Antique 6 prong, any idea what year?

[XChick03]

I have my great-grandmother''s engagement ring and I am trying to figure out what year, or at least decade, it was set. She has Alzheimer''s so she can''t tell me herself, so I was hoping some of you might be able to help me figure it out. It is a very small round diamond, I would guess between .15 and .30 ct, but its not a bad cut. It has pretty good sparkle and fire to it. The setting is yellow gold, about 5-6 mm thick with edges like the picture below and sort of diagonal brushed look, kind of like the second picture. The diamond is held with a 6 prong setting. Was this particular style popular in a certain time period or could it have been made at any time? Any help is appreciated.

 

[widget]

Hi, XChick...

How old is your greatgrandmother? When did she get married? Sometimes that''s a way to estimate something''s vintage.

My first thought was that it might be from the ''40s. During the war platinum wasn''t available, and YG was popular. Would that fit with her age?

Is the stone an OEC or a modern RB? I suppose if it''s an older cut stone, the ring might be older...

Just guessing, really...

widget

 

[XChick03]

Well, I know she was born in 1915 and married in 1930-31, but I am not sure if the diamond was reset or not, so I am guessing its somewhere between 1930 and the 1960's. I really don't know if its a modern round or not. Since its so much smaller than my RB, its hard to compare them, but the facet patterns do look different to me. Though, that could be because mine is a triple ideal, I don't know. Also, the stone looks almost octagonal, but I can't tell if its cut that way or if the prongs make it look that way.

ETA after comparing it to pictures of RBs and OECs, it looks more like an OEC to me.

 

[njc]

My grandmother was about 5 years younger than your great-grandmother, and i know the diamonds in her ering are single cuts (took it to a jeweler). They can and do sparkle, but sometimes, at just the right angle, they go black. I thought that maybe they had low clarity, but when i got them appraised i was told because they are single cuts and have so few facets, i was actually seeing the metal through the diamond and that was what was making it look black. They are G-H, VS1-2.

Anyways, I think her ring is from the 1930s, but i was told that single cut diamonds were sold until the 1960s.

 

[XChick03]

Do you mean the facets appear black at certain angles or the whole diamond looks black? I dont think this one does that, but I am not exactly sure what you mean.

 

[njc]

The whole diamond goes black, but the ones i am speaking of are REALLY tiny like .007ct. In larger stones it just may be a facet that goes black?

I also realized after i made my post that you thought your stone was an OEC... sorry for the confusion.

 

[XChick03]

No problem. Now that you mention it, when angle it to the side, one of the facets on the left goes black, but just that one side. The other stays perfectly clear. Does that mean anything?

 

[oldminer]

The flat engagement ring shank with diagonal lines cut into it come into being in the 1950''s and was popular into the 1970''s. Many were two ring, "Bridal Sets" or Three ring "Trio Sets" that included a wedding ring for the husband. I would imagine the mountings were a post WWII present. Maybe a coming home gift from a WWII veteran husband.

 

[XChick03]

Thanks, that helps a lot. So then, I guess it was reset in the 60s, which I had thought but wasn''t sure. I noticed something else, the band says 4 K. Was that common?

 

[glitterata]

I bet that originally said 14K and the 1 has worn off or disappeared during a resizing. I don''t think there''s such a thing as 4k.

 

[XChick03]

That's what I thought also, but if the 1 wore off, well it wore really off. There's no sign that a 1 was ever there and the 4 is really clear. Maybe I'm finally starting to go crazy.

 

[perry]

Settings do wear out if the rings are worn. It would be very unusual for a setting from the 1930''s to have survived to this day. Reset after about 30-40 years would be somewhat typica (and perhaps even an upgraded ring with new diamonds)l.

You cannot tell a ring''s age based on the metal used (except for a few exotic alloys used in WWII). Platinum, white gold, yellow gold constantly rotates in the "what''s hot now" catagory - but people have chosen rings of these metals every year based on personal preference and not "what''s hot this year."

Perry