Information and remodel ideas (antique pave piece)

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I inherited this piece from my mother, who bought it sometime in the 80s. It''s white gold and has what looks like OEC pave. I think the jeweler told her it was originally half of a pin which was made into a ring. As you will see, it''s massive, and not something I feel comfortable wearing on my hand (unless I''m going for the brass knuckles look). There is also what looks like a couple of lines of breakage in the piece where it''s either coming apart or came apart in the past and was repaired.

Anyone have information on what era this piece might have come from (Deco?) or if it''s a repro? What about redesign ideas? Maybe a necklace? Thanks!

 

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Side view.

 

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Closeup to see the stone cut.

 

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Underneath.

 

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The milgrain is a little more obvious here.

 

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Handshot. How about a knuckle sandwich?

 

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It''s massive!

 

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Closeup.

 

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One other closeup. This is the last one!

 

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By the way, I have size 9.5 fingers, so when I say it''s big, I mean it! Thanks in advance for any information or inspiration.

 

[~*Alexis*~]

I think it would make a nice pendant...maybe make it more of an oval shape...then you can use the left over diamonds for some earring jackets?

 

[somethingshiny]

I don''t know what I''d do with it. Usually with a vintage (or suspected vintage) piece, I always encourage changing it as little as possible. But in the first pic, what I saw immediately was a skull with a knife sticking out the top of it''s head. SO, I''d do something to it, not sure what. If the stones are decent, you may be able to create an entirely new design, but that could get costly to unmount and remount tons of stones.

 

[eac]

It looks like it''s Art Deco, all right. I don''t think it was a "brooch" - I think it was a similar piece of jewelry, very popular in the 1930s, called a "clip."

There is a pair of clips on this page here:

http://www.mschon.com/1920307.html

They could be worn by themselves, or a pair of clips combined into one brooch. Clips had their day...and then went out of fashion to never return. Hence, your mother adopting and adapting this single clip.

The deco setting is interesting and valuable. I''d detach it from the ring and make it into a pendant, or attach it to a chain.

 

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Date: 1/21/2008 10:20:43 PM
Author: eac
It looks like it''s Art Deco, all right. I don''t think it was a ''brooch'' - I think it was a similar piece of jewelry, very popular in the 1930s, called a ''clip.''


There is a pair of clips on this page here:


http://www.mschon.com/1920307.html


They could be worn by themselves, or a pair of clips combined into one brooch. Clips had their day...and then went out of fashion to never return. Hence, your mother adopting and adapting this single clip.


The deco setting is interesting and valuable. I''d detach it from the ring and make it into a pendant, or attach it to a chain.

Very interesting! Thanks for the information. Actually, it had already been adapted into the ring when she bought it, so I don''t have a problem with turning it into something else like a pendant. I''m almost wondering how it would look with a briolette aquamarine or something hanging down from the tapered end...

(I don''t see the skull with the knife in its head, but that''s a little alarming!)

 

[HeartingDiamonds]

I definitely vote for the pendant idea! I think it would lovely as such, but I agree that it is a tad, ehem, big for a ring

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Oh, and I think that the stones look more like OMCs than OECs.

Cant wait to hear what you decide - I love projects like these...

 

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Date: 1/21/2008 11:56:48 PM
Author: HeartingDiamonds
I definitely vote for the pendant idea! I think it would lovely as such, but I agree that it is a tad, ehem, big for a ring

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Oh, and I think that the stones look more like OMCs than OECs.


Cant wait to hear what you decide - I love projects like these...

Doh! I meant "OMC." I was saying "OMC" in my head when I typed the post. Silly fingers typing faster than my brain.

It''ll be a good while until I do something with this, since I''ve got two major projects in the works at the moment, but hopefully within a year or so. I''ll definitely post back once I do.

 

[LGK]

Yeah, it looks like it was originally part of a pair of clips. It may have been part of a pair that were convertible- that is, you could fit the two together into a brooch using a metal frame, or detach and wear separate (Coro's "Duette" line was the rhinestone version). Probably c.1930s. I suspect these stones are probably neither OEC or OMC really, but just older cut pave. Because my guess on the date would be late 1920s to early 1930s, which would be too late for mine cuts... but I have a 1920s watch with the same types of funky cut stones, and I think it was just the way pave was a lot of the time- not precise.

Too bad it was converted into a ring! I would love to see it become a pendant, or you could have it sewn as a dangly piece onto a black velvet choker ribbon for a very vintage look. Some places like Cartier (I think it was Cartier!) actually did that with diamond filigree pieces a lot like this- sold them as pieces sewed onto black velvet choker ribbon. Originally. I so drooled over those in the reference book I found them in! If the ribbon was lost you'd be hard pressed to figure out what the diamond piece was meant for. Yours would be so pretty presented like that I think! Especially if the breaks could be at least stabilized.

 

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Date: 1/22/2008 2:26:34 AM
Author: LittleGreyKitten
Because my guess on the date would be late 1920s to early 1930s, which would be too late for mine cuts... but I have a 1920s watch with the same types of funky cut stones, and I think it was just the way pave was a lot of the time- not precise.

That could very well be. Some of the culets are as big as the tables, while others are relatively small. There's not a lot of fire from the piece but there's a nice bit of scintillation, so it's fun to see.

I think that to pull off a choker, one would have to have a slender neck, which I definitely do not sport.

My husband, by the way, thinks that the piece is just hideous. Well, it's definitely not my cup of tea as a ring, but I have faith that it could be happy on another part of my anatomy.

ETA: Wow, that came out ALL wrong.

 

[wolftress]

The stones are lovely, but I agree the design is very clunky. How about setting the stones in thin bezels and doing a diamonds by the yard necklace? Those little old cuts would look gorgeous as a necklace of sorts.