Anyone have diamond and sapphire eternity bands? - Got It! Pics!

[Deleted User] · February 2016

Looking to have one of these made... I have 11 - 7 point diamonds that I want to reuse. My sons' birthstones are diamond and sapphire. Ever since my 2nd son was born I always wanted some kind of piece of jewelry incorporating the two together. Does anyone have one of these? Cost? What is there to know about purchasing Sapphires? Anything in particular?

Thanks!

bethsmiles · February 2016

The center stone in my e-ring is a sapphire. Typically the deeper the color of the sapphire, the higher the cost will be but they can be found in a wide range of colors. The typical blue can be found from very light shades to almost black shades of blue.

I'm looking at diamond & sapphire eternity bands for my wedding band and they seem to average around $600 - $700.

CMGragain · February 2016

Many sapphire are "color enhanced". They are coated with a blue coating to appear more blue than they actually are. You should ask about this before buying any stones.

ShesSoCold · February 2016

If you're looking to wear this every day and thinking about a full, shared-setting eternity band, you may want to reconsider.

I wanted a full eternity wedding band and was talked out of it. With the shared settings, every stone is dependent on the one next to it. So if one is even the tiniest bit loose, so is every other stone. And the stones on the inside of your hands will take a beating with just everyday wear.

thisismynickname2 · February 2016

Are you thinking about something like this?
http://www.bluenile.com/riviera-pave-sapphire-diamond-eternity-ring-platinum_53020?elem=img&track=product

I have a sapphire and diamond e-ring. Our jeweler told us the quality is in the color- the richer the blue, the more expensive the gem (if it looks watery, that's not as good quality basically). But, if you didn't want a pure blue sapphire anyway, as PP said they come in lots of different colors. I know someone with one that's so light blue it almost looks like a diamond if you're not looking closely.
You also want to avoid inclusions in sapphires, just like with diamonds. Also, sapphires look better when they're not cut round but cut more oval-ish. In an eternity ring that probably wouldn't be as noticeable as each gem would be very small.

This site has a lot of info about sapphires: http://www.brilliantearth.com/rings/blue-sapphire/engagement-rings/

glasgowtolondon · February 2016

bethsmiles said:

The center stone in my e-ring is a sapphire. Typically the deeper the color of the sapphire, the higher the cost will be but they can be found in a wide range of colors. The typical blue can be found from very light shades to almost black shades of blue.

I'm looking at diamond & sapphire eternity bands for my wedding band and they seem to average around $600 - $700.

I'm the same - sapphire centre stone e-ring and looking for a wedding band/eternity band that compliments it. I cant find any that are to my taste. The sapphire in my ering is really dark and most that I have seen are paler and would just look odd together. I'm thinking I need to go vintage, but theres no guarantee I'd find anything. Sigh, FWP.

OP, this ring sounds like a great idea. If you do end up getting this made please show us pics! (Not because I want to steal your idea whatsoever....promise).

thisismynickname2 · February 2016

glasgowtolondon said:

bethsmiles said:

The center stone in my e-ring is a sapphire. Typically the deeper the color of the sapphire, the higher the cost will be but they can be found in a wide range of colors. The typical blue can be found from very light shades to almost black shades of blue.

I'm looking at diamond & sapphire eternity bands for my wedding band and they seem to average around $600 - $700.

I'm the same - sapphire centre stone e-ring and looking for a wedding band/eternity band that compliments it. I cant find any that are to my taste. The sapphire in my ering is really dark and most that I have seen are paler and would just look odd together. I'm thinking I need to go vintage, but theres no guarantee I'd find anything. Sigh, FWP.

OP, this ring sounds like a great idea. If you do end up getting this made please show us pics! (Not because I want to steal your idea whatsoever....promise).

@glasgowtolondon
that's what I was envisioning for myself too. After trying on several sapphire/diamond wedding bands I felt like none of them really went with my e-ring. I decided to get a plain band and let the e-ring continue to stand out on its own... for what that's worth to you. Good luck in your search!

ShesSoCold · February 2016

glasgowtolondon said:

bethsmiles said:

The center stone in my e-ring is a sapphire. Typically the deeper the color of the sapphire, the higher the cost will be but they can be found in a wide range of colors. The typical blue can be found from very light shades to almost black shades of blue.

I'm looking at diamond & sapphire eternity bands for my wedding band and they seem to average around $600 - $700.

I'm the same - sapphire centre stone e-ring and looking for a wedding band/eternity band that compliments it. I cant find any that are to my taste. The sapphire in my ering is really dark and most that I have seen are paler and would just look odd together. I'm thinking I need to go vintage, but theres no guarantee I'd find anything. Sigh, FWP.

OP, this ring sounds like a great idea. If you do end up getting this made please show us pics! (Not because I want to steal your idea whatsoever....promise).

