Possible OEC 5-stone - feedback desired!

[Elmorton]

Hi all! It feels like a million years since I've posted - I'm not sure this area formally existed the last time I was here. But I'm back to PS because I have a new project in the works. I hope you can help!

DH and I have decided to do a 5-stone for our 5th anniversary next year. We're working with my local jeweler who will also be sourcing the diamonds. We've decided on rounds, roughly .4s so it will be about 2cttw for the ring. Trellis in white gold, ring with euro shank in rose gold. Our plan is to purchase each diamond separately, so birthday, anniversary, christmas, etc gifts this year will all be diamonds (LOVE this plan!). My birthday is in a couple of weeks, so we went in today to start getting the ball rolling and talk about what we'd be doing for diamond number 1, since that's the one we'll be matching for all of the others.

Though I LOVE old cuts, I'd figured I'd just go with modern cuts for my ring because they'd face up bigger, be easier to match, etc. But when we had a bunch of diamonds in a line, my eye kept on going to one particular. In the line-up, it just sung! Of course I'd eyed the only OEC in the bunch.

Here's where I'm stuck....I love OECs. My eye is just drawn to them. But do I want them for this ring? Getting the 5 OECs is no prob - my jeweler works with them quite a bit, and since we're going to be working on this project for about 16 mos, there's plenty of time to find OEC friends to fill the ring.

Here's my pros:
-To me, OECs are prettier
-Ring is "different" - no one I know would have something like it

Possible Cons:
-I am kinda excited about that 2 cttw mark - OECs will face up smaller, though weight is the same. Not sure if it would bug me.
-Will likely be going a little bit warmer...which I think I'm OK with, but I'm also an EC girl for my ER, and used to the uber white of step-cuts...wondering if the warmth would bug me after awhile.
-Am concerned about how OECs will look in such an open setting, since they tend not to be that perfect round shape the way a modern cut is (setting is something I'm not willing to change - I wanted a trellis back when we picked out my ER and were first looking at 3-stones). I don't want the shapes to look wonky when they're all lined up together.
-OECs will likely not match in the identical way that modern cuts can match

So...my dear antique diamond-loving friends...help! Please share your feedback, experience, etc. While I assume y'all love OECs as much as I do, would you choose them for a 5-stone trellis?

 

[stci]

Yes, yes and yes! If you love OEC go for it.

I often see 5 OEC stones and it's gorgeous! Usualy, the problem is sourcing but If it's not your problem it's fantastic.

This ring will be gorgeous for sure!

 

[Elmorton]

Thanks, stci! I know this seems like a no-brainer to anyone who loves old cuts!

Anyone out there who thinks there's any cons to choosing OECs for a 5-stone? I just want to make sure I'm making a smart decision

 

[pancake]

Yo elmorton, I love this idea and am thinking about doing it also as I have 4 25-30pt OECs just kicking around loose or in old antique settings at the moment.

The main issue I have with it relates to the fact that there is no uniformity whatsoever in the proportions of OECs. For instance, I have a 27 pointer which only faces up at 3.87mm whereas I have a 25 pointer that faces up at 4.1mm. This is no issue when thinking about the ring from top-down, as I would just graduate the stones so that the largest was in the middle, and smaller stones on the outside BUT I am quite Type A and anal (!) and wonder if it will bother me that the culets are at different heights in the profile view? The solution to that would be for them to be in a traditional antique-style bezel setting where the bezels actually come down to the finger and the pavilions are not visible - this would also be able to "correct" any off-roundness. I am thinking about setting my stones like this so that I don't have to think about those issues The differing crown heights is something else but I am thinking I can probably deal with that

My other idea was to go with AVRs, as they are cut very tightly and so would look identical in proportions in a ring, but the price difference is gargantuan. I have picked up my stones for as little as $100 each (colour around H-I, VS-SI clarity, are my sweet spots and these are the easiest to find) where as a 25pt AVR is around $700 for the same colour and clarity.

Edited to add: are we twins? I am also an EC ER girl (as evidenced in my avatar). I have NO problem with warmth in OECs. I don't like modern RBs at all really - never have, and in 18 months of PSing have not changed my mind. I am also not a warm colour convert in either RBs or step-cuts - give me WHITE or yellow but not the in-betweeny colours. But I LOVE antique stones and I LOVE the warmer colours in them; I remember being worried that I wouldn't like my K-ish OEC studs when I bought them but I just cannot imagine loving them as much if they were in the colourless range! I have attached a picture of my E-coloured EC and my K-L-M-ish studs. Different beasts, but just as beautiful!

 

[yennyfire]

I would echo pancake's comments about their being no uniformity among OECs, which might make it hard to find 5 stones that work well together. I would either try to find a piece that has the stones in them that you can use or go through a vendor to source the stones for you so that you can see photos of them together to make sure that they are pleasing to your eye. It's sure to be a stunning piece and I can't wait to see it!

 

[kelpie]

Another pro is the are usually less expensive than RB! I would do it...but in platinum or that just slightly peachy victorian looking rose gold to compliment the vintage look.

 

[Elmorton]

Okay, first of all...pancake, that's a GORGEOUS set. Love it!

Thanks for the feedback - I really appreciate it! I heart OECs so much, but yanno, love isn't blind I want to make sure I weigh this out and perfectly happy with the final ring.

You guys totally hit the nail on the head...I'm really nervous about losing the uniformity, even though I love the look of the OEC. My guess is that we'd go with mm rather than actual weight, and maybe that would help a bit. My jeweler would basically take charge of sourcing the stones and selecting what matches, which is good because I really don't want to have to do it online but also hard because I love to be in the middle of everything. He said that all I need to do is pick the first diamond that I love, and then they'll go ahead and find the ones that are a match of that one - so I'll definitely see them all together in person before purchasing/putting the ring together, though obviously things can look different loose than set.

I think you both brought up pricing...I've been trying to figure out if this is weird or not -- I was quoted the same price for the completed ring, regardless of whether I go with RBs or OECs. If I remember correctly, my jeweler said that the RBs I was looking at would be in the FGH range/SI1, where the OECs are a little warmer, higher clarity. Also, it does take a little longer to find the matching OECs on their part where the matching of the RBs is pretty mathmatically simple. So I wasn't really all that surprised that the quote didn't change - seemed logical to me..but should I be? I know it's a controversial topic on PS, but we'd be going with uncerted stones (and I'm OK with that), but part of me minds less that an OEC is uncerted than an RB. And because my brain is wired this way, part of me also wonders which is the better value...or are all things more or less equal?

Regarding the setting: I definitely want the trellis setting with wg prongs and rose gold band. I'm just not a bezel girl for diamonds (love them on a colored stone!), though yes, it would solve a lot of problems. The same jeweler designed a rg ring for my mom and I'm absolutely in love with the color of the metal, so we're definitely going with rg. It's not too pink, not too peach...beautiful.

Maybe if I lower the trellis a bit, it would still let light in, but cover up the different "lengths" of the culets? There's a fabulous OEC 5-stone ring floating around here somewhere by Wink (I think) that's an OEC 5-stone I think in a U-prong and it's GORGEOUS, but in the super close-up photos, the diamonds look perfect from the top down but definitely different sizes on the profile because of the depth of the cut. My e-ring has a completely exposed profile, so I'm used to seeing 90% of my diamond at any angle - I definitely want to see a profile view. But is it that noticeable to a regular eye instead of a camera that is using macro imaging?

Thanks for indulging my obsession with the minute details! I'm definitely back in the right place