Show-Share Your ER Upgrade/DSS Journey — Pics a MUST!!!

[oncrutchesrightnow]

#1 - My first engagement ring was a lovely 1.05 ct F and VS2 princess cut in platinum.

#2 - But in my twenties I suffered DSS and “upgraded” for a 2.01 ct I and SI2 MRB. Here is a hard copy photo from the back of my closet



Anyway turns out I am color sensitive and actually do not like wearing “large” stones (dont laugh — we are talking non-PS standards). Looking back on it the diamond was not as hideous as I remember but at the time my perception was that color = quality. Plus I regretted giving up my original e-ring and this ring kept reminding me of that mistake.

#3 - I traded #2 in for a 0.70 E and SI2 MRB in a fancy platinum vintage setting. Unfortunately I lost that ring.

#4 et seq. - That happened in 2006. I still missed my original e-ring, so I wanted a princess cut to replace the lost ring. After having knee surgery and sitting around all day surfing the web back when people actually used that phrase, I joined PS to get advice on buying a new diamond ring. Thus the username oncrutchesrightnow. Found a princess cut, then stopped coming here for a while. From then on I expanded my collection based on variety and interest. Keep in mind these are quite small compared to many on PS. Top left corner to bottom right corner:

-Replacement princess
-HG Asscher
-Dainty mrb
-Just-my-size mrb (weighing in at a whopping 0.50 ct., this one probably gets the most wear)
-Oval rose cut with pave halo… just lost a stone
-Portrait cut round
-Three-stone mrb
-Mrb with fancy halo
-HG rose cut round
-Upside down pink cushion experiment
-Tiny opalescent elongated hexagon
-Super skinny marquise
-Starter OEC
-LGD AVR
-LGD OMC
-AVC



There are a few diamond rings not pictured because they were not really part of my collection goals. Some day I will get one more traditional natural diamond that could be over a carat (an oval). Otherwise my remaining diamond ring collection goals are smaller novelties — a gray violet, a magnetic glow-in-the-dark HPHT, a heart, some weird cuts (possibly in LGD), a chameleon in a non-ugly green, some more upside-down highly included diamonds from Etsy. The only DSS I feel is that confoundingly beautiful AVR, which might be repeated in in a larger iteration in the future.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Catmom]

@Catmom, I love that you added milgrain to the traps!

Thanks Bonfire! I really happy that I did too.

 

[Mreader]

Welcome back! Here is my ER journey:

My original set was a .30ct J VS2 round diamond that was my husband's grandmother's stone. I still have it today.


Somewhere around the 15yr mark we upgraded to a 1.25ct J VS2 princess cut solitaire. I don't have any pics of that ring that I can find. At the 25 year mark we were going to upgrade to a 2 ct diamond but I had 2 kids in college at the time so I decided it would be better just to switch out my setting.



At our 27th anniversary my hubby felt bad about not upgrading and he saw how much I loved this FLY diamond ring my jeweler had so he called me one day and said go ahead and get it. I was so happy that it was still there and it became mine. I traded in the princess for this ring. 2.52cts mixed radiant/cushion cut FLY VS1.



That brings us up to last year and my 40th anniversary plus a "big" birthday. Hubby knew he was on the hook for an upgrade. We actually had fun looking at all the different diamonds and then we found this one. 3.01ct I VVS2 EC. All hand forged and hand engraved platinum. The ring I always wanted. Is it my last ring? I don't know, lol.

Wow!!! Do you still have the FLY?

 

[Catmom]

Wow!!! Do you still have the FLY?

Yes, I would never trade that one in. I switch off with my EC when I am wearing my yellow diamonds.

 

[Mreader]

Yes, I would never trade that one in. I switch off with my EC when I am wearing my yellow diamonds.

I also love yellow diamonds. They were my passion before getting into old cuts.

 

[Catmom]

I also love yellow diamonds. They were my passion before getting into old cuts.

Yep, same here!

 

[LLJsmom]

@LLJsmom Is there a thread with more pictures of the original OEC setting with baguettes?

Here you go @molecule

#JOTW - 3.04 OEC K, VS1 Early 20th Anniversary

Introducing my OEC. Thank you to Adam at Old World Diamonds. GIA OEC K, VS1 3.04 carats This stone is stunning, bright, so lively, won’t stop sparkling. It has super sharp facets that appear extremely symmetrical to my eyes. The petal pattern in the center and diamond shapes all along the...

www.pricescope.com

 

[Efleon]

First e-ring 1.16 GIA H in a Jeff Cooper platinum 3 stone setting.



That was in 2004 and though this didn’t exactly replace my e-ring, in 2016 I got a fancy yellow from DBL and would alternate.



In 2019-2020 started getting really interested in old cuts. Got a 2ct OEC w baguette side stones in fall 2020. I wore it almost exclusively.



In still kept my original e-ring though but decided to reset it. Kept the setting and added a tanzy in it. DK did the reset.




Then we get to just last week! Massive upgrade to GIA 3.98 L OEC in CVB setting. I’m so in love and don’t anticipate any other changes. I still have all these rings though lol and am currently deciding what to do with the 2ct oec.

