I've been offered a one carat OEC but it's chipped

[CHRISTY-DANIELLE]

You guys get so lucky at pawn shops, I've actually been going to some near me. ( So far I've only found a pair of old earrings with "yellow/green stones" that look like they might be something other than peridot. ??)
I'm holding out for an oec deal, so I love reading about then here!

If you bezel, you could do the faux bezel (like photo) with well placed prongs. I have this screenshot from another PS thread as I'm working on a pendant.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@CHRISTY-DANIELLE you know the secret to finding good stuff at pawn shops sometimes is to develop a relationship with the owner. When I first started going to this shop I would dig through a jewelry armoire of mostly costume, made several trips spent a few hundred and then one day I asked if she had anything in the back and she brought out this huge tub of jewelry. Then the next time I went she let me pick through stuff she didn't even have a chance to look at! Today along with the ring (which she brought out to me it was not in the case) she asked me to go behind the counter and help a guy looking at watches.

Always ask if there is anything in the back, you never know, or ask if they have any old jewelry, it never hurts to ask! Thanks for the faux bezel suggestion, will have to look into that!

 

[YadaYadaYada]

An extra bonus, it has fluorescence!

 

[GliderPoss]

Bezel that baby yeah! Nice find...

 

[Matthews1127]

Congrats on such an awesome find!!! I can’t wait to see it re-set!!!

 

[ringo865]

Wow @StephanieLynn !! Great find! I love her, and what an awesome size! The setting is pretty cool, too. Ooh, and fluoro! I died!!

What’s the side profile look like? Platinum or white gold?

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Thank you @ringo865! I took these quickly with my phone and a macro lens. The setting is all 14K but the top is white gold as you can see here.

Taking macro shots of a chipped diamond is painful, like I can't imagine how someone managed to chip both sides north and south

 

[ringo865]

Love it! I do like that setting as the shoulders where the baguettes are isn’t ultra high. The center diamond is set high for my preference, but because of the chips, understandably you’re considering bezel setting it.

Will you keep it as a ring? Or pendant?

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@ringo865, I'm a ring girl so that's how I'll be wearing it. If it was your ring would you also bezel it? To be honest I'm. It a huge fan of bezels but am I being to paranoid that it can't be left in this setting? I have been wearing it but carefully and babying it.

 

[nala]

@ringo865, I'm a ring girl so that's how I'll be wearing it. If it was your ring would you also bezel it? To be honest I'm. It a huge fan of bezels but am I being to paranoid that it can't be left in this setting? I have been wearing it but carefully and babying it.

I would double check the prongs. Make sure they aren’t loose. I love that setting! Also, do your eyes gravitate to the chips or are they easy enough to ignore? I just picked up a moi et toi with a chipped stone and I can’t even notice it!

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@nala, I'm actually bringing the ring in to my jeweler tomorrow so I will have them give it a good once over. I honestly don't notice the chips so I'm really only considering a reset for structural integrity of the diamond, otherwise I'm fine with it the way it is.

 

[stracci2000]

What if you asked them to replace the head only with a bezel,( or half bezel) and size it up for you?
Then you could preserve the baguettes and the original shank.
Maybe the head could be removed, and the resulting gap opened up to accommodate a bezel head mounting. This would essentially make the ring size go up as well.
I don't know, just thinking out loud here. Working on jewelry is sometimes experimental.
Of course, they will try to sell you a whole new ring mounting, so beware.

 

[Rockdiamond]

I've had chips like that repaired, and lost only a few points. The stone is not exactly symmetrical to start, so if the profile gets a little "flattened" you likely won't even notice it.
If it were me, I'd repair it......
Congrats StephanieLynn.. cool stone!!

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Hmm that's an idea @stracci2000, I really don't want a whole new setting, I just need the stone to be safe in a bezel so if that's a possibility I will definitely go that route. Thanks for the suggestion!

@Rockdiamond, am I correct in the best person to consult about the chips is a diamond cutter or can a jeweler polish them out? Also insurance is a concern with whoever works on it, one of the jewelers in town will insure jewelry brought in for repairs for damage but I wasn't sure if that is typical? Not even sure if you can get insurance on a chipped diamond. Last but not least thanks for your expertise.

