PS quality even for melee?

[m-cubed]

I am a dedicated lurker, but hardly a fine jewelry collector. I am thinking about adding a diamond and sapphire band to my very small collection, and I’m wondering how the PS crew goes about shopping for pieces like this. Are you going to a super ideal vendor to get pieces with top of the line melee? Or are you less exacting and sort of just picking by eye?

I like the look of this Brian Gavin piece https://www.briangavindiamonds.com/products/sapphire-and-diamond-bezel-5434 but found it too dainty for my larger figures. A quote using ~5 pointers was out of my price range though. A local store (nice quality, not a ”maul” jeweler”) has a nice piece that is closer to my price range, with ~6 pointers and in platinum, but I’m not going to get much in the way of guaranteed specs.

I guess this question is maybe too broad and everyone will have a different opinion. But I’d love to hear whether you focus on absolutely the best, perfect specs or you pick this sort of thing by eye and what fits in your budget. If it makes any difference, I have a 5 stone band that I bought before I knew about PS and so it’s certainly not super ideal, but it’s sparkly enough for me and I love it.

 

[DejaWiz]

Grunberger melee?

 

[m-cubed]

Grunberger melee?

Oh interesting. I’d have to be willing to have something made to order. I guess my question is whether this crowd ever goes into a nice jeweler and says, “good enough! It’s sparkly and I like it, so specs be damned.”

 

[mayaINaU]

Oh interesting. I’d have to be willing to have something made to order. I guess my question is whether this crowd ever goes into a nice jeweler and says, “good enough! It’s sparkly and I like it, so specs be damned.”

I did that with my wedding band, but then lost some sleep over not asking for details about the melee! However, the melee are so small and quality is good enough that it doesn’t seem to matter. For larger melee, I definitely would have asked more questions.

 

[Rfisher]

I guess my question is whether this crowd ever goes into a nice jeweler and says, “good enough! It’s sparkly and I like it, so specs be damned.”

Buy with my eyes at the right price point - I would, sure.

 

[m-cubed]

I did that with my wedding band, but then lost some sleep over not asking for details about the melee! However, the melee are so small and quality is good enough that it doesn’t seem to matter. For larger melee, I definitely would have asked more questions.

What is your size cutoff between okay by eye versus want specs?

 

[marymm]

If I am doing a project with MRBs, I order/buy super-ideal quality.

If I am buying something preloved with MRBs, the quality has to be super-ideal.

If I am buying vintage/preloved (not MRBs), then I buy with my eyes.

 

[mayaINaU]

What is your size cutoff between okay by eye versus want specs?

I don’t have a specific size in mind, but I think any ring where the melee was set (and not just a couple tiny scattered stones), I would ask. For the one I bought, I saw it in person, and was able to look at it with my Distinctive Gem ideal cut, and I thought they looked fine together.