100ways is dangerous — although I wish they’d pull the sold stuff down but you can filter for available.

sueb that ring is GORGEOUS!!!! looks so nice with two different metals.

Yes my mother was under the same misapprehension that I was that I have long delicate fingers – – I actually do have quite short stubby fingers. I can do about an octave and a note on the piano and that’s only because I’m flexible. It was really brought home to me when I tried on some of the larger range that this ring designer has available – – looked like 10 pounds of potatoes in a 5 pound bag.

one side of my family is generally short and plump with cute little noses and wide hands and feet. The other side is tall and lean, narrow hands and feet with “generous” noses. My sister got the height and lean build with a cute nose. Guess what I got!

edit to add - the goldsmith offers complimentary ring sizer sets so I emailed today to ask if I could pick a set up, and she dropped off a lovely little package to me with the sizers and some brochures.

Sueb - that would be such a lovely way to incorporate your parents' rings into something special. I have the gold bands from my folks and white gold from DH's mom and several gold settings from pieces that I had re-set. Since gold is high at the moment I should check with my jeweler about trading in the old settings and creating something with the old bands. I even have loose accent diamonds that I could use.

You're lucky to have sapphire as a birthstone. Mine is garnet which isn't too exciting if you stick with the traditional rhodolite garnet. But I discovered Tsavorite garnets which are stunning. I think I mentioned them upthread but they're a beautiful emerald green. Tiffany introduced them in the 1970's and DH gave me a beautiful pendant for my 70th.

My fingers are also short, stubby, wrinkly and my hands are vein-y with broad nails. And my Mother was a hand model when she was young with long fingers and beautiful nails. DH jokes that I should just wear rings with large stones and then no one would notice my fingers.

Robo - Congrats on your success in refraining from nail biting. It isn't easy but you've managed to go a month which is fantastic. Thanks for linking the 100 ways and for pointing out that you can filter out the sold items. Somehow I missed that.

Maire, my DD’s birthstone is garnet too and she doesn‘t like it either. Maybe she would like the tsavorite garnet, though.

Sueb - I always felt a little cheated with a garnet birthstone until I discovered some of the other varieties. The garnet classification includes a number of different minerals so the colors can be quite varied. The typical January birthstone is a dark red, that's usually Almandine or Pyrope and they're fairly inexpensive. Rhodolites are rose-red to a reddish violet and are used in higher end jewelry. Green garnets like Demantoids and Tsavorites are the rarest and most expensive garnets and definitely something to look at. The jeweler we've used for many,many years loves creating pieces from gems of various colors and always brings back beautiful stones from the Tucson Gem show. You mentioned your orange sapphire ring upthread and I had never seen an orange one until I saw the one our jeweler entered into Spectrum competition which is for natural colored gems and pearls. He won an award for a rather unusual stone, a 22 carat fancy orange sapphire. The color is stunning but the design is rather over-the-top but apparently what the client wanted.

22 carats!? Holy crikey!

Because I know nothing about jewellery I was surprised that my 0.65 carat sapphire was actually smaller than a 0.41 diamond that she had displayed. now I know that diamonds are relatively light as rocks go.

I sized all my fingers and some of my fingers are bigger than my thumbs!? Weird. It was a fun exercise. I have big wrists as well apparently. So a lot of vintage jewelry, much like vintage clothing, is too small. Healthier for my budget!

I have 3 holes in each ear. The two higher up ones have what I guess are called sleeper earrings. I never knew they were called that. They never come out unless it's time to polish them.

When I was in college I took a geology course as one of my science requirements and the professor was fascinated with gems. That's when I learned that weighing a diamond is the most reliable way to determine the carat value - it's a measurement of weight not size. A one carat diamond equals 200 mg or 0.007055 ounces so even 2 round diamonds, each weighing 1 carat may have different measurements depending on cut, thickness of girdle, culet, ratio of depth to diameter etc. Rubies and sapphires are denser and have a higher specific gravity weight than a diamond which explains why a .65 sapphire is smaller than a .41 diamond.

