Question: grey looking side diamonds

[alli2004]

I purchased a diamond online and am having a setting made by a local jeweler. My center diamond (purchased online) is a 1.5 ct marquise and the side diamonds are .25 ct each pears (will purchase as part of the setting from local jeweler). The setting is a basket style in platinum. The jeweler had a setting in their store that is exactly what I want except the center was also a pear, so what I asked for was exactly that setting except changing the center shape. When I went in to look at the wax it didn''t look like the ring in their display and I said so, they changed it a little but assured me it would look the same once the metal was done. We went in today to see the metal which was done and had the side diamonds already set, we are supposed to bring our center stone in Tuesday so they can set it. It looked better in the metal than in the wax but still not exactly like the one in their display, which I told them. They say they can change the metal slightly even though it is already cast to allay my concerns, but I am not sure about this. My bigger concern, however, is with the side pears, which looked really gray to me when I saw them in the setting today. I didn''t notice this when I saw them loose before the store set them--could this be an effect that only appears once set, or did I just miss it when I examined the stones beforehand? I am especially concerned about this because my center diamond is an icy white D, which is one of the things I love. I want the side diamonds to match that look. Any advice about why the stones would appear grey and how to deal with this with the jeweler? I feel like the only way to solve the problem is to get different side stones, which would mean redoing the entire ring, and I am sure they are not going to be happy about that. What are my options? So far we have put down a $500 deposit, the setting in total will be $2800. Could the grey be reflecting off the setting? What else would cause this? The store says the sides are E or F, because I told them from the beginning matching the color was very important to me. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[strmrdr]

look at them in other lighting first before getting too worried.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 3/19/2006 11:42:40 PM
Author:alli2004

My bigger concern, however, is with the side pears, which looked really gray to me when I saw them in the setting today. I didn''t notice this when I saw them loose before ...

Can''t really tell what you are seeing, but I would bet on cut... or lighting.

The fact that these stones looked brighter loose is no mystery - most diamonds do. The leakage areas turn dark in the setting - so if these side stones were too shallow or otherwise not very brilliant, the difference between what they look like loose and set may be quite great. However, every diamond does change somewhat like these. In short: if this is the effect that explains the darker looks of these diamonds... I can''t tell if the degree of it is normal or too much (i.e. the side stones could have been better cut).

My 2c


Are the sidestones bezel set? Or otherwise surrounded by allot more metal than the center stone?

Did you have a chance to see other pear sidestones set that didn''t look ''gray'' like this?

I doubt a picture would help... but would surely like to see your ring

Gray or not, there aren''t many marquise & pear rings around here and the style is so lovely!

 

[alli2004]

I think you may be right, which is what I was afraid of, that the problem is with the cut. The setting is not a bezel, it is a basket. The center stone is not set yet, so could the center prongs be causing a gray reflection? I doubt it, but it was a thought. I don''t think the lighting is the problem because I looked at other pear side settings in the store in the same light and they looked fine to me. But, just to be sure, I''ll try it in different light. As far as comparing to other pear side stones, I was not able to do this as they only showed me this pair. They had shown me a different pair a week previous that I rejected because I thought the sizes did not exactly match each other, so they ordered these. I got the impression that they don''t keep a stock of them but order when a customer wants them. Also, I am unsure of how to compare when they are loose as the problem seems to have appeared only after they were set. Any advice on getting more info about cut on side stones? Since these are just side stones I have not had any luck getting anything other than size, color and clarity on these stones. I spoke to the store again today and they said they didn''t know why they looked grey to me because they were colorless. Obviously that answer is not satisfactory to me, I am going to look again tomorrow and will let you all know how it goes. I''m getting so frustrated now that I want to just forfeit my deposit and tell them I''ll go somewhere else, but I really don''t want to start this whole process over again, this has already been dragging on for weeks. I can''t post pictures now because the ring is still at the store, but as soon as this is finally over I will make sure to do that.

 

[alli2004]

Just an update--went to the jeweler today to look at the ring again. This time the side diamonds did not look grey. The center prongs (stone unmounted so far) were cut shorter than last time I looked, so maybe it was them reflecting off it or creating a shadow before. The store also cleaned them this time, maybe that fixed the problem. I also looked in natural light and they were still fine, not grey at all. Either way, I was happy. The ring design still did not look like it was supposed to, but they were very nice this time (finally!) and said they agreed that it did not match the one that we were trying to match from their display, and they are redoing the shank to fix it. As requested, I will post pictures when it is finally done. Thanks for the advice and encouragement.