Author - Mandira

Oval Color-Change Sapphire Puzzle Engagement Ring

Our spectacular, oval, color-change sapphire engagement ring is a genuine, platinum, four-band puzzle ring. Its Celtic style is beautifully enhanced by a Renaissance-style gemstone setting.

While this ring is shown in platinum, you may also select this ring in 14K white, rose, or yellow gold or four colors of 14K gold (yellow, white, rose, and green).

oval color change sapphire engagement puzzle ring

Puzzle engagement ring bearing an oval blue-to-purple color change sapphire

 

oval color change sapphire puzzle engagement ring
1 CT, oval color change sapphire puzzle
engagement ring

Oval color-change blue-to-purple sapphire puzzle ring
We love the style of the setting holding the
1 CT blue-to-purple color change sapphire. 

An interesting fact about colored gemstones is that most are cut to calibrated sizes. This means stones are cut to specifically regulated sizes, for example:
6 mm x 4 mm
7 mm x 5 mm
8 mm x 6 mm

Diamonds, on the other hand, are not cut to regulation sizes. This means that, for example, oval diamonds will have varying lengths and widths such as, for example, 6.4 mm x 4.3 mm. This can also be true of higher-quality colored gemstones such as this sapphire. The gem-quality sapphire shown in this ring is in the 1 CT range, and at this level of quality and carat weight, the length and width will be non-calibrated. Yours will be expected to have a length of 6 mm to 7mm and a width of 4 mm to 5 mm.  The carat weight may vary between about 0.95 CT and 1.1 CT, as this range is considered the “1 CT” range.

We will be delighted to create the engagement ring of your dreams – with any colored genuine gemstone or diamond on a puzzle ring of three bands or more. You may have your choice of precious metal or metals, width, weight, and color or colors. Contact Mandira to discuss your needs.

And please remember, if you prefer a lab-created diamond or gemstone, we’re happy to provide just want you want!

Celtic Style, 1 CT Marquise Orange Zircon Puzzle Engagement Ring with a Claddagh Shadow Band

We will always seek to get the diamond or colored gemstone you dream of for your ring, even if it means undertaking a significant search. Our client approached us about a bridal set with an orange sapphire. He had found a number of stones he liked online, but as we researched the sources, we learned that they weren’t actually sapphires. When we were able to finally find an orange sapphire in the size range he wanted, it was more of a brownish orange, so it simply wouldn’t do. After inquiring of a few dozen stone dealers we know, we found a marquise gemstone in the exact rich, reddish-orange color our client wanted! It turned out to be orange zircon, a laboratory-created stone. This not only saved our client a lot of money but it gave him exactly what he was looking for. We think the bridal set turned out beautifully!

What stone would you like us to find for you? No matter the stone you select, your puzzle ring will be hand-woven by our master puzzle ring maker and paired with a hand-created, custom, shadow wedding band. Choose your stone color, shape, size, your precious metal, and we’ll make the bridal set you dream of!

 

A Scottish Metal Detectorist Found a 400-Year Old Lover’s Posy Ring

A gentleman in Scotland found a gold poesy ring from 400 years ago, and when he did, he was required to submit it to the “Treasure Trove Unit” of Scotland. After a legal process, if the National Museum of Scotland did not claim it, it would be returned to Mr. Robin Potter.  There’s been no easily found news of the ring’s disposition, and a search of the Scottish Museum’s Collections did not reveal that it was acquired by the Museum. We’re curious to know what became of this wonderful posy ring.

You can see the ring here:  https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/17th-century-gold-lovers-tiff-ring-found-in-scottish-field-3297792

Marquise Aquamarine and Diamond Bridal Set in 14K Rose Gold

Simply bedazzling! We love this bridal set in 14K rose gold — such a warm and radiant color.  The open weave puzzle ring bears a 1/2 CT to 7/10ths CT marquise aquamarine – we’ll select the largest one available in that range when you order.  The shadow band with five graduated diamonds sparkles more than any photograph can show.  It’s a customized bridal set that will show your exquisite taste and allow you to show off to your friends your skill in assembling your puzzle ring.  This set is available online in sizes 3-10.5 and in any other size upon request.

 

Like all of our custom bridal sets, this one takes a little while to produce for you. We prefer to deliver the engagement ring first — let’s make sure she says, “Yes!” and that it fits her perfectly. One we know that, we’ll pick up the engagement ring and retain it while we make the shadow band.

Your puzzle ring will be hand-woven by our master artist, and as for the shadow band? It will be created from a hand-carved wax which will then be molded and cast and finished with a high polish and diamonds. It’s a painstaking process with hand-work from start to finish for a truly, one-off, artisanal bridal set.

 

New! Shadow Band for a “Tight Weave” or a “Standard Weave” Engagement Puzzle Ring

If you love a standard or tightly woven puzzle engagement ring, this is the shadow band for you! We are so excited to present this subtly curving ring that looks beautiful with a closely woven engagement ring.  We now show this wedding band in a listing where you can purchase only the shadow band, though we show it on that page with the Athena, so you can be sure you know what your ring will look like.