@Mreader your epic upgrade started me thinking about what to do with my 2.7 H/SI original ering that I kept after my upgrade so I started trolling DK thinking maybe I will reset the stone for a rhr.
Your reset to the right of the tanz jumped out at me as I scrolled his site!
I knew it belonged to a PS I just couldn’t remember who.
Gorgeous.

 

[Mreader]

@Mreader your epic upgrade started me thinking about what to do with my 2.7 H/SI original ering that I kept after my upgrade so I started trolling DK thinking maybe I will reset the stone for a rhr.
Your reset to the right of the tanz jumped out at me as I scrolled his site!
I knew it belonged to a PS I just couldn’t remember who.
Gorgeous.

Thank you! And a reset is always fun

 

[ZestfullyBling]

Reset - I wanted more stones…
2.7ct center
0.43ct each sides
~0.15ct each sides
Unplated Pd-WG
DBL custom

First attempted this design with Victor Canera, didn’t love the outcome, had it redone by DBL and was thrilled - these are pics of the DBL
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-two-new-victor-canera-masterpieces.168402/
https://www.pricescope.com/communit...-5-stone-8-prong-trellis-reset-by-dbl.170161/






Reset - I wanted still more stones…
2.7ct center
0.43ct each sides
0.24ct each sides
0.14ct each sides
YG and two different alloys of unplated Ni-WG
RDG custom

No thread on this one. This is the most spectacular and special ring mount I will ever own. I’ve since reset the diamond and this setting now houses a lab ruby with colour that I will never be able to afford in a mined stone.







Upgrade - I wanted a bigger center…
4ct center
Platinum
Erika Winters Margot

https://www.pricescope.com/communit...ty-4-01-j-vs1-in-erika-winters-margot.231053/

I want a bigger stone. Eventually. Whatever I get will go right back into Margot

@yssie Margot is Beautiful!!!

I don't mean to thread jack, but
Do mind if I ask you a question about diameter across finger? Your 5 stone was about 25mm. Does the 7 stone covering much more. You have a size 4 finger I'm much larger at 6.5. Was both the settings comfortable to wear? Did the round shank contribute to this one way or another? I'm in design phase of possible 5 stone pear ring with 7.17x10.91 center. Diameter across around 30mm and Im big on comfort.

 

[Niel]

My first attempt was a pear I purchased from whiteflash and had a lo a jeweler set. It was a custom setting and they did an absolute sh!t job. I vividly remember asking when I looked at the wax about some specific design elements and they said that for sure they wouldn’t be in the cast version. Then when of course they were they told me oh well you approved the wax!!

They sold Ritani at that jeweler so I told them to give up on the custom work and have them set the stone in a Ritani plain shank halo. It was lovely but the bezel really did a number on the pear.

I purchased this stone in a solitaire it was .84 k and the largest I could afford at the time. The setting was cheap for the same reason.

I meticulously designed the stone into a 5 stone. That ring was beautiful and I have no regrets about it.

I wanted a larger stone so I sold the 5 stone- though I’d still wear today if I had her ) and bought - again- the biggest stone I could afford. I can’t remember exactly why this CVB setting was so cheap but I had her set it in that temporarily until we could design my dream solitaire.

She could never accomplish what I was trying to convey in her cads so we never ended up having the solitaire made. I found a needle in a haystack on eBay and purchased that. These settings are often 9k but this one was 14. They often have 6 prongs this one had 8 (like I wanted ) and it fit my stone like a glove. This is the current iteration of my “engagement ring” I have sense bought over a dozen rings I will wear on that finger and mix and match but I would still consider this the “engagement ring”


ETA: they attach kind of blurry but if you click on the photos they’re less so.

 

[motownmama]

Enjoyed reading/seeing your journey Noel!

 

[yssie]

@yssie Margot is Beautiful!!!

I don't mean to thread jack, but
Do mind if I ask you a question about diameter across finger? Your 5 stone was about 25mm. Does the 7 stone covering much more. You have a size 4 finger I'm much larger at 6.5. Was both the settings comfortable to wear? Did the round shank contribute to this one way or another? I'm in design phase of possible 5 stone pear ring with 7.17x10.91 center. Diameter across around 30mm and Im big on comfort.

Thank you!!

The five stone and the seven-stone actually wound up covering about the same amount of finger - the jeweller who made the seven-stone went upward off the finger to make space. I don’t have either five-stone mount (I sold one and the other is at the other house) but here’s a pic with a three-stone that might help?



The interior diameter of both shanks is exactly the same - they’re both the same ring size. And the sapphire is quite a bit deeper than the lab ruby! But the gallery details let him turn the overall profile of the seven-stone almost ovoid… Which of course means that that centerstone is sitting pretty high up.

