Please help me find OECs for a 2ctw 7-stone...

[Deactivated member 42515]

My new project is a 7-stone OEC band. I am hoping with my size 9.5 fingers, something that is over 2ctw will give me some good coverage. I don't have a timeline for this band, just want to start collecting OECs. I'm not a very good eBayer so any help would be very appreciated.

I don't mind having some color, my center stone for my E-ring is an L so I think M is my limit. I may be wearing this band occasionally as my w-band when I feel like some major bling. Clarity is not an issue, no mind cleanliness issues, just don't wanna be able to see the inclusions with the naked eye.

I don't have a budget for each diamond. I just want to be able to get some kind of deal since this band is not a rushed order. I know I can call GOG or Adam or JBEG and they can find me one super fast, but I don't think this project is about that.

so...

.30-.40ct diamond
J-M color
Eye clean clarity
Love super tall crown, small table OECs

I guess if I had to make a budget, maybe $450 per diamond? I hope that is a reasonable budget. Thanks!

I'm still considering whether or not I want a 5-stone or a 7-stone. When I tried on both with similar ctw, the 7 stone covered my whole finger better... Here are two pics I took at a local jewelers.

This is the 5-stone


This is the 7-stone

 

[Enerchi]

um.... YUMMY TO THE MAX!!! WOO HOO! YayTacori!!! I love it!! I'm so glad that you get to bling out in the OEC world ---- I like the 7 stone, myself, but that's cuz it just gives amazing finger coverage without overwhelming the gorgeous OEC ering you have. I'd even think that smaller OEC's for a 7 stone would work for you...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your ering - its kick A$$ awesome! - but I'd hate it to be lost in the presence of a multi stone band... KWIM??? What size points are the 7 band stones? I wonder if slightly smaller would be better to work with your ering... ????

But that's just me... go with what YOU love!! that's the key thing

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

um.... YUMMY TO THE MAX!!! WOO HOO! YayTacori!!! I love it!! I'm so glad that you get to bling out in the OEC world ---- I like the 7 stone, myself, but that's cuz it just gives amazing finger coverage without overwhelming the gorgeous OEC ering you have. I'd even think that smaller OEC's for a 7 stone would work for you...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your ering - its kick A$$ awesome! - but I'd hate it to be lost in the presence of a multi stone band... KWIM??? What size points are the 7 band stones? I wonder if slightly smaller would be better to work with your ering... ????

But that's just me... go with what YOU love!! that's the key thing

Awww thanks Enerchi! Well, mostly this ring is gonna be an RHR. But I would like to mix it up a little sometimes and wear it as my w-band. Like on days I gotta go see DH's sister that thinks she is better than everyone and thinks everything I have is fake and cheap... RAWR

I believe the stones for the 7-stone in the picture were .33cts... I think it was like 2.3ctw.

 

[Dreamer_D]

With OECs you should buy based on millimeter spread, not carat weight.

I think that old cuts look better in larger sizes, at least 4.5mm. If you want smaller than 4.5mm then I actually prefer modern RBs.

So I vote for a five stone with 4.5mm stones, which is equivalent to about .35ct RB, but in OECs will likely be about .40ct each.

As to finding a matched suite yourself... good luck I have tried. It is impossible.

I suggest waiting for a completed five stone you like, or else buying the stones from JBEG. In the size you want, I personally find there is hardly any difference between ebay and retail, and if you look yourself they are highly likely to be off-round and/or chipped. I have bought at least a dozen stones that size in the last year and it is really hard to find nice round undamaged ones.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Oh, one way to find a suite is the cannibalize a brooch like TGal did. Some consider that terrible, but I don't judge either way.

There are a lot of brooches with multiple stones in the 4mm range.

 

[Gypsy]

Would you consider graduated stones or do you want them all one size.

 

[distracts]

Oh, one way to find a suite is the cannibalize a brooch like TGal did. Some consider that terrible, but I don't judge either way.

