yellow diamonds set in platinum

[lavatea]

I''m hoping you guys can help me out. I''m having a small band designed with small yellow diamonds set half-way around (like half of an eternity band - what do you call that?), and I want it set in platinum. What color yellow should I go for? I don''t want my stones to look orangey or too dark, but I''m afraid that lighter yellows will just look like low color white diamonds. What do you think? Anyone have pics they can show me to help me decide?

Thanks!

 

[dreamer_dachsie]

Its called a half eternity band. No pics, try a search?

 

[gemgirl]

All colored diamonds exist outside of the normal D to Z color scale and are usually graded either "fancy light, fancy intense or fancy vivid". Fancy lights as it pertains to yellow, might look like a low colored diamond because they''re going to be so small. If I was having this ring made, I''d be sure that the jeweler didn''t describe them with a letter grade, and I''d go for fancy vivid yellow. Even in a small stone, it will still have good body color.

 

[motownmama]

I think the yellow diamonds do look nice in yellow gold, even if you''re going to pair it or stack it with white gold.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Date: 12/10/2009 11:53:41 AM
Author:lavatea
I''m hoping you guys can help me out. I''m having a small band designed with small yellow diamonds set half-way around (like half of an eternity band - what do you call that?), and I want it set in platinum. What color yellow should I go for? I don''t want my stones to look orangey or too dark, but I''m afraid that lighter yellows will just look like low color white diamonds. What do you think? Anyone have pics they can show me to help me decide?


Thanks!

Hi lavatea,
I assume you''re having round diamonds set into the ring.
It presents some considerations in my experience.
First of all, any yellow diamond set in white metal ( platinum) will look less yellow that it would set in yellow metal.
So you''d need to use quite dark yellows to have them show yellow.

In terms of the type of diamonds are available: small sizes won;t have GIA reports. You''ll need to depend on what the seller calls the stones.
It''s actually harder to find light yellow stones in small rounds than darker yellow ones -which sometimes do tend to look a bit orangey.
If you did use light yellow rounds in platinum, they''d look white anyway.

My suggestion would be to use yellow gold where the yellow diamonds will be set.
It might be possible to do a two tone ring- bottom in platinum, top in 18kt yellow.

I believe I do have some photos of smaller yellow rounds in settings- I''ll check.

 

[lavatea]

David,

Thanks for the reply! I''ve been using your site to help me with my yellow color grading, so I''m flattered you replied.

I was thinking of going with fancy intense yellows (to avoid any orange). You think set in platinum that even those will be too pale of a yellow? I could opt for yellow gold prongs, but I want to wear this ring everyday, and I''m scared of the durability of gold.

Maybe I should just suck it up and go for the fancy vivids...I hate decisions.

 

[Rockdiamond]

You''re quite welcome lavatea!

If a seller is quoting you such specific color grades on such small stones, I''d be concerned- there''s going to be a range of colors- although it should be narrow.
Still, calling such stones "Vivid" with no GIA report seems .....to be overstating things.
It''s impossible to say what the seller is calling "intense yellow" without even a photo.

The seller should be able to send yo photos of the stones in a parcel paper at least- to give you an idea of the color.
There is absolutely no problem with yellow gold prongs, done correctly.

I believe I have a photo of a yellow stone bezel set in white metal to give you an idea how much color it lost.
I''ll try to check on that today.....

 

[LD]

Hi Lavatea

I''m hoping I can help with some photos! One thing I would say is that the actual colour of the yellow diamond does make a difference as to whether you can set it in platinum/white gold/yellow gold. For example, I bought this gorgeous Chameleon diamond from David (above) and interestingly thought this was going to be a slam dunk and wouldn''t be set in anything other than yellow gold. However, when I put it with yellow it didn''t do anything at all for the diamond.

The tone of yellow plays an important part and there''s nothing better than if you have the opportunity to put the actual diamonds next to different colours of gold.

So, here you go, some photos ................

Chameleon diamond set in platinum

 

[LD]

Ok - only look at the yellows in this photo. They are all natural yellows (one ring I don''t actually own anymore but I couldn''t find an up to date picture - sorry).

From L to R

Natural cushion cut yellow diamond surrounded by yellow diamond melee in y/gold. Outer halo of white diamonds in w/gold. The shank is white diamond melee on w/gold.

Natural yellow round brilliant cut set in y/gold head with w/gold shank. This diamonds is completely the wrong colour for w/gold and I need to have this re-set. The w/gold has taken all the "zap" out of the diamond and unfortunately the yellow head isn''t enough yellow to bring it back to life. This, from memory, is a P colour.

Natural radiant diamond in y/gold head with white double baguettes on shank set in yellow gold. This was a perfect colour combination for this ring.

Natural pear shape diamond. This is a gorgeous vanilla honey colour diamond with tons of fire. This is set in all yellow gold and looks sensational.

Natural yellow oval diamond in a yellow diamond melee halo in y/gold. Outer halo of white diamonds in w/gold with yellow pears on the shoulders. There is a yellow gold bezel line on this as well and the shank is yellow gold. Again this works perfectly.

Hope this helps.

 

[lavatea]

Date: 12/14/2009 2:32:02 PM
Author: Rockdiamond
If a seller is quoting you such specific color grades on such small stones, I''d be concerned- there''s going to be a range of colors- although it should be narrow.
Still, calling such stones ''Vivid'' with no GIA report seems .....to be overstating things.
It''s impossible to say what the seller is calling ''intense yellow'' without even a photo.

He actually hasn''t been using those terms - I was using them to try to get my meaning across. Thanks for the idea of asking for photos in parcel paper. That should definitely help me out.




Loving diamonds - Thanks so much for the pictures! They do help a lot. I was a little scared of gold prongs not only for the durability, which I mentioned before, but also for the color. I''m not a big gold fan, but seeing your settings does help. The yellow prongs seem to warm up the diamonds, if that makes sense. And those green stones are gorgeous (sorry, I couldn''t ignore them!).