In your case if your stones are about 30mm across... And let's say the girdles are going to sit about 6mm off the finger...
The interior diameter of a size 6.5 ring is ~17mm, and the interior circumference of the shank of a size 6.5 ring is 53mm
And the circumference of the circle created by a ring that's (17mm+12mm) is 90mm
If the arc of the stones that sit girdle to girdle takes up ~30mm that's about a third of 90mm - so if squished girdle to girdle and all level girdle to girdle those stones will take up about the space of the green on your finger. Of course that's all totally hypothetical and mount style/shoulder style/prong style/stone angling+tucking makes a huge difference!! So yeah, this isn't really super helpful at all



For comfort... I need a comfort-fit shank. I refuse to wear any ring without. The rounded interior makes SUCH a difference!! I'm not too terribly fussed about feeling stones between my fingers - I love larger eternities, I've probably trained myself out of noticing them, but I know that lots of PSers are more sensitive than I am and absolutely hate that. If that's a concern for you - tucking the sidestones under nice and tight can save a really surprising amount of space!!

 

[Mreader]

Thank you!!

The five stone and the seven-stone actually wound up covering about the same amount of finger - the jeweller who made the seven-stone went upward off the finger to make space. I don’t have either five-stone mount (I sold one and the other is at the other house) but here’s a pic with a three-stone that might help?



The interior diameter of both shanks is exactly the same - they’re both the same ring size. And the sapphire is quite a bit deeper than the lab ruby! But the gallery details let him turn the overall profile of the seven-stone almost ovoid… Which of course means that that centerstone is sitting pretty high up.

In your case if your stones are about 30mm across... And let's say the girdles are going to sit about 6mm off the finger...
The interior diameter of a size 6.5 ring is ~17mm, and the interior circumference of the shank of a size 6.5 ring is 53mm
And the circumference of the circle created by a ring that's (17mm+12mm) is 90mm
If the arc of the stones that sit girdle to girdle takes up ~30mm that's about a third of 90mm - so if squished girdle to girdle and all level girdle to girdle those stones will take up about the space of the green on your finger. Of course that's all totally hypothetical and mount style/shoulder style/prong style/stone angling+tucking makes a huge difference!! So yeah, this isn't really super helpful at all



For comfort... I need a comfort-fit shank. I refuse to wear any ring without. The rounded interior makes SUCH a difference!! I'm not too terribly fussed about feeling stones between my fingers - I love larger eternities, I've probably trained myself out of noticing them, but I know that lots of PSers are more sensitive than I am and absolutely hate that. If that's a concern for you - tucking the sidestones under nice and tight can save a really surprising amount of space!!

Aaaaaaaand we still need a pic of that Ruby! You tantalize us with the upside down pic!

 

[ZestfullyBling]

Thank you!!

The five stone and the seven-stone actually wound up covering about the same amount of finger - the jeweller who made the seven-stone went upward off the finger to make space. I don’t have either five-stone mount (I sold one and the other is at the other house) but here’s a pic with a three-stone that might help?



The interior diameter of both shanks is exactly the same - they’re both the same ring size. And the sapphire is quite a bit deeper than the lab ruby! But the gallery details let him turn the overall profile of the seven-stone almost ovoid… Which of course means that that centerstone is sitting pretty high up.

In your case if your stones are about 30mm across... And let's say the girdles are going to sit about 6mm off the finger...
The interior diameter of a size 6.5 ring is ~17mm, and the interior circumference of the shank of a size 6.5 ring is 53mm
And the circumference of the circle created by a ring that's (17mm+12mm) is 90mm
If the arc of the stones that sit girdle to girdle takes up ~30mm that's about a third of 90mm - so if squished girdle to girdle and all level girdle to girdle those stones will take up about the space of the green on your finger. Of course that's all totally hypothetical and mount style/shoulder style/prong style/stone angling+tucking makes a huge difference!! So yeah, this isn't really super helpful at all



For comfort... I need a comfort-fit shank. I refuse to wear any ring without. The rounded interior makes SUCH a difference!! I'm not too terribly fussed about feeling stones between my fingers - I love larger eternities, I've probably trained myself out of noticing them, but I know that lots of PSers are more sensitive than I am and absolutely hate that. If that's a concern for you - tucking the sidestones under nice and tight can save a really surprising amount of space!!

thank you @yssie !!

 

[PastryGirl]

@Niel any links to the set in your avatar photo? What is the story with that? I am drooling!

 

[elle_chris]

February 2008- Purchased my 2.52ct GIA XXX through Whiteflash. At the time, this diamond qualified for their lifetime trade-in even though it wasn't an ACA.

Had it set in a Platinum Sholdt semi-bezel and loved it for years.

May 2021- Decided I wanted to upgrade for our anniversary.

Contacted Whiteflash and even though 13 years had gone by since I purchased my stone, they said of course I can upgrade.
So I did!
It's a 3.76ct ACA set in their Platinum Classic Knife Edge with the usual modifications (2mm band, softened the knife edge, and got claw prongs.)

They are a fantastic company that really stands behind their policies and products. I will never go elsewhere for diamonds. Love Whiteflash.

 

[Niel]

@Niel any links to the set in your avatar photo? What is the story with that? I am drooling!

Sure

Cinderella story - a petite chrysoberyl 7 stone

I recently bought a little vanadium chrysoberyl. I say little- she’s 1.6 cts. Anything much bigger that that can be pretty pricey and I didn’t wanna spend that kind of money having not seen one in person. I love her. This one is a sea glass/ sea foam green. I had no idea how to set something...

www.pricescope.com