Emerald durability: natural vs lab grown vs simulant

[Bozman52]

Have you ever thought of using someone other than Victor? Jewelers set emeralds all the time without issues. This "change in temperature and pressure"... is he referring to walking up stairs and the atmosphere pressure slightly changing? Or pressure changes with the weather? As far temperature since it's on the inside of the ring against her flesh, wouldn't the temperature be pretty consistent? When an emerald is cut, it's first held on the dop normally with wax, which involves heat the stone to a temperature that is too hot to touch.
Maybe he had a few bad experiences with emeralds chipping while setting, but at the price of such a small stone, why not buy 3 or 4 incase he screws one up. He should be able purchase half a dozen emeralds this size for a few dollars.

Victor is widely considered to be one of the best ringmakers by the PS community, and for the general design I'm after, I don't think there's anyone better. This surprise stone thing is definitely not enough to make me change ringmakers. That being said, he has already started production, so it would be difficult to back out even if I wanted to.

One thing to note is that all Victor Canera rings are hand forged. As such, I assume the amount of heat the ring/gems are exposed to is much greater than in a cast ring. He's worried about the emerald not surviving his manufacturing process very well (I assume he has had a bad experience previously). I appreciate his concern, but I'd like to think there is some kind of happy medium workaround. However, he's the pro, so if he ultimately says he doesn't want to take the risk, then I'll just have a ring with no surprise stone.

Nonetheless, I'm very thankful for all the help the PS gemstone community has provided me in this process!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

@marymm: You raise an interesting point as to why I would use anything other than an emerald if this is her birthstone. In all honesty, I think I'm so set on having a surprise stone in the ring that I really overlooked this and would be willing to put anything green in the ring. This probably is not the right approach, and if it can't be an emerald, then perhaps it should be nothing.

@demantoidz and @cocobianco: I also appreciate your corroborating views on this, especially the point about birthstones being about the mineral as much as the color. I'm going to sit on this another day, but as of now I'll tell Victor it needs to be an emerald or nothing . . . and that either option is acceptable if he truly is against setting an emerald.

Maybe I'll try this again when it comes time for Victor to make the wedding bands and just forgo the suprise stone on the e-ring.

I love the idea of a surprise stone
Keep thinking !

 

[CoolKat]

Oooooh I know I know! How about saving the emerald "element" for another time of purchase? First anniversary or maybe even her 1st birthday as married (or engaged) couple?

Sigh. So romantic...

 

[partgypsy]

So what is funny, my first engagement ring was a small around a half carat very clean dark emerald. (I still wish I had that ring, but I lost it). I didn't know as much about care of emeralds, so I would often stick my ring in our lab ultrasonicator to clean it. One time doing that, one of the bagettes in the ring cracked, but not the emerald! Everyone's mileage may vary, but made me suspect that CLEAN (VS level clarity) emeralds, may be tougher than their reputation. They are just hard to find. However I would def defer to what the jeweler's expertise is, in what they are comfortable or not comfortable doing. And if you use a tsavorite, just think of it as an "emerald substitute" as they can have very similar greens.

(and I know what people are thinking, and no it was not a synthetic. It was taken from an antique ring, still had some jardin.

 

[Bozman52]

Hi everyone, apologies for going silent on those who most recently replied. I apprecited the suggestions and did consider forgoing the emerald surprise stone for the e-ring altogether and doing an emerald in another way down the road. However, after some back and forth with Victor, he did agree to give it a shot and I wanted to come full circle and show everyone the finished product! I'm very pleased with the end result.

However, I first must give a hat tip to @cocobianco for the recommendation of Cecile Raley Designs on Etsy. This was the ONLY place I found who could supply a 1.2-1.3mm melee emerald to me (Chatham could only go as small as 1.5mm . . . and lab grown, obviously). I worked with Yvonne and she was incredibly helpful and accommodating. I'm sure everyone in this subforum is already aware of this company, but I was very pleased with my experience with Cecile Raley Designs. Given that I needed an unoiled emerald, Yvonne recommended a Panjshir emerald and hand picked the best two she had at this very small melee size for me. As I'm no emerald expert, although a bit more knowledgeable after this experience, I'll let you all tell me if you agree with the Panjshir decision . . . although beggars can't be choosers.

Anyway, I'll stop the commentary and show you how it turned out!

