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Matching Lab to Mined earrings

princessk

Shiny_Rock
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Jan 7, 2008
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347
I have recently received my late mothers engagement ring. The info that my father had on it is 1.27 carat SI2 H-I clarity 6.7mm
I am wanting to match it with a comparable Lab grown diamond and then have them set in white gold 3 prong martini studs.
Please give me thoughts and advice on matching. Thank you
 

123ducklings

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
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I’m sorry for your loss. This sounds like a lovely project. Search engines like rarecarat are a great place to start, even just to look around and get a feel for what’s available.

I hope more experienced PS-ers will chime in. My first considerations for earrings would be matching visual size (diameter) and sparkle (cut). Size is pretty straightforward. For cut, typically PS is very focused on ideal angles; I think to match you might want to open your search a bit more. There are many flavors of Round Brilliant. For example, 60/60 proportions used to be very popular, so it’s possible your stone is a 60/60 cut and to match you’d want to think about a similar cut.

In terms of color, it can be tricky because depending on the source some lab stones show a lot more pink/brown tint and can be graded more liberally. You’d really have to see them side-by-side, so when you’re shopping look at sources that have easy return policies. I would start my search looking at G or F-H stones. For clarity I think you’ll find that most lab stones you look at have higher clarity than your mined stone.

It also just depends how personally fussy you are about the project. Remember that earrings are almost always viewed at a distance and never exactly side-by-side, so you have a lot of play in what “matching” can mean.
 

princessk

Shiny_Rock
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Jan 7, 2008
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347
I’m sorry for your loss. This sounds like a lovely project. Search engines like rarecarat are a great place to start, even just to look around and get a feel for what’s available.

I hope more experienced PS-ers will chime in. My first considerations for earrings would be matching visual size (diameter) and sparkle (cut). Size is pretty straightforward. For cut, typically PS is very focused on ideal angles; I think to match you might want to open your search a bit more. There are many flavors of Round Brilliant. For example, 60/60 proportions used to be very popular, so it’s possible your stone is a 60/60 cut and to match you’d want to think about a similar cut.

In terms of color, it can be tricky because depending on the source some lab stones show a lot more pink/brown tint and can be graded more liberally. You’d really have to see them side-by-side, so when you’re shopping look at sources that have easy return policies. I would start my search looking at G or F-H stones. For clarity I think you’ll find that most lab stones you look at have higher clarity than your mined stone.

It also just depends how personally fussy you are about the project. Remember that earrings are almost always viewed at a distance and never exactly side-by-side, so you have a lot of play in what “matching” can mean.

Thank you! Good point about clarity. I know I will not have an absolutely perfect match its just hard to choose just one and hope for the best. Without being able to go to a store and look at side by side comparison it feels like a blind guess. Plus being in Canada makes the shipping and returns a bit trickier. Luckily they are earrings and I will as you say have a lot of play!
 

Kim N

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Do you have any sort of lab or Sarine report on your mother's diamond? That would help set some of your parameters (table size, for example, which a lot of people like to have be similar for earrings).
 

jaysonsmom

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Joined
Mar 13, 2004
Messages
4,879
I have recently received my late mothers engagement ring. The info that my father had on it is 1.27 carat SI2 H-I clarity 6.7mm
I am wanting to match it with a comparable Lab grown diamond and then have them set in white gold 3 prong martini studs.
Please give me thoughts and advice on matching. Thank you

Sorry for your loss @princessk. I actually thought of doing the same thing with my mom-s first E-ring diamond which I currently wear as a pendant. Believe it or not, my pendant stone is a H/VS2 with diameter 6.77-6.90 so it would actually be a very good match for your mom's diamond!

The thing is, my mom's diamond is only 1.12 ct and is a VERY VERY shallow, spready cut, I could not find a good MMD match for this diamond, so I will continue to wear it as a pendant (close to my heart).
 

princessk

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Do you have any sort of lab or Sarine report on your mother's diamond? That would help set some of your parameters (table size, for example, which a lot of people like to have be similar for earrings).

Unfortunately no other info than what my dad gave me.
 

princessk

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Jan 7, 2008
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Sorry for your loss @princessk. I actually thought of doing the same thing with my mom-s first E-ring diamond which I currently wear as a pendant. Believe it or not, my pendant stone is a H/VS2 with diameter 6.77-6.90 so it would actually be a very good match for your mom's diamond!

The thing is, my mom's diamond is only 1.12 ct and is a VERY VERY shallow, spready cut, I could not find a good MMD match for this diamond, so I will continue to wear it as a pendant (close to my heart).

