0.78 ct Marquise Diamond Earrings, White

0.78 ct total, F colour, VS clarity, 18K white gold

A pair of earrings built from marquise cut natural diamonds arranged as petals, 0.78 carat in total, colour F, clarity VS. 18K white gold.

The marquise is the shape you build flowers from

Every faceted shape has a natural use, and the marquise has an obvious one: it is a boat — two points with a swell between them — which is the outline of a petal. Set four of them radiating from a centre and you have drawn a flower with the stones themselves. No metal petals, no frame, nothing pretending to be something it is not. The diamonds do the drawing.

That is why marquise turns up in floral jewellery far more often than its share of the market would suggest, and why almost nobody builds a flower from round stones — you would need the metal to describe the shape, and then the metal is what you see.

Why a modest weight covers so much ear

There is a second reason, and it is the one that shows on the price.

A marquise has the largest face-up area per carat of any standard cut. It is long and comparatively shallow, so more of its weight sits in the visible top surface and less is buried in depth. The numbers make it plain: a 0.10 ct marquise measures roughly 5 × 2.5 mm, while a 0.10 ct round is about 3 mm across. Same weight, and the marquise reaches nearly twice as far.

Multiply that across eight stones — four on each earring, about a tenth of a carat apiece — and 0.78 ct total covers an area that would take well over a carat of round brilliants to fill. You are buying spread rather than depth, which on an earring is precisely what you want: nobody sees the pavilion of a stone set flat against a lobe.

The trade, stated honestly

Shallow means less light returned through the table than a well-cut round of the same weight. A marquise cluster is bright but it is not a round brilliant, and it never will be. What you get instead is presence — area, outline, shape — for a fraction of the weight. Those are different goods and it is worth knowing which one you are buying.

Specification

• Stones: natural diamonds, marquise cut, 0.78 ct total
• Colour: F    Clarity: VS range
• Metal: 18K white gold

The same design in warm metal, and a size up

The identical earrings in 18K yellow gold, where the question becomes how the stones are oriented. Larger, in white gold, the 1.51 ct marquise earrings. All in diamond earrings.

Buying from Antwerp

In stock at our workshop in the Antwerp diamond district. Shipped insured and boxed.