Pear Shaped Engagement Rings

A pear is half brilliant, half marquise — round at one end, pointed at the other — and it is the shape that most rewards a good cutter. Get the symmetry right and it is the most elegant thing on the tray. Get it wrong and the eye catches on it immediately.

Build a pear ring See stones in person

The pear in brief

Cut style: Brilliant cut. Faceted for maximum sparkle, like a round brilliant. The trade has names for every part of it — point, wings, shoulders, belly, keel line — and those names exist because each is somewhere the cutting can go wrong.
Length to width: Preferred 1.50 to 1.75, cut in practice from about 1.30 to 1.80. GIA is not internally consistent on the pear, and it is worth being honest about that: two GIA guides put the preferred range at 1.50 to 1.75, while its newest shapes guide says most fall between 1.30 and 1.40, and its research paper reports pears usually cut between 1.3 and 1.8. Take 1.50 to 1.75 as the classic proportion and the wider band as what actually exists — then choose by eye.
One carat measures: About 8.5 × 5.5 mm. A useful sanity check — carat is weight, not size, and two stones of the same weight in different shapes cover quite different amounts of finger.

Choosing a pear diamond

General four Cs advice is written for round brilliants. Where it differs for this shape, it differs like this.

Check the point

GIA advises examining the point specifically, both for inclusions and for concentration of colour. It is the most sensitive part of the stone in both senses.

Colour concentrates at the tip

Like the marquise and the heart, a pear holds more colour than a round brilliant, so GIA recommends choosing high on the colour scale — or going the other way entirely and choosing a fancy colour.

Symmetry faults to name

GIA lists them: high shoulders, flat wings, bulged wings, undefined points, an off-centre culet, an off-centre table. Ask to see the stone face-up and unmounted.

The bow tie

As with the oval and the marquise, a dark band across the width. GIA's mechanism is specific: the bow tie darkens as the difference between length and width grows and as pavilion angle variations become more extreme. So a longer pear tends to show more of one — which means the honest answer to 'which ratio has no bow tie' is that none is guaranteed to, and you judge it with the stone in your hand.

Setting a pear

The point is the vulnerability. GIA's answer is a V-claw on the point or a rubover around the whole stone, and it notes that French tips — modified star and upper girdle facets in place of a large bezel facet — are used on pears for exactly this reason.

The wedding ring beside it

Along with the marquise, the hardest to pair. The point sits proud of the setting and a straight band leaves a gap beneath it. A shaped band cut to the ring is the usual answer; some people prefer to wear a plain band spaced slightly apart and let the gap be deliberate.

All ten shapes compared, with profile, width and whether to solder the pair.

Where the shape comes from

The pear outline goes back to the 1400s, with the brilliant faceting style added in the 1700s.

Pear diamonds, answered

Which way do you wear a pear shaped engagement ring?

Point outwards, away from you, toward the fingertips. That is the traditional orientation and the one the trade generally recommends, because it draws the eye down the finger and makes the hand look more slender. There is no rule against wearing it the other way — some people prefer the point toward the wrist — but if you are asking, point out is the answer.

Do all pear shaped diamonds have a bow tie?

Most show one to some degree, and a slight one is normal in any elongated brilliant. GIA explains that the effect gets darker as the difference between the stone's length and width increases and as the pavilion angles vary more — so longer pears tend to show more. No ratio guarantees you a pear without one; look at the stone tilted under a light instead.

What is the best ratio for a pear shaped diamond?

GIA's own guides disagree, which is worth knowing. Two of them put the preferred range at 1.50 to 1.75; the newest says most pears fall between 1.30 and 1.40. Its research finds pears cut anywhere from about 1.3 to 1.8. Treat 1.50 to 1.75 as the classic and judge the rest by eye — a shorter pear is rounder and softer, a longer one more dramatic.

Is a pear shaped diamond the same as a teardrop?

Yes. Teardrop is the everyday name for the same shape; pear is what the trade and every grading report call it. If you have been searching for a teardrop engagement ring, this is the page you wanted.

What wedding band goes with a pear shaped engagement ring?

Usually a shaped one. The point reaches past the setting, so a straight band leaves a visible gap underneath it. We cut a band to follow the individual ring, which closes it completely. The alternative — a plain band worn with a deliberate gap — is a perfectly good look and costs less.

Other shapes

Undecided is a perfectly good place to start — come and see several side by side, which is the only way to settle it. Before that, the natural and laboratory-grown comparison and the ring size guide are the two things worth reading.

Sources

Gemmological claims on this page are from the Gemological Institute of America. Where GIA gives no figure — facet counts for most fancy shapes, several length-to-width ratios — we say so rather than repeat a trade convention as fact.