visual difference in sidestones?

[Kitten35]

I had pretty much decided on a setting for my spine until yesterday when it came and I took some to a jeweler to "try it" with the semimounts. I fell in love with a three stone setting at a local store, which shocked me as I normally do not look good in or like the "3 stone" look on my finger. I called another local jeweler to see if she could price out a similar, but not exact, setting for me from Stuller today in several different white metals.

I asked her to price it with both diamond sidestones and white sapphire sidestones. My main question is: what would the visual differene be between diamonds and white sapphires as sidestones? These would be 3.7 mm. Would the white sapphires have the same kind of fire? The sidestones would be supplied by Stuller, so I wouldn't be "sourcing" those from anywhere but she did say they could be requested to be natural and untreated and that they could supply those.

Also, would the proportions be correct if we did 3.7 mm alongside a 6.8X7.3 face for the spinel? Would that be a good proportion, or not? I'm not sure how to tell that.

 

[LD]

White sapphires will never look like diamonds and unfortunately they don't have the fire of a diamond. They are lovely in their own right but some can look glassy so you do need to see them to see if you like the look.

In terms of size, this is very very personal. Some people like all 3 stones to be similar in size, others like to have much smaller side stones. It also depends on shape! One thing I would do is cut out three pieces of paper, stick them together in a row and lay it across your finger to see if the proportions look right on your hand.

 

[marymm]

To me, white sapphires and white diamonds are nothing like each other - white diamonds are fiery and flashy - white sapphires are much "flatter" if you will, more glassy. That said, I do have a three-stone ring with white sapphire trilliant side-stones and a Tanzanite princess center stone - for me, the white sapphires work in this setting with this center stone. As a general rule though, I'd recommend anyone considering white sapphires as a side-stone to please, before finalizing your decision, make sure you have had an opportunity to view in person the center stone with white sapphire side-stones - they really are no substitute for diamonds and have their own look and effect. In particular, IMHO spinels would likely be more complemented by diamonds than by white sapphires, but of course your eyes (or pocketbook) may prefer otherwise.

 

[Kitten35]

Thanks!

What about natural white zircons instead? Would that be a better "diamond like" substitute than white sapphire?

Mary MM, can you post a few pics of your ring with the white sapphires? OR is there a thread for it I can reference?

Thanks!

 

[marymm]

Thanks!

What about natural white zircons instead? Would that be a better "diamond like" substitute than white sapphire?

Mary MM, can you post a few pics of your ring with the white sapphires? OR is there a thread for it I can reference?

Thanks!

Yanno, I had no photos of that ring at all - I took a few quick snaps just now but it is night-time here and the photos are kind of dim... I'll try to take a couple tomorrow in the daytime to give you a better idea. The white sapphires are 5mm trillions, and for comparison the band ring above has diamond rounds apx 2mm. (I do think white sapphire rounds will give a better performance than trillions though.)



I do have a couple rings with white zircons but they are very small - I like their performance and find them sparkly enough - but due to their relative softness (Mohs 6.5 I think) I'm not sure I'd use them as side-stones in a larger mm size if the ring was meant to be worn more than occasionally. Here's a quick photo of a 7mm peridot in a white zircon sterling setting -

 

[LD]

Unfortunately nothing replicates a diamond. So, you if that's what you're trying to achieve you'll probably be disappointed with the end result. However, white sapphires can be pretty and are more durable than Zircons.

Heres a ring I have that has white sapphires as melee. To the untrained eye and at a distance they probably look like diamonds but if you look closely you can see that they really don't look the same. The bigger the side stone the more apparent the difference will be.

 

[Kitten35]

Thanks for the replies and photos--they are very helpful.