You finally pick out your center Diamond. It's big, it's beautiful and now you have the joy of
picking out the perfect mounting for it. You may spend weeks and months on the center Diamond, but
do you even know what the quality is of the Diamonds for the side of the mounting? (see picture)
The quality of Diamonds in your mounting is just as important as your center stone. Here's why: Color, Clarity, Brilliance, Shine and Sparkle! The last thing you want to do is to set your beautiful Diamond into a mounting (usually called Semi-Mounts) with inferior Diamonds! A Colorless Diamond, up against Near Colorless Side Diamonds can make those Side Diamonds look Yellow! Yeck! Doing that will guarantee that your Diamonds won't match. In fact, they'll contrast badly and make your side Diamonds look old and dirty even. So make sure you match the stones in your mounting to the quality of Diamond you put in the center!
If you have a VS Clarity Diamond with an E Color, make sure your side stones are VS, E also. It makes a big difference when you put the entire package together. You'd be surprised at how much better the mounting will look.
Likewise if your center Diamond is not so high in clarity. You don't want the sides to outshine the center. If your center Diamond is a nice looking I1 Clarity Diamond with I Color, (they call these Sailor Diamonds. Get it, I-I Captain!) get I Clarity, I Color in the sides also.
Funny thing is, most Jewelers don't even tell you what the quality of the side Diamonds is... Unless you ask. And even then, they may scamper and then go loupe them. The reason they don't tell you up front is because most side Diamond quality is poor! Usually I Clarity, I Color. Here's a rule of thumb: If the Diamonds in the sides of the mounting are high quality, the Jeweler will make sure they tell you that. They will be proud of the quality. But if the quality is low like the I, I, then chances are they'll never even bring them up.
So what can you do? Make sure the quality is listed on the tag or ticket. Make sure you get an appraisal with it listing the quality. And always make sure you Loupe those side Diamonds with a 10x Powered Jeweler's Loupe to see for yourself the quality and to make sure those Diamonds aren't full of inclusions or even cracked!
Match the side Diamonds to your Center Diamond and you will add beauty and sparkle and always enhance your center stone!
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