I'm funny because I consider cannibalizing rings horrible but am okay with brooches because no one wears them anymore. And I agree that there are quite a few with close-to-matching OECs in that size. And I also would personally buy them all together, whether from a vendor or on a piece already, because mismatched colors on a seven stone would drive me crazy. And I guess I'm not patient enough to buy and return a million stones from ebay.

 

[yssie]

I think your budget is doable - if you're willing to wait and stalk

It took me about a year to find five stones I was happy with for my mum's OEC fivestone - I was looking at around 4.5-5mm too. I think it also depends on how picky you're going to be about matched faceting, wonk, etc. The good thing about bands is that the focus is on the piece as a whole rather than each stone individually, so unless it's a mind-clean thing for you a little wonk isn't going to be a visual distraction!

I wasn't in any hurry so I turned it into a fun project - wrote a paragraph on how I got each stone, how DH and I argued about which setting would be best (he won) I did get all the stones at very good prices even including return shipping on a bunch, but it was definitely a headache and I wouldn't do it again - the secondary market is just so different now, even from a few months ago, and with the hassles of returns and frustrations of buying and returning tons of stones... but I'm very un-zen about stuff like that and very bad at "be patient" and "wait and see" so...

I really like the pics - they both look fabulous on you, very blingy!! I don't think you could go wrong with either. The sevenstone has more horizontal presence but in your pics the fivestone has more IMPACT - but that could also be because the stones are closer together whereas the outline of the sevenstone is more scalloped.. I do agree that I like OECs a bit bigger though in general - they don't sparkle as much as RBs but in larger sizes the amazing facet patterns are (IMO) a fair trade-off, but in smaller sizes where the faceting is so much harder to appreciate IRL I'd prefer MRBs for the wham-bam-thankyouma'am sparkle. I'm not sure where my "bit bigger" cut-off would be - the faceting is very easy to appreciate in the 4.5-5mm size so I wouldn't hesitate to go a bit smaller, but how much is a bit? Hah, helpful, I know.

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

With OECs you should buy based on millimeter spread, not carat weight.

I think that old cuts look better in larger sizes, at least 4.5mm. If you want smaller than 4.5mm then I actually prefer modern RBs.

So I vote for a five stone with 4.5mm stones, which is equivalent to about .35ct RB, but in OECs will likely be about .40ct each.

As to finding a matched suite yourself... good luck I have tried. It is impossible.

I suggest waiting for a completed five stone you like, or else buying the stones from JBEG. In the size you want, I personally find there is hardly any difference between ebay and retail, and if you look yourself they are highly likely to be off-round and/or chipped. I have bought at least a dozen stones that size in the last year and it is really hard to find nice round undamaged ones.

So, are you saying its ok for me to buy diamonds one by one from vendors? Would it be ok to start purchasing diamonds one by one from them slowly? Like they can start with one and then they can continue to find me diamonds that are similar later?

Would you consider graduated stones or do you want them all one size.

I haven't seen one in real life on my finger so I wouldn't be able to tell you... but I'm not against it.

Oh, one way to find a suite is the cannibalize a brooch like TGal did. Some consider that terrible, but I don't judge either way.

I'm funny because I consider cannibalizing rings horrible but am okay with brooches because no one wears them anymore. And I agree that there are quite a few with close-to-matching OECs in that size. And I also would personally buy them all together, whether from a vendor or on a piece already, because mismatched colors on a seven stone would drive me crazy. And I guess I'm not patient enough to buy and return a million stones from ebay.

I didn't even think about all the buying and the returning. That would be a hassle.

I think your budget is doable - if you're willing to wait and stalk

It took me about a year to find five stones I was happy with for my mum's OEC fivestone - I was looking at around 4.5-5mm too. I think it also depends on how picky you're going to be about matched faceting, wonk, etc. The good thing about bands is that the focus is on the piece as a whole rather than each stone individually, so unless it's a mind-clean thing for you a little wonk isn't going to be a visual distraction!

