Justin Wilbur & Jenny Powell

We met 7 years ago and we were attracted to one another immediately.  We both have an immense drive to have as much fun as possible and live each day like it's our last.  I told her I enjoyed scuba diving and told her she should get certified and start going on drive trips together.  She loved scuba diving immediately and already loved traveling so it was meant to be from the start.  We started traveling abroad multiple times a year together for the past 5 years taking off a month or more for each trip.  Fast forward to September 2018 we had planned a trip to Sri Lanka, where I had plans of finding a Padparadja (King Sapphire) and was able to locate a shop that had some good quality ones and we immediately fell in love with "The One" and and took it back home with us, where it sat for over a year. I told Jenny upon purchasing the sapphire, we could later mount it on a ring or necklace at some point and did not discuss it was for an engagement ring, even though we both joked about it.   
 
Next I wanted to find a coin that was found by scuba divers after much research and searching I found and selected a 1724 Dutch Ducat.  This was found by a husband and wife, while diving near the English Channel.  I bought this coin to symbolize our passion for adventure, curiosity for the world/history and theme to keep things exciting in life together.  My intention was to use the coin as the majority of the material to create the ring itself and then incorporate the Sri Lankan King Sapphire.  I know I wanted something very unique because we are and needed to find someone  that could think outside the box and stumbled across Gary Dawson.  I explained to him initially that I wanted to melt down the coin to create the band in high karat gold, add some accent diamonds and make the king sapphire the centerpiece stone, while creating an antique look and preserving a couple of characteristics of the coin itself.  After a couple of 3D design renderings, he had the perfect design.  I was able to pick up the ring shortly after and it looked even better in person than the  3D renderings.  
 
I then had a couple of weeks to get my bags packed for another 6 week vacation starting 12/26/19 to Thailand, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Singapore and Indonesia.  The majority of the trip was going to dedicated to scuba diving and did not have a methodical planned out proposal and the plan was to carry the ring with me until the moment was right.  The proposal took place on 1/28/2020 in Khao Lak, Thailand on the beach about 30 minutes past Sunset.  It was quiet and no one was around and after the confirmation of "Yes" we celebrated with a bottle of champagne.  We both love the ring very much and Gary couldn't have done a better job.  The color and texture (he created) of the gold is very unique.  The diamonds he sourced, glisten and glow but do not distract from the centerpiece (King Sapphire).  I honestly don't think anyone else could have done a better job.  Amazing project and could not be more thankful to have chosen Gary for this project.  We very much are looking forward to this next adventure together. 

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"Gary, 
Thank you again for all of your help.  It looks even better in person than the 3D rendering.  I do appreciate you entertaining my idea and bringing it to fruition.  I could not be any happier.  Your work is excellent as well as your communication and it was such a pleasure to work with you.   Thank you again and I will keep you posted and give you the all clear to use for marketing purposes. This project was very much outside the box thinking and want to thank you for taking the time going back and forth with me via email and collaborating on ideas/designs. Your creativity and artistic touch perfected what i had envisioned it would turn out to be.  
Happy Holidays! "