'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them here!

[mrs-b]

Hallo all!

I am umming and ahhing about buying an I colored stone but am really concerned about the color! The mods very kindly re-opened a thread for me on I colored stones - but now I realize it was in the FAQ forum. So I thought I'd start a new one here.

So - please! - if you have an I colored stone, post it here! I probably see more questions about I colored stones on this site than about any other color. An up to date compilation of stones would be really helpful for those many people like me who are considering an 'I' color, but who are concerned about tint. It seems there is no thread compiling these stones later than about 2006.

Have at it, please, PS'ers!

PS Side views are particularly helpful!

 

[LoveLikeCrazy]

1.01ct AGS0 I VS2 in platinum Vatche U113 - wedding band is Whiteflash 7 stone shared prong with F/G ACA melee .50tcw -- sorry I can't find any side view pics right now on my phone!

 

[funrider]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

I have a 1.8 carat oval I-colored stone and I can certainly see the color. My fiance, on the other hand, insisted that he can't see the tint. He did understand what I meant after I painfully explained it to him (but it took a while).

Anyway, what I really want to say is that unprofessional pictures just don't show the color. Every picture I took makes my stone look white. But it is certainly not. So don't trust what you see on pricescope thread, check the stones in person to see whether you can live with I color or not. I think whoever says that they can't notice the tint at all are lying to themselves (or they are a bit color-blind). It is clearly visible. BUT!!!! 1) It doesn't mean the color is "annoying" and 2) It really depends on the distance between the viewer and the stone and the type of light. For example, I don't think people would notice the tint unless you hold your hand flat in front of them. It is (imho) essentially impossible to see the tint in the evening or in bright sunshine. The tint is most visible in the "flat" day light.

Personally, the color doesn't bother me much but I do plan on upgrading it in 10 years...

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Seriously, you can't tell a thing from pictures. You have to see them in person to see the tint in your lighting environments. The stone in my avatar picture is an I color. In bright daylight it faces up very white. In some lighting it looks pretty tinted due to the environment. You can't know if that will bother you from pictures; you simply have to see it to know. I have seen a low I color that was too tinted for me. I color really is that borderline color because I can definitely see the tint in a J and apparently low I.

 

[baby monster]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

I have a 1.8 carat oval I-colored stone and I can certainly see the color. My fiance, on the other hand, insisted that he can't see the tint. He did understand what I meant after I painfully explained it to him (but it took a while).

Anyway, what I really want to say is that unprofessional pictures just don't show the color. Every picture I took makes my stone look white. But it is certainly not. So don't trust what you see on pricescope thread, check the stones in person to see whether you can live with I color or not. I think whoever says that they can't notice the tint at all are lying to themselves (or they are a bit color-blind). It is clearly visible. BUT!!!! 1) It doesn't mean the color is "annoying" and 2) It really depends on the distance between the viewer and the stone and the type of light. For example, I don't think people would notice the tint unless you hold your hand flat in front of them. It is (imho) essentially impossible to see the tint in the evening or in bright sunshine. The tint is most visible in the "flat" day light.

Personally, the color doesn't bother me much but I do plan on upgrading it in 10 years...

My stone looks white to me and I'm not "lying to myself" or "bit color-blind". Your stone might be a low I borderline J. There have been multiple threads where jewelers say they can't accurately judge the color unless it's next to master stones.

Mrs-blop , the only way you can decide if you are comfortable with I color is to go see lots of GIA graded stones.

 

[m-2-b]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

For me personally, a bargain! Like the others, I can notice tint in certain lighting situations. "I" color is my ultimate sweet spot for size and affordability in a MRB. I think you've seen some of my pics before...

So it depends upon your color tolerance, the shape of the diamond, and the setting. Are you sticking w/ a larger MRB or switching to a fancy shape?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Okay, I do have some pictures that show color, although I still think you'll need to see the stone you are condsidering. I do agree with mom2boys that I color is a great bargain for those of us who like the color!

1) G on top, I on bottom
2) profile of an I color
3) G on lower left, lower I color on right
4) G top, J middle, I bottom

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

5) I on left, J on right
6) J top, I bottom
7) I color, white in outdoor lighting.