 

[elle_71125]

Hi everyone, apologies for going silent on those who most recently replied. I apprecited the suggestions and did consider forgoing the emerald surprise stone for the e-ring altogether and doing an emerald in another way down the road. However, after some back and forth with Victor, he did agree to give it a shot and I wanted to come full circle and show everyone the finished product! I'm very pleased with the end result.

However, I first must give a hat tip to @cocobianco for the recommendation of Cecile Raley Designs on Etsy. This was the ONLY place I found who could supply a 1.2-1.3mm melee emerald to me (Chatham could only go as small as 1.5mm . . . and lab grown, obviously). I worked with Yvonne and she was incredibly helpful and accommodating. I'm sure everyone in this subforum is already aware of this company, but I was very pleased with my experience with Cecile Raley Designs. Given that I needed an unoiled emerald, Yvonne recommended a Panjshir emerald and hand picked the best two she had at this very small melee size for me. As I'm no emerald expert, although a bit more knowledgeable after this experience, I'll let you all tell me if you agree with the Panjshir decision . . . although beggars can't be choosers.

Anyway, I'll stop the commentary and show you how it turned out!

It’s absolutely stunning! The surprise emerald is the perfect touch. I think it gives the ring that little something extra that makes it just right for your fiancé.

 

[chrono]

Glows like a beacon / green stop light. Absolutely wonderful and ofc the ring is also a beauty!

 

[Bozman52]

Glows like a beacon / green stop light. Absolutely wonderful and ofc the ring is also a beauty!

Lol, yes now that you mention it, it does somewhat resemble a stoplight in a close up view!

I wasn't going to share a bunch of photos of the actual ring, as this is the wrong forum for that, but since people are complimenting the ring itself (thank you!), here are some still shots from a video Victor made ahead of sending me the ring. The emerald is still visible and the photos are better than my iphone specials, so I feel like these are borderline fair game for this forum! Hopefully they will give folks a better idea of the entire piece. I'll do a separate thread in the correct "Rocky Talky" forum at some point with a complete rundown of the ring, though.

If anyone is interested in specs, the main diamond is a "hearts & arrows" cushion 2.18ct, I, VS1 purchased from Brian Gavin. Melee stones add up to 0.3ct.

 

[Avondale]

It's a gorgeous piece. Fingers crossed she'll say yes although how could she possibly refuse all that bling?

 

[Dandi]

What a stunning ring!! And I love that vibrant pop of green!

 

[CBianco]

It looks wonderful! Happy it all worked out

 

[demantoidz]

Great result, I'm glad you convinced VC to give the emerald a shot and that you found a natural one

 

[Mreader]

I just read this entire thread this morning. I love the ring and the emerald looks perfect!!

 

[thirdrock]

Spectacular ring! The emerald gives it a lovely personal touch. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.

 

[Bozman52]

Thank you all for the very kind words. It has been about 7 months start to finish on this process (mostly because I'm indecisive and couldn't convince myself of what design I liked best). I sincerely appreciate all the input on the emerald surprise stone aspect of this and am very happy with the way it turned out. I think it adds a very personal touch to the piece that I have no doubt my soon to be fiance (I hope!) will cherish. I'm also happy the emerald ended up being natural and not lab grown!

 

[finerthings]

@Bozman52 that ring is elegant and timeless! You have done well, and I love the sentiment of the added emerald. Just perfect!

 

[Bozman52]

Hi everyone, I know that I'm bringing back a thread from several months back, but now that I have all the wedding bands complete with the gemstone "surprise" stones, I wanted to share a few more pics and bring the story full circle.

For reasons that I'll spare you, this surprise stone thing ended up being more complicated than I'd imagined. If I'm being honest, my main reason for adding to this thread is to give MASSIVE accolades once again to Cecile Raley Designs on Etsy, and specifically Yvonne. In the end, I had to get three shipments of stones, one of which had to be done very last minute and required Yvonne to physically drive somewhere to get the correct amethysts. She genuinely saved the day for me and was amazing to work with, so I can't thank this forum enough for directing me to CRD in the first place.

Note that the plain women's band (far left in first pic) is extra to a normal wedding set and intended to be worn on its own when my fiancee is working. As she's a nurse, she can't have external stones on any jewelry, so this allows her to still wear a ring while at work . . . or it was just her excuse to get an extra ring!

The surprise stones are emeralds (her birthstone) and amethysts (my birthstone). All are natural stones coming in at ~1.3mm in diameter. All rings were made by Victor Canera (with e-ring diamond coming from Brian Gavin).