I wasn't in any hurry so I turned it into a fun project - wrote a paragraph on how I got each stone, how DH and I argued about which setting would be best (he won) I did get all the stones at very good prices even including return shipping on a bunch, but it was definitely a headache and I wouldn't do it again - the secondary market is just so different now, even from a few months ago, and with the hassles of returns and frustrations of buying and returning tons of stones... but I'm very un-zen about stuff like that and very bad at "be patient" and "wait and see" so...

I really like the pics - they both look fabulous on you, very blingy!! I don't think you could go wrong with either. The sevenstone has more horizontal presence but in your pics the fivestone has more IMPACT - but that could also be because the stones are closer together whereas the outline of the sevenstone is more scalloped.. I do agree that I like OECs a bit bigger though in general - they don't sparkle as much as RBs but in larger sizes the amazing facet patterns are (IMO) a fair trade-off, but in smaller sizes where the faceting is so much harder to appreciate IRL I'd prefer MRBs for the wham-bam-thankyouma'am sparkle. I'm not sure where my "bit bigger" cut-off would be - the faceting is very easy to appreciate in the 4.5-5mm size so I wouldn't hesitate to go a bit smaller, but how much is a bit? Hah, helpful, I know.

Oh, you know I would not hesitate to go bigger! If I had the money, I would be an extreme size whore.

That's what I was trying to say about the 7-stone. It has horizontal presence while the 5-stone has a bam presence. Do you think that MRB ring would look ok if I ever paired it with my ering? Because of its whole sparkly bling factor, it would take away from the ering? I was thinking that even if I got a large OEC 5 or 7 stone, it wouldn't take away so much from the ering because it had the same facet structure resulting in the same flashes of light.

 

[Rhea]

I think it's possible if you're willing to commit yourself to the search and be patient. I had 4.3 millimeter stones when I was trying to make a match for earrings. I ended up with two perfect pairs which worked well enough together that they could have been a 4 stone. And I was picky!

 

[Enerchi]

Morning, little buddy!!!!

I had my DH snap a few pics for another thread about chubby fingers (damn that I belong in that club... ) and I thought I'd post the combo I will be wearing (by end of January... ) with my newly set OEC paired up with my IDJ 1/2 eternity. There are 8 MRB stones, .12 each and they are PS quality F/G, VS/SI uncert stones - and a few have fluoro

I don't think the combo of OEC as an ering and the MRB's as a wb look bad... but that's just me. Hoping this is useful for you...

(I laughed when you said you were looking for the bling that would shut your SIL up!! Touche!!!)

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

Morning, little buddy!!!!

I had my DH snap a few pics for another thread about chubby fingers (damn that I belong in that club... ) and I thought I'd post the combo I will be wearing (by end of January... ) with my newly set OEC paired up with my IDJ 1/2 eternity. There are 8 MRB stones, .12 each and they are PS quality F/G, VS/SI uncert stones - and a few have fluoro

I don't think the combo of OEC as an ering and the MRB's as a wb look bad... but that's just me. Hoping this is useful for you...

(I laughed when you said you were looking for the bling that would shut your SIL up!! Touche!!!)

Thanks for the picture Enerchi! I saw them over at the other thread also! So you're getting another 7 stone too huh?! How exciting! How many pointers is it gonna be?

Your OEC looks amazing with the wb. And the stones are .12 each? Wow! Looks great! Hmmm... I feel like I knew what I wanted before this thread and now I feel like I don't. I know as a wb, your size looks great but I will be wearing this ring as a stand alone rhr... So I think I still wanna go bigger.

If I wanted to use MRBs, aren't they more expensive than OECs? Or has that caught up like the second market and retail?

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

Oh and good morning!!!

 

[Enerchi]

lol! "morning" back atcha!

I just googled and checked a chart for sizes, which stated that the .12 ct are approx 3mm diameter. If you want to go big, you'll be happier going with what you want initially, rather downsizing to something smaller just so you could wear it on occasion with your OEC. I know you want it more consistently as a RHR . Go big, get what you want, don't 'settle' if it won't make you happy in the long run. Life is too short to compromise on diamonds! (There are so many "life is to short...." options we could put in there, but today, its about diamond compromising!)

