colour - how low have you gone...?

[fisiogrl]

I have seen Mara''s thread on fabulous J colour stones, so who out there has gone with even lower colour stones?

Just curious. How do they turn out? Do they make you happy?

I have seen an M and an N on Wink''s list, and I figure that he only carries great stones. Maybe I should consider some of the lower colours afterall!

Pics please!

 

[Kaleigh]

I know that Matatora got a K for her necklace from WF, it''s gorgeous.

 

[Lynn B]

Mrs. Jam has that killer K from GOG (I think!) Someone correct me if I''m wrong! (But do it gently, please, I''m sensitive!)

HAHA!!! And J/K!

 

[Lynn B]

BTW and FWIW, I would SOOOO consider a lower colored stone (even lower than the killer "J" I have now). I think they are FABULOUS! I love the "whiter" look rather than the "clearer" look of "higher" colored stones... and I think the fire has a gorgeous "depth" to it that I personally ADORE!

YUM-O!

 

[lisaC]

What about Queen Mum's K asscher which Mara said she tried on and CoutureFemme L pear?
And who got the enormous M infinity cut stone?

 

[Joeys Minx]

I have an engagement set that is .50 ctw between two bands. It is J/K for color and I1-I2 for clarity. They do not know the cut. (I can imagine what it is though. lol) The center diamond is cut very shallow. It originally retails at Sears for $890.00 and we got it for like $270.00 I believe. The color does not bother me even though for the wedding band I would like an I or at the very least a J. What I hate is the inclusions that are very visble. There are like two black lines on it. When we get the other ring we are not getting anything less than the SI1. We knew going in what we were getting though and opted to go ahead and have it for now and get something nicer for the wedding. IWe are not good at taking pics but here they are. The first ones we did were really blurry so my fiance messed with the digi cam some so we could have pics. I really don''t see any yellow.

 

[Mara]

I tried on the Stephan K Asscher and it was FABULOUS. I will dig out a picture. There was some color visible in it because it was such a clear stone and due to the cut...but it really added to the stone. I would not have hesitated to purchase something like that if I was in the market...it was a stunning stone. And by no means was it ''yellow'', it was just a little warmer.

I know Lumpkin has a warmer stone, a M or N? Not sure...she has posted about it before.

Mrs. Jam''s K round stone is SOOOO lovely, I have drooled over many pictures of that on here and it looks blazingly white!

Nan has a K stone too, I think she posted about it in my J stones thread? Mrs. Jam''s K stone is in there too.

Stephan''s M was bought by a gal on here, I can''t recall her name but she did post about it as well. The stone looked beautiful!

Also I know a few gals have earrings that are in the K realm but not sure who...

Personally I would be interested in something like a K set of earrings if they were super ideal cuts, on the ears I have found that not much else is seen but sparkle.

I also would be interested in a K stone for a pendant. I think that as stones continue to climb in price, we will see more and more near-colorless purchases and even K/L type purchases for things like pendant or earrings especially.

 

[fisiogrl]

I really get the feeling that J/K is the new hiccup point for colour. J is very popular and K seems OK for earrings and pendants. I remember a year ago when everyone seemed to hesitate to go below G!

I like the idea of the lower colours (white vs clear, seems like a very good description) - and I am intrigued by the idea of fluorescence too. I think that my next stone will be a J or K (or L?) with some fluorescence.

 

[glitterata]

I wear my grandmother''s K/L Old European Cut. The appraiser gave it a split grade because he appraised it in a setting, but he said it was probably an L. It''s definitely warmer than my F/G (from my other grandmother; probably an F; also appraised in the setting). My L is not really yellow, though, just creamlike. I get lots of compliments.

Here''s a (slightly washed-out) picture of both rings. The F is on the left and the L is on the right:

 

[diamondlil]

Glitterata, every time I see that ring on the left, my heart skips a beat.

