creating the ring for the other. Depending on how it works over there.
Even as a total beginner it works. It takes more time, it takes much more teaching by the teacher. But you will be able to create a ring which is in no aspect inferior to a bought one, and should very well be superior in the emotional, "meaning"-way.
Being a hobbyist-goldsmith, I will gladly give you hints and ideas if you like to think about that path.

"Remember when we lost that ring?"
"Huh, yeah, that was awful!"
"Ah, but then we had those nice two weeks vacation, crafting our own ring! Remember how yealous my friends and colleagues looked? *chuckle*"

:-)
Ente

[bennybong]

Amazing! And to think I'll be in Thailand at the end of the year.... Email sent. 

[Lethn]

The funny thing is if you look into the rarity and real value of diamonds you'll see they are much less than what the price is listed for.

But anyways people overpay for many things...to each his own.

When it comes to gemstone the value of them varies hugely, I actually saw a youtube video with Peter Schiff talking about using them as a store of value which I found very interesting but I've forgotten where it is, it all depends on the quality of the gemstone and how brittle it is etc. some stuff I've seen on the news has gone for millions.

Sadly - this beautiful ring is now hiding somewhere in the sands of a beach on the island of Rarotonga Sad

And oh fuck! Ouch! Never take those kind of things outside or do practical stuff with them ;_; lol

[repentance]

Sadly - this beautiful ring is now hiding somewhere in the sands of a beach on the island of Rarotonga

I hope you told the local media about it and posted about it on the various Cook Islands media Facebook Pages.  You've probably got a good chance of getting it back if a local finds it.

[iCEBREAKER]

Sadly - this beautiful ring is now hiding somewhere in the sands of a beach on the island of Rarotonga

Good thing you didn't inscribe the ring with your private key!

*books flight to Avarua*
*fires up metal detector*
*beep beep dig*

[tiptopgemdotcom]

I am proposing to my darling in about a week - and I just bought a beautiful gold & sapphire engagement ring using Bitcoins.
Yes - I paid for it entirely and directly in Bitcoins!

Congratulations, and thanks for letting us know.

How did you have it shipped?  Is shipping insurance expensive?

Shipping is done via a secure, high-value courier and no, insurance is not expensive.  It is about $17 per $1,000 value.

[Kluge]

Also used Dave for a custom ring w/ his gems a year or two ago. Awesome service. Still worn everyday to this point (well, except for one week... that was my fault)! 

[favdesu]

looks really amazing!

[tiptopgemdotcom]

Also used Dave for a custom ring w/ his gems a year or two ago. Awesome service. Still worn everyday to this point (well, except for one week... that was my fault)! 

Thank you Kluge!  I'm humbled to have the nice comments but I can't take all the credit- my wife and my goldsmith and my wax artist all do great work, and without them I couldn't offer the level of service that I do.

[BitCoiner2012]

Very nice! I like it.

I was trying to contact Tip Top months ago here for, actually, the same purpose. But we didn't get to talking well enough.

[tiptopgemdotcom]

This is another recent project.  You can see the wax phase here, then the finished product.

[escrow.ms]

Congrats man, that's a beautiful ring.

[tiptopgemdotcom]

We can make almost anything.  We don't do production pieces though- nothing is mass-produced.  We will work with you to make a ring exactly the way you want it in your choice of metal and stones.  We mostly do 14K, 18K, or 22K yellow gold and 14K or 18K white gold.

[Ente]

This is another recent project.  You can see the wax phase here, then the finished product.
<..>

Ridiculous!
I totally love it! :-)

I am always happy to have a small glimpse "behind the scenes" - thank you.
If you care to post a few more - much appreciated for sure!

Ente

[Lethn]

That's cool, I was talking with my teacher about maybe trying out wax casting at some point for fun, I think I prefer doing things by hand though myself.

[tiptopgemdotcom]

That's cool, I was talking with my teacher about maybe trying out wax casting at some point for fun, I think I prefer doing things by hand though myself.

Hand-made jewelry is very desirable if you have the client base who understands the difference and is willing to pay for the extra labor involved.  It can be a good trade.  We did both for a while, but overall we found wider appeal in cast jewelry.  Definitely you should try out wax.  I think it is a good advantage for a goldsmith to be able to do both.  It isn't just about production, but also the skills you learn making jewelry by hand are valuable for repairs and for understanding the mechanics and physics behind certain design elements.

[Lethn]

That's the problem I have, I'm slowly amassing Jewellery pieces but I need to go out and find people who are interested in buying them now

[HeroC]

Congrats! Ring looks good too.