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Help me find/build oec or transitional earrings!

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olympia776

Rough_Rock
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Sep 18, 2007
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I'm looking to find or build a pair of oec or transitional earrings (in a perfect work in platinum). I'm open to resetting if they are in yellow gold or keeping if they are in white gold. I'm hoping for around 1 ctw or possibly a little under. Any suggestions would be welcome! Oh, I'm hoping to keep it under 1500 but could possibly move up some. Thanks!
 
any pointers on finding loose stones would be awesome too - thanks!
 
I built my own about 3-4 years ago. I sourced both stones on ebay and learned a lot in doing so. I think I ended up with a total of 5-7 stones in roughly the right size. Finding the original wasn't hard, finding the match was. I matched based on mm width across, colour, table size, mm depth, clarity, and carat size - in about that order. I ended up with a 0.34 and 0.37 each about 4.32 - 4.35 mm across. I wore mis-matched ones for about a year before I found the perfect match. No one could tell at that size and in my ears so it was a great stop-gap for me.

I'd start with local pawn shops, and antique stores to figure out which look you like the best for table size, crown height, culet, etc. After that try ebay, ruby lane, local shops to find your stones. It's hard work. I'm now trying with my 2nd pair and think I may start over - selling the first stone. I think I bought a stone that was too deep for the carat size so I'll either end up paying more than I want to get the correct carat size, or the depth could be so off that they don't have a similar look. Love the stone, just a hard match!
 
Thanks so much! Addy, would you mind posting or linking to a pic of your earrings? You must be so patient to find a pair! I'd love to do that but I must admit that I'm not that well informed about the angles and percentages (despite all my "research" on here!). Most of my purchases have been fairly uninformed and based on things like emotion!
 
It will be hard to find a well matched pair of old stones. It would cost a lot more, but I'd probably get Good Old Gold's August Vintage OEC's since they would be far easier to match. You could also check with Singlestone and see if they have what you are looking for, but I think it would likely be more than what you have budgeted.
 
Not sure if this will work, but on ebay there is a ring with two pretty nice looking transitional diamonds. One is .50 and the other .55. I believe they are vs quality. A little over budget at $1,800. But you could make earrings out of them.

Edited to add: The 2 diamonds are actually OEC. The little ones are transitionals. But there is another auction where the two diamonds are both transitionals, but imo do not look as nice as the OEC diamonds.
 
I built my own with stones from Old World Diamonds & then sent them to BGD for inside-only miligrain bezels in platinum. I didn't have the patience for Ebay or pawn shops when it came to that project.

How big are you looking for ... because here are a few they have now: http://www.oldworlddiamonds.com/view.php?SHAPE=SM
 
Those OWD stones aren't a bad price at all! I agree that something like that is the way to go if you want something quicker. Or a cross-over ring with the two stones, a lot of those are pretty good matches.

My earrings are somewhere in the show me your studs thread but I'm not sure where. I can't find a photo on my new computer. A few of us have sourced and made our own earrings with stones from different sources or vendors. I must admit, I was a perfectionist. It didn't have to take so long, I probably had a great stone several times over, but I wanted a perfect match.
 
Thanks for posting the rings - those are both nice. Anyone have a general idea for what platinum four prong settings would be? Probably cheaper from my local jeweler than one of the online vendors?
 
Addy, did you just want the thrill of the hunt? Did you save a substantial amount by building your own set (if that's too personal forgive me!)?
 
ruby59|1320533217|3054806 said:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/14kt-Ring-2-Transitional-Cut-VS-Diamonds-REDUCED-799-/180749235163?pt=US_Fine_Rings&hash=item2a157e73db

The third one Gypsy posted was the one I was referring to in my post. The above is the other one.


Good find!!!
 
olympia - check your Etsy messages ::)
 
I made a purchase - hoping they look okay in person! (The closeups are a little mismatched!) There is a good return policy though!

They are a two stone drop 1.77 ctw. They were a good bit more than I was originally looking to spend but I think I'll likely make them into two pairs of earrings - .76 ctw bezel studs and 1.01 ctw bezel dangles. They are set in platinum so they'll match well with my bezel pendent and dbty necklace. I might see about having milgrain added to the studs since I have a small collection of vintage pieces.

If these don't pan out I might look a little more closely at one of the bypass rings. I'm just worried that having them set in platinum will be somewhat costly. (Any estimates for a plain 4 prong basket?)

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions!
 
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