Wow, great insight and knowledge. Thanks for educating me. That was really helpful for me.If you get a setting from IDJ they will find stones for you. Sometimes they can get the stones listed by other vendors (JA and Blue Nile). Most
stones are not "owned" by these companies. They pull from a database of stones that are owned by someone else so you will see the same
stone listed on multiple vendor sites. If you get a stone from somewhere else IDJ will usually* set it but you need to have it insured for setting
through your homeowners insurance or Jewelers Mutal (or some other company). That's why its easier to get it all done in one place.
As far as the stone I posted and the one next to it...the most important thing is the cut and whether the facets return light back to your eye.
The stone I posted has distinct facets that can clearly be seen as the stone turns. It has a minimal amount of "mushy" area where the light
is not being returned to the eye. The area in red shows nice facets. Bring the web pages up and play with the stones to see what happens
when you turn the stone. You should have more distinct facets, that return light well, come into view. Its a fine line that is difficult to explain
but if you look at enough stones you will begin to recognize the stones with nice light return.
Also, the areas that do not reflect light well (mushy areas) will tend to be darker and show the color in the stone.
Mushy areas in stones will show more tint than the facets that return light well. You really dont want to see this.
FYI fancy cut stones like pears and ovals usually hide inclusions better than round brilliants. I would drop down to an eye-clean SI1 to help
with your budget.
If your GF would be willing to go with a single tone ring and the opposite color in a wedding band it will open up a lot more choices for you.
Probably some with better prices as well.
So pear vs oval. Does she have a preference? I have a pear engagement ring and while I love the beautiful teardrop shape, they just dont
tend to return light as well as other stones. IMO (no scientific study) a well-cut oval will have more area with good light return than an
equivalent size pear. The pointed end of a pear is almost always mushy. The best pears as far as light return have a rounded end that is
more like a round brilliant. However, these stones are usually short and fat and dont give you a beautiful long teardrop shape.
For the sake of having a clearer direction and convergence, we can settle for an Oval stone.
I'm still carving out the chance to ask ask about the tone, so I should have an answer on that quite soon.
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