{"product_id":"pear-and-princess-moissanite-toi-et-moi-ring","title":"Pear and Princess Cut Moissanite Toi et Moi Engagement Ring in Silver, 10K, 14K and 18K Gold","description":"\u003cp\u003eTwo large stones leaning toward each other on a plain gold band. A pear on one side, point up and tilted away, and a square princess cut on the other, set straight. Both stones are substantial and neither is subordinate to the other, which is what separates a proper toi et moi from a solitaire with a side stone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAt a glance\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCentre stones:\u003c\/strong\u003e Pear brilliant and princess cut moissanite, colourless, VVS clarity\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCarat options:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2, 3, 4 and 5 carat, combined weight\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSetting:\u003c\/strong\u003e Two claw set heads side by side, each tilted toward the other\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAccent stones:\u003c\/strong\u003e None, the two centre stones are the whole design\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBand width:\u003c\/strong\u003e Approximately 1.9 mm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMetals:\u003c\/strong\u003e 925 sterling silver, 10K, 14K and 18K gold in yellow, rose and white\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRing sizes:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.5 to 13, including half sizes\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMade:\u003c\/strong\u003e To order by hand in Surat, India\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA curve and a square\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eToi et moi means you and me. The form is two stones sharing one ring and it has carried that meaning since 1796, when Napoleon gave Josephine a ring set with a pear and a sapphire side by side. It came back into general use in the 1920s and again in the last few years, and it is the only common engagement ring design that is explicitly about two people rather than one stone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA princess cut is a square brilliant: four sharp corners, straight sides, and the same small facet pattern underneath that a round has. A pear is all curve and one point. There is no shape in the catalogue further from a princess than a pear, which is exactly why the two work together. The eye reads difference rather than repetition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBoth stones are tilted slightly toward each other rather than set upright. That small angle is what makes the pair look like they belong on one ring instead of two stones that happen to be adjacent.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach corner of the princess carries its own claw, formed around the corner rather than sitting on top of it, because a square brilliant is at its thinnest exactly there.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne thing to know about any pear shaped ring. The point is the thinnest part of the stone and the only part that can realistically chip, so how it is held matters more than anything else on the ring. On every pear we set, the tip sits inside metal rather than standing free. Set that way a pear is no more fragile than a round, and it is worth checking how any other pear ring you look at handles that tip.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWhy the pear cut\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe pear cut is a teardrop that marries the brilliant faceting of a round with the tapered point of a marquise. Worn with the point toward the fingernail it makes the finger look longer and slimmer. It is one of the shapes we are asked for most often, and it is cut here to the same proportions we would use for a diamond of the same outline.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eHow this ring differs from our other pear moissanite rings\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur petite version of this pairing uses the same two shapes at a smaller combined weight on a narrower band. This is the full size one: both stones large, the band still plain, and the head covering considerably more of the finger.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWhat moissanite actually is\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eMoissanite is silicon carbide, a crystal first identified by the French chemist Henri Moissan in 1893 in fragments of the Canyon Diablo meteorite in Arizona. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1906, and the mineral was named after him. Natural moissanite is vanishingly rare, so every moissanite sold as a gemstone today is grown in a laboratory.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere is what that means for a ring you will wear every day:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHardness 9.25 on the Mohs scale.\u003c\/strong\u003e Only diamond and a handful of laboratory materials are harder. It will not scratch from ordinary wear, and it is well suited to a ring worn daily for decades.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRefractive index of 2.65 to 2.69\u003c\/strong\u003e, higher than diamond at 2.42. More light is bent back to the eye, which is why a moissanite reads noticeably brighter than a diamond of the same size under the same light.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDispersion of 0.104\u003c\/strong\u003e, against 0.044 for diamond. Dispersion is the splitting of white light into spectral colours. This is the origin of the rainbow fire that moissanite is known for, most visible in direct sun or under spotlights.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDoubly refractive.\u003c\/strong\u003e Under strong magnification a gemmologist can see facet edges doubled. To the naked eye it looks like extra brilliance.