As with all of our shadow bands, your ring will be custom-made just for you – to go with your very puzzle ring. So we will need to pick up your ring and retain it while we make the shadow band to fit perfectly with your existing ring. Why is this? Because every single puzzle ring is different: The weave, the weight, the size of the stone, and the ring size all intersect to ensure that your engagement ring is a one-off original, so therefore, your shadow band must be an original, too.

 

Remarkable Treasures Found in Wales

One thing we don’t typically experience in the U.S. is finding centuries-old artifacts under a farmer’s field. That very thing occurs in England and Wales on a fairly regular basis, and when it does, it’s newsworthy, usually showing up on multiple news sites in the United Kingdom! I invite you to check out these treasures:  https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-65024262

Interestingly, in the UK, when ancient treasures are uncovered, there is a procedure.  An inquest is held, at which the items are inspected and evaluated. If an item is declared to be a “treasure,” then an independent Treasure Valuation Committee assigns a value to it and submits the value to the Secretary of State. The committee is comprised of five experts on coins and jewelry treasures; each expert is appointed for a term of five years. One committee member is assigned the task of representing the finder of the item. The finder may be allocated a reward as may be the landowner on whose land the treasure was found. The value assigned to an item tends not to be an anticipated retail value but rather the value expected to be fetched at auction. Ultimately, museums then have the right to acquire such an object for their collection.

A 250 Year Old Posy Ring

Imagine finding a 250 year old, gold, posy ring. That’s exactly what happened when a gentleman in Kent, England was out recently.
The article states:  The inscription is believed to be in Old English, and eerily reads ‘Feare God and love thy choice’, which essentially translates to ‘Fear God and love your spouse’.  The jagged, flowing style of the inscription is heavily reminiscent of the Elvish script seen on the One Ring from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.

Check it out here:  https://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2023/02/13/novice-treasure-hunter-unearths-250-year-old-ring/

Our Earth-First and Fair-Trade Commitments – How Ours Compete with the Best in the World!

We are a small, family-owned business. We’re not a high-volume business by typical commercial standards, though we are happy enough with it! We don’t have the resources to visit the mines from which our gold, platinum, palladium, diamonds, and colored gemstones come to ensure that employees are treated and paid well nor to examine the entire supply chain for consistent ethical practices. So how can we make commitments to ensure that we act on your fervent environmental concerns, especially for the most meaningful jewelry purchase of your lives: engagement and wedding rings?

In the early years of our business, one business principle was etched into our minds: Know your suppliers. This has served our company well since 1983, and it is more important than ever today.

When we had stores in California (Concord, Pleasanton, Capitola, and Cupertino variously from 1989 to 2005), we had about 100 suppliers. Today, with our business solely online and more focused, we use very few vendors. Every vendor we use for precious metals, precious stones, and semi-precious stones meet our criteria for:

1. An Earth-First Commitment and
2. Use of Fair Trade principles in the entire production process from mine to finished products.

And perhaps most importantly, our single diamond, gold, and platinum group metals supplier is a certified member of the Responsible Jewellry Council (RJC). RJC is an international body headquartered in London that certifies fine jewelry product vendors for responsible ethical, social, and environmental practices throughout their operations. Certification and membership require an independent third-party audit covering all aspects of operations from supply chain and production to business ethics and employee health and safety. Members must meet RJC’s Code of Practices which respects human rights throughout the jewelry supply chain for diamond, gold, and platinum group metals. RJC members commit to implementing continuous improvement processes to increase performance and achieve higher standards.

In fact, all of our gold and platinum group metals from our vendor are recycled, so in addition to the clean supply pipeline, you can be satisfied that your metals meet the very highest standards of environmental safety.

Our puzzle ring artist has been with our diamond and precious metal supplier since 1972, two years after their founding, and Crystal Realm has been with them since 2005. Why reinvent the wheel?

Selecting an Ethically Sourced 1CT Marquise Diamond for Your Engagement Puzzle Ring

It’s important to me that you know something about my diamond “worldview” as you approach me for an engagement puzzle ring with a diamond of about 1CT in weight. Here I share with you my thoughts so we can be together in our thinking, and so that – if there is something in particular that you want – you may be explicit in describing it to me as you already know the assumptions under which I make a search for your particular diamond. 

Before going into details about diamonds, I want you to know that we use only ethically sourced diamonds of any size, colored gemstones, and recycled metals from our world-class suppliers. You may read about our Earth-First and Fair Trade vendors here

When I first set out to provide quotes for an engagement ring with a larger diamond, I make certain assumptions. For example, for a diamond that will be worn on a daily basis, I assume that you are not looking for an investment-grade diamond. I could quote you on a 1CT marquise diamond ring with a diamond that’s internally flawless, and prices would start at several times higher than those shown on our site. But that’s not what most – read any – of my clients are looking for. That diamond would, when not set in jewelry, likely be kept in a safe.

