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I was being sooooo good...

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LibbyLA

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Messages
1,052
I thought my vintage wedding jewelry collection was complete, hadn't been looking on ebay much lately (too busy with work, no time to even window shop), but needed to wind down tonight after six hours of grading students' programs, so I went on ebay just for fun. Checked on a few things on my watch list, looked for similar items, ran into something on myDiamondZone that popped up in a "similar items" search, so I did my usual look-see at DZ (vintage/antique rings). Bad, bad move.

Vintage eternity ring with 24 OECs (1 ct. TW), engraved sides, in my weird size (8.25). Uh, oh. Have not been looking for an eternity ring, really haven't had any interest in an eternity ring (why pay for diamonds you can't see?), but this one looks like it should be comfortable (not too wide or thick, no pokey prongs). Can stack with the engraved wedding bands I already have. LOVE the idea of all those sparkly little OECs.

Have been sort of looking for an engraved YG band, but those are rare. Beautiful one on ebay right now, but nowhere close to my size. Not a must-have, but if I run across one at a reasonable price...

Would be nice if this one gets here Friday, but it probably won't be until Saturday or next week.

liz

eternity01.jpg

eternity02.jpg
 
Oooh, post hand shots when you get it! Looks pretty!
 
Oh, I saw this and was bummed it wasn't my size! Funny, I never had any interest in eternity bands until recently either - now I'm really thinking about getting one, I think they make great stacking bands and you don't have to worry about them spinning. This looks really pretty, love the engraving. Looking forward to seeing it!
 
Oooh, nice one! Totally know about the "let's just wind down on ebay... oh what's this awesome thing for a great price? Oops..." procedure ::)

Hope you love it, please post pics!
 
Gorgeous! :love:
 
Please post a hand shot with the ring! Very pretty...
 
The siren call of an eBay listing---we are weak if we make eye contact! :lol:

Looks like a beauty tho Liz, so don't feel bad... Tomorrow is a great day to start again! :wink2:
 
The ring arrived yesterday. It's is beautiful, but I'm not sure these are OECs. The stones seem to be well-matched as far as height in the setting, crown height, table size, color, etc., but the tables seem large and the crowns aren't as high as I'd expect. Some have open culets, others don't. Some seem to have the flower pattern, some seem to have more modern brilliant pattern, but it's really hard to tell with stones this size (4 point if the 1 ct. TW is accurate). They don't look all that different from the diamonds in my six-stone (6 or 7 points), which are OECs, but they look very different from the OMCs in my five-stone. DZ knows more about diamonds than I do, so I may be concerned for no reason.

The engraving on the sides shows wear and there are damaged places in the edges of the band, almost as if the width of the band was pinched with needlenose pliers. In places, that makes the band look like it's a little scalloped rather than equal width all the way around. You can see a bit of that on the first picture on the right side, where the outside edges are pinched toward the middle of the band just a little bit. It's probably a poster child for why you shouldn't wear anything other than a plain band 24/7.

It's is very sparkly, even when dirty (and it was absolutely filthy when I got it). The setting is very low and comfortable—not too wide, not too narrow, and smooth. The prongs seem to be in decent shape and the prong pattern between stones looks like the five spots on a dice, so the center prong appears to be shared between the stones.

I was planning to take it to my jeweler anyway. I'll be a little disappointed if the diamonds aren't OECs because that was the main reason I jumped on this, but it almost certainly is vintage so it still fits my "collection". Unless I seriously overpaid for it, I will probably keep it. I may see how much it would cost to straighten the edges of the band, but if it's not cost effective, I'm not going to worry about it. I'm probably the only one who will ever see it close enough to even be able to tell. It's beautiful, it's comfortable, it looks great stacked with any of my engraved wedding rings, and it looks a little different from most eternity bands.

I'll try to get a picture or two tomorrow.

liz
 
Thanks for checking in Libby, I kept popping in to see if you got the ring!

Since you sound pretty sure that at least some of them are OEC's, it could be a few things - maybe the oecs were replaced at some point during the ring's history with rb's, or maybe some of the stones are transitional. Or they could all be OECS, but some don't display all of the characteristics. Hard to know for sure with small stones I guess. But I would think the seller would have disclosed the fact that they're not all oecs. I'm just speculating and rambling a bit here, your jeweler will be able to shed some light on the stones I'm sure.

Post a few pics if you can, and let us know what your jeweler says! It's certainly a really pretty ring!
 
junebug,

My first thought when I saw diamonds that seemed more round brilliant than OEC was that some had been replaced, but the stones seem to be well-matched as far as table width and crown height go. I think if there were replacement stones, that might not be the case but maybe someone just did a good job.

The people at DiamondZone (the seller) probably know what they are talking about. They handle a lot of vintage jewelry. The description specifically mentions the well-matched OECs as being unusual. The damage was not mentioned, though, and I bought a WG engraved band with the graduated rims on one side worn completely down and that wasn't mentioned in the description and the photo showed the unworn side, so I'm not sure. DZ seems to get good reviews here and I'm still thrilled with the 3/4 ct. OEC that I got from them. It is a nice ring, and I am not sure that it would make much difference in appearance with OECs vs. round brilliants in this small size.

