Clueless about Sapphires--Eternity Band?

[luvn2oxfrd]

My soon-to-be-husband (in 66 days!) has just now informed me that he has changed his mind about having matching wedding bands. That gives me roughly 9 weeks to find a wedding band! I found a sapphire eternity band on Signed Pieces' website (Facets Collection) that we both love. I am a bit hesitant however because we spent over a year on Pricescope researching my engagement ring and now I have only 9 weeks to educate myself on sapphires!

This is the link to the ring: http://www.thefacetscollection.com/item.cfm?item_id=1099

The stone is listed with asschers, but I will likely have them changed for round brilliants.

I don't even know where to begin! Please someone point me in the right direction! What additional information do I need to know from the seller in order to determine if this ring is a good choice?

 

[Layne]

I''m confused...are you looking for him or you?
If for you can we see a pic of your ering?
Are you open to sapphs and diamonds or just sapphs?
Do you care if the sapphs are heat treated (most are)?
Eternity bands can be difficult to resize- is eternity a must for you?

 

[luvn2oxfrd]

Sorry for the confusion...i am looking for a wedding band for myself. My engagement ring is a 2ct heart solitaire in a platinum cathedral setting. For some reason I am not able to post the pic...I will have to post the link from another Pricescope forum.

I am looking for a band that is all sapphires. I have viewed bands that have alternating sapphires and diamonds and I feel that it detracts from my e-ring.

As for heated stones, I don''t know the answer to that. I am not educated at all about sapphires! Should I be looking for non-heat treated stones?

I would actually prefer the band NOT be an eternity band, but rather 3/4 the way around...but that is impossible to find and I am unsure how to go about having it custom made!

 

[Kaleigh]

Signed Pieces is an excellent way to go for an Eternity band. They can make pretty much whatever you want. Their stones are ideal cut and are f-g in color and vvs-vs in clarity, also you can't beat their prices. Call them and ask for Issac, he worked with me on my Diamond eternity band. It took less than two weeks to make. I even went to their booth to see their stuff in person, and I was very impressed. Good luck!!

 

[Layne]

Heat treatment is a personal issue.
I prefer the heated blue sapphires.
I''m not personally familiar with signed pieces but I know others have had luck with them- why not call and get a quote on a 3/4 band with blue sapphires? Do you know how many mm you want the band to be?

 

[luvn2oxfrd]

This is the link to the page where I originally posted my e-ring

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/thank-you-bob-at-whiteflash-chris-at-aga-valeria101.18189/

 

[Layne]

http://www.etienneperret.com/

http://www.billbarnes.com/product.asp?Product=7653

 

[Michael_E]

luvn2oxfrd,
Making a band with whatever number of stones you prefer is very easy. I tend to take a blank commercial eternity band, cut out whatever length of material the client wants to be solid and weld in a solid piece of metal in that area, (set the stones and voila...it''s finished). This is fast and not very expensive. If you want something with graduated stones, it would need to be carved in wax and cast, but this too is relatively fast and while more expensive, it can give you the exact look that you''re after. Having a custom piece made is easy. Just find a local, independent jeweler who does custom work and tell them what you''re after, I''m sure that they''d love to see you. If you can''t find a local custom jeweler, there are plenty on the ''net, just ask around.
As far as using unheated stones in a ring like this, well I wouldn''t mess with it. Most sellers won''t go to the time to get stones this size certified by a lab, so it would be nearly impossible to find these stones. If you did, they would be outrageously expensive and would not look or perform any better than heated stones.

 

[valeria101]

Well... I would think this is very simple: still the same Cs apply.

Given the task to figure out a nice blue eternity band I'd look for those stones to be as blue as possible, as well matches as it gets and (this is personal) square cut so that no gaps show between them. It would be nice to have these clear of inclusions too... but, whatever. As long as they look blue without excuse and go nicely around the finger without much variation, this is about it no more left to ask.

Some sellers would offer "unheated" calibrated sapphire, but grading all those small stones would take as long as a PhD thesis - even if they were't all that clean. I don't think I'd take the "unheated" status for granted: this wold assume the seller doesn' t have allot to do with their time.

Small sapphire of intense color are not going to be all that brilliant, so... "cut" would mean very matched shape to me in this case and nothing more. I wouldn't put up with the "gaps" to get round stones or go for less than tops color for the sake of the unlikely light flash - for those white diamonds on white metal the gaps are not nearly as visible. Perhaps the French cut squares are a bit brighter, but I would not bet this holds as a rule.

All in all, the band at Signedpieces looks pretty good: the stones are cut to match allright are pretty clean and come with that classic Deco square cut (they look square, not "asscher" to me - the clipped corners are nowhere to be seen).

Now, the blue in the picture is not exactly the one in my dreams: that would be more saturated and lighter. But that might well not be feasible... Some photos taken by buyers show Signedpieces sapphires much more "blue" than the seller's website does (silly, no ?). I'd most likely see the full half of the glass and put their return policy to use.

Just IMO, of course.

Btw. at least on my screen, these below are just about as blue as I could reasonably hope for.