 

[cflutist]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

I really do believe that people have different color sensitivity and are not "fooling" themselves, but rather am seeing what their eyes actually see. It has to do with how many cones you have in your eyes.

Just for fun, go and take this Munsell Color Hue Test, if you score a perfect score, you have acute color sensitivity. If not, there are varying degrees of color sensitivity. It is not a pass/fail, or good or bad, but rather how our eyes are all different.

http://www.colormunki.com/game/huetest_kiosk

I scored 100% and am very color sensitive, but at the same time am very near-sighted, I cannot even see the big "E" 20/400 on the chart, yet my sister/brother have 20/20 vision. My hubby took that color-hue test and missed about 30 of them but can see very well in the dark while I have night blindness.

Being color sensitive has it's disadvantages too, paying for D-E-F diamonds is a LOT more expensive than buying an H or an I which probably looks just as white to someone who is not color sensitive.

btw, I could quickly pick out the different colors in Diamondseeker's post. Thanks for posting.

 

[Lenapie]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

I think it also really depends on the cut you're getting. Really well-cut stones will face-up much whiter. And if the stone has blue fluorescence, that will also make it whiter. So, if your stone has a combination of a really great cut + blue fluorescence, that'll probably help with making it look whiter.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Thanks, Cheryl! Rarely do individual pictures show color, so that is why I posted these since the easiest way to see the color difference is when a whiter stone is present. For some reason, I can tolerate lower color a little more in larger faceted stones such as emerald cut and antique cushions (AVC) while I can't deal with lower than I color in a round. Ideally I would have gotten an H, but my the highest color they had in the 2 ct AVR's at the time were I color. I am glad because I would have had to go a little smaller to get H!

 

[apacherose]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

I really do believe that people have different color sensitivity and are not "fooling" themselves, but rather am seeing what their eyes actually see. It has to do with how many cones you have in your eyes.

Just for fun, go and take this Munsell Color Hue Test, if you score a perfect score, you have acute color sensitivity. If not, there are varying degrees of color sensitivity. It is not a pass/fail, or good or bad, but rather how our eyes are all different.

http://www.colormunki.com/game/huetest_kiosk

I scored 100% and am very color sensitive, but at the same time am very near-sighted, I cannot even see the big "E" 20/400 on the chart, yet my sister/brother have 20/20 vision. My hubby took that color-hue test and missed about 30 of them but can see very well in the dark while I have night blindness.

Being color sensitive has it's disadvantages too, paying for D-E-F diamonds is a LOT more expensive than buying an H or an I which probably looks just as white to someone who is not color sensitive.

btw, I could quickly pick out the different colors in Diamondseeker's post. Thanks for posting.

That quiz was super fun! Great pics, Diamondseeker.

 

[mrs-b]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Thank you for the photos!

The diamond I'm interested in is on the Blue Nile site, so no chance of checking the color before I buy it. My only option is to return it if I don't like it - which I don't mind doing, tho would rather have some clarity of expectation before it arrives.

I've had some of every color from D to K. The K was too tinted from the side, and my current e-ring is an H, and I have no problem with that at all. So somewhere between H and K it becomes too tinted for me. I'm just not quite sure where.

'I' really seems to be the tipping point of color in the white diamond range for a lot of people. I'm very color sensitive and can see the difference between stones of all different color grades. But I'm not looking for a stone with no tint - I'm just looking for a degree of warmth I can live with. It has a medium fluorescence, which might help a little, and all I can do apart from that is keep my fingers crossed and ask for as much input from others as I can get in the meantime.

It's a 3.02ct stone - so not small - and any sideways color, I'm going to see. I'll just have to wait till it's on my hand before I know for sure.

But since so many people ask about I colored stones, I thought a collection in the one place would be very helpful. So if anyone has anymore 'I' colored stones - please add them!

 

[apacherose]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

I agree it is a great thread for referrence, and hope lots more pictures come to join, despite the aforementioned limitations with photography.

Um.... pretty exciting dilemma to have, Mrs. Blop! Take lots of photos for the thread, lol!!!

