Black Diamond Earrings

Width: how big black diamond earrings look, in mm and carats

Choose by the width. Eighteen of the twenty listings give one, and the table below sorts them. Most pairs sold in the year were 3 to 6 mm wide. Ten of the twelve pairs sold weighed under 2 grams.

Nine listings give a length of 11 mm or more, so those run longer than a round stud. Every listing prints a carat weight, and several say it covers both ears, so read each one as the pair's total.

The black: are black diamond earrings real, natural or treated

Yes. Black diamond is the same carbon as a clear one, opaque through, so it gives a polished gunmetal gleam instead of sparkle.

Every listing here reads natural. In the trade that means mined, and most mined black diamonds owe their color to heat or irradiation, so ask which kind your pair holds. AAA is a dealer's mark for a uniform black and a clean polish, not a gem lab's grade. One listing warns that black diamonds chip more easily than white ones.

Styles: Royal pairs, Heiress halo, cluster studs, black and white diamond earrings

Start with a Royal pair, round black stones in prongs. Seven of the twenty carry the Royal name, and those pairs took nearly half the pieces sold here in the year. For something quieter, the cluster stud gathers small black stones into one face 3 mm across.

An Heiress pair sets a dark center in a halo of smaller stones, so ask what color the halo is. One round-cut pair mixes black and white diamonds, and one sets black diamonds beside rubies. Nothing here is sold as a single, so for one ear see men's single earrings.

Gold: black diamond earrings in yellow, white or rose gold, and black gold

Take 14K, the karat on eighteen pairs. One is 18K, and the Ladies pair is marked platinum though it comes only in golds, so ask which metal you get. Each pair is offered in yellow, white or rose gold, and white shows the black sharpest.

Black gold is named on two listings, yet no color choice sells it. It is gold finished in a dark layer that wears and must be redone, so ask before ordering a pair pictured in black.

Buying: black diamond earrings for men or women, backs and returns

Buy the look, not the label: fifteen of the twenty pairs are listed for men and women alike. No listing names its back, so ask for a screw back or a push back. The men's earrings guide explains both.

Ask the live chat if your pair is in stock, or call or text 212-872-9692 from 10 AM ET. Send nothing back until the desk clears it. Then, within fourteen calendar days of delivery, an unworn and unaltered pair travels to us on our insured label, and the refund comes back less five percent for restocking and the label's cost. Custom work stays final (refund policy).