Since finding PS, I now have an appreciation for beautiful diamonds of all colors. I would not hestiate buying a lower color stone (K - Z) assuming the stone was well cut and spoke to me. I particularly like the way lower colors (K - N) have a vintage look to them, and I particularly like them set in white metal with much whiter side stones.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 1/19/2006 10:14:34 PM
Author:fisiogrl


Just curious. How do they turn out? Do they make you happy?

How low have I gone? To an L.

How did it turn out? Great!

Does it make me happy? Absolutely!

 

[diamondsrock]

I have an m color center stone .54 carats in my three stone ring. Most of the time it doesn''t bother me and I don''t think anyone would guess it''s an m. It''s a very brilliant stone which I think helps hide the color. Plus it''s a small size and I don''t think color shows as much in smaller stones (that''s just a personal opinion, I don''t know if it''s true!) If the stone is cut well an m can be very nice. It does have a warmer tint to it which compliments my skin tone (olive based).

 

[Dee Jay]

My stud earrings are 1.1 carat each, one J and one K in color, and they are very white. Even against my eternity band (F and G stones, .34-.36 ct each) I am hard pressed to find any color difference.

 

[Patty]

Here are Wink''s three stones that are N, N and M colored.

Aren''t they amazing? I want all three!

 

[fisiogrl]

Wow - Glitterata, I love your grandma''s rings. Honestly, I think that I like that L stone the best. Fabulous. And the setting is so beautiful!

Patty,
Thanks for sourcing pictures of Wink''s M and Ns. I know that pictures never tell the whole story - but they look great! Almost too great...can they really be such low colour grades????

I find it hard to believe that there are such great looking M and N diamonds out there! Especially because i never see great cut stones locally, I have seen G stones that look super yellow! And I have never seen anything below an I colour in any cut grade.

I think that this highlights how difficult it is to buy online when you actually need to see each stone to see if it really is that great looking in person. I guess that is why it is easier to stay up higher in the colour grades when trying to pick them out. But boy, I would definately consider a trusted vendor to show me some lower colours now!

 

[blueroses]

Fountainfairfax has a FABULOUS warmer heirloom stone--I think it''s an M? that she had reset into a gorgeous e-ring....she calls it her "wabi sabi" if you do a search for that.

 

[solange]

I posted an heirloom ring with 3 OEC stones. I think they are K-L. The stones are large, totalling about 6 1/2 carats and they are so bright and firey that people have come across a room to see my ring. You really do not see any yelow, just a brilliant rainbow of color and sparkle.

I still cannot figure out how to transfer photos, no matter how many times it is explained to me, but you can see the ring on page 2 or 3 of my post, "Just received my 4.10 ring from Whiteflash" if you look under Solange.

The setting is very elegant and probably from around 1920 or so. There is a side view also and you can barely see the pavillion. I hope someone will transfer the pictures. I also have some new better photos. I cannot figure out how to use my new photo system but will try to get my husband to post them soon.I used to be able to post photos with no trouble until this"upgraded" system.

If you can find stones with a lot of sparkle, the lower colors can be extremely attractive and beautiful.

 

[Patty]

Here it is, Solange:

 

[solange]

Thank you for posting my ring, Patty. These pictures do not do it justice as to how sparkly these stones are. They are k-l if I recall and one may even be an M. The photo is big and blurry but they are good clarity, in the VS range. There are also 40 tiny diamonds in the setting.

The great advantage is that if you want a large stone, you can get a great deal for your money by going to the lower colors if you can find ones that have good sparkle. The OEC's tend to have big flashes of light and color.

I did not wear this ring for some time because it attracted so much attention and I was under the impression that OEC stones were not very valuable. I always felt, when I got all these comments that I had to explain that the stones were not very good and that the ring was much less valuable than it appeared. But it has great sentimental value to me.