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eMoissanite is not cubic zirconia and it is not glass. Cubic zirconia is far softer at 8 to 8.5 on the Mohs scale, it clouds and abrades within a few years of daily wear, and it has little resale value. Moissanite keeps its polish and its brightness indefinitely. It is also not a diamond, laboratory grown or mined, and we never describe it as one. It is its own gemstone with its own optical signature, and it is chosen by people who want maximum presence on the hand for a fraction of the cost of a diamond of the same size.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvery stone we set is graded colourless, the top colour band for moissanite, and VVS clarity, which means any inclusions are extremely difficult to find even under ten times magnification. Nothing is visible to the naked eye.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eChoosing your metal\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis ring is made to order in ten metals, so the version you choose is the version we build. There is no plating over a base metal and no filled or bonded gold anywhere in the range.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e925 sterling silver\u003c\/strong\u003e is the most affordable way to own the design. It is 92.5 per cent pure silver, bright white, and it takes a high polish. Silver is softer than gold and it will pick up fine surface marks with daily wear, which most people come to like. It can also tarnish, and a soft polishing cloth brings it straight back.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e10K gold\u003c\/strong\u003e is 41.7 per cent pure gold. It is the hardest and the most scratch resistant of the three gold alloys, which makes it a sensible choice for hands that work. The colour is a little paler than 14K.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e14K gold\u003c\/strong\u003e is 58.5 per cent pure gold and it is what most engagement rings sold in the United States are made from. It balances a warm, convincing colour against real everyday durability.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e18K gold\u003c\/strong\u003e is 75 per cent pure gold. It has the deepest, richest colour and the most weight in the hand. It is also the softest of the three, so it marks a little more readily.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eYellow gold is gold alloyed with silver and copper. Rose gold takes more copper, which gives the warm pink tone and also makes it the hardest of the three colours. White gold is alloyed with palladium or nickel and then finished with rhodium plating, which is what gives it that bright white face. Rhodium wears thin over time and wants redoing roughly every one to two years, which any jeweller can do quickly and cheaply. Every gold ring is stamped with its karat mark.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eChoosing your carat size\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis ring is offered in 2, 3, 4 and 5 carat centre stones. Carat is a unit of weight, not of width, so here is roughly what each one measures across the face of a pear cut:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e2 carat\u003c\/strong\u003e is the most chosen size. It is unmistakably a statement stone and still sits comfortably under a glove or a coat sleeve.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e3 carat\u003c\/strong\u003e is a clear step up in presence and photographs beautifully. This is where most people land when they want the ring to be the first thing anyone notices.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e4 carat\u003c\/strong\u003e covers the finger generously and suits longer fingers and larger ring sizes particularly well.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e5 carat\u003c\/strong\u003e is a red carpet stone. It is the size people ask about across a room.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf you are between sizes, order the smaller centre stone in a richer metal rather than the larger stone in the cheapest one. A well made ring in 14K or 18K gold ages far better than an oversized stone on a thin shank.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMade to order in our own workshop\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eMapple Gems is a family run jewellery workshop in Surat, in Gujarat, India. Surat is where roughly nine out of every ten diamonds in the world are cut and polished, and the bench skills that grew up around that trade are what this ring is built on. We are not a dropshipper and we do not hold finished stock. When your order comes in, a goldsmith casts your metal in your size, a setter places every stone by hand under a microscope, and the piece is polished, checked and photographed before it leaves us.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMaking takes ten to fourteen working days for most orders. Shipping is free worldwide and fully insured, and it is normally three to seven working days once the ring has left the bench. Buying direct from the bench is the reason a ring like this costs what it does here rather than several times more on a high street.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eCaring for your ring\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eMoissanite attracts skin oil and hand cream the same way diamond does, and a film of it is the single most common reason a ring looks dull. Soak the ring for ten minutes in warm water with a drop of washing up liquid, brush gently behind and underneath the stone with a soft toothbrush, rinse and pat dry with a lint free cloth. Once a fortnight is plenty.