sapphiredream
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2017
- Messages
- 258
Hello,
I am posting to kindly ask for some help/opinions with a modification I need to bring to my e-ring.
This is, in fact, my sort of "everything" ring - a mixture of engagement, graduation from grad school, cocktail ring and all sorts of things - so it has quite the sentimental value for me.
Briefly: I need to change the center stone.
When I had it custom made well over a decade ago , I decided to go with a rather inexpensive semi-precious stone because that's all we could do at the time. My husband and I knew we would change it at some point down the road.
I just knew I wanted a hefty, statement, custom ring - with diamond baguettes on the sides.
It weighs 12 grams and it is set in white gold with a yellow gold crown.
At the time, the ring itself/the overall look was more important to me than having an expensive, precious stone in the middle. This is because I never wanted the small, dainty, solitaire engagement ring.
I'd always loved the heftier/serious jewelry look...but as we all know it, "hefty" often means large center stone and overall very expensive.
So I chose the 9 by 12 mm yellow beryl that you see above. At the time I thought it was a good idea.
It's a decent semi-precious stone - but not the most spectacular cut. A bit flat.
As for the color...I definitely should have known better.
Over the years I had 2 attempts to change it but they never materialized. It was never a priority although I could see I was not wearing the ring enough because of the center stone.
The yellow color (with a tint of green and very light brown) was consistently making me NOT choose it, except when I would wear just the right colors to tolerate this rather unfriendly yellow.
The stone is also making my complexion a tad green-ish.
So I am now finally READY - after more than 12 years ! - to save my poor e-ring from irrelevance.
I still love its overall look, the heft, the gravitas, the larger size...especially now in my 40's.
But the center stone MUST go - once and for all.
If I had to design it all over again, I would probably make the sides taper in more gracefully (where the diamond baguettes are), maybe not quite this square-ish and chunky... but this is minor. I am fine with it and this part can't be modified now anyway...at least not without too much trouble.
What I do want though is a NICE SAPPHIRE in the middle. Vibrant, royal cornflower-to-navy blue.
Trouble is a stone of this size in a natural sapphire that would be very well cut for plenty of sparkle and without being black and flat like an onyx...would be ...well, still a fortune!
So more rain on the parade.
In consultation with my current jeweler (not the one who made the ring originally), we decided for a Chatham, lab-created sapphire. He showed me one in a ring he made and it is definitely gorgeous.
My question is:
1. Should I simply replace the yellow beryl with a Chatham sapphire of the same size and call it a day?
or
2. Get a Chatham sapphire slightly smaller than the beryl and surround it with a thin halo of very, very tiny diamonds?
Could this look work fine with the rest of the ring as it is ? (the existing baguettes, the sides, the overall shape of the ring?...)
The reason why we considered option #2 is not only because I think some kind of border/frame/halo tends to set off sapphires really nicely...but also because my jeweler said most lab-created sapphires will be darker by the time they reach the size my beryl has (for option 1).
He brought in two lab-created sapphires for me to look at - but these were NOT Chatham.
While I am sure they would have looked clearly better than the clumsy beryl I have now...they were a bit too dark for my taste.
I found myself going back to the Chatham he had in the ring he made - I kept wanting that one.
So now he will bring in a few Chatham stones but the budget went up.
He also said we could try a slightly smaller stone than my beryl but then it would need a halo - so the top would change from what it is now.
I looked on the Internet to find something remotely similar to what this ring could become if the jeweler changed the top...but I can't quite find anything that would be close. Here are some options - but these would probably differ quite a bit from what my ring would be with a halo top:
Kind of? Sort of?...
Potential fears:
a. Could it get too busy-looking? Too much? Too chaotic or out-of-sync?
I am referring to mine - not the ones above; these look fantastic as they were designed to be like this from the beginning.
I love the vintage look the halo brings...much more than the barren, stark, lonely look of a large solitaire sapphire ring like this:
...which is about what mine would be without the halo, right? (Option 1).
b. With the halo top, could it end up looking like the top and the rest of the ring don't match? Could tell the ring was modified or was not meant to be like this from the beginning?
c. Any other considerations I may be missing?
I am now waiting for my jeweler to bring in the Chatham stones - and if one feels right ...we will take it from there with the design.
Thank you so much in advance for any advice or opinions - I really appreciate it!
