How brilliant should diamond stud earrings be?

[fishface]

Total Rookie here

I''m interested in purchasing some diamond stud earrings for my wife. Intuitively, it seems that the diamonds might not need to be as brilliant as an engagement ring, as it is "encased" in the setting. Is it worth paying for F-H for sparkle, or is customary to go lower, without much difference in "pop"? Thanks for educating me.

 

[hoorray]

The sparkle is mostly determined by cut, not color or clarity. That said, in earrings you can easily drop the color and clarity as no one will get within inches of the stones to examine them closley. However, I would not sacrafice cut. The stones will be framing her face, and there is a hugh difference between lively sparklers and dull, lifeless rocks. I have had both, and cant believe the difference. People stop me to comment on the sparkle in my ideal cut ones.

Many people here go for I/SI stones for earrings. Mine are G/SI2's. A friend has I/SI1's. Side by side, I can see the color difference, but they both look great on our ears.

 

[DiamondExpert]

G-I/SI''s in well cut stones will look just great!

 

[Mara]

concentrate on getting well-cut stones and you can drop as low as I/J in earrings and a good SI quality, and not see a difference...especially since worn on the head. I have I/SI ideal cut stones and they are better looking than my old G VS ones that weren''t as well cut!

 

[valeria101]

Date: 4/29/2005 3:26:22 PM
Author:fishface

Is it worth paying for F-H for sparkle, or is customary to go lower, without much difference in 'pop' ?

"F-H" are color grades (as much as "color" applies to something colorless) and "pop" has nothing to do with it.

Unless cut to critical angles, diamonds are transparent and really not very interesting - in the rough you might not pick them up from the dirt. I am wearing a rough diamond pendant and everyone thinks it is rock crystal !

"H" is very safely white and so is "J" unless you are really keen on colorlessness and each earring is 3 carats or so. SI1 will be most of times eye clean even up close, and definitely so for earrings (which are never looked at that close except by the owner). Great cut would make those earrings beg for attention, even if small. It can't hurt that lower color & clarity costs less (or buys larger stones, whichever seems more appealing).

Basically, I definitely agree with what has been said so far.

What do you have in mind ?

Not long ago, Garry posted the story of a pair of earrings he was "experimenting" with... to see what kind of cut works best. It turned out that the best for earrings would not be the same set of proportions considered "ideal" for jewelry meant to be looked at upclose. In that sense, your guess that the earrings may not have tofollow the same criteria as a ring stone does apply. I just thought that story would be of interest although the details get rather technical. Here's the relevant thread