 

[funrider]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Lol, I had seen a few I stones (and in different sizes) and all of them have a tint. I am not trying to say I color is bad; clearly, I chose one for myself, but the tint is very obvious to me. My stone is a GIA-certified and my appraiser expressed no doubts about its color grade.

 

[FrekeChild]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

GIA graded I. First pic is natural daylight, the others are fluorescents at night. 1.51ct

 

[mrs-b]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

LoveLikeCrazy - love your ring combo! I think I can see the tiiiiiniest tint contrast between your ring and your band, but if I wasn't specifically looking for it, I definitely wouldn't notice it. And it certainly wouldn't worry me.

mom2boys - thank you so much for the post of your solitaire - what a gorgeous stone! And yes, I am very familiar with your 5ct SK halo. Have I ever mentioned that you beat me out on that stone by a hair's breadth? Lucky woman! I was in GOG one week after you bought it and they told me it had sold. It went to a worthy home, however, and is one of my all time favorite PS rings.

diamondseeker - your photos are GREAT. Thank you so much! That profile shot is all sorts of helpful. I've always thought your OEC (AVR?) solitaire was gorgeous; I didn't realize it was an I. So this is great news.

Freke - your princess is lovely and VERY encouraging re color. Beautiful cut, too, just by the way.

Ladies - thanks for all your comments and posts. I'm going to go ahead with it and will hope for the best. My current stone is an H color, and a very white H, so I'm hoping the I isn't a culture shock for me. I can deal with a little warmth - in fact I find my D and E colored stones rather bloodless compared to my H - though this is just personal taste, of course. But my K was definitely too warm for me, so I'm hoping I won't stray into that area. I'll definitely post (very bad!) pictures when it arrives.

Anybody else with any more photos, pls add them! I'm sure a lot of people will find this thread very useful.

 

[m-2-b]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Hi mrs-blop! Are you upgrading your current H? Just wondering why you must use Blue Nile for this new stone? I had a H colored MRB before my last upgrade but now that I have my I colored stone, I love the size impact! I hope you will feel the same way!

Also, are you still looking at AVC's? I think that would be another fabulous project--there's another 5 ct AVC still available!

 

[WinkHPD]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Hallo all!

I am umming and ahhing about buying an I colored stone but am really concerned about the color! The mods very kindly re-opened a thread for me on I colored stones - but now I realize it was in the FAQ forum. So I thought I'd start a new one here.

So - please! - if you have an I colored stone, post it here! I probably see more questions about I colored stones on this site than about any other color. An up to date compilation of stones would be really helpful for those many people like me who are considering an 'I' color, but who are concerned about tint. It seems there is no thread compiling these stones later than about 2006.

Have at it, please, PS'ers!

PS Side views are particularly helpful!

I have not read the replies here, so I apologize if this has already been said.

ONLY YOU can decide if you like I color or not. Find a friendly local jeweler and ask him to please put three to five diamonds on a slotted tray in various colors. Some higher, some below that are all well cut.

Start eliminating the ones that you like least and eventually you will be at the one that you like most.

During the process you will learn a LOT about what YOU like.

Wink

 

[mrs-b]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Hi mrs-blop! Are you upgrading your current H? Just wondering why you must use Blue Nile for this new stone? I had a H colored MRB before my last upgrade but now that I have my I colored stone, I love the size impact! I hope you will feel the same way!

Also, are you still looking at AVC's? I think that would be another fabulous project--there's another 5 ct AVC still available!

That made me chuckle, mom2boys! I have an indulgent husband - but not *that* indulgent! $120k is just a tad outside the budget!

I'm using BN because I've done so much business with them and because they save me a lot of money. I'm also using a BN stone I already have (but have not set) to trade up to cover some of the cost of the new stone. The new stone I'm looking at has lovely stats (I've attached its GIA snapshot) and has only one small feather near the girdle which can be covered with a prong. If I don't like it, I'll send it back of course, but in general, I've found the BN stones with these sorts of stats to be very high performers and totally competitive with the cuts of some of the favorite PS vendors, and I'm very happy with them. So they save me money and I really have nothing to lose.

