How tricky is restoring antique jewelry?

very, specialist yes if it is a valuable piece.
is it gold or plat?
It might be more valuable not fixed depending on whats damaged.

Gold with little diamonds. It is topped with a white metal, but I don''t know it could be platinum or white gold. Ihe face of the ring is in good condition it''s whats going on underneath that has issues.

Do the diamonds have X cut in the metal around them?
How old is the ring reported to be?

I think it''s from the 1920s. Thats considered antique right? I don''t know what the rules are these days. It''s delicate as you can see and underneath some of the areas that give support are wearing down or worn down in some.

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repairproject.jpg (39.34 KiB) Viewed 269 times

Isnt antique over a 100 years?
dunno but dont really matter,,,
It looks like a fairly complicated design and for the time period above average.
Its going to in my opinion take a skilled benchman to work on it but likely not worth enough to have a restoration expert work on it unless its a "name" peice.

If it was mine Id take it to my local guy and have him look at it.
I wouldnt trust it too just anyone.
Know a skilled bench in your area?

edit: thats my non-expert opinion, maybe one of the appraisers will pop in and confirm or deny my opinion.

Thanks for the input!

I have been assured that I am an antique, and I'm only 50.

Beautiful ring, antique or not.

Kenny,

I''ll be 50 in 11 days and I''m not an antique by any means

Jewelry is generally regarded as antique if 100 years old.

Not every bench jeweler is a restoration expert. Ask before you have the work done.

Nice looking vintage style!

www.metrojewelryappraisers.com

Yes I''m going to have to look around. I have a place that I recently found for basic repairs, sizings etc, but they have experience with older items.

Thats called Art Deco style.
Yes you can call it antique and yes it`s abit tricky to repair.
 Find yourself a decent long established jeweller with a workshop who can help you.
I`ve had many pieces of that style to check over the setting in the past in the UK.

Date: 12/8/2006 6:19:51 PM
Author: innerkitten
Gold with little diamonds. It is topped with a white metal, but I don''t know it could be platinum or white gold. Ihe face of the ring is in good condition it''s whats going on underneath that has issues.

Sounds like it could be a bit older...
It could be Silver lined with gold...

If you want to keep the athenticity of an Antique piece, there are a few good ''Antique Jewelry restorators''.

Beautifull ring...

Date: 12/8/2006 8:22:44 PM
Author: Modified Brilliant
Kenny,

I''ll be 50 in 11 days and I''m not an antique by any means

Jewelry is generally regarded as antique if 100 years old.

Not every bench jeweler is a restoration expert. Ask before you have the work done.

Nice looking vintage style!

www.metrojewelryappraisers.com

oohps

Beautiful ring.  I am not an expert in this at all, but my experience is that it sometimes costs more to repair an older ring than the ring''s worth.  I think you should only repair this ring if it is because you want to wear it an enjoy it rather than try to make financial gain and sell it. 

Innerkitten,  I''d take it to Lang''s or Diane''s.  I''m sure they send out restoration projects all the time.

widget

My intent is to wear it. I love the way it looks on my hand.
I'm always on the look out for deals when it comes to vintage/antique jewelry. I love how everything was so well made way back when. And this one was a very good price probably because it needs some repair.
It says 14k inside so maybe it's sterling topped gold?
Widget I didn't know either of those places did repairs? But yeah they must have to get stuff done from the store so that makes sense. I'll call Lang and see what they say.

It''s a lovely ring.  I helped my SIL restore her ering that is an antique and took it to someone that specializes in this.  Made all the difference in the world.  He did a great job.  Good luck!! 

Date: 12/8/2006 6:21:43 PM
Author: strmrdr
Do the diamonds have X cut in the metal around them?
How old is the ring reported to be?

InnerKitten...that''s a beautiful ring!  I hope you can have it restored painlessly.  I inherited my great grandmother''s e-ring and needed to have it restored.  I took it to a local jeweler and he did a nice job, not perfect but it was in pretty bad shape to start so I''m happy with it.

Strm~why do you ask if there are x''s cut in the metal?  My ring has x''s on the shank...does that mean something?

Date: 12/10/2006 12:11:44 AM
Author: IrishAngel


Strm~why do you ask if there are x''s cut in the metal?

x`s cut in the metal could be referring to a type of setting common years ago called "cut-down" which gives the appearance of x`s.
x`s around the shank maybe just a continuation of a pattern?
The ring shown in this thread is bead set,with millgrain edge,very popular in the art-deco era.
By the way are the diamonds "old-cut"? in other words are they mishapen and have a flat culet? (you can see a circle in the centre of the stone).
This is a good indication of age.
Just to add that there are still workshops dedicated to producing this style of work and maybe worth seeing if you can track one down as they will be possibly better at restoring these items.

Yes the stoones in this ring appear to be old cut.

By the way I learned something new in this thread. The term cut down. I've seen that and always wondered why it looked like there was a star or an x around the stones. Very interesting.

There is another setting style I've seen in older pieces to and if anyone knows what it is please let me know. It's when it looks as if a stone was put into a bezel too big for it and then the bezel was pushed in a few areas to hold the stone and it gives a flower look to it. I've seen it in old cluster rings and other styles too.

I`ll try and attach an art deco brooch picture with a spot the missing stone competition.
As for the flowery type setting ,i know what you mean but no idea of a name for it as yet.

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Ah ha! It took me a few minutes of close inspection find it. It had good camouflage :)
Upper side. The tiny black spot ( at least thats what it looks like to me)