Maximizing color on Montana Sapphire, setting suggestions for a newbie?

[dangerzoness]

Hello all, first post here!

I’m having a ring made, and have in-hand a precision cut pink Montana sapphire. The dims are 5.1x5.1 and a 5.0 depth, pavilion depth at 3.7. I loved the coloration from the photos and video, and receiving it, I’ve looked at it under many different light sources. It’s bright pink in fluorescent, a soft lavender under LED, and shifts to both in daylight, but it definitely has a steely dark color in lower light, I understand this is very typical for a majority of sapphires, some colors excluded. This one seems very finicky, I don’t know if it makes a difference that I’m looking at it in its box with the white backdrop instead of holding it, trying not to smudge it up or drop it!

In any case, I’d like to capture its best qualities and would love some input! What do you think of the stone itself? Would it perform better as a solitaire? A halo? Accent stones? Looking for any feedback at all, I had half a mind to swap it out for a more saturated blue, but there’s something about the pink/lavender that has me fighting for it!

Video of the stone, fingers are spaced a bit to let light in, but you may be able to see the steely grey

 

[dangerzoness]

Also, I would love to see any other color shifts or color changes floating around, especially in the pink/purple range!

 

[2Neezers]

Welcome to PS
It‘s a beautiful stone! I love the cut and the colors it shows .
I have a light pink sapphire that shifts to pinkish lavender that can also be finicky. If I ever reset it, I would go for a full halo of very white diamonds to contrast against its lighter color shift. I would also recommend that the setting you choose has no metal directly under the stone. This is based on the setting I picked for my sapphire that doesn‘t quite work for my stone.

 

[dangerzoness]

Welcome to PS
It‘s a beautiful stone! I love the cut and the colors it shows .
I have a light pink sapphire that shifts to pinkish lavender that can also be finicky. If I ever reset it, I would go for a full halo of very white diamonds to contrast against its lighter color shift. I would also recommend that the setting you choose has no metal directly under the stone. This is based on the setting I picked for my sapphire that doesn‘t quite work for my stone.

Thank you so much, that’s exactly the type of input I was looking for!!

 

[Autumn in New England]

Very common for Montana material (especially unheated) to show some steely qualities. I think this stone is gorgeous. I agree with @2Neezers... my first thought upon seeing the stone in the video was "halo." And that will add some "size" to it as well. Try to use the whitest diamonds your budget will allow for maximum impact. Wow, that stone is beautifully cut. Congrats and enjoy!!

 

[dangerzoness]

Very common for Montana material (especially unheated) to show some steely qualities. I think this stone is gorgeous. I agree with @2Neezers... my first thought upon seeing the stone in the video was "halo." And that will add some "size" to it as well. Try to use the whitest diamonds your budget will allow for maximum impact. Wow, that stone is beautifully cut. Congrats and enjoy!!

Awesome, thank you! Would lab diamonds be white enough, or is there an argument against them for something like this?

 

[Autumn in New England]

Awesome, thank you! Would lab diamonds be white enough, or is there an argument against them for something like this?

Oh I think you can certainly use lab diamonds, and many PSers opt for that route. It's cost effective without sparing any bling.

P.S. I also meant to WELCOME you to the forum!

 

[dangerzoness]

Oh I think you can certainly use lab diamonds, and many PSers opt for that route. It's cost effective without sparing any bling.

P.S. I also meant to WELCOME you to the forum!

Thank you very much!

 

[dangerzoness]

Welcome to PS
It‘s a beautiful stone! I love the cut and the colors it shows .
I have a light pink sapphire that shifts to pinkish lavender that can also be finicky. If I ever reset it, I would go for a full halo of very white diamonds to contrast against its lighter color shift. I would also recommend that the setting you choose has no metal directly under the stone. This is based on the setting I picked for my sapphire that doesn‘t quite work for my stone.

I was not a bezel person til I started looking at settings based on your suggestions, but I saw this one and wanted to know if this more open style setting would do the trick/what you would go for if you went to re-set yours?

 

[peacechick]

I don’t have any setting suggestions but I love the color shift! It’s very distinctively pink and very distinctively purple (the grey adds something, it’s like designer paint shades if you know what I mean).