I have a sapphire center stone on my e-ring too and I got a whole different wedding band and wear my e-ring on my right hand. I agree that it would be really hard to try to match the sapphire shades. Good luck!

glasgowtolondon · February 2016

thisismynickname said:

glasgowtolondon said:

bethsmiles said:

The center stone in my e-ring is a sapphire. Typically the deeper the color of the sapphire, the higher the cost will be but they can be found in a wide range of colors. The typical blue can be found from very light shades to almost black shades of blue.

I'm looking at diamond & sapphire eternity bands for my wedding band and they seem to average around $600 - $700.

I'm the same - sapphire centre stone e-ring and looking for a wedding band/eternity band that compliments it. I cant find any that are to my taste. The sapphire in my ering is really dark and most that I have seen are paler and would just look odd together. I'm thinking I need to go vintage, but theres no guarantee I'd find anything. Sigh, FWP.

OP, this ring sounds like a great idea. If you do end up getting this made please show us pics! (Not because I want to steal your idea whatsoever....promise).

@glasgowtolondon
that's what I was envisioning for myself too. After trying on several sapphire/diamond wedding bands I felt like none of them really went with my e-ring. I decided to get a plain band and let the e-ring continue to stand out on its own... for what that's worth to you. Good luck in your search!

I've definitely got that option on the table - especially as I just can't seem to find anything I like. My thinking is that I'll keep the plain band on the back burner while I look for the sapphire band and if I really can't find anything I love then plain band wins. Thanks!

teddygirl9 · February 2016

It would probably be easiest to work with a jeweler and have them source the sapphires for you. They will need to be a similar size, shape, hue, saturation and cut. Sapphires come in all sorts of colours as well, so you can really have anything you want.

A PP raised the concerns of eternity bands that I share - if you are not gentle with your jewellery, they can damage very easily. Even something as simple as grasping a door handle (round or those long ones like at the mall) can damage the band. Clapping - not only painful but if you are wearing rings on the other hand can damage the setting. I prefer a 3/4 eternity, but my rings don't spin much. This also solves any future issues for re-sizing, as you cannot resize a full eternity.

Now, for some pictures. Not mine. These are bezeled, which really make the sapphire colour pop imo.

ILoveBeachMusic · February 2016

I have a three stone ring - diamonds on either side of a sapphire, that I wear as my engagement ring. I have two bands that have just diamonds in them but only on the top half of the ring because as PPs have said eternity rings can get damaged easily and the stones can fall out. I had a jeweler source my sapphire for me so I could pick the color I wanted. The diamonds were my original engagement ring and my mother's engagement ring.

CMGragain · February 2016

You might want to consider having your small diamonds reset into a pendant with sapphires. It would be special to you, and pendants don't get as much wear and tear as rings.

madamerwin · February 2016

ShesSoCold said:

If you're looking to wear this every day and thinking about a full, shared-setting eternity band, you may want to reconsider.
I wanted a full eternity wedding band and was talked out of it. With the shared settings, every stone is dependent on the one next to it. So if one is even the tiniest bit loose, so is every other stone. And the stones on the inside of your hands will take a beating with just everyday wear.

I agree with this - I work for a jeweler, and eternity bands are one of the most common repairs to come in. The settings are pretty fragile, and if one stone gets loose, chances are more will follow. And it does not take much for a stone to get loose when it's rubbing on your hands/knocking into things constantly. There are other options that look really similar but that only have stones about 2/3 of the way around. You may want to think about that.

CMGragain said:

Many sapphire are "color enhanced". They are coated with a blue coating to appear more blue than they actually are. You should ask about this before buying any stones.

I have heard of this, but heat treatment and irradiation are much more common in sapphires. Both process act to enhance the color at a chemical level. Many of the deep blue sapphires on the market are treated in some way, and jewelers legally have to disclose such treatments to customers. Not that there is anything wrong with treatment - it's permanent and not just on the surface - but still something to be aware of.

And I agree with the PP who said that you may want to go in to a jeweler and see if they can special order the stones for you - most jewelers have access to databases full of all kinds of stones that they can order, which is great when you need stones that are the same size/color.

artbyallie · February 2016

CMGragain said:

Many sapphire are "color enhanced". They are coated with a blue coating to appear more blue than they actually are. You should ask about this before buying any stones.

This is simply not true. Sapphires are heat-treated (nearly all of them, of any color), which is a permanent process to improve the color. No coating of any kind is used. As long as you go to a reputable jeweler, they will sell you good stones. You could even go lab-created, if you wanted. In the same size as 7-point diamonds, IME the cost will not be that different. Those would be 2.5-2.7mm I believe.

What kind of eternity band, OP? I would advise shared prong rather than a channel band. If you like the look of the channel, prongs in a faux channel are an option as well, to help the stones be set more securely. Find you a good jeweler that does custom work and ask for a quote.