Featured here is a rare art deco eternity band with 24 high quality, Old European Cut diamonds which total approximately 1 carat...This is a very rare piece from the art deco period of the 1920's - 1930's. It is very difficult to find all matching old european cut diamonds in a single piece, especially ones that are such superior quality as the ones here!

liz
 
You make a good point about not really being able to see a difference because of the small size of the stones. Too bad about the damage, although it sounds like it's not really obvious from a regular viewing distance.
 
Photos:

I have large hands (wear a men's size L glove) so this first shot is for perspective. Size 8.25, which I can wear on both left and right hands.



Closeup, showing one of the pinched areas and the prong pattern. The ring is in the same position in this photo as in the previous one, which shows that the pinched area isn't that identifiable at normal viewing distance.



With engraved platinum wedding band and spacer:



With platinum 6-stone ring (six 6 pt. OECs):

eternity04.png

eternity05.png

eternity03.png

eternity06.png
 
I think it looks really pretty Libby! Thanks for posting some pics.

The damage doesn't seem noticeable to me from a distance. It looks really nice with your other bands!
 
I took the ring to my jeweler and he confirmed that the diamonds are not OECs, although they are good quality modern round brilliants. He also said that they are 3 pt. stones, so the total ct. weight is closer to .75 ct. than 1 ct. I have e-mailed DZ about the discrepancies between their description and what the ring actually is.

My jeweler said that the pinched areas are likely repaired places to keep the stones in. He said he would not do the repairs that way but the stones won't go anywhere. He doesn't recommend trying to repair the repairs because it would be too expensive. In his store, 1/4 ct. TW eternity rings sell for about what I paid for this one. He didn't think that I'd overpaid, though, and didn't suggest returning the ring.

I'm going to see what response I get from DZ. The ring is vintage and it's different. I like it. But I'm disappointed that it's not OECs and not 1 ct. I bought it based on the OEC description and probably wouldn't have done so if it weren't for the supposed OECs.

liz
 
Sorry to hear the ring wasn't what you expected Libby. Let us know what you decide!
 
DZ will take it back. I have to think about it. I probably wouldn't even have considered buying it if it weren't listed as OECs (or OMBs), at least not at the price it was.

I'll wear it for a few days and see how I feel about it. If I keep it, it would definitely be something I would wear a lot.

At least my jeweler says that he doesn't think I overpaid for it.

liz
 
Oh Libby! That is great that DZ will accept the return - but so not nice that they posted misleading information. Grrr...

On the upside, it does sound like it was a good purchase, based on what your local man is telling you. It does look great on you! and it works with so many of your other vintage pieces... if it isn't a huge financial issue, do you think you'll lean to keeping it? Would DZ allow you some sort of credit for 'good will' towards a future purchase, if you kept this and bought again from them in the future? Maybe not, but it would be good customer relations (and lately, I'm all over that issue!)
 
DZ has a 14-day return policy. I returned a wedding ring that was really worn on one side and as soon as they got it back, they issued a PayPal credit. I have no complaints about that.

It wasn't a steal, maybe not a deal, but definitely not a rip off. It does go with my other vintage things. I really don't NEED it, but it's not going to break me to keep it.

I don't get the feeling that DZ will do anything other than take the ring back. Ilya is being very nice about it.

I'm just surprised that it was listed as OEC. Maybe the diamonds are trannies? They definitely aren't OEC or OMB. There's no "ice cream cone" appearance at all. The tables are wide, the crowns are not tall, I only saw a couple of open culets, and the faceting is definitely not flower-like. I'm only a novice at looking at diamonds, but OECs and OMBs don't look at all like MRBs.

I'm going to wear it through the weekend and see how I feel about it. It's very pretty, I'd wear it a lot, but I just have to see whether I'll feel so disappointed that the diamonds aren't old cuts that I'll regret spending the money on it.

liz
 
Good idea to wear it for a few days Libby - it will give you chance to see if you think you are going to enjoy it, and if you like the way it looks and feels. It's really pretty and does look great with your other bands, as Enerchi said.

Right now you sound a bit bummed, but as you wear it you might realize it's still a really nice and versatile ring, especially if you didn't pay a tremendous amount for it. And if it just doesn't end up doing it for you, easy enough to return it. Sorry about the initial disappointment, though.
 
I don't mind saying what I paid for it, since it's on ebay. Price was $750.

I don't know how much difference OEC vs. MRB would make with diamonds as small as these but it's just the idea of having the old stones, and DZ handles a lot of vintage jewelry so I'm just surprised that the description is so wrong.
 
Just wondering what you decided Libby! How do you feel after wearing the ring for a bit? Do you think you'll keep it?
 
Haven't absolutely decided, but I'm more likely to keep it than not. I'm wearing it a lot.

liz
 
I feel your pain...I always think I am done until I click on mydiamondzone and see something else. I think if I owned all their pieces I may be satisfied. Go for it...You Only Live Once ;)
 
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