Eternity band questions....from a newbie!

[sarafina]

Ok, long time lurker, first time poster
Two questions regarding eternity bands:

1. Opinions on eternity bands as E-rings?? I know it''s all about what *I* want, but opinions? Do you miss a solitaire?

2. My preferences are bezel set or channel set with emerald cut, princess cut, baguette or similar. Are these less sparkly? I need a secure setting because A. I really want to wear it all the time, and I''m a horse person, and these rings will get ABUSED! B. I hate jewelry that catches on things. But I love sparkly. Does not have to be huge, but sparkly is a must!

3. (Geez, I really saved ''em up folks...) Regarding color and clarity, can I go down a tad and save DBF some sheckles? All I tend to see are F-G VVS1, like on the Facets Collection. Any websites?

thanks, thanks thanks in advance! Great forum!

 

[jaz464]

Welcome fellow horse person

I would not recommend an eternity band for someone who is very rough on their hands. I do own one as a wedding band but I am very careful with it and certainly don't wear it around the stable. You may want to consider something different if you want to be able to wear it all of the time. Another option could be to purchase a cheap gold or platinum band to wear when you will be doing work and horsey things. Just so you have something to wear on your left hand.

A bezel set band will be safer than other types however so if you do want to get an e-band, you may want to go with that style.

If you want to wear it as an engagement ring, were you also planning on getting a wedding band?

Nothing will be as sparkly as well cut rounds. Other shapes have a different look and sparkle to them, but will not out sparkle a round.

Color and clarity will be different depending on what shape you want. You can go much lower with rounds (especially in clarity) than you could with an emerald cut ring. Even with an EC however, I would not pay for VVS1.

 

[mrssalvo]

Hi sarafina and welcome to pricescope.

We'll if you are hard on your hands you might consider doing an eternity set like mara's. there is a little more metal but she's got 4 prongs holding in each stone so it's more secure. Here's a thread with a ton of pics of her ring.
.
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/the-new-wf-es-2-32-j-si-at-last.44808/

you might also want to note her stone is a J, SI...

What shape are you looking for?

 

[Adylon]

OK I'll try answering your questions

1. Many women wear bands instead of e-rings. It's pretty common actually for a lot of women to stop wearing their e-ring after the wedding, so they do not get damaged, lost, stolen, etc.

2. Most channel set eternity bands are fairly durable. You can get extra thick walled channels or have the stones set down a little further for extra security. To keep it nice and sparkly flip it over and look for drainage holes on the inside, make sure they're there. You'll get a lot of grime and dirt in the channels as you wear them (especially around horse-stuff!) .... and this will of course take away from the sparkle. But if you get yourself a nice ultrasonic machine and let the machine clean the ring often all the dirt and junk will come out through those little drainage holes and it will be easy to keep clean. Some rings have poor drainage so they need a powerful ultrasonic to get cleaned, some have no holes on the inside at all, don't ask me why they design it like this. That's something to look for. Do yourself a favor and get 14K white or yellow gold, or get platinum. I'm not a fan of 18K white alloys, especially when people wear them harshly. 18K yellow would probably be too soft for you I would think.

3. VVS, F-G is not required for smaller stones, SI1+,G/H is my preference when budget is a concern.

 

[justjulia]

I''m pretty hard on my hands, and my shared prong eternity has held up well. For a while I wore it solo, but then missed the solitaire, so added it back-with wedding band-to make my trio. My wedding band is channel set tiny rounds, which is very sparkly also. The way I look at it, you only have one life to live, so live it. I garden, horseback ride, clean, work, you name it in all my rings.

 

[sarafina]

first of all, thanks so much for your considerate responses. i appreciate your knowledge!

i'll try to post some pictures of what i like.

i really dislike high set stones, which rules out a lot of solitaires for me. i do like bezel and semi bezel set stones, but for some reason, have a hankerin' for an eternity band all of the sudden! i have very small hands and shorter fingers, and am planning on an eternity band and a plain platinum band for my set. i'm just not sure solitaires are for me.

i love the look of stacked rings, as well. umm...lemme see if i can scour the net (well, sp.com ) and post some pix of my likes..


http://www.signedpieces.com/search.cfm?item_category=FEB&style_number_id=11

v. pretty, v. sparkly but would it catch on everything??? would prolly have to take that one off at the stables. fifi the horse likes sparkly things. :O

http://www.signedpieces.com/search.cfm?item_category=FEB&style_number_id=15

YOWza....

http://www.signedpieces.com/search.cfm?item_category=FEB&style_number_id=57

this is too cool. i love the mixed shapes....

http://www.signedpieces.com/search.cfm?item_category=FEB&style_number_id=10

this looks modern and simple. not sure how sparkly though...

http://www.signedpieces.com/search.cfm?item_category=FEB&style_number_id=16

be. still. my...heart....(link may not be working on this one...it's rb's all kind of individually bezel set)

and... http://www.signedpieces.com/search.cfm?item_category=FEB&style_number_id=29

this one might be my fave. oohhh...

drooool....

so one of these and a nice plain platinum band...whaddya think, guys? classy? diamonds won't fall out?
i may have (you know, *have*) to buy something like an etoile band to wear when i'm at the barn so i can have blingage and comfort at the same time. so many options!!!!

 

[Fly Girl]

I have a hobby that is hard on diamonds (flying small planes). Lots of touching metal (the preflight is very tactile), checking of oil, and other bad for diamonds types of things. I generally wear a plain metal w-band when flying and leave the diamonds at home. The only diamond ring I will wear to the airport is my half-eternity channel set 14K gold band. As mentioned above, it has drainage holes behind the stones to help with cleaning. It is a very study design that has taken a lot of abuse. I''d recommend against a full eternity for the horse barn.

 

[bluehue]

Hello Fellow Horseperson-

I have an almost 5 ct diamond and sapphire shared prong platinum eternity ring that I wear every day as a RHR. I get it checked at least every 6 months. I rarely catch a prong on fabric, but it has happened. That said, I would absolutely never wear it to the barn. I am a "jewelery is for wearing" sort of person, but I think I would be asking for trouble to submit it to the rigor of the barn environment. JMO

The signed pieces bands are beautiful. I wanted to stack them, but with the current posts about shared prong diamonds chewing up other shared prong diamonds, I am reconsidering.

Last note and just a thought (not trying to threadjack), I love my ring but I wish I would have given more thought to different stacking combinations before I had this one made. I probably would have still gone with mine, but I feel I have limited my options now that I have a shared prong band. Truth be told, I was so excited to be getting another piece of jewelery as it had been awile that I failed to think longer term about it.

 

[ayala_jessica]

Hi Sarafina

From all the links you posted my fav is the emerald shared prong band but I love this kind of cut so I am not very objective

However, as you said you are a horse person I would reconsider wearing this type of ring while taking care of the horses or riding. It seems to me it would be safer to wear a simple metal band while doing so, whatever the style of eternity you choose.

For my part, I have only a wedding band (with squares of gold alternating with small diamonds) and I wear it all the time but there is about half an inch at the bottom of the ring that is not set with diamonds so it is less critical about security issues.

Of course, I am thinking about getting a solitaire in the future, but that would be for RHR because the design of my wedding band doesn''t go along well with a solitaire.
I wear my wedding ring alone for about 3 years and I am very happy with it

Hope this helps !