Picture of earrings for loose stone buyers.

[Nettie]

Just wanted to share what you can do if you want to shop for the diamonds first and then have them put into settings. I was really happy with the resulting match. Both are .40 G SI1 stones for a total weight of .80cts.
One of the stone is a Cut Above H&A from Whiteflash and the second stone is an ideal cut from Blue Nile. See my post called "Will these Match?" for the stats on each.
Will anyone else know that they are premium stones? Other than the fact that they are almost blinding- no, just me, and that''s all that counts! Thanks for everyone''s help. I highly recommend Whiteflash for the great service. I also recommend Blue Nile with the qualifying statement that you do your homework and use the HCA on this site to help you evaluate. The stone I found scored a .9 but I had to run quite a few to find it and even most of their Signature Ideals didn''t score that high. I would have preferred to use Whiteflash for both stones but the 90 day same as cash feature got me at Blue Nile. The price for both stones were within $10 dollars of each other but only Whiteflash has the great trade-up policy.
Nettie

 

[hlee918]

Hi Nettie,
Would you mind explaining to me how you went about getting the loose diamonds set as earrings? Are they platinum or white gold...and would greatly appreciate it if u don't mind telling about how much it costs to do so. I was thinking of doing just that in the near future and wanted to compare whether it was more economical to find earring studs already made or go ahead w/loose diamond purchase first. Thanks in advance!

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Wow. Nice work, Nettie. You done good.

 

[Giangi]

WOW Nettie!!!!!!! Beeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuutiful earrings

!!!!!!! I guess all your friends are green with envy

!!!!

 

[Nettie]

Thanks Rich- I'm happy with the results.
I don't know Giangi- I haven't decided if I should pull a joke on them and tell them they are CZ's or not. I kind of like keeping them to myself for awhile

.

Hlee: Getting the diamonds made into earrings is a cinch. I went to a local reputable jeweler that I have done business with in the past and one that I trust. I asked for earring settings and he pulled out a catalog for me to choose from. He recommended white gold over platinum. Said that it was almost as strong and just as durable. Visually you can't see the difference on earrings anyway and the gold is cheaper. I picked a setting with small prongs because I don't like the square look that you get with a prominent prong. The setting cost me $40 dollars and the labor of the jeweler was $20. So from start to finish- I got the second stone on Wednesday- picked the setting Wednesday afternoon and it came in on Thursday. I had the earrings in my ears on Thursday afternoon! I personally liked doing it this way because I was in control of picking the diamonds. If you buy pre-made sets you may choose the color and clarity but not the cut- Or you may not even get the choice of the color and clarity. Plain and simple, I did it for the fun and I wanted certified stones. The economics of it was just a nice sidebar.

Nettie

 

[Summer]

Nettie,

You did a great job matching the stones!

I started doing the same type of search you did for loose stones for earrings on the internet. I wanted to know more info than was provided with the ones that were already set, most of these earrings didn’t seem to come with a certificate. It made me think I would get the mall kind of quality in that instance, and I may be wrong but wasn’t going to chance it. I wanted to know about the cut too since that determines much of the brilliance. While continuing to research loose stones on my own, I mentioned it to a friend who highly recommended a jeweler who she trusted completely. It turned out that he worked at the NY Diamond District for most of his life before opening his own store. I told him what I wanted and he went to the diamond district and got some loose stones for me to view. Each set of stones was as beautiful as the other, it was hard choosing, good thing I only had 3 chocies! I’m anxiously waiting to get them. They have to be graded and set. They should be an E/F color with vs clarity. I don’t have those details yet and of course the sale is contingent upon this. Also, since I’m paying cash, I get to eliminate the tax. I got a carat 1 ½ tw, round, and chose to have them set in platinum. He will make the settings too. They are Russian cut, and I am told they do some of the finest cutting, and they are really beautiful to my eye. I wish I had a digital camera so I could post a picture when I get them.

Enjoy your earrings! Btw, they look larger than .80.

I love seeing the pictures everyone posts here and reading the stories of the hunt for those diamonds!

Summer

 

[Mara]

Nettie--Amazing earrings, great job! I too have thought that this would be a fun way to upgrade my earrings in the future...right now I have 1ctw earrings G VS2, very beautiful with excellent cuts for earring stones. I have checked out the pricescope listings and what my SO paid for this pair 2 years ago is pretty comparable to what we could NOW get them for if we bought stones separately (we got a good deal through a jeweler we use and they appraised at 2ce what he paid through a pretty conservative appraiser!), so in the future if I am so lucky as to get bigger earrings...I definitely want to check out doing the piecemeal route and having the fun of selecting the stones. I heartily agree it's really not about anyone else knowing that your earrings are of top-quality, but rather for yourself to know that you put your money in the best possible place and ended up with a stunning result! For the same price, why bother purchasing from a B&M.

Just out of curiousity, when you look at the picture on your screen, the diamond on your right...is that the ACA stone? I'd love to know if you could tell us which stone is which, I have long wanted to see a branded stone such as ACA compared side by side against a BN signature or regular H&A or similar. This is one of my first opps to do that. Do you see a difference at all between the two stones when you view them side by side..e.g. is the ACA one noticeably more sparkly, or can you see the outline of the arrows?

Congrats again on great choices!

BTW I agree on white gold for earrings, my ring is plat but my earrings are WG, much cheaper and since most of the time you don't knock your head/ears against things, you really have nothing to worry about when it comes to protecting the stones.

 

[Nettie]

Mara: I was thinking that someone might want to know which was which. The H&A is the stone on the left but was also the stone the closest to a sunny window so that may have altered the look a little.
I had my jeweler cut a mark in the bottom of the earring of the heart and arrow stone so that I knew which one it was. I explained to him that I had the lifetime trade up agreement on it and wanted to keep them separate. I could not tell them apart loose. I can't tell them apart set, in the sunlight- under the jeweler's light. Even under the loupe. Both show strong arrows. Flash is the same.
First I'll guess one and then the other is the H&A and when I check I'm wrong at least 50% of the time. I was treating myself to the stone even though I realized that it wasn't necessary for the earrings so I thought that I should be able to tell the difference but I think that I got lucky and got a very nice stone from BN also and so I can't be disappointed with that.
As to the comment above that they look bigger than .80....
they do. I think that GOG has a good example of that on their site. A well cut stone will look larger than it's peers because of the light return. Nothing is in shadow. You can get away with a smaller carat size and nobody will know.
Happy stone hunting everyone!
Nettie

 

[Giangi]

Nettie... They MUST know that those beautiful diamonds are real!!!!!!!!! Try to teach them something about the importance of cut and H&A... Do you have a H&A scope??? It would be sooooooo cool to show them all those hearts and arrows!! Trust me

Giangi