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTake the ring off before the gym, gardening, swimming pools and hot tubs, and before using bleach or oven cleaner. Chlorine attacks the alloys in gold over time and it will do nothing good to sterling silver. Store it on its own rather than loose in a box with other pieces. Have the claws checked by a jeweller once a year, which takes two minutes and is usually free. White gold will want its rhodium refreshed every one to two years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eQuestions people ask about this ring\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003ch3\u003eHow is the carat weight divided?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eRoughly evenly between the two, with the pear cut a little longer so the pair reads as balanced. The carat option you choose is the combined weight of both stones.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eCan I choose which side each stone sits on?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eYes, at no extra cost. Most people wear the pear toward the little finger, which is how it is photographed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat colour and clarity is the moissanite in this ring?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvery centre stone is graded colourless with VVS clarity. Colourless is the top colour band for moissanite, and VVS means inclusions are extremely difficult to see even under ten times magnification. The grades are the same on every metal and every carat weight, and on every ring we cut and set in our own workshop.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWill people be able to tell it is not a diamond?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot by looking. Both stones are colourless and brilliantly cut, and at arm length they read the same. In direct sunlight moissanite throws more rainbow coloured fire than a diamond does, which some people love and which is the only tell most people would ever notice. Telling the two apart with any certainty needs a thermal or electrical conductivity tester, or a loupe and the training to read facet doubling.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDoes moissanite get cloudy or lose its sparkle over time?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eNo. At 9.25 on the Mohs scale it is one of the hardest gem materials there is, and it does not abrade, cloud or dull with wear the way cubic zirconia does. What makes any ring look dull is a film of skin oil, soap and hand cream on the underside of the stone. A few minutes in warm soapy water with a soft brush restores it completely.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat ring sizes can I order?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe make sizes 1.5 to 13, including every half size. Choose your size at checkout. If you are unsure, measure a ring that already fits the correct finger, or ask a local jeweller to size you, and remember that fingers run slightly larger in hot weather and late in the day.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eCan the ring be resized later?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn most cases yes. Any jeweller can work on a plain section of shank. Resizing is harder where the band is set with stones all the way round, and moving more than about two sizes in either direction is better done by remaking the shank. Contact us first and we will tell you exactly what is possible for your ring.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eHow long will it take to arrive?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvery ring is made to order in our workshop in Surat. Allow ten to fourteen working days for making, plus three to seven working days for insured worldwide shipping. If you have a proposal date, tell us when you order and we will confirm whether we can meet it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eIs the metal solid, or is it plated?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is solid throughout. 925 sterling silver is 92.5 per cent pure silver, and the gold options are solid 10K, 14K or 18K alloy stamped with the karat mark. Nothing in this range is gold plated, gold filled or gold bonded. White gold carries a rhodium finish on the surface, which is standard for all white gold everywhere and is refreshed every year or two.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDo you offer engraving?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eYes, and there is no charge for it. Tell us the wording when you order and we will engrave the inside of the shank. Most people choose a date, a set of initials or a short phrase. Allow up to about twenty five characters.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat is your returns policy?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eReturns are accepted within thirty days of delivery on an unworn ring in its original packaging. Because every piece is cut, cast and set to order, engraved rings and rings made to a non standard specification are handled case by case. Write to us and we will sort it out.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mapple Gems","offers":[{"title":"925 Sterling Silver \/ 2 Carat","offer_id":61191632289932,"sku":"MG-TPP-664-925-2CT","price":116.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"925 Sterling Silver \/ 3 Carat","offer_id":61191632322700,"sku":"MG-TPP-664-925-3CT","price":136.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"925 Sterling Silver \/ 4 Carat","offer_id":61191632355468,"sku":"MG-TPP-664-925-4CT","price":156.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"925 Sterling Silver \/ 5 Carat","offer_id":61191632388236,"sku":"MG-TPP-664-925-5CT","price":176.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"10K Yellow Gold \/ 2 Carat","offer_id":61191632421004,"sku":"MG-TPP-664-10KY-2CT","price":630.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"10K Yellow Gold \/ 3 Carat","offer_id":61191632453772,"sku":"MG-TPP-664-10KY-3CT","price":650.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"10K Yellow Gold \/ 4 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