I fixed Grandma's ring

[stracci2000]

Some of you may recall that I acquired MIL's jewelry hoard last year, upon her passing.
Grandma's ring was in it. But the stone was missing, reset long ago into something else.
Anyway, I hated that it was broken and unloved, so I replaced the stone with a decent CZ that I had in my stash.
Grandma was married in 1931, so the style is indicative of that period, with the illusion mounting.


I vacillated about how to attach a new stone. The old stone was literally dug out by a previous jeweler. There was no material left to work with in the way of prongs, so I had to rethink the whole thing. I decided to solder on a sort of bezel and then carve it away till I was left with four tab prongs. It worked out OK.

I must tell you that creating tiny tab prongs this way without all the fancy tools and other aids that professional jewelers have is a real challenge!








I have had no luck figuring out the maker on this piece. Lang University is awkward to navigate and I couldn't find anything.
Thomas Wood rings a bell, but I don't know.
Maybe @YadaYadaYada would know!

 

[RetroQT]

Love the history and how she turned out!

 

[YadaYadaYada]

That is amazing! Pretty ingenious how you went about making those prongs. I haven’t had a chance to search that hallmark but if I find anything, I’ll let you know.

 

[Austina]

I found this @stracci2000

 

[stracci2000]

I found this @stracci2000

Thanks @Austina! This might be it.
Maybe grandma didn't get her diamond until they were married for a few years

 

[Lookinagain]

@stracci2000 You amaze me with the way you come up with projects like this, and succeed. I could never think of that, or pull it off. It looks great.

 

[stracci2000]

@stracci2000 You amaze me with the way you come up with projects like this, and succeed. I could never think of that, or pull it off. It looks great.

Thanks @Lookinagain !
I spend a lot of time sitting at the bench staring at broken jewelry or loose stones until the lightbulb goes on in my head! I also look at lots of jewelry online to see how things are constructed, in order to make repairs.
One of my big pet peeves is when vendors don't show the sides and back of a piece of jewelry that I am researching.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

i think this is wonderful
what a great job you have done

 

[stracci2000]

i think this is wonderful
what a great job you have done

Thanks Daisy! I knew you would approve of reviving Grandma Margaret's ring.

 

[88_star]

Great thinking! The updated setting looks beautiful.

 

[PreRaphaelite]

I love it! And I suspect she would too.
You're amazing.

 

[luvmysparklies]

You did a beautiful job!
It is a Tessler Weiss ring. I recognize the marking. I bought one many years ago for my sister. Their jewelry was die struck and very nice quality.

 

[MrsBlue]

Great job! That's a genius way of maintaining the look without changing the original. Beautiful!!!

 

[mtriplee]

So beautiful and special!

 

[bright&shiny]

I love your solution - the bezel and tab look wonderful! Congratulations!

 

[stracci2000]

@RetroQT @YadaYadaYada @88_star @PreRaphaelite @luvmysparklies @MrsBlue @mtriplee @bright&shiny
Thanks for all the nice comments!
I was going to put a colored stone in there. I tried garnet, sapphire, chrome diopside and mint green tourmaline. But none of them looked right, only the CZ. This ring needed to keep that vintage engagement ring look.
If I had a spare diamond, I would've used it!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

@RetroQT @YadaYadaYada @88_star @PreRaphaelite @luvmysparklies @MrsBlue @mtriplee @bright&shiny
Thanks for all the nice comments!
I was going to put a colored stone in there. I tried garnet, sapphire, chrome diopside and mint green tourmaline. But none of them looked right, only the CZ. This ring needed to keep that vintage engagement ring look.
If I had a spare diamond, I would've used it!

well its a job well done and it puts Grandma's ring back into rotation which i think is the most important thing
think how pleased she would be that you are wearing it again

 

[YadaYadaYada]

You know it’s funny how you mentioned that a colored stone just didn’t look right. Anytime I see a ring of this style with a colored center it just looks all wrong to me, like you can tell it’s not supposed to be there. The CZ was the perfect choice for this.

 

[stracci2000]

You know it’s funny how you mentioned that a colored stone just didn’t look right. Anytime I see a ring of this style with a colored center it just looks all wrong to me, like you can tell it’s not supposed to be there. The CZ was the perfect choice for this.

I agree. Whenever I do see this style with a colored stone, I usually assume it's a replacement.
I really wanted the mint green tourmaline to work, but it looked so "blah" compared to the bright CZ.