I am posting to kindly ask for some help/opinions with a modification I need to bring to my e-ring.
This is, in fact, my sort of "everything" ring - a mixture of engagement, graduation from grad school, cocktail ring and all sorts of things - so it has quite the sentimental value for me.
Briefly: I need to change the center stone.
When I had it custom made well over a decade ago , I decided to go with a rather inexpensive semi-precious stone because that's all we could do at the time. My husband and I knew we would change it at some point down the road.
I just knew I wanted a hefty, statement, custom ring - with diamond baguettes on the sides.
It weighs 12 grams and it is set in white gold with a yellow gold crown.
At the time, the ring itself/the overall look was more important to me than having an expensive, precious stone in the middle. This is because I never wanted the small, dainty, solitaire engagement ring.
I'd always loved the heftier/serious jewelry look...but as we all know it, "hefty" often means large center stone and overall very expensive.
So I chose the 9 by 12 mm yellow beryl that you see above. At the time I thought it was a good idea.
It's a decent semi-precious stone - but not the most spectacular cut. A bit flat.
As for the color...I definitely should have known better.
Over the years I had 2 attempts to change it but they never materialized. It was never a priority although I could see I was not wearing the ring enough because of the center stone.
The yellow color (with a tint of green and very light brown) was consistently making me NOT choose it, except when I would wear just the right colors to tolerate this rather unfriendly yellow.
The stone is also making my complexion a tad green-ish.
So I am now finally READY - after more than 12 years ! - to save my poor e-ring from irrelevance.
I still love its overall look, the heft, the gravitas, the larger size...especially now in my 40's.
But the center stone MUST go - once and for all.
If I had to design it all over again, I would probably make the sides taper in more gracefully (where the diamond baguettes are), maybe not quite this square-ish and chunky... but this is minor. I am fine with it and this part can't be modified now anyway...at least not without too much trouble.
What I do want though is a NICE SAPPHIRE in the middle. Vibrant, royal cornflower-to-navy blue.
Trouble is a stone of this size in a natural sapphire that would be very well cut for plenty of sparkle and without being black and flat like an onyx...would be ...well, still a fortune!
So more rain on the parade.
In consultation with my current jeweler (not the one who made the ring originally), we decided for a Chatham, lab-created sapphire. He showed me one in a ring he made and it is definitely gorgeous.
My question is:
1. Should I simply replace the yellow beryl with a Chatham sapphire of the same size and call it a day?
or
2. Get a Chatham sapphire slightly smaller than the beryl and surround it with a thin halo of very, very tiny diamonds?
Could this look work fine with the rest of the ring as it is ? (the existing baguettes, the sides, the overall shape of the ring?...)
The reason why we considered option #2 is not only because I think some kind of border/frame/halo tends to set off sapphires really nicely...but also because my jeweler said most lab-created sapphires will be darker by the time they reach the size my beryl has (for option 1).
He brought in two lab-created sapphires for me to look at - but these were NOT Chatham.
While I am sure they would have looked clearly better than the clumsy beryl I have now...they were a bit too dark for my taste.
I found myself going back to the Chatham he had in the ring he made - I kept wanting that one.
So now he will bring in a few Chatham stones but the budget went up.
He also said we could try a slightly smaller stone than my beryl but then it would need a halo - so the top would change from what it is now.
I looked on the Internet to find something remotely similar to what this ring could become if the jeweler changed the top...but I can't quite find anything that would be close. Here are some options - but these would probably differ quite a bit from what my ring would be with a halo top:
Kind of? Sort of?...
Potential fears:
a. Could it get too busy-looking? Too much? Too chaotic or out-of-sync?
I am referring to mine - not the ones above; these look fantastic as they were designed to be like this from the beginning.
I love the vintage look the halo brings...much more than the barren, stark, lonely look of a large solitaire sapphire ring like this:
...which is about what mine would be without the halo, right? (Option 1).
b. With the halo top, could it end up looking like the top and the rest of the ring don't match? Could tell the ring was modified or was not meant to be like this from the beginning?
c. Any other considerations I may be missing?
I am now waiting for my jeweler to bring in the Chatham stones - and if one feels right ...we will take it from there with the design.
Thank you so much in advance for any advice or opinions - I really appreciate it!
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