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Why Everybody Loves a Halo
Do you remember that time you were talking to a woman about engagement rings or diamond pendants and she said “I just don’t like the look of a halo”? I don’t remember that either. Diamond halos are becoming increasingly popular in today’s jewelry industry. Since their inception, they have become a must for many people’s tastes when it comes to their perfect engagement ring or other piece of fine jewelry. There is of course an exceptionally good reason for this: The only thing that makes a high quality diamond look better is a frame for that diamond made out of more diamonds. What’s not to love? While some people may prefer the simplicity of a solitaire setting, or the completeness of a multi-stone setting, it is hard to imagine anyone not loving the look of a beautifully built halo setting.
So why do people love the look of halos? As I stated before, it’s hard to imagine anything more elegant than a diamond having a frame surrounding it made out of more diamonds. Another reason why halos are so popular and beautiful is due to the fact that a halo surrounding the center stone to the casual observer adds about a carat in total size to the overall mounting. In other words, the size of the halo makes the overall mounting look much bigger, especially when the center stone is set using white gold.
I have had an overwhelming number of clients state that a halo is the most important feature they want to be included in their setting. I never discourage a halo setting because I love them and I know it will make their mounting stand out, which is why my wife’s engagement ring has a halo as well. Though it is hard to go wrong with a halo, there are some things that I highly recommend when purchasing a halo mounting for your loved one.
First and foremost, the halo setting and the center diamond must match closely in size. We at Hogan Fine Jewelry would never choose a center stone that does not fit in the halo correctly. You don’t need to purchase your own caliper and do your own measuring before the diamond is set, but you absolutely should make sure that you are working with a reputable jewelry company who realizes this truth: a center stone that doesn’t match the halo in size will not look as amazing as it should.
Picture a beautiful Ansel Adams landscape photograph that is placed in a frame that does not match the size or shape of the picture. The beauty of the picture is clouded by a frame that does not match or fit the photograph, and the beholder of the work of art will undoubtedly notice the distraction. In this analogy of course, the Ansel Adams photograph is the center stone and the poorly fit frame is the halo. Without getting into precise and complicated measurements in this article, if your center stone is set in a halo that is too small, the halo will not be visible, as the girdle of the center stone will be set on top of the visible halo. A mounting with a halo that is too big for the center stone will have the opposite problem: There will be visible and often times dark space in between the center stone and the halo. This is not something that you want. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and in order to behold a halo’s true beauty, it should match the center stone in size very closely.
When working with a client who requests a halo, this truth is the most important thing that I keep in mind when choosing a mounting and center stone size. Furthermore, depending on the shape of the center stone I often recommend a custom halo built to the exact specifications of the center stone. Especially with stone shapes such as the oval cut, the marquise cut and the emerald cut, a custom halo comes highly recommended. With stone shapes like this, you have different possible dimensions that make some stones taller and narrower than others. With this fact and with our high expertise in crafting custom mountings, we usually advise a custom made halo for these shapes.
Another area that you absolutely want the diamonds in your halo and the center stone in your mounting to match is in color. The obvious difference between near colorless stones and a faintly colored center stone is self-explanatory. A halo truly looks its best when the melee stones in the halo and the center stone are the same uniform color or at least very close. If your center stone is a fancy color, that is a different story of course, but when working with white diamonds, you absolutely don’t want a slight but noticeable variation in color between your accent stones in the halo and the center stone.
Finally, we at Hogan Fine Jewelry have recently started to always suggest that when a halo mounting is requested, whatever the color gold mounting is used, that the center and halo stones are set using white gold prongs. The reason we suggest this feature is because of a point that was iterated earlier in this article. To the casual observer, a well sized halo that frames the center diamond makes the setting appear as though the overall setting is one much larger diamond. With a white gold setting for your center stone, the halo blends in beautifully with the overall mounting. With a yellow or rose gold setting for the center and halo accent stones, the prongs are much more noticeable to the eye, and therefore the setting looks slightly more broken up. Of course I am not advising against yellow or rose gold with this point, but even with these gold colors, we largely prefer when the center stone and halo are set using white gold while the band is in the color gold you so choose.
While we can all agree that halos are gorgeous, the knowledgeable experts at Hogan Fine Jewelry can make your halo look amazing!
If you have any questions about this article or you would like to set up an appointment with the writer of this article, you may e-mail Kevin Jack at kevin@hoganfinejewelry.com today.