I agree re color vs size trade-off (i think!) - it'll probably be a week till i have this stone, but I'll enjoy posting photos when it comes.

ETA I'm keeping my 2.15 H SI1 stone.

 

[NonieMarie]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

I really do believe that people have different color sensitivity and are not "fooling" themselves, but rather am seeing what their eyes actually see. It has to do with how many cones you have in your eyes.

Just for fun, go and take this Munsell Color Hue Test, if you score a perfect score, you have acute color sensitivity. If not, there are varying degrees of color sensitivity. It is not a pass/fail, or good or bad, but rather how our eyes are all different.

http://www.colormunki.com/game/huetest_kiosk

I scored 100% and am very color sensitive, but at the same time am very near-sighted, I cannot even see the big "E" 20/400 on the chart, yet my sister/brother have 20/20 vision. My hubby took that color-hue test and missed about 30 of them but can see very well in the dark while I have night blindness.

Being color sensitive has it's disadvantages too, paying for D-E-F diamonds is a LOT more expensive than buying an H or an I which probably looks just as white to someone who is not color sensitive.

btw, I could quickly pick out the different colors in Diamondseeker's post. Thanks for posting.

Mine is 21

 

[ariel144]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Another thing to consider is the color of the tint of the stone. ....yellow, brown, pink, gray, green. I had an H/I with a slight yellow tint every once in a while i could see it but mostly looked white. But I saw a GIA princess cut K color that had a brown tint and loved that look...it seemed to give the stone more dimension and I really liked it..was very beautiful to me. Would love the pink tint as well.

If you go on james allen and look at the stones ...i mainly looked at cushion cuts you can see the difference in the tint of the stones.
I could even see it in some of the H stones.

there is a discussion thread that talks about tint and asking would you want the grading to include the tint color. Very interesting.
there is also different colors of flourescence as well...blue being the most common which as stated can make the stone appear more white and gives them a blue hue in certain lighting which gives the stone more personality.

But agreed..a well cut stone in a lower color can look brighter and whiter than an higher colored diamond. I suggest you watch Good Old Gold videos on color and several videos showing different types of round cuts which compare facet patterns. The AVR's even the lower colors look brighter than the H &A MRB's. Education is the best way to learn about cut quality. It's actually more important than color.
There can even be major differences in the cuts of triple EX cuts. Anyway....hope this helps.

(It's 3 a.m. and my score was 12 ...I'm on my lap top) Cool test.

Oh, sorry I see you picked an H SI1....I'm sure the color will be fine...can't wait to see the pic's. Trusting BN and having that relationship is great. My daughter got her diamond from BN too.

 

[mrs-b]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Thanks all for the information.

Just to be clear - I'm not looking for info re cut education. I thought it would be a useful thread on the SMTB forum to have a collation of I colored stones so people - to the extent it's possible via a computer screen - can see the range that occurs in I colored stones. I already own 2 I colored stones, but their difference is marked - yet both are GIA graded.

Since I so often see people asking about I colored stones, I thought a file on this specific color would be of use to many people searching through these boards - so if anyone has any I colored stones - please post them here! There's very little comparing I colored stones on these boards, and the little there is makes for really interesting viewing!

Post your I colored gems here!

 

[yasssss]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

here is my I color princess! sorry for the terrible photos, but I love it and I rarely ever notice any warmth in it even! the last picture is under a lot of sunlight so obviously the stone looks very white, but it looks white in almost all lighting. I love it, I had some hesitation at first and was worried it would bother me if I noticed any color, but now I'm thinking I could have even gone to a J for a better bargain! So happy with not opting for a higher color and steeper price . sorry for the pic overload! (and they aren't good pics either lol)

 

[mrs-b]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

What a pretty setting, yasssss! I can't see any warmth from the top, and only a tiny bit from the side. I saw a K a while back which had so little tint it wouldn't have bothered me at all - even in profile - which makes me think there's great stones out there to be had in the grades below I. but I've also had a K which had a brown tint to it which really bothered me - despite being beautifully cut by one of the favorite PS vendors. So I think it's all in the stone once you go down the color chart as there appears to be more range in each color grade, the lower it gets. I'm also hoping to set this stone between pears, which are notorious for showing tint, so I'll just have to wait and see how it goes.


