Yea, I think that gold tubing underneath takes away from the clean platinum look. I also think without the tubing it will let more let into and through the diamond. I'm so excited to see the finished product. I worked really hard to find what I wanted instead of just getting any ring with any diamond. I bought the diamond from a private seller as part of a different ring for $3500. It's VS2I and the numbers on it are pretty good. The table % was pretty high but I think it's subjective, especially on emerald cuts. I really like the diamond. The ring is being made and the diamond set for $2600. I think the ring will be worth much more than that and more importantly I think we'll both be very pleased with it. I'm thinking of taking the smaller diamonds from the original ring and placing them in earrings for Xmas. I know she's not expecting that!