Pendant is a great option but I already wear a dbty that I truly love. So I think I will keep trying to match. I think I may go to some local lab grown dealers and see my choices. I just find the pricing so much better on line
 

OcnGypZ

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Dec 18, 2006
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387
Size, color and clarity are easy. It's getting a close enough cut which will be the hardest. DIfferent cuts can appear quite different.
 

princessk

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Jan 7, 2008
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Do you have any upclose images of your mother's diamond. It be nice to be able to guess at the table size and to check out
the faceting on it.
It’s still in the ring setting. I will post pics shortly
 

jaysonsmom

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Pendant is a great option but I already wear a dbty that I truly love. So I think I will keep trying to match. I think I may go to some local lab grown dealers and see my choices. I just find the pricing so much better on line

I don’t KK now if this is really your style, but I think layering necklaces is really pretty, especially a DBTY with a solitaire. I couldn’t find an exact picture, but something like this 431BACE9-69BF-43EA-A4FE-06BEDB308471.jpeg
 

princessk

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I don’t KK now if this is really your style, but I think layering necklaces is really pretty, especially a DBTY with a solitaire. I couldn’t find an exact picture, but something like this 431BACE9-69BF-43EA-A4FE-06BEDB308471.jpeg

Love this! I did think about another single dbty to stack but I know it would be a bit much. My dbty already has a Center one that’s 1.25 carat and I think it’s too busy plus the tangling makes me nuts lol! But it looks great in photos I just thought studs would be more practical.
 

diamondseeker2006

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I think this will be very difficult to match, to be honest. It will be very hard to match the cut and color. Do you have a diamond pendant? I set my mother's diamond in a halo pendant and recently my original diamond was set in a pendant for my daughter.
 

diamondseeker2006

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Sorry, just saw that someone else mentioned the pendant.
 
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I think it's a good idea to at least see some lab diamonds IRL. Who knows? Maybe you won't actually notice or at least not be bothered by any differences when a lab diamond and your diamond are 6-8 inches apart? You can always order online afterwards. Idk. I always have crazy ideas that I try to make work :lol-2:
 

OcnGypZ

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In order to get a close match, the diamond will need to come out of the setting and the diamond measured by a scanner. I'm assuming it's probably 1970's vintage? Probably a 60-60 cut.
 

princessk

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Jan 7, 2008
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Yes you’re probably right. Closer to the 80’s. I’m going to take it to my jewellers.
 

RockFox

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Yes you’re probably right. Closer to the 80’s. I’m going to take it to my jewellers.

So sorry for your loss @princessk. Could I suggest you maybe contact Neo Lab Diamonds. I believe they are based in Toronto. I've worked with Maulik there to get side stones for a project I'm working on and he was lovely and super helpful.
 

princessk

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Here are my earrings. My jeweller matched a lab to my mined diamond. I’m thrilled! DA0FA007-D5B0-49C6-B185-8495109F3057.jpeg

2.50 tcw G-H VS2-SI2
 

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jaysonsmom

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Here are my earrings. My jeweller matched a lab to my mined diamond. I’m thrilled! DA0FA007-D5B0-49C6-B185-8495109F3057.jpeg

2.50 tcw G-H VS2-SI2

Looks great! Ear shot please :)

Having seen your mom’s diamond, it really would match my mom’s diamond which I wear in a pendant. Mine is also H color and 6.7mm in diameter, with a large table.
 

Jax172

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Mar 11, 2002
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I would do one of two things.

Send your mom’s diamond for a recut to a more ideal cut. This will make it so much easier to match as you will then have all the details needed to find a good match and it will match today’s more modern cutting style.

Or bring it to a local store that carries lab diamonds and have them look for a match.

We sent my MIL’s diamond for a recut with Brian Gavin. It came our gorgeous. It lost a little weight but it was deep cut so it lost very little diameter.
 

princessk

Shiny_Rock
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Jan 7, 2008
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I would do one of two things.

Send your mom’s diamond for a recut to a more ideal cut. This will make it so much easier to match as you will then have all the details needed to find a good match and it will match today’s more modern cutting style.

Or bring it to a local store that carries lab diamonds and have them look for a match.

We sent my MIL’s diamond for a recut with Brian Gavin. It came our gorgeous. It lost a little weight but it was deep cut so it lost very little diameter.
 

princessk

Shiny_Rock
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That’s what I did! See the post above. Just picked them up today;-)
 

123ducklings

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Here are my earrings. My jeweller matched a lab to my mined diamond. I’m thrilled! DA0FA007-D5B0-49C6-B185-8495109F3057.jpeg

2.50 tcw G-H VS2-SI2

Congrats! These look amazing! I am happy for you that it worked out so well!
 
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