Opinions on diamond set for stud earrings

[Arete03]

I'm looking to purchase a set of diamond stud earrings and wanted to get you expert PS-er's opinions. They are from WF and are ACA, so I know they'll be beautiful independently of one another, but I am no where near as experienced as some of you out there. I would love if you can take a look at these and give your thoughts on these two diamonds as a pair: https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/compare/?idnos=4529758,4430027

or

https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/compare/?idnos=4524088,4524089

These are both K diamonds. My ER/wedding band are all G - will this make any difference? It seems by what I've read, you can tend to go lower on the color scale with earrings and the warmth not be as noticeable. Any thoughts on this? I did go to a local brick and mortar store nearby and tried on J and honestly, didn't really appreciate much warmth, as I thought I would.

I was lucky to get plenty of excellent feedback to help me choose my ER & wedding band setting, so I'm looking forward to hearing what feedback you might have!

 

[tyty333]

Either of these pairs would be lovely! I would ask your SA which are the better match. You can ask for additional pictures
of them side-by-side so you can see for yourself.

I own a 1.66 K ACA...my thoughts...you dont see much color from the top in most* lighting. You do tend to see the tint from
the side though (not much of an issue with earrings, IMO).

Prices are really good right now on sub 2 carat stones...a great time to buy!

 

[Arete03]

Either of these pairs would be lovely! I would ask your SA which are the better match. You can ask for additional pictures
of them side-by-side so you can see for yourself.

I own a 1.66 K ACA...my thoughts...you dont see much color from the top in most* lighting. You do tend to see the tint from
the side though (not much of an issue with earrings, IMO).

Prices are really good right now on sub 2 carat stones...a great time to buy!

Thank you for the response and your take on the color face up.

Speaking of price - it’s crazy! The price difference for going up in color (K to J) for the same size, clarity, and cut is ~5K! While the J is within my budget, it’s hard for me to go with that bc of the significant price increase of that just on color alone. I did request a photo & video of both J&K. I could see slightly more warmth in the K, but if they weren’t side by side, I’m thinking I might not have seen it?

The SA I was speaking with said some of the diamonds are priced differently based on the time the diamonds were bought - do you think that means they don’t price adjust based on the market now? Should I request a cut diamond now for today’s prices?

Pardon my ignorance on this

Here is a photo and video of the J vs K (actually - seems difficult to post video from the phone, so I will see if I can do that from a computer later )

 

[MissGotRocks]

Thank you for the response and your take on the color face up.

Speaking of price - it’s crazy! The price difference for going up in color (K to J) for the same size, clarity, and cut is ~5K! While the J is within my budget, it’s hard for me to go with that bc of the significant price increase of that just on color alone. I did request a photo & video of both J&K. I could see slightly more warmth in the K, but if they weren’t side by side, I’m thinking I might not have seen it?

The SA I was speaking with said some of the diamonds are priced differently based on the time the diamonds were bought - do you think that means they don’t price adjust based on the market now? Should I request a cut diamond now for today’s prices?

Pardon my ignorance on this

Here is a photo and video of the J vs K (actually - seems difficult to post video from the phone, so I will see if I can do that from a computer later )

I think they can only price adjust based on their actual cost of buying the diamond. In order to make a profit or even break even, they can only drop the price so much.
You can look at the certificates on each of the diamond for the date it was certified. It might tell you how long it has been in stock, but you would need to correlate that to prices at that time. Probably hard to do. If you find a pair that you love within your price range, you might just want to go for it!

 

[tyty333]

You could ask for a quote on having them cut now but since they have some of what you want in stock I'm not sure if they will
be up for it. I dont really know how that works so you would have to ask them (it's worth asking though).

Price adjustment...I have seen some prices be adjusted in the past but its been on stones that have been in stock for a long time.

I think prices on the stones you are looking at (the K's) are pretty low right now. I bought an H ACA thinking that I wanted to go
up in color but when I compared it with my K there just wasnt enough of a color difference to me (yes, there was definitely a
difference, but I guess a little tint doesnt bother me that much). So, I think unless you can afford to move up a few colors it may
not be worth it (but that is me). In the end, I decided to stick with Ks and sent the H back.

 

[Lookinagain]

I think either pair would be great for earrings, and I don't think going up to J color would be worth the price difference. How are you planning to set them?

 

[Arete03]

@Lookinagain, I'm honestly undecided. I probably could use some thoughts on that too. I really like @yssie's diamond stud earrings that are oh so beautiful. I'm sure it's known by most here, but Erika Winters has now made yssie's inspiration one of her standard stud sets, called Ani, however, the standard is a 4 prong (as opposed to yssie's 9 prong). I definitely do not like the 4 prong, though, as I feel it gives a squarish look. I would want something customized to a 6 prong or maybe 5 prong, but I'm not as experienced as yssie and am not sure how many prongs I would/should need for this size. Also, with this, I'm not sure if these will be my "forever" diamonds that I don't go up in size or down in color at a later time for an upgrade. I don't have large lobes, so I'm not sure if I should consider a larger size in a few years or not. I did try on a 5 ct tw in a brick and mortar store and I could "grow" into that, hahah - although, I'm not sure I would want a 5 ct tw, but maybe a 4? With that said, then I'm not sure I should invest in the custom EW studs or not at this time. Then again, I might get these and say, hey, love these for my forever studs and be done with it. Since there are so many uncertainties, I was considering just going with WF's 6 prong crown studs (https://www.whiteflash.com/diamond-earrings/6-prong-crown-earring-settings-6824.htm) in platinum & jumbo friction backs. My ears are really sensitive, so I need something hypoallergenic.