 

[Rockdiamond]

You'll hve to get hooked up with a good diamond cutter.
I'd suggest reaching out to a dealer you have a relationship with.
In general- the stone would need to come to NYC, or LA- and the situation here in NYC is .....there's only a few cutters left.....
Honestly- readers of this forum have a lot of resources they would not know about- many of the participating dealers know cutters that can do repairs. I'd be surprised if local dealers had the same resources.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@Rockdiamond, I'm actually next door to NYC in CT so that wouldn't be completely out of the question. Apart from resale is there any other reason to have the chips polished vs a bezel setting? I just want to make sure the stone is protected from further damage so I'm only favoring that option because it is more convenient and would fix the problem but if it may somehow compromise the integrity of the diamond further then obviously that would rule it out. Also I don't know yet whether the jeweler will even reset it with the chips, if I can't find someone willing to reset it then again I would have to reconsider having them polished out.

 

[yssie]

Add me to the list of people who would happily have taken her home had you decided not to buy her

I wouldn’t bother with recutting or polishing, personally. I’d just have some fancy prong-work done to cover them - I’m thinking vine-y, floral prongs that would look very natural unevenly-sized and noticeably-spread an example of what I mean where the design elements are the prongs -
https://www.etsy.com/listing/654352...ery=leaf+prong+ring&ref=sr_gallery-2-28&pro=1

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Oh that's very pretty @yssie, I'm gathering pictures of settings for tomorrow so I'll save that one too. I'm glad to hear so many PS folks say they would have bought it, I expected people to think I was crazy lol!

 

[Lykame]

I can imagine the chips turned East to West and a half bezel, but in the bezel section shape would be like a crescent moon, thicker in the middle to cover the chips and very slim at the edges. In fact that thin rim could go around the rest of the girdle as I wonder whether it's extremely thin and that's why the stone has chipped so dramatically.

I think that would look quite stylistic. I think that this stone is so lucky you found her and appreciate her beauty - someone clearly didn't show her much care previously!

 

[Wewechew]

I’ve been watching this thread... if you hadn’t purchased the OEC I was going see if I could buy it from you - it’s a really cute stone. I have a stiff spot for chipped OECs and have rehabbed one ( https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/oec-recut.240785/ )

Have a good cutter look at it and tell you what they can do

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Thanks @Lykame, I haven't seen a bezel like that but it sounds interesting and would keep the diamond from being damaged further so I'll add it to the list. When I was talking to the owner she doesn't seem to get in a lot of old diamonds but when she does she ends up selling them to the wholesalers Made me sad to think of all these great old diamonds probably just being recut to modern brilliants.

@Wewechew thanks for sharing that post, I knew there was someone who had a chipped OEC and rehabbed it but couldn't remember who. Your diamond came out amazing, did you end up setting it?

Are there any diamond cutters in CT that someone could recommend? I could go to NY but it would be so much easier if I could just have a cutter here look at it. I really don't want to mail it anywhere. I'm going to talk to the jeweler today to see what he says about it, to me the chips are significant but maybe they're not as bad as I think, will let you know how I make out.

 

[Lykame]

I'm thinking of many of the Sholdt Bezels! Some I think are too modern but some are quite flowy - they're good for ideas anyway and I think they would hide chips well if you didn't go the recut route.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@Lykame, I think a little bit of a challenge will be finding a bezel setting I like because they tend to look modern to me but It's going to be the only way of keeping this diamond intact so just a matter of finding a design I like then.

 

[Lykame]

@Lykame, I think a little bit of a challenge will be finding a bezel setting I like because they tend to look modern to me but It's going to be the only way of keeping this diamond intact so just a matter of finding a design I like then.

Yeah I agree they are all quite modern. I think the engraved ones look less modern. This one for example I personally really like and this isn't usually the type of ring I would like at all.

@rockysalamander likes a particular designer whose name I can never remember and she does very floral type