I actually inherited this ring. A business associate of my husband's knew she was dying. She was elderly and we were her "family." We saw her frequently.She had never married. This was her mother's engagement ring and she had no close family to whom to leave it. She said she could not bear to think of a stranger wearing "Mama's ring." She wanted to give it to me but my husband did not want me to accept it because he had not bought it for me. They showed it to a jeweler who said the stones were poor color and should be recut. This was many years ago.

He put a very low value on the ring because the stones were OEC and the setting was "so old fashioned." He said no one wears jewelry like that any more. They agreed on a price that was very low based on his low opinion of the ring at that time and my husband insisted on paying. But she really did not want to "sell" her mother's ring. She finally agreed to take the amount the jeweler said it was worth and then, just before she died at home, we visited her. She had an envelope ready and asked her nurse to put it in my husband's coat pocket. Then she instructed us not to open it until after she died. In it was the money my husband had paid her for the ring.

In addition to the ring, she asked me to take all the family pictures. They were a very affluent family and she had travelled a lot with her parents. I have the photos of the family on elegant ocean liners dressed in exquisite clothing. They had a coach and coachman, lived in a fabulous town house and she told us stories of staying at a hotel on the Venice Lido where they would be carried down to the beach in some sort of basket contraption. This ring lived in an era that no longer exists. If it could only talk.

 

[monarch64]

Wow, maybe I shouldn''t be responding to this because we haven''t had any interaction, solange, but I have to say that your ring is absolutely gorgeous, of course! Thank you for posting, and your story was truly inspirational.

 

[solange]

Thank you for your nice comments, Monarch. I thought it would give people the incentive to consider some of the lower color stones because, if you find the right one, they can be gorgeous and you get a lot for your money.
It is a shame that so many people took the advice given to us by a jeweler and had the OEC's recut to modern cuts. They are worth looking for. Also, I have seen some beautiful modern cut stones in K and Lvery pretty. If you want a larger stone that is still within budget,you can get a great look for a lower price if you look hard enough.

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 1/20/2006 8:21:22 AM
Author: diamondlil
Glitterata, every time I see that ring on the left, my heart skips a beat.

Since finding PS, I now have an appreciation for beautiful diamonds of all colors. I would not hestiate buying a lower color stone (K - Z) assuming the stone was well cut and spoke to me. I particularly like the way lower colors (K - N) have a vintage look to them, and I particularly like them set in white metal with much whiter side stones.

Ditto to everything diamondlil said - I absolutely love those 2 rings Glitterata and never get tired of looking at them!

My ering used to be an I but my upgrade is a D. That was quite by accident, as when I called the stone in I thought it was a G. I ended up loving it though, so I bought it. While I do prefer the colorless range for my personal ering, I adore the vintage rings with lower color stones and definitely want to get one in the future. There''s something so romantic about those vintage and Edwardian pieces, and half of their charm is the color of the center stone in its vintage setting!

 

[glitterata]

Thanks for your kind comments on my rings, diamond friends.

Solange, I loved that story! I''m so glad that beautiful ring didn''t go to "a stranger" who would have recut the stones and trashed that remarkable setting. And I love that you have the photos to go with its history.

What part of the world was the original owner from? Was she American? If so, whereabouts?

I found the story about your husband trying to pay for the ring and his business associate tricking him into taking the money back very touching. I think one lesson is to learn when the best thing you can give someone in return for a gift is just to accept the gift. And what a compliment that the woman thought you were the proper person to trust with "mama''s ring" and her treasured photographs!

If it doesn''t seem too intrusive, I would love to see some of those pictures.

 

[moon river]

Oh Solange, I don''t know which is more beautiful, the ring or the story behind it! What a great friend you must have been to this lady. She can rest in peace knowing her mama''s ring is being treasured still.

 

[fisiogrl]

Other than Wink''s fab stones, do any of the other online vendors routinely carry stones that are K or below? Or do you usually have to het them to special order?

 

[Jelly]

Here''s my new stone from Whiteflash....It''s a K in color. Link