Best mounting for tanzanite ??

[Tanzee]

I was wondering what everyone thought of what whould be the best setting for a tanzanite ring??

Prong ??

Bezil ??

So on and so forth.

My concern is to keep the stone from getting scratched and broken. I know that a tanzanite really shouldn''t be in a ring, but my heart is set on it.

So I have my oval stone. So if you could give me your feed back on the best way it should be set, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

Judy

 

[valeria101]

Either would work. If prongs are used, I would use 6 rather then four and make sure the stone is not set high with the girdle exposed. Regardless of the prng/bezel choice, some settings are more protective then others. It makes sense to judge what part of the ring is more likely to get in contact with surrounding surfaces: the stone or some bit of metal. Examples would help, I guess.

Tanzanite is not incredibly soft. You may hear that tanzanite rings are fit for 'occasional wear' - this means that wearing the ring for household work, gardening, sports and so forth is not the greatest idea. If anything, wear will show on the stone in the form of abraded facets and facet meets. Not in a week though, a couple of years of wear are more likely.

Just my 0.2, of course.

 

[todd of Todz Rox]

Hi,
Tanzanite can be prong set without difficulty

. Like the first person who responded to your query said, 6 prongs would be better than 4; spreading any 'shock' out over more of an area if it was bumped, decreasing the liklihood of chipping.
Again, as the first person stated Tanzanite is a stone for "occasional wear", and that's correct. It IS a softer stone, and can even be scratched by just wiping it with a dusty rag

, most dust being silica and harder than Tanzanite. It has a Moh's Hardness of 6-6.5 less than even Quartz. If properly cared for you could get by wearing it every day, but a lot depends on what you do for a living. Obviously a carpenter would have more wear on a ring than an office worker.
I wouldn't worry overly about the softness when wearing it. Just be careful how you clean it, as that's where most scratching occurs. Good luck

, hope you enjoy your ring once you get it done for years to come
todd of "Todz Rox"