1820''s Old Mine Cut Heirloom ring - N color!

[KristyDarling]

....and I have to say that the ring is even more beautiful in person!

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 5/2/2006 3:29:12 PM
Author:wallermama
My husband''s great-great-great grandmother''s ring, and my original engagement ring...

Old Mine Cut
Center, .5ct N color
Crescent moon of graduating OMC side stones

WOW!!! I''m so glad someone bumped this thread! It didn''t turn up on my old mine searches! Wowza! whatta ring!!!!!

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 7/17/2006 2:31:26 PM
Author: wallermama
An after-the-fact edit...

When we had our recent Bay Area Get Together, we went to the to-die-for estate jewelry store, Darren McClung''s, and he told me this stone/ring was Old European Cut (not an OMC), and the ring was circa 1880. Apparently we made the wrong guestimate on how long it takes for a great-great-great grandmother to pass something down...

ahhh you bumped it - thank you! and yes... generally and not specifically speaking... people did have their children at much younger ages back then... I''ve ran across similiar things when explaining that I''m a 5th generation californian. I thought it would have gone back in years farther than it did! LOL Even my first generation grandmother was born on the west coast and her husband was as well (utah and oregon). God, I want to go home... ::sigh:: but now back to the ring!! That is so cool! I love the way it looks from the top... it''s almost like a crescent moon cupping a star... do you know what inspired the design?

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 5/2/2006 3:29:12 PM
Author:wallermama
My husband''s great-great-great grandmother''s ring, and my original engagement ring...

Old Mine Cut
Center, .5ct N color
Crescent moon of graduating OMC side stones

One more thing... and I''ll ignore the OMC and think OEC above... but with 7 diamonds... and the 4 little steps... maybe I''m too creatively analytical, but I would love to go back in time and be a fly on the wall during the creation of that ring!

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 5/2/2006 4:26:37 PM
Author: wallermama
As far as I know, the setting is original. It was part of a brooch, ring and pendant set. All three pieces made it down the family tree to my husband''s grandmother, who gave each of her three daughters a piece (my MIL got the ring). Unfortunately, his aunts lost the other pieces...both were stolen at various times.

His grandmother gave the ring to her eldest (my MIL) who gave it to my husband (her firstborn) after we had become engaged ringless. I''m one of those impatient LIW who went ahead and proposed to him

. I wore it for a year before the thin shank snapped, had it repaired, snapped again a year later, so the bottom half of the shank had to be replaced. The I lost a side stone, and the jeweler who found a replacement told me that this was made to be a cocktail ring, not an ering, and that it wouldn''t stand everyday abuse. So back in the ring box it went.

The ring has lots of history...at one point it was pawned so that my husbands great grandmother could put her son through college. She then worked a night job to earn the money to buy it back.

Thanks for all of your kind comments! What a great bunch.

wow... they''re out there somewhere... isn''t that amazing? It adds mystery and mistique to the piece you DO have!!!

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 5/2/2006 4:26:37 PM
Author: wallermama

The ring has lots of history...at one point it was pawned so that my husbands great grandmother could put her son through college. She then worked a night job to earn the money to buy it back.

Thanks for all of your kind comments! What a great bunch.

aw crap, that part literally made me cry. That is so amazing and such a wonderful gift to her child. It''s a beautiful right hand ring.. I might even like it better on the right hand the way the crescent is facing... would you mind taking pictures of it on your right hand? I''d never leave for a special occasion without it! It is truly amazing by *any* standards!

Oh, and I want to see your main ring from your left hand... is it your avatar? geeez now I want to go a) take some pictures of my family heirlooms, and b) want to see your two rings together on different hands LOL!

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 5/2/2006 4:29:32 PM
Author: wallermama
As for the crescent shape...it does remind me of a moon and stars...It is my favorite part of the ring. Our appraiser said that it was a common jewelry theme back then...someone asked me once if it was a Masonic ring, but I think it was just a pretty little thing with no particular symbolism!

I saw an islamic influence myself...

 

[Dancing Fire]

WOW!!! 1820''s. what a beautiful treasure.