Upgrading Diamonds in Halo Setting

[Misscaliente12]

Hi! I have a peach sapphire engagement ring in a halo setting. I want to upgrade the diamonds in the halo part of my setting in the hopes of getting some more sparkle action, but I don't know where to start. Currently, there are 22 diamonds, and they were appraised to be G color and range from SI1-SI2. There was no mention in either of my appraisals of whether they were full or single cut; the appraiser just mentioned that they were brilliant cut.

I have a bubble and breathe wedding band that is G color and SI1 and would like for it to compliment the stones in my halo engagement ring. I was thinking about getting D or E colored diamonds for my halo but recently read that color does not impact how much sparkle a stone has. Should I stick to the G color or move up color grades a bit? I am also located in Hawaii and new to the island so I don't have access to that many jewelers, unless someone could recommend a a great one here. Should I try to find a jeweler on the island to source some diamonds or is there a vendor that comes highly recommended and then have a jeweler here replace the stones? I will be leaving the pave stones of my engagement ring as G color and SI1-SI2. Please give me any advice that you may have!

 

[Misscaliente12]

Oh and the diamonds in the halo are between 1.00mm and 1.30mm I believe.

 

[tyty333]

You need to go with better cut stones. I would stick with well cut, eye-clean SI1/G colored stones. I dont think replacing stones
in a halo is an easy task. It may end up costing you a lot for the new stones and labor to do it.

Do you have any pictures so we can see what it looks like? How are the stones set in the halo? Prong or bead set?

 

[Misscaliente12]

You need to go with better cut stones. I would stick with well cut, eye-clean SI1/G colored stones. I dont think replacing stones
in a halo is an easy task. It may end up costing you a lot for the new stones and labor to do it.

Do you have any pictures so we can see what it looks like? How are the stones set in the halo? Prong or bead set?

It is prong set. I'm not too concerned with the cost.

 

[tyty333]

Very pretty...sometimes if the cost is too high its easier to just start over (unless it is very sentimental). You need to find a
really good bench or it could come out looking worse (the metal work).

 

[distracts]

It is both more economical and more structurally sound for the ring if rather than upgrading the diamonds you get a whole new setting with better diamonds. Just replacing a stone that has fallen out can cause structural issues and a cascade of loose stones - intentionally taking out and replacing all of them is likely to cause far more.

fwiw it doesn't look to me in your pictures like there is anything wrong with the halo diamonds. Keep them clean and they should be fine. If you really don't like them, then I'd suggest either getting someone who uses ideal cut melee to make a halo for you or moving up in stone size, as smaller stones just don't sparkle the same as larger stones and that may be what you are reacting to. Smaller diamonds often appear more glinty and white where larger diamonds look more contrasty and rainbowy, just because of the way your eye interprets the various sizes of sparkle.

 

[bunnycat]

It is both more economical and more structurally sound for the ring if rather than upgrading the diamonds you get a whole new setting with better diamonds. Just replacing a stone that has fallen out can cause structural issues and a cascade of loose stones - intentionally taking out and replacing all of them is likely to cause far more.

fwiw it doesn't look to me in your pictures like there is anything wrong with the halo diamonds. Keep them clean and they should be fine. If you really don't like them, then I'd suggest either getting someone who uses ideal cut melee to make a halo for you or moving up in stone size, as smaller stones just don't sparkle the same as larger stones and that may be what you are reacting to. Smaller diamonds often appear more glinty and white where larger diamonds look more contrasty and rainbowy, just because of the way your eye interprets the various sizes of sparkle.

I agree with distracts. It will be more expensive, and also could cause structural problems to change all the little stones rather than starting over. And also FWIW, I agree that based on the pics, the melee (small stones) look like they are nice.

They aren't ever going to perform in the way that a larger stone would. Melee size acts differently than larger stones because they are so small. And you are right, going up in color won't change that either. Going up in clarity won't necessarily change it either unless tha clarity of the stones is such that it impairs performance. Nicely cut stones perform better than poorly cut ones, even if they nicely cut ones are lower clarity. So as G VS stone that is cut poorly will probably perform less well than an H or I SI stone that is cut well.

 

[Misscaliente12]

Thanks for all the feedback! I just stick with the current diamonds then, so now I can move on to finding a marquise cut diamond wedding band a lot sooner than I planned!