Matched pairs...how close is close enough?

[anners11]

Hi! So with my tax return I have decided to help stimulate the economy and purchase something sparkly for myself. My cheapie diamond huggies that I've been wearing for the last 5 years practically every day just fell apart on me, so I'm in the market for some earrings. I'm thinking diamond studs. I am OEC lover and I know trying to find matched pairs is darn near impossible. So one of the things I was wondering is how close in diameter do they have to be without there being a huge visible difference? Would the difference of 0.1mm be too much? What's your cutoff? Thanks!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Yes, that is too much. If a round stone has a diameter of say 5.57-5.61mm, then I want the other stone to be overlapping...maybe 5.60-5.63, for example. But 5.50 to 5.60 is too much difference, in my opinion.

 

[yssie]

Were you going to try and find them yourself or have a vendor source them?

If you're having someone find them I'd strongly recommend going the "this is my budget, these are my colour/clarity/size preferences, what can I get?" route. If you're going to look for them yourself be prepared to search for several weeks or even months, depending on what you're looking for and how picky you're going to be... when choosing my old RB studs I was a VERY particular about the sizes and proportions matching exactly, but I think with true old cuts (vs. AVRs and other modern facsimiles) the quest for perfection can drive you bonkers if you let it

I found my stones myself. It took about 9 months and several purchases and returns but I'm very happy with what I ended up with. Are they a perfect match? Definitely not! But I chose settings that minimize the differences in size and shape, the faceting is similar enough that I'm content, and they sparkle like mad One is 6.65-6.7mm, the other is 6.7-6.8, and one has a more cushion-y outline than the other.

 

[ForteKitty]

I found that a size difference bothers me more than color difference. I have a pair of 6.3mm oecs and one 6.2mm oec. The 6.3mms are J and low K in color, and the 6.2mm is J color. I ended up choosing the 6.3s insead of the matching Js because I could see the difference and it bothered me. It took me maybe a year and a half of searching, and I have returned several diamonds.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I am bothered by color difference more than size!

I have owned a bunch of pairs of OECs. In my experience as long as the range of measurements overlap then they look matched to the naked eye. And that can mean a spread of as much as .2mm at the most disparate measurements.

If you want a perfect match stick with MRBs.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Yes, that is too much. If a round stone has a diameter of say 5.57-5.61mm, then I want the other stone to be overlapping...maybe 5.60-5.63, for example. But 5.50 to 5.60 is too much difference, in my opinion.

But see, DS with old cuts, most likely one stone would be 5.57 x 5.71 and the other would be 5.69 x 5.80

 

[missy]

I am bothered by color difference more than size!

I have owned a bunch of pairs of OECs. In my experience as long as the range of measurements overlap then they look matched to the naked eye. And that can mean a spread of as much as .2mm at the most disparate measurements.

If you want a perfect match stick with MRBs.

Me too. And since your head is separating the earrings the size difference isn't as noticeable IMO.

 

[Circe]

I think if you have the patience of a saint, it's something you can do for yourself. (Yssie, Forte, Dreamer, in the style of Wayne's World, I bow down. Not worthy!!!). I am a dedicated deal hunter, but just about the only piece I ever paid retail for was my studs - I just knew I couldn't do as good of a job as a pro. And, to be fair - I went with IDJ, Yekutiel found me amazing stones, AND was affordable enough that I still felt comfortable. That said, I was looking for modern H&A cuts - there's more variation with old cuts, even a genuine matched pair from back in the day would probably have more variation than your average modern set.

With older cuts, if you follow Yssie's lead and stay within, say, half to two thirds of a mm and set them in eight prongs or a bezel, I think you're safe. That said, not knowing what these fine ladies paid, I wonder if you might be better off spending those nine months or so searching for a deal on an already set pair ...? Just for sanity's sake, if you're like me, and hate the post office ....