And for those interested in the whole topic of I colored stones - here's a link to a previous thread about I colored stones set in platinum:

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/i-color-stones-in-platinum.9689/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/i-color-stones-in-platinum.9689/[/URL]

 

[msop04]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

For me, I color is the happy medium for getting the size you want and still being "white enough" -- of course I'm not bothered by I's at all, because I have a 2.43 J... The only time I ever notice tint is in dreadful office lighting situations (and let's be honest, those crappy lights will make many higher colors look darker) and in my car at a side angle. My J is set pretty low in the halo, with the girdle just slightly above it -- so the side view is not an issue at all. I don't think I'd be happy with a J in a solitaire though... not at that size. Originally I'd picked out a 2 ct I and I couldn't see any tint in it in a 6 prong solitaire. Here's my J in the car on an overcast afternoon -- love the pastels I/J/K stones throw off!!


That said, the larger the stone, the more obvious the any tint will appear. How are you gonna set it, mrsblop?? Are the sides terribly exposed? (I'm sooooo envious of your upgrade -- it'll be AMAZING!!)

 

[mrs-b]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Hi msop

Thank you for posting your lovely ring! Do you mind if I ask who set it? I love the shape of the halo on it.

Initially, it's going to go into a 6 prong solitaire setting, so it will be pretty exposed - though I do find that a six prong breaks up the expanse of the side of a stone much more than a 4 prong setting. Ultimately I'm hoping to get it into a setting with side stones of some description, though I'm not sure what that will be as yet. Either way, it won't be going into a halo as I want it to go with various stacking rings that I have.

So all that to say - I need the side view to be 'good enough'. I have an H stone in which I can see no real tint to speak of, my K stone showed plenty of sideways tint, and everything else is just a bit fuzzy to me - in that I've seen J stones I'd consider white from the side, and I stones that looked quite tinted.

I received a photo of the stone yesterday (though only from above - which was not a huuuuge amount of help to me!) and noticed some strong tan color reflected in spots. This, however, looks like something the photographer was wearing, as it's in specific places. It's also not a professional photo by any stretch, so really it was just enough to send me a little bit crazier! I'll attach it below.

 

[msop04]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Hi msop

Thank you for posting your lovely ring! Do you mind if I ask who set it? I love the shape of the halo on it.

Initially, it's going to go into a 6 prong solitaire setting, so it will be pretty exposed - though I do find that a six prong breaks up the expanse of the side of a stone much more than a 4 prong setting. Ultimately I'm hoping to get it into a setting with side stones of some description, though I'm not sure what that will be as yet. Either way, it won't be going into a halo as I want it to go with various stacking rings that I have.

So all that to say - I need the side view to be 'good enough'. I have an H stone in which I can see no real tint to speak of, my K stone showed plenty of sideways tint, and everything else is just a bit fuzzy to me - in that I've seen J stones I'd consider white from the side, and I stones that looked quite tinted.

I received a photo of the stone yesterday (though only from above - which was not a huuuuge amount of help to me!) and noticed some strong tan color reflected in spots. This, however, looks like something the photographer was wearing, as it's in specific places. It's also not a professional photo by any stretch, so really it was just enough to send me a little bit crazier! I'll attach it below.

My setting is custom Christopher Designs and I was really specific with them about how I wanted the halo and at what height the diamond should be in relation to it (my SA sent a ring from another designer to CD to show them how I wanted it made)... I think they executed it very well. And I agree with you that there are big variances in I's and J's, depending on the grading (GIA/AGS/EGL), undertones, and whether it's a "high" I vs. "low" I... Sometimes I wonder if my original 2 ct I was "high" bc it didn't have any fluorescence.

