More on melee diamonds

[KarenD]

Hi all,

I've been ordering some melees lately to set in some jewelry and i came across the fact that many vendors promise a high clarity grade however end up supplying low quality goods.
For example, i ordered some VS1 0.029-0.035pts recently and got many SI stones mixed in the lot. I found this very frustrating.
Can anyone recommend a reliable online vendor for melees?

 

[chrono]

Many jewellers will not use customer supplied melees. If the jeweller you are using supplies low quality melees, then you'll have to keep looking for the right jeweller. I have no issues with the bench supplying high quality and well cut melees but I am also very discriminating as to which jeweller/bench I use.

 

[KarenD]

Thanks chrono, I figured i can lower the cost by providing them myself.

 

[Gypsy]

Not usually the case. If you are.talking tiny stones bulk of cost.is.in labor. Work with a vendor you trust for whole thing.

 

[chrono]

Not usually the case. If you are.talking tiny stones bulk of cost.is.in labor. Work with a vendor you trust for whole thing.

Ditto. You'd be surprised the bulk of the cost is the labour, not the melees.

 

[WinkHPD]

Thanks chrono, I figured i can lower the cost by providing them myself.

Most of us make little on the melee, but rather the larger part of our profit is on the labor of making the mounting. Still, given the fact that in melee there can be stones that are the wrong size in a parcel and YOU will not know it until we try to set it, and YOU will want to provide us with the exact number of stones rather than supplying a few extra in case of errors, such as the mysterious jumping and hiding somewhere melee, or one that has a nice black eye visible gletz in your parcel of VS goods.

Thanks, but no thanks. If you want to remove our small profit in the melee, there will be other ways you try to keep us from making a living too. Setting your center stone is a privilege, setting your melee is a sure sign that no matter what we do, it is going to be wrong in your eyes.

Wink

P.S. This does NOT apply to the joyous cases when we take the melee out of grandmother's ring to reset her priceless gift into a wearable ring for you. Remaking a worn out ring that has been passed down a generation or two is an honor and a privilege.

 

[MollyMalone]

Not usually the case. If you are.talking tiny stones bulk of cost.is.in labor. Work with a vendor you trust for whole thing.

Ditto. You'd be surprised the bulk of the cost is the labour, not the melees.

Also, your jeweler (or his/her bench) has access to "to the trade" sources, and prices, that we consumers do not.

 

[Andelain]

Thanks chrono, I figured i can lower the cost by providing them myself.

Most of us make little on the melee, but rather the larger part of our profit is on the labor of making the mounting. Still, given the fact that in melee there can be stones that are the wrong size in a parcel and YOU will not know it until we try to set it, and YOU will want to provide us with the exact number of stones rather than supplying a few extra in case of errors, such as the mysterious jumping and hiding somewhere melee, or one that has a nice black eye visible gletz in your parcel of VS goods.

Thanks, but no thanks. If you want to remove our small profit in the melee, there will be other ways you try to keep us from making a living too. Setting your center stone is a privilege, setting your melee is a sure sign that no matter what we do, it is going to be wrong in your eyes.

Wink

P.S. This does NOT apply to the joyous cases when we take the melee out of grandmother's ring to reset her priceless gift into a wearable ring for you. Remaking a worn out ring that has been passed down a generation or two is an honor and a privilege.

Wink, could I get a clarification on what you consider melee? The reason I ask is that I have several stones, including a beauty from you, that might be considered melee size, but each was hand picked. What defines melee to you?

Thank you!

 

[WinkHPD]

Thanks chrono, I figured i can lower the cost by providing them myself.

Most of us make little on the melee, but rather the larger part of our profit is on the labor of making the mounting. Still, given the fact that in melee there can be stones that are the wrong size in a parcel and YOU will not know it until we try to set it, and YOU will want to provide us with the exact number of stones rather than supplying a few extra in case of errors, such as the mysterious jumping and hiding somewhere melee, or one that has a nice black eye visible gletz in your parcel of VS goods.

Thanks, but no thanks. If you want to remove our small profit in the melee, there will be other ways you try to keep us from making a living too. Setting your center stone is a privilege, setting your melee is a sure sign that no matter what we do, it is going to be wrong in your eyes.

Wink

P.S. This does NOT apply to the joyous cases when we take the melee out of grandmother's ring to reset her priceless gift into a wearable ring for you. Remaking a worn out ring that has been passed down a generation or two is an honor and a privilege.

Wink, could I get a clarification on what you consider melee? The reason I ask is that I have several stones, including a beauty from you, that might be considered melee size, but each was hand picked. What defines melee to you?

Thank you!

Hi Andelain,

The trade pretty much considers the smaller diamonds to be melee. I have always thought of the upper limit to be about 0.17 cts, but a quick look at various sites definitions I see a low of 0.15 cts to 0.18 cts as the high end of the melee designation. Perhaps Paul Slegers or one of our other actual cutters will chime in with that they know the "official" designation is.

While I accept that range, frankly, many of us think of smaller diamonds below ten points when we think of melee in our minds. The different flavors of cuts become so much more obvious as the diamonds become larger.

Garry Holloway once showed me a very interesting lot of single cut melee in very small sizes, versus the same size in "H&A" cut melee. I forget the size but I believe it was around 0.01 to 0.02 ct diamonds. These had been meticulously placed table down on the glass tops of the boxes that held them in square groups of at least ten diamonds per side. Once the back of the box was applied and turned glass side up the presentations were very impressive.

The single cuts were actually brighter at that size than the "H&A" because the larger facets allowed for larger flashes of light. Easily seen in larger groups of the smaller diamonds. Still, there is something magic for me in the properly cut round brilliant cuts when they are held singly or mounted in rings, even if as a group they are not as bright as the single cuts.

Is it all in my mind? I do not know. I do know this, that by the time they get to 0.05 cts, I definitely prefer the full round brilliant cuts, and especially the "H&A" cuts that I can get from a few cutters.

Occasionally I will have clients request single cuts and I am always happy to get single cuts for their rings. It is one area that is definitely a taste decision, and the flavors are decidedly different.

I hope your holiday is going well.

Wink

 

[cflutist]

The GIA Jeweler's Manual (1989) defines melee as those cut gems weighing less than .20 ct.