Black Jade
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2008
- Messages
- 1,242
Went to a jeweller today with a friend to price out getting some things reset. She has an older diamond ring which is supposed to go to her daughter. The ring is from the 1940''s but the jeweller said that the diamond was quite a bit older. He said it was an old mine cut.
I''m not sure if this is true (there were some other things he didn''t seem knowledgeable about), but certainly the diamond is not a modern round brilliant. It is also not in the best of shape. The girdle is very chipped. there is one large chip that you can see without a loupe, with your naked eyes, near a prong--i would almost say a gouge. (My friend said that her grandmother used to do all kinds of heavy work, gardening, etc. wearing this ring, which she never took off). The jeweller estimated the carat weight of the diamond to be about .75 (he couldn''t give a true weight without taking it out of the setting). My suggestion to my friend was that she reset the diamond, which she wants to be made into a pendant, in a bezel setting, which would hide the chipped girdle, and leave the diamond alone. In spite of the chipping, it is still a very pretty stone. the jeweller had no advice one way or the other. He said he could do anything she wanted. My friend, however, believes it would be best to re-cut the diamond to get rid of the chipped part, so that the diamond would be more valuable for her daughter.
Would the diamond become more valuable if re-cut?
The jeweller said that they would not recut the whole stone so would not change the faceting. He gave an estimate of about $200 to cut it so that the chips on the girdle were gone.
He said that an old mine cut is less valuable than a round brilliant in terms of price.
What would be your advice to my friend? She is not planning to do this right away but probably for her daughter''s birthday in the fall.
I''m not sure if this is true (there were some other things he didn''t seem knowledgeable about), but certainly the diamond is not a modern round brilliant. It is also not in the best of shape. The girdle is very chipped. there is one large chip that you can see without a loupe, with your naked eyes, near a prong--i would almost say a gouge. (My friend said that her grandmother used to do all kinds of heavy work, gardening, etc. wearing this ring, which she never took off). The jeweller estimated the carat weight of the diamond to be about .75 (he couldn''t give a true weight without taking it out of the setting). My suggestion to my friend was that she reset the diamond, which she wants to be made into a pendant, in a bezel setting, which would hide the chipped girdle, and leave the diamond alone. In spite of the chipping, it is still a very pretty stone. the jeweller had no advice one way or the other. He said he could do anything she wanted. My friend, however, believes it would be best to re-cut the diamond to get rid of the chipped part, so that the diamond would be more valuable for her daughter.
Would the diamond become more valuable if re-cut?
The jeweller said that they would not recut the whole stone so would not change the faceting. He gave an estimate of about $200 to cut it so that the chips on the girdle were gone.
He said that an old mine cut is less valuable than a round brilliant in terms of price.
What would be your advice to my friend? She is not planning to do this right away but probably for her daughter''s birthday in the fall.