Is there any way you can have your jeweler do a quick temporary setting so you can wear it and see the color for yourself? As I mentioned, an I in a 2 ct is gonna be more forgiving than one in a 3+ ct stone. I think it would be okay, but you know how that goes -- you really just need to see it with your own eyes in as many lighting situations as possible to see if you were good with the tint. (...that's probably not a lot of help, but with the kind of money you'll be spending, you really should inspect it)

One way you could camouflage the sides without a halo is to do an intricate basket to help "close it in" a little under the girdle.

 

[OoohShiny]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Looking nice!

I really do believe that people have different color sensitivity and are not "fooling" themselves, but rather am seeing what their eyes actually see. It has to do with how many cones you have in your eyes.

Just for fun, go and take this Munsell Color Hue Test, if you score a perfect score, you have acute color sensitivity. If not, there are varying degrees of color sensitivity. It is not a pass/fail, or good or bad, but rather how our eyes are all different.

http://www.colormunki.com/game/huetest_kiosk

I scored 100% and am very color sensitive, but at the same time am very near-sighted, I cannot even see the big "E" 20/400 on the chart, yet my sister/brother have 20/20 vision. My hubby took that color-hue test and missed about 30 of them but can see very well in the dark while I have night blindness.

Being color sensitive has it's disadvantages too, paying for D-E-F diamonds is a LOT more expensive than buying an H or an I which probably looks just as white to someone who is not color sensitive.

btw, I could quickly pick out the different colors in Diamondseeker's post. Thanks for posting.

Cool colour test!

I scored a 16 on this computer, so not toooo bad... I have been able to tell the difference between and D and an F in a shop so I think I am quite colour sensitive, hence getting an F for the other half's ERing!

 

[mrs-b]

Re: 'I' colored stones - a bargain or a bust? Show them her

Hi msop

Thank you for posting your lovely ring! Do you mind if I ask who set it? I love the shape of the halo on it.

Initially, it's going to go into a 6 prong solitaire setting, so it will be pretty exposed - though I do find that a six prong breaks up the expanse of the side of a stone much more than a 4 prong setting. Ultimately I'm hoping to get it into a setting with side stones of some description, though I'm not sure what that will be as yet. Either way, it won't be going into a halo as I want it to go with various stacking rings that I have.

So all that to say - I need the side view to be 'good enough'. I have an H stone in which I can see no real tint to speak of, my K stone showed plenty of sideways tint, and everything else is just a bit fuzzy to me - in that I've seen J stones I'd consider white from the side, and I stones that looked quite tinted.

I received a photo of the stone yesterday (though only from above - which was not a huuuuge amount of help to me!) and noticed some strong tan color reflected in spots. This, however, looks like something the photographer was wearing, as it's in specific places. It's also not a professional photo by any stretch, so really it was just enough to send me a little bit crazier! I'll attach it below.

My setting is custom Christopher Designs and I was really specific with them about how I wanted the halo and at what height the diamond should be in relation to it (my SA sent a ring from another designer to CD to show them how I wanted it made)... I think they executed it very well. And I agree with you that there are big variances in I's and J's, depending on the grading (GIA/AGS/EGL), undertones, and whether it's a "high" I vs. "low" I... Sometimes I wonder if my original 2 ct I was "high" bc it didn't have any fluorescence.

Is there any way you can have your jeweler do a quick temporary setting so you can wear it and see the color for yourself? As I mentioned, an I in a 2 ct is gonna be more forgiving than one in a 3+ ct stone. I think it would be okay, but you know how that goes -- you really just need to see it with your own eyes in as many lighting situations as possible to see if you were good with the tint. (...that's probably not a lot of help, but with the kind of money you'll be spending, you really should inspect it)

One way you could camouflage the sides without a halo is to do an intricate basket to help "close it in" a little under the girdle.

Good suggestions, msop.

I think, ultimately, I'll do a yellow gold setting with yellow gold prongs...but white gold tips to the prongs. And yes, I'd love a decorative basket - something floral, I think. I love anything reminiscent of an orange blossom setting and I like a band which flanges out where it meets the basket. Anyway, I'll wait till I have the stone in hand; hopefully sideways tint will be a non-issue. And if it's a BIG issue, I'll probably return it.

*sigh* The hunt goes on and on endlessly, doesn't it?