Search/Design of My Sapphire E-Ring

[brendaman]

I have been lurking for some weeks on this forum. I now have some questions regarding my search for my sapphire e-ring. I’ve always wanted a sapphire e-ring surrounded by diamonds, and my BF and I started seriously shopping about a month ago. At one point, we visited about 6 B&M shops in one day in downtown DC (we live in suburban Maryland).

During our month-long search, there were a couple of weeks when we had thought I wanted a Hearts on Fire or a Double Brilliant (available from the DC store Tiny Jewel Box) diamond, but once I saw an untreated sapphire, I was hooked. The sapphire was too big (5 cts) for my tiny hands and way above our budget of $10-15K. I started looking at e-ring settings for a sapphire, but I’m now leaning towards having a ring custom made.

We visited Quest in Northern Virginia, and Pete was of course very nice and listened to what we had in mind: an untreated sapphire e-ring surrounded by a halo of round brilliant diamonds (1 or more pts?) with two half moon diamonds to the side and perhaps pave down the shank in platinum. I''ve provided a pic of something we found online. Tiffany''s also makes this ring, but for $105K (albeit with a 10.28 cts). Missrocks also has a similar ring, but I believe hers is cushion cut.

I’m not too sure about having the half moons surrounded by pave. I know it provides balance and symmetry to the ring, but I had seen a ring w/out them, but the sapphire did not have the halo. Pete suggested that if I were going to eliminate the halo surrounding the half-moon diamonds, then I should go with the small round diamonds channel-set down the shank rather than pave. He said this would really make the sapphire pop. Pete also said that the haloed sapphire was a romantic setting but then the half-moon w/out the halo around it became more contemporary and going with the channel-set shank of round brilliants would work better the pave.

Sorry, for the long post, but here are my questions:
1. With regard to working with Quest, I’m kind of relieved to take the passive role in searching for the sapphire. Pete said he was going to fire out an email to all his sapphire suppliers. Should I also fire off an email to some of the PS gem suppliers? With our work schedule, I’m just not sure we’ll have the time to manage searching for the stone ourselves.


2. Any comments on the design I’ve described would be greatly appreciated.

We''re willing to take our time until we find the right stone and decide on the right setting. We''re also considering going to NYC to visit some PS vendors (e.g. NSC, cherrypicked, etc.).

 

[brendaman]

Here''s the 5 ct untreated sapphire with .82 total ct wt half moon and .42 cts of pave on the shank. We found it at a B&M at a mall.

 

[brendaman]

Sorry for the blurry previous pic as it was taken with my cell. Here''s that link to Misssrocks'' e-ring.

 

[Fly Girl]

Sounds like a fun project you have going. At this point I think I''d wait and see what Pete comes up with. One question I have about your design is whether you plan to wear it with a wedding band. The ring with the half-moons strikes me more as a standalone ring, and Pete''s suggestions make it sound more e-ring like. I''m sure you''ve seen Lostsapphire''s beautiful ring. Hers would come in at the top of your price range, but is an example of how lovely a sapphire ring can be.

Good luck, and please keep us updated on your progress!

 

[marcy]

What a wonderful idea and a fun project to work on. Your ring will be lovely. I''d wait and see what Pete finds out. I do love your setting but also wonder about what type of band you could wear with it.

 

[ma re]

I agree that eliminating halo on the sides would be kind of strange, if you plan on having small diamonds on the shank and around the center stone. Maybe making the paved shank split and go around the sides untill it connects with the sapphire''s halo?

 

[brendaman]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! We''re not doing wedding rings as my bf is allergic to all metals (yes, including titanium; he''s OK for a while, but then he starts to get a rash). So, we''ve agreed that I could go for a bigger e-ring. Lostsapphire does have a beautiful ring, and it''s good to know that it''s at the top of our price range. Hmmm. Maybe I should also consider heated sapphire. I''ll wait to see what Pete comes up with in terms of untreated sapphires.

BTW, here''s the Tiffany ring I mentioned in my first post above.

Went to Mervis yesterday and saw three supposedly untreated sapphires, all over 3 cts. One had too big of a window. The second was too dark. The 3rd had was closer to cornflower blue, but had a large inclusion almost the entire vertical length of the stone, but it also had what looked like a nick on the front facet which was clearly visible to the eye. And it was the costliest at over $10K. The salesperson had the nerve to tell me not to be too picky with these stones as they are "natural" after all. Grrrr!!!