This is the 22 carat orange sapphire - interesting that it won 2nd prize in the Business/Daily wear category. https://www.tfosterjewelers.com/spectrum-award I couldn't imagine ever wearing something like that - well maybe if I worked for Harry Winston or Cartier or if I won an Oscar.

Imagine wearing that daily!!!!! Hahahaha. Maybe if your job is delivering knuckle sandwiches.

Guess what I’m picking up tonight!?!? I’m nervous - hope I like it.

How exciting!

BTW. I want you to know that this thread has inspired me to be more diligent about nail care. I tend to ignore them and they’re this so they crack and break. Thanks to you, I am focused on keeping them short to hopefully avoid issues. Thank you!

Can't wait to see it!

So exciting! Can’t wait to see it!

That was quick - looking forward to the big reveal. I hope it's just what you wished for.

I just now found this thread and perfect timing! I'm pretty sure the color of your sapphire is teal which comes in pretty hues.

My birthstone is dark blue sapphire and I'm also searching for a ring to wear all the time. Right now I wear a vintage looking gold ring with an oval garnet.

I'm also happy you chose gold. That's all I wore until one day everyone was wearing silver!

Well I won’t show a picture of the ring yet because I’ll take that in sunlight tomorrow, but here’s a picture of Dorothée and her sapphire tray

I did kinda pick out my next piece while I was there - this is a 1.5ct Australian sapphire that I think would make a lovely pendent. not the cheapest of stones, however.

The suspense!

That's a lovely stone. And my birthstone. Sadly, I wear very little blue, it's not best with my skin tone unless navy, or with hints of green, teal. I've been browsing yellow sapphires the last couple of years but haven't bought one yet.....why am I thinking there might be something interesting in that tray ;0)

it’s a little bit of a shy stone and doesn’t flash that much in indoor light but has a nice depth to it and the teal comes through very well.

It’s a beautiful stone and a gorgeous ring. I think it’s so warm and graceful. May you wear it good health for many, many years.

It's lovely and such a beautiful shade of teal, the yellow gold was the right choice too. You must be thrilled - will you wear it on your right hand? Thanks for sharing your special project with us.

Although I was thinking of this as a wedding type ring - turns out that it’s a pretty hefty ring and as I’m left handed, this will likely live on my right hand.

Beautiful! I would love to have a ring like that. So unique. I hope you might show us a photo of it on your lovely finger!!! Congrats!

I love it!

That is beautiful.

Very nice!

That is really beautiful!

Oh, it IS a beauty! She does gorgeous work, and I know you'll wear this piece proudly. Well done!

Stunning ring! Wear it in good health!

Very pretty!

so pretty!

Very, very pretty.

Love it! And you might get used to the weight to wear it on your left hand.

What a beautiful piece!

Very pretty. i bet you cannot stop checking it out on your finger.

Beautiful! Glad it came out as splendid as you had envisioned.

Wow!!! Thar ring is stunning. I would not stop looking at it all day if I were you! It is so unique. Everyone you see is going to comment on its beauty! You did a great job in picking it out. Now I want a new cool ring!!!

Thanks for sharing!!!

Looks beautiful on Robo! Well done.

So pretty, robo! Can I borrow it? Just kidding of course, but it’s the type of ring that is right down my alley.

Robo - Perfection. You made a wonderful choice, hope you will enjoy it many years.

So pretty, Robo!

Oh my gosh, it is gorgeous!

I love your ring!

Robo, it is even more beautiful on! Absolutely lovely.

Robo, it's beautiful. I love the stone.

Oh that's just my style too. I may have to get it for my sweetheart for V-Day (AKA me!)

It's gorgeous, the gold is the perfect frame for it and it looks fabulous with the color you're wearing!

Oh, it really is so pretty.

It looks great on you Robo! I have fair coloring and always shied away from real goldy gold things but I think in a ring it just looks luxurious for some reason. Such an unusual stone, the gold color also really sets it off with a contrast.

I love rings but nowdays I never go anywhere so don't wear them. Too easily damaged doing housework. Oh well, someday we will all be puttin' on the ritz and letting out all our pent up fancy nancy frustrations!! I predict glam and sparkle and dressing up will come back in a big way . . .

It's beautiful! Wear it in good health!