Advice and inspiration needed

[Tisme]

I've just rediscovered an old ring lurking down the back of my jewellery box. It was my beloved grandmother's engagement ring - a yellow gold band, with a ?white gold culet and side mounting, with 3 teeny diamond chips on each side. The centre stone is round.

Peering at it closely under a v. bright light without a loupe, it's got obvious tiny black inclusions, but on the hand it's eye clean. It's between 5.8 and 6 mm in size, and has a tiny bit more colour than my H diamond. But it's hardly noticeable, and on the hand looks very white and alive.

I took it to a couple of jewellers who said it was an 'older, victorian cut' and worth a bit more than I was expecting, but not enough to be worth trading in.

The problem is, the white gold has worn away entirely from one part of the culet, where the wedding ring has rubbed. So this original setting isn't as safe as it could be, and I'd hate to lose my grandmother's stone. Remaking the culet and surround would cost more than to put the stone in a new ring and, if I'm honest, I prefer platinum anyway.

So, my question is this... what should I do with this stone? Ring? Pendant? I'm open to any suggestions. What would you do with an old cut stone with sentimental value, which wasn't the greatest quality? I'm not prepared to pay a fortune because I just don't have the money to spare.

This is the ring (apologies for blurry photos - the macro mode on my camera is not at all good!)

[image removed]

 

[firebirdgold]

I''d go for making it a pendant, probably cheaper than a ring and easy to wear.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 3/12/2006 3:33:52 PM
Author: Wren
I''d go for making it a pendant, probably cheaper than a ring and easy to wear.

Second that! A few folks had diamonds reset in three-prong pendants and the looks of a floating diamond seems so cool

This is what I talking about:

Kaleigh''s nechlace

 

[ilovesparkles]

I would remake the setting if I liked it. Otherwise I would put it in a new setting or a pendant.

 

[jetmal]

I would do a pendant also.....its easier to wear, plus it will be close to your heart

 

[Tisme]

Oh, I like the look of the ''floating diamond'' in the pic posted. Very nice indeed, and the wearing close to my heart is a lovely idea.

My only concern with making a smallish stone into a pendant is that it will look tiny and not really stand out when I wear it. What do people think is a good size for a diamond pendant - is 5.8 to 6mm large enough to stand out?

Obviously I know it''ll never look as fantastic as some of the amazingly beautiful diamonds I''ve seen on here, but I''d prefer not to have people squinting at my necklace trying to spot the diamond!

Would it be worth looking at some tiny diamonds and halo-ing the stone (assuming J colour SI3/I1 diamonds are not too expensive for my budget)?

Thanks again for the help

 

[valeria101]

Date: 3/13/2006 5:37:58 AM
Author: Tisme


Would it be worth looking at some tiny diamonds and halo-ing the stone (assuming J colour SI3/I1 diamonds are not too expensive for my budget)?

For pave, the cost of the diamonds is really not much at all compared to the cost of the work itself. And for such tiny stones, relatively high color and clarity does not come at a high price (with the reverse that low grades don't save much money either). You would probably be offered H/I-VS or F/G-VS at about the same cost. And few jewelers (if any) will do pave with very low quality accent diamonds, since the work is so much more - probably over three quarters of the cost for a relatively simple piece as a paved bezel.

6mm sounds great for a pendant. There is a long thread on the 'Show me the ring' forum with lost of pendants posted. I think most are smaller than that, and look great.

'Aljewey' had a diamond set in a halo pendant by Whiteflash. LINK