eternity band questions, help me decide!

[jennalyns]

Hello all! My husband and I are looking at buying an all-sapphire band!

It''s both of our birthstone. It will be a rhr, and will be worn every day. I am going bonkers in my indecisiveness! I''ve decided to go with Signed Pieces, and the ones they have that I''m looking at are the maternity band styles- no baby, but that''s the style I like, how silly is that!

I''ll post the pictures of the styles in a second.

Anyway, I''ve searched and searched here, and I still have questions-

1- Channel-set vs shared prong- I love both styles, but am leaning towards the prong because it just seems like it would sparkle more and have less metal covering up the small stones. However, I''m concerned about the durability issue. I know sapphires are hard enough for daily wear, but is the shared-prong too exposed and asking for trouble? I''m not particularly hard on my rings, but I don''t want to have to worry about my ring constantly.

2- White gold vs platinum- if I decide to go with channel-set, it wil definitely be platinum because wg tends to yellow quickly on me. However, on shared-prong, would the eventual yellowing be as noticeable with so little metal showing? Is it worth the extra $$$ for platinum in shared-prong?

3- Width- the shared-prong band I''m looking at is 2.4 mm. I''d like the band to be able to stand alone or be stacked with my other rhr''s. Is 2.4 mm wide enough to stand alone? Would it be worth a few hundred extra to go with 3 mm stones, or would 2.4 be wide enough to stand alone? Most of what I wear is pretty small- my ering is only .55 ct, and most of the rings I wear have between 1.5-3 mm wide shank. I can''t try any on because I''m in Japan and our navy exchange has nothing even close, and the local jewelers only have super-tiny bands, like 1 mm.

I was set on channel because most of my jewelry is channel-set, but I keep finding pictures of the shared-prong ones that are so gorgeous! My husband likes the prong style better too. Particularly, this one, belongs to Woobug: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/woo-my-new-sapphire-eternity-band-from-raphael.46159/. That blue just makes my heart stop! I like all the sapphire-diamond bands I''ve seen on here, but something about the all blue just makes me drool.

Sorry this is such a wordy post. Husband thinks I''m nuts.

Please help me decide and end the craziness!!!

 

[jennalyns]

18K White Gold Shared-Prong Maternity Ring®, 27 Round Brilliant Sapphires, 1.25ct. tw.

All of our sapphires are ideal or premium cut. The ring is 2.4mm wide

 

[jennalyns]

18K White Gold Channel-Set Maternity Ring®, 27 Round Brilliant Sapphires, 1.34ct. tw.

All of our sapphires are ideal or premium cut. The ring is 3.4mm wide

 

[justjulia]

I think both are beautiful. I''d say if you go with the channel set, then I would try to match it with your ering metal because you see a lot more metal obviously. My eternity is plat, like my ering, but honestly with it being shared prong I don''t think I''d notice the metal difference if it was wg, at least looking down at it. From the side, it has a nice patina, like my ering/set, which I like---but again, you have to be looking at the side of the ring to notice.

I guess from the uniqueness of your ering, your eternity saphire band will show more all over (with the gap and all), so I guess I''d say I would get plat, if you can. As you can see from my avatar, I don''t have a problem with mixing shared prong with channel set pieces. It''s all good and the different textures are kind of exciting to me. I can''t wait to see what you decide on.

 

[Sundial]

Well I think both bands are lovely, but I prefer the look of the shared prong design in this case. I don''t like the way round stones look in a channel setting nearly as well and since you have other channel set jewelry this would be a nice change. While the channel set is probably safer I would think you could wear a shared prong ring using reasonable care and not have durability issues. Many people seem to have them.

I do think you would notice the yellowing of the white gold less with the shared prong design since you really don''t see much metal. To me it would depend upon the price difference though and I would take the the platinum if it isn''t much more since you do have a problem with white gold yellowing on your skin.

As far as the width goes though I personally think the shared prong one is kind of narrow for a stand alone right hand ring unless you plan to stack it with other rings. That is just my personal preference though as I have seen people wear one very thin band.

Those are just my thoughts and probably not much help in making your decision easier.

 

[jennalyns]

Thanks for the thoughts! I really appreciate it. I guess it all depends in the price quote I get from SP on Monday or Tuesday.

I just flip back and forth between the two styles, every five minutes my mind changes! Any more thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I like the first one. I would like the second one more if they were square cut sappires.

 

[Kaleigh]

I think they are both very pretty, but like the shared prong one better.

 

[Aurelia]

Jennalyns,

Here are two more options to throw into your pool

just to confuse things... I have the 1st one with natural sapphires and love it. Stephen Bliss at the Natural Sapphire Company is great to work with (especially very far out of town) and can make virtually anything you want custom, no problem...

this one is 2.75 mm, 2.85 total carat weight, platinum

Good luck!! and YAY for Blue

Aurelia

 

[Aurelia]

And here is a shared-prong option from Natural Sapphire company as well... this one is 3mm, and 3.74 tcw, in white gold...

Aurelia

 

[jennalyns]

Whoooa, Aurelia, those rings are gooooorgeous! I found the hand-picture you posted before of yours, it''s absolutely stunning. Actually, I remember seeing yours awhile ago and that''s what sparked the idea finding of an all-blue band in my head.

I looked at the site and they are a lot more expensive than we''re looking to spend right now, though... plus we get a military discount at SP.

So I am definitely leaning towards the channel-set, mostly because of the width and the matchiness with my other rings which are mostly channel. They also have a channel-set with princess cuts, but it''s more expensive and for some reason doesn''t speak to me like the rounds do. I really, really like the look of the shared-prong, but the channel seems so much more protective of the stones, and I can be clumsy...

For sizing, I know you can''t resize, at least not easily. Do SP''s rings typically run large or small? I can wear anywhere between 6.5 and 7.5 on my right hand- my hands tend to swell in the summertime, but almost all year 7.25 fits me perfectly. I would definitely order the 7.5 to be safe, but wanted to hear how true to typical size they are.

Thank you all so much for your help!!