“Which size side stone?” — four options against one emerald cut

A jeweller sent us this grading report. Not for a stone she owned — her client had looked at that lab-grown diamond, decided against it, and still wanted the ring. They wanted it built in moissanite instead.

The report came from her client's side, not ours — we supply moissanite, not diamonds. The number is blacked out because the document is not ours to publish. What we took from it was the millimetres.

Custom cutting runs in 0.5 mm steps, so we agreed the size with her and cut the centre stone at 14 × 7.5 mm.

Then came the real question

Trapezoids either side — that much was decided. What she did not know was which size of trapezoid suits a centre stone this shape, and neither did her client.

That is the most common question we get, and it is the one a size chart cannot answer.

Why we didn't just tell her

We could have named a size. Most suppliers would. But the honest answer to "what size looks best" is that it depends on what you want the ring to say — and that is not something anyone can settle in a message, least of all for someone else's client.

So instead of an opinion, we sent her a comparison.

Thirteen minutes, live on WhatsApp

So before she asked twice, we picked four sizes of trapezoid out of stock, wrote each size on a card so there could be no confusion about which was which, and laid the pairs against her actual centre stone one after another, photographed on a hand in the light of the shop.

She was on WhatsApp the whole time. The pictures went to her as they were taken — not written up and sent afterwards. Start to finish it took thirteen minutes.

Four sizes, written out, each beside its own pair — 1.8 × 7.5 × 3, 1.7 × 2.5 × 6.5, 2 × 3.4 × 6, 3.5 × 5 × 6.5 mm. Nothing here is a render.

What she saw

The card stays in the frame in every shot, so the size and what it does to the ring arrive in the same picture.

The narrow pair first. They stand clear at each end of the centre stone, with daylight between. The eye reads three separate stones — a solitaire with something either side of it.

Then the widest pair — 3.5 × 5 × 6.5 mm. The ends close up. Now it reads as one object — a three-stone ring rather than a centre stone with company.

Same centre stone, same light, same hand. Nothing changed between those photographs except the size of the two stones beside it — and it changed the ring.

Neither one is the right answer

This is the part worth saying plainly, because it is where most supplier advice goes wrong. The narrow option is not a mistake. Some designers want exactly that — the side stones as a quiet detail, the centre stone clearly alone. Others want the three to read as one piece. Both are finished rings; they are just different rings.

Which is why we lay out four and stay out of it. Our job is to make the difference visible, in the actual stones, at the actual size, on a hand. The choice belongs to the person whose client will wear it.

She chose the widest — 3.5 × 5 × 6.5 mm. That is this ring. It is not a rule for the next one.

None of it existed when she first asked

One part of this job is worth spelling out, because people assume it is impossible.

14 × 7.5 mm is not a size anyone keeps in stock. It was dictated by the report she sent, and it had to be cut for this ring. So she placed the order and paid for it, we put the stone into cutting, and about seven days later the finished stone was on the counter — which is when the side-stone comparison above became possible at all.

That is the sequence, and we say it plainly: custom cutting is paid first, then cut. Seven days is the usual wait for a single stone at this size. You cannot judge a shoulder against a stone that is still a number in a message, so the waiting is not lost time — it is what makes the next decision real.

The same method, on another job

We said above that the widest pair was the answer for this ring, not a rule for the next one. Here is the next one, so you can see what that means in practice.

Another centre stone, with four tapered trapezoid options prepared for comparison. The four sizes are written on a card in the same frame, and the options are photographed beside the centre stone.

The sizes as written on that card — 2 × 3 × 5, 1.2 × 2.5 × 5, 2 × 3 × 4.5, 1.8 × 7.5 × 3 mm. Every option goes into one frame with its measurement written out, so the jeweller — and their client — can see the whole choice at once and pick from the picture.

One set of dimensions appears on both cards: 1.8 × 7.5 × 3 mm. It was listed among the four options in each job, beside two different centre stones. A side stone with the same listed dimensions can read differently beside a different centre.

What this jeweller chose in the end is theirs to say, and we are not going to put an outcome on the page that we did not watch happen. Our part finishes where it finished on the job above: the real options, at the real size, in front of the person who has to decide.

You can send it straight to your own client

This is the part that matters most to the jewellers we supply, because you are usually not the person making the final decision. Your client is.

So what comes back is made to be passed on. Real stones at real size, on a hand, shot in the same light, with the millimetres written beside them. No renders, no stock photographs, no approximately. You can put those pictures in front of your client and let them choose, which is exactly what the jeweller in this job did — and once they have chosen you know the precise size to order and what it costs, because every size is priced on its product page.

That is the whole of it: we take the guessing out of your side, and hand you something to show on theirs.

From a picture to a price

Once you can see which one you want, the size on the card is the order. Our trapezoid melee runs from 1.5 × 2.5 × 3.5 mm to 3.5 × 5 × 6.5 mm and every size is priced on the page. Baguettes are listed the same way. Nothing is quoted; the price you see is the price you pay, and the minimum order is one stone.

• Trapezoid melee — every size and price
• Baguette melee — every size and price
• Larger loose stones, by the carat
• Choosing side stones for a centre stone

Talk to us about your own design, whenever it suits you

The four options above are one job. Yours will be a different centre stone, a different design, a different client with different taste — and the same door is open.

Whenever you are working on something, bring it to us. While you are still quoting the job. Before you commit to a size. In the middle of a design you are not sure about. Months later, when you need the same stones again and want them to match what you already set. There is no wrong moment and no queue.

You do not need finished specifications to start the conversation. Send a photograph, a grading report, a CAD file with its stone report, a screenshot, a rough drawing, or one sentence describing what you are trying to make. If it is vague we will ask a question or two, then go and put the real stones on the counter and send you the pictures.

There is no appointment, no account to open, and no difference between how we handle a first enquiry and a tenth one. Message Leilei on WhatsApp — replies come the same day, and we work China time, GMT+8.

This job

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