You could ask for a quote on having them cut now but since they have some of what you want in stock I'm not sure if they will
be up for it. I dont really know how that works so you would have to ask them (it's worth asking though).

Price adjustment...I have seen some prices be adjusted in the past but its been on stones that have been in stock for a long time.

I think prices on the stones you are looking at (the K's) are pretty low right now. I bought an H ACA thinking that I wanted to go
up in color but when I compared it with my K there just wasnt enough of a color difference to me (yes, there was definitely a
difference, but I guess a little tint doesnt bother me that much). So, I think unless you can afford to move up a few colors it may
not be worth it (but that is me). In the end, I decided to stick with Ks and sent the H back.

I think I might look into this, but I agree with you on the price of the current Ks being pretty low. I think the color will probably be pretty negligible to me in the ear. And, it does feel good to save about 5k in the budget by staying with the K. If it were going up to a G for the 5K, I would do that, but it seems so negligible to spend that for going from K to J.

I think they can only price adjust based on their actual cost of buying the diamond. In order to make a profit or even break even, they can only drop the price so much.
You can look at the certificates on each of the diamond for the date it was certified. It might tell you how long it has been in stock, but you would need to correlate that to prices at that time. Probably hard to do. If you find a pair that you love within your price range, you might just want to go for it!

Thank you for the insight, @MissGotRocks. That does seem like it would make sense. It seems like the K might be the winner. I saw a post you made recently (maybe today?) about how you noticed the prices of the Gs pretty much not budging, but the price of lower colors decreasing. I better jump while the gettin's good!

 

[yssie]

Hi! I saw myself tagged on this and thought I’d chime in since I’ve also had WF’s 6-prong crowns!

So on the size - my 2c: Go with the largest size you didn’t hate on you. If you tried 5ctw on and thought “hmm maybe?” then I’d say go with that, and no smaller, because diamonds really do shrink with time! Mine are 5.4 (and I don’t have dainty earlobes) - they definitely don’t look “big” to me like at first. But they’re also big enough that I’ve never wanted to upgrade

Are you sensitive to metal or weight? Or both? WF’s casts are significantly heavier than EW’s mix of hand-forging and casting, for the same diamond size, using the same metal & alloy. Just different methods of manufacture and finish.

Erika is pretty open to discussing customizations, in my experience… But she will refuse to make anything that she feels won’t be aesthetically true to her brand. It’s a good thing in my eyes - I don’t have to worry that I’ll end up with something I don’t like. But she’s definitely not the sort to just take a customer’s opinion and run with it! WF will do that - they’ll advise if you ask them to, but they’ll also be happy to just do what you want them to.

I think there’s a pretty big cost differential between Erika and WF - for me EW’s pricing is definitely “forever only”. If you think there’s any possibility you’ll want to change your stones - I wouldn’t do EW. Just too expensive.

 

[MissGotRocks]

@Lookinagain, I'm honestly undecided. I probably could use some thoughts on that too. I really like @yssie's diamond stud earrings that are oh so beautiful. I'm sure it's known by most here, but Erika Winters has now made yssie's inspiration one of her standard stud sets, called Ani, however, the standard is a 4 prong (as opposed to yssie's 9 prong). I definitely do not like the 4 prong, though, as I feel it gives a squarish look. I would want something customized to a 6 prong or maybe 5 prong, but I'm not as experienced as yssie and am not sure how many prongs I would/should need for this size. Also, with this, I'm not sure if these will be my "forever" diamonds that I don't go up in size or down in color at a later time for an upgrade. I don't have large lobes, so I'm not sure if I should consider a larger size in a few years or not. I did try on a 5 ct tw in a brick and mortar store and I could "grow" into that, hahah - although, I'm not sure I would want a 5 ct tw, but maybe a 4? With that said, then I'm not sure I should invest in the custom EW studs or not at this time. Then again, I might get these and say, hey, love these for my forever studs and be done with it. Since there are so many uncertainties, I was considering just going with WF's 6 prong crown studs (https://www.whiteflash.com/diamond-earrings/6-prong-crown-earring-settings-6824.htm) in platinum & jumbo friction backs. My ears are really sensitive, so I need something hypoallergenic.




I think I might look into this, but I agree with you on the price of the current Ks being pretty low. I think the color will probably be pretty negligible to me in the ear. And, it does feel good to save about 5k in the budget by staying with the K. If it were going up to a G for the 5K, I would do that, but it seems so negligible to spend that for going from K to J.



Thank you for the insight, @MissGotRocks. That does seem like it would make sense. It seems like the K might be the winner. I saw a post you made recently (maybe today?) about how you noticed the prices of the Gs pretty much not budging, but the price of lower colors decreasing. I better jump while the gettin's good!

No, it wasn’t me commenting about the G’s, but it may be true that the lower colors are decreasing. If so, that could certainly work for you in this situation! Can’t wait to see what you de use to go with for these earrings!