 

[Niel]

I would set it in an antique yellow gold. Not rose gold and not your regular yellow but something in between. You’d have to go with someone who offers that though.

I would also but bezel it as it could change the color of the stone in its stetting. I would set it in a halo though and I would probably set it in the kind that uses a metal around the hall to emphasize the shape of the stone. Prong set the stone tho.

 

[Niel]

Setting it life set could be cool as well. (At an angle like a diamond shape)

 

[Niel]

Metal band around the outside of the halo to emphasize the shape but prongs on the interior as to not change the color of the sapphire like these examples

 

[dangerzoness]

Metal band around the outside of the halo to emphasize the shape but prongs on the interior as to not change the color of the sapphire like these examples

Oooh wow this is some interesting feedback! I hadn’t thought about a different gold tone, I will look into it - and those are some beautiful settings! I’m so anxious to have it come loose, the prong set makes me nervous, I hadn’t thought about it before I started this process lol.

 

[Niel]

Oooh wow this is some interesting feedback! I hadn’t thought about a different gold tone, I will look into it - and those are some beautiful settings! I’m so anxious to have it come loose, the prong set makes me nervous, I hadn’t thought about it before I started this process lol.

I think being concerned it’ll come loose is easily remedied by adding more prongs. You could do double prongs on the corners or 8 prongs spread oht if you want. You’re not going to have mutiple prongs come loose at once.

i wouldn’t underestimate how a bezel can change the color of a colored stone.

 

[dangerzoness]

I think being concerned it’ll come loose is easily remedied by adding more prongs. You could do double prongs on the corners or 8 prongs spread oht if you want. You’re not going to have mutiple prongs come loose at once.

i wouldn’t underestimate how a bezel can change the color of a colored stone.

10-4, I’m deep diving into settings & local recommendations in NY, this has been the hardest part hah.

 

[2Neezers]

I was not a bezel person til I started looking at settings based on your suggestions, but I saw this one and wanted to know if this more open style setting would do the trick/what you would go for if you went to re-set yours?

I like that setting style a lot! I would prong set the center stone though. I‘ve found what @Niel said about bezel setting colored stones and having the color look different to be very true. I had a pink garnet bezel set because I wanted it to be darker and it does look darker now. Her suggestion to add more prongs if you‘re worried about it coming loose is spot on. The corners on your stone would look great with double claw prongs.
I think you’re on the right track for your setting! The picture below shows the back side of the setting style my light purplish pink sapphire is set in. It’s not my ring, but shows the same setting as I have so you can have a better idea of what I was saying to try to avoid. I’m not sure why, but my stone looks less bright in this enclosed back setting than it did loose.

 

[dangerzoness]

I like that setting style a lot! I would prong set the center stone though. I‘ve found what @Niel said about bezel setting colored stones and having the color look different to be very true. I had a pink garnet bezel set because I wanted it to be darker and it does look darker now. Her suggestion to add more prongs if you‘re worried about it coming loose is spot on. The corners on your stone would look great with double claw prongs.
I think you’re on the right track for your setting! The picture below shows the back side of the setting style my light purplish pink sapphire is set in. It’s not my ring, but shows the same setting as I have so you can have a better idea of what I was saying to try to avoid. I’m not sure why, but my stone looks less bright in this enclosed back setting than it did loose.

Gotcha, thank you for the reference pic, super helpful!

 

[dangerzoness]

Reviving this thread with an update, I’ve found a setting I like from Yoni, they’re on a holiday til midweek but they did ask for a profile view of my stone which I’ve sent them - raising an interesting question for me personally! I hadn’t looked at the profile so intently, it’s got a decent size girdle and higher angle to the crown, I’m interested to see what they have to say about it in this setting:

 

[Autumn in New England]

I love the exaggerated crown and how they seem to magnify the sparkle. I will admit that is the thickest girdle I've ever seen! But jewelers have a way of tweaking a design to accommodate unique aspects of our gems. Perhaps yours can do that with this mounting. If not, perhaps he or she can recommend a more suitable option. Good luck!

 

[dangerzoness]

**Update!** I decided to take the plunge with David Klass, who has been super kind and wonderful - Just received my first CAD and I’m looking it over, not sure if anyone has any feedback