Pricing wise, I think mine was in the $1K+ range in January, from IDJ, so not sure what pricing compares with now for either MRB or OEC's.

Here's just a pic of my hand with the band only - I don't think it's the big bling factor you want to blow away your SIL with! (but it's still pretty... just sayin' ) and I'm all over the competition thing - she sounds like a real sweetheart...

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

lol! "morning" back atcha!

I just googled and checked a chart for sizes, which stated that the .12 ct are approx 3mm diameter. If you want to go big, you'll be happier going with what you want initially, rather downsizing to something smaller just so you could wear it on occasion with your OEC. I know you want it more consistently as a RHR . Go big, get what you want, don't 'settle' if it won't make you happy in the long run. Life is too short to compromise on diamonds! (There are so many "life is to short...." options we could put in there, but today, its about diamond compromising!)

Pricing wise, I think mine was in the $1K+ range in January, from IDJ, so not sure what pricing compares with now for either MRB or OEC's.

Here's just a pic of my hand with the band only - I don't think it's the big bling factor you want to blow away your SIL with! (but it's still pretty... just sayin' ) and I'm all over the competition thing - she sounds like a real sweetheart...

That band looks beautiful on you Enerchi!!! It actually does have a lot of bling! Thank you for showing me hand shots. It's hard to imagine what a ring will look like because at the stores, the sizes are so small. But I like this size, it does have a bigger presence than I thought it would.

As for SIL, I was super excited to finally have a "sister" that I could talk fashion and purses and shoes with. But I guess every time I agreed with her about something, she thought I was trying to one up her. She's told DH that she thinks I'm a spoiled brat. I rarely get anything for myself. DH has 3 freaking cars for goodness sake and a Harley! On second thought, I don't think I wanna show her the new band. She already made a comment about how she thinks my wedding set is fake... And how it's not passed down from generations and that she has her great grandmother's ring. Sigh... I should get this band for me, not for the idea of showing it off to SIL.

 

[Enerchi]

Yup - get this band (whatever one it is you decide *YOU* like the best) and do it just for the sheer pleasure it provides you and you alone. There will always - ALWAYS - be competitive people in your life that will have something negative to say. How sad for them.... some people just gotta have a 'hate on' for others - don't get that kind of thinking. She's probably just jealous of the lovely things you have!

So get what you want, and enjoy it! Love it in the sun, in the candlelight, in the sunset, in Home Depot... wherever it may roam with you - but do it only because its going to give you joy, the hell with her!!

(DH has 3 cars and a Harley??? WAY COOL!!! )

 

[Aerix]

Just saw in another thread that you're considering MRBs instead of OEC's. I saw this one ring for sale on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gorgeous-Di...838374090?pt=Wedding_Sets&hash=item4d0780f6ca
If you're interested, you could make an offer on it. The seller has a 14 day return policy, but not a whole lot of feedback... I think they're an individual probably trying to get back as much money as possible on an old purchase. From the receipts, it looks like the ring might've come from Blue Nile.

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

Just saw in another thread that you're considering MRBs instead of OEC's. I saw this one ring for sale on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gorgeous-Di...838374090?pt=Wedding_Sets&hash=item4d0780f6ca
If you're interested, you could make an offer on it. The seller has a 14 day return policy, but not a whole lot of feedback... I think they're an individual probably trying to get back as much money as possible on an old purchase. From the receipts, it looks like the ring might've come from Blue Nile.

Wow thanks Xiriah!

 

[mercoledi]

This would be over budget for you I think, but you could combine these two:
http://jewelsbyericagrace.smugmug.c...d-Cut/21738776_2p45Qv#!i=1733126010&k=CJNG9Sz ($2600)
http://loupetroop.com/listings/ring...beautiful-0-dot-69ctw-omc-double-diamond-ring ($700)

for a graduated 5 stone:
0.37 4.5x4.5mm J, SI3
~.72 4.87x5.85 H-J/VS
0.70 5.49 x 3.65 J/VS
~.72 4.99x5.99 H-J/I1
0.32c 4.8x4.4mm, 0.32c H/I, SI2