Measuring Diamonds by Carat Weight or Millimeter Dimensions
You might ask what is the 1CT range? Great question! Generally, that means a diamond of any weight from 0.90CT to 1.10CT. The 1CT-range diamonds offered by our diamond house are almost always found at weights of 1.0CT to 1.04CT, and if we slide down even a few points to 0.93CT, you may not observe a difference in the visual look.

Diamonds are cut to the size that is best for a particular stone in the estimation of the diamond cutter. So, for example, a 1CT-range diamond will likely be close to 10mm x 5mm, which produces the “ideal for marquise” ratio of 2:1, meaning the length is double the width.

But a 1CT diamond-range stone may vary in the millimeter dimensions. 9.8mm x 5.3mm. 10.5mm x 5mm. It could be 10mm x 5.9mm. Diamonds therefore don’t always demonstrate the much-desired length:width ratio of 2:1. The ratio can vary depending on whether a diamond is cut with a greater or lesser depth. To procure a diamond with the 2:1 ratio or close to it, if desired, it’s necessary to look at the millimeter length and width of a given diamond. (And . . . as a caution . . . to reflect that what is “perfect” for someone else may not make a diamond perfect for you!)

If a diamond weighs 0.90CT and has a length of 10.2mm and a width of 5.25mm, its ratio is 1:94. But note that the millimeter dimensions are greater than 10mm and 5mm, so this diamond will look just as big as a 1CT diamond with the equivalent length and width. This is why we can sometimes, not always, get a 1CT-range marquise diamond that can save you some money by virtue of its slightly lesser carat weight.

Diamond prices rise exponentially with size. This means that a 1 CT diamond is not twice as expensive as a 1/2CT diamond. It may be 5-6 times more costly. So what I like to do is focus on the aspects of diamond quality that make a difference to how beautiful and sparkly it looks on the hand.

Despite what many may tell you, clarity is not the most important diamond characteristic. I think many jewelers like to over-focus on clarity, because they can impress us by showing diamonds with inclusions under different microscope settings. “In this diamond, you can see inclusions under only 10x magnification. But now . . . look at this one! The inclusions are so tiny, it takes 25x magnification for you to see them. This is a great diamond!” Do we really care about that if it’s going to be on her hand every day?

We can save significant money by going down a few steps in clarity, because as long as a diamond has internal flaws (inclusions) that are only visible with a microscope, it doesn’t actually matter how much smaller inclusions are or how many fewer inclusions there are – or even if there are no inclusions – because none are visible to the unaided eye and thereby on the hand.

We can also save some money by sliding a tiny bit in color. The top of the range includes colors D-E-F. Those are known as colorless diamonds. By contrast, diamonds with K-L color are yellow-ish. Our site states that we always provide D-E-F color, and we can do so for you, too, but we can save money if we slide a teensy bit down to G or H color. Those are known as near-colorless diamonds. Typically I only do this for larger diamonds for which the savings is significant or if there is an outstanding smaller diamond with G or H color. And I only do this with full disclosure, discussion, and agreement.

I may go a little overboard on the discussion because unless we had gemological-institute-trained eyes and the proper jewelry examining equipment, you and I couldn’t discern the difference between a G or an H diamond when compared with a D-E-F diamond. So that little change in color doesn’t affect how the diamond looks when she wears it.

There is one other criterion for a beautiful marquise diamond that you won’t hear much about, but I’m picky about this. Some diamonds may have an optical illusion known as bow-tie across the center when looked at from certain angles. It makes the marquise look grayish or black in the shape of a bow-tie, again, only if you see it from the angle at which it shows. Some jewelers say, “Bow-tie gives a marquise diamond character.” I disagree. I think a tiny bit of bow-tie can give a diamond a little character, but we generally seek diamonds with the least evidence of bow-tie possible.

If you want to contact me for individualized quotes for diamonds of 0.90CT or greater, please feel free to email me. My name is Mandira, and I’ll be glad to help you!

Check out Our New Six Band Engagement Puzzle Ring with a Marquise Ruby and Accent Diamonds

This ring was on our site long ago and then it fell off along the way. Recently a long-time customer ordered it for his wife, and we got new images. What do you think?
The ring is shown in platinum. The genuine ruby is 1/2CT, and the side diamonds are 5pt each or 0.05CT.  Of course, we can make this ring with a center diamond or any colored gemstone of your choice: aquamarine, blue sapphire, blue topaz, green Tsavorite garnet, tanzanite . .  .  or whatever you prefer. We rarely make two rings the same, so please contact Mandira directly to inquire about your choices.

marquise ruby royale six band puzzle ring with accent diamonds

This ring is a stunner! The rich color of ruby contrasts beautifully with the crisp, sparkling white of accent diamonds. With six bands shown in platinum, it is also available in 14K white, yellow, or rose gold, usually made with all 14K white gold settings.

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