[Deleted User] · February 2016

Thanks to all for your advice!

ShesSoCold - Likely will not wear everyday.

thisismynickname - Yes, I was thinking something very similar to your link!

teddygirl9 & madamerwin - I am definitely going to work with a jeweler.. The man we ordered my E-Ring and our bands from is very knowledgeable and great to work with. I mentioned my idea to him when we ordered our rings. I traded in my old E-Ring towards our purchase and when he told me he would only give about $30 for my old wedding band, I decided to just keep it!

I did have concerns about the full eternity shared prong.. Would a eternity channel setting have the same risks for damage and loose stones? Since my old wedding set was channel setting, I kind of wanted to stay away from that style.. Which is why I was thinking shared prong to match my new wedding set. I will definitely consider half or 3/4 eternity, but I guess was just thinking full to use up all the diamonds!

CMGragain · February 2016

artbyallie said:

CMGragain said:

Many sapphire are "color enhanced". They are coated with a blue coating to appear more blue than they actually are. You should ask about this before buying any stones.

This is simply not true. Sapphires are heat-treated (nearly all of them, of any color), which is a permanent process to improve the color. No coating of any kind is used. As long as you go to a reputable jeweler, they will sell you good stones. You could even go lab-created, if you wanted. In the same size as 7-point diamonds, IME the cost will not be that different. Those would be 2.5-2.7mm I believe.

What kind of eternity band, OP? I would advise shared prong rather than a channel band. If you like the look of the channel, prongs in a faux channel are an option as well, to help the stones be set more securely. Find you a good jeweler that does custom work and ask for a quote.

Sorry, but I know this is true because I own some! My jeweler showed me the sapphires in one of Mom's engagement rings from the 1990s. We looked at it under a scope. The sapphires were actually white in color, but were coated and heat treated to appear dark blue. There were some microscopic chips in them where you could actually see it. This affects the value, or course. I still enjoy wearing the ring.

This is from an internet article about gem enhancement:

Surface diffusion has been around for decades and, until recently, was pretty much confined to use on blue sapphires and the occasional ruby. By packing already faceted, light colored stones into a container with powdered titanium and iron, and heating to very high temperatures, a thin surface layer rich in these chromophore elements is formed, which through selective absorption, greatly darkened the apparent blue color.

Such stones must always be repolished afterward as the high heat tends to mar the surface. In the repolishing process it is inevitable that some of the thin layer is unevenly removed, so that when viewed under immersion and/or in diffused light, an uneven pattern of color--> paler on some facets than others and darkest at the edges of the facets, can be seen.

If the diffused stone has inclusions at all, these will also show the typical signs of high heat, such as partially resorption of silk, partial melting of crystals, or stress fractures. With such obvious signs of treatment, only the unschooled or unwary buyer is likely to be duped.

Below is a picture of a 1.53 ct. sapphire. A beautiful stone: top color, eyeclean, and reasonably well cut. In today's market one might expect to pay between $1000 and $1500 per carat, retail, or even more in an upscale jewelry store for a sapphire with this kind of appearance. This stone's actual retail price was $150 for the piece, or less than $100 per carat. What a bargain, you say --> and why so cheap? (No, it is not a synthetic!)

The price paid, was, however, appropriate to the stone. It is a natural origin sapphire, but it is has been color enhanced by surface diffusion. The lovely color layer has a thickness of much less than one millimeter, the rest of the stone is either colorless or an unappealing pale blue or grey.

Such stones represent a bargain, as long as the customer understands the limitations inherent to them. Any scratch, chip or nick will remove the color layer revealing a light spot, and the stone cannot be recut or it would lose its color entirely. As a stone to be used in a pendant or earrings or even a ring worn once in a while, it will look beautiful for many years, but it is not an appropriate choice for a frequently worn ring or bracelet.

Jells2dot0 · February 2016

I have eternity bands for both my wedding ring and my e-ring. My wedding ring is prong set, while my engagement ring is pave. In my previous marriage, I also had eternity bands for my e-ring and wedding band. Both rings were prong set. I've never once had an issue, but I only wear my rings to work (desk job) or out on simple errands. I do not wear them at home (sleeping, showering, cleaning, etc) and I do not wear them to the gym.

artbyallie · February 2016

Diffusion is a completely different thing than the common heat treatment. A jeweler worth their salt will not sell diffused rubies/sapphires. I am sorry to hear that your mother was sold diffused stones. However, I must reiterate that this does not apply to 'many' sapphires.

"Centuries ago, someone stumbled upon the magical effect of applying heat to gemstones. High heat, such as that from a charcoal fire, can make a bland looking gemstone change its color into something spectacular. If this fortunate technique was not discovered, there would be very few affordable gemstones of good color on the market.

Heat treatment is considered to be a natural type of enhancement as it is a continuation of the processes that occur in the earth when the stone was originally formed. During treatment, the stone is heated to very high temperatures (approximately 1600 Celsius) causing inclusions, chemical elements, and other impurities to reform themselves and change the color of the stone. This color change may result in the stone being darker, lighter, more intense or of a different color. An example of this is the dissolving ofrutile silk inclusions in blue sapphires, which improves both clarity and color. This heat treatment is permanent and irreversible."

(from http://www.gemselect.com/gem-info/heat-treatment.php)

Even the GIA considers heat treatment acceptable: http://www.gia.edu/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=GIA/Page/FAQDetail&cid=1355958541372&pagename=GST/Dispatcher

[Deleted User] · February 2016

Jells2dot0 said:

I have eternity bands for both my wedding ring and my e-ring. My wedding ring is prong set, while my engagement ring is pave. In my previous marriage, I also had eternity bands for my e-ring and wedding band. Both rings were prong set. I've never once had an issue, but I only wear my rings to work (desk job) or out on simple errands. I do not wear them at home (sleeping, showering, cleaning, etc) and I do not wear them to the gym.

Good to know! I also didn't (when I was married) wear my rings around the house, took them off when I came home and put on when I left in the morning.

badbnagdway · February 2016

I do not have a sapphire and diamond ring but I got my wedding ring custom made through a jeweler in Chicago called Fung's. They do business as Diamond Dove Jewelry on Etsy and they seem to have some sapphire/diamond combo rings that my fit OP's bill. I know next to nothing about jewelry and cannot attest to the quality of the sapphires they will sell you but I found them fair and easy to work with. My wedding band is their "Alexis" ring that was customized to have both rows in diamonds with platinum. I only paid about $1,250 for it if I remember correctly and that was less than half what I would have paid to get the same thing at the jewelers around me. I have worn it constantly since our wedding last May and have had no issues with it.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DiamondDoveJewelry/search?search_query=sapphire&order=date_desc&view_type=gallery&ref=shop_search

CMGragain · February 2016

artbyallie said:

Diffusion is a completely different thing than the common heat treatment. A jeweler worth their salt will not sell diffused rubies/sapphires. I am sorry to hear that your mother was sold diffused stones. However, I must reiterate that this does not apply to 'many' sapphires.

"Centuries ago, someone stumbled upon the magical effect of applying heat to gemstones. High heat, such as that from a charcoal fire, can make a bland looking gemstone change its color into something spectacular. If this fortunate technique was not discovered, there would be very few affordable gemstones of good color on the market.
Heat treatment is considered to be a natural type of enhancement as it is a continuation of the processes that occur in the earth when the stone was originally formed. During treatment, the stone is heated to very high temperatures (approximately 1600 Celsius) causing inclusions, chemical elements, and other impurities to reform themselves and change the color of the stone. This color change may result in the stone being darker, lighter, more intense or of a different color. An example of this is the dissolving ofrutile silk inclusions in blue sapphires, which improves both clarity and color. This heat treatment is permanent and irreversible."
(from http://www.gemselect.com/gem-info/heat-treatment.php)
Even the GIA considers heat treatment acceptable: http://www.gia.edu/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=GIA/Page/FAQDetail&cid=1355958541372&pagename=GST/Dispatcher

We are talking apples and oranges, here. My original warning was for coated, or diffused treated sapphires. I would not hesitate to ask about this.
As for just heat treated stones, I have no issue with those.
I'm not sad about Mom's ring, either. It was appraised for over $8000, even with the diffused treated sapphires.

[Deleted User] · February 2016

Met with the jeweler last weekend and he said full eternities are more of a risk when the stones are smaller. He said I should be find with the size diamonds I have and also with the fact that it won't be worn daily.

He gave me a quote: sapphire stones plus setting and labor - around $700! I'm VERY happy with that price! My BF was thinking it was going to be $1500+!

[Deleted User] · March 2016

Picked it up today! I am in love!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020756/uploads/editor/qd/xfy1judbene5.jpg

thisismynickname2 · March 2016

Gorgeous!

sal2015 · March 2016

Wow! That's beautiful and I want one now!

ILoveBeachMusic · March 2016

That is gorgeous!

teddygirl9 · March 2016

So pretty! I think the saphs are a perfect colour

SP29 · March 2016

Beautiful! Love me some sapphires...

ohmrs2014 · March 2016

Beautiful!! I think I need one now LOL.

CharmedPam · March 2016

absolutely gorgeous!

Anyone have diamond and sapphire eternity bands? - Got It! Pics!

Re: Anyone have diamond and sapphire eternity bands? - Got It! Pics!

Choose Another Board

Search Boards