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Welcome to Ahern & Brucker Fine Custom Jewelry designs & Limited editions
by Master Goldsmith Carol Ahern
Re: Limited Edition USN CPO Ring.
Questions & Answers
Questions and answers. If you have a question that is not addressed here, Please ask. What's the difference between the Limited edition and a Standard ring? The difference between the limited edition and standard rings are mainly the gem stones we use. The limited edition ring uses the finest gem stones that money can buy. these are more along the line of Museum quality. The standard edition uses AAA grade gem stones one might typically find at a fine retail jewelry store. The difference in price is less than a thousand dollars and I wouldn't typically offer retail grade gem stones but a thousand dollars difference is a lot and the best retail grade stones are still pretty nice especially when compared to what's been typically offered to you guys.
What is the difference between the Men's and Women's version? The women's versions are typically smaller in size, weigh less and we use a smaller gem set. What other charges can I expect to pay? Typically shipping using USPS priority mail and insured "in the US " is about $35.00 to $50.00. Next day fed ex is about $125.00. Certified Mail is less expensive but takes up to 10 days for delivery. We also charge 2.5% for using pay pal,. No charge for personal checks or bank wire transfers. What is your lead time? Currently, 4 weeks seems to be manageable but we appreciate as much advance lead time as you can possibly give. We can however (on occasion) accommodate a rush order. Do you have plans to make a Master and senior chief version? Yes, Both versions are available and we have plans to make a naval officers crest version. Can you make this ring "without" the Gem stones... Both styles are now available in Palladium, Platinum, 14k, 18k and platinum. see pricing and contact for a complete list. How about one for the coast guard CPO? We are happy to design a coast guard cpo emblem and combine it with this ring. What if I change ranks? If you change ranks, we will be glad to replace your old emblem with the new one and refinish your ring back to it's new condition for a nominal charge. What ever gave you the idea to make a CPO ring? Carol and I were visiting her uncle Pat, (now deceased) but was a retired CPO at the time.. He was complaining to Carol and I that he couldn't find a ring he liked. Knowing we do Custom jewelry, he asked us to design a ring that would be more fitting to his years of service and convey the amount of pride he felt. He also noted that he had been looking for nearly 30 years... The conversation went something like this when we got to the "price". I ask "How much do you want to spend"? He said "make it as nice as you can" The rest is history. We did, and still do. Can I make payments or do you offer financing? No. We are a small workshop and can not offer financing or a "monthly" payment arrangement. We encourage our customers to save for their purchase and take that amount of time to be sure of their decision. (a few years or longer is not uncommon). What is the procedure for ordering, payments, delivery & other additional costs. the fine print.. To order, we will need to provide you with a quote, to receive a quote, please visit our "pricing and contact" page for instructions. Once we have ironed out the details and have agreed on a price, we ask for a deposit of 1/2 to get it all started. We like to have at least 4 weeks to complete and ship or immediately after your final payment clears. At no point will we ship without full payment in hand. We accept pay pal, bank wire transfer or personal check. We do charge our actual cost for pay pal processing fees and shipping but their is no receiving or processing charges from us with either a bank wire or personal check (personal checks require proper clearing time) And their are no sales taxes. Can I have diamonds in place of the rubies and sapphires? Yes of course. Our standard diamonds are at the top of the grading charts all with perfect cut's. 6 diamonds will look very nice with this ring. Are you a shop only or do you also have a store front? We have no retail outlets except the web site which is more of a portfolio of work vs. a e-commerce site. The majority of our work is custom design and prototyping and we only sell our own designs ... we have nothing on "the shelf". each piece is made to order. We are not merchandisers. We are a master goldsmith, design team and shopkeepers. We are found "mainly" by referral however we do get some customers who happen to stumble onto us by doing a Google search and most recently, many inquiries from CPO's from our "ad" in the goat locker... (it's more a photo of the ring without the ad) While a store front may be nice if I'm thinking the grass is greener on the other side, we simply don't have the time it takes to run one and more importantly, the interest or personality to pull it off. That requires a "sales" type of relationship... Our sales are usually already made before the customer contacts us, our part is creating what the customer wants. Something beautiful and done right. And a retail store is very limiting... we just made a MCPO ring for a customer in Spain. The chances of him ever finding us by just happening to be out hiking in the woods and stumbling onto our shop in Oregon is very slim . But if he does a Google search for "usn cpo ring" or "thegoatlocker.com", he has a great chance of finding us and perhaps eventually owning this ring.. If you have a question or comment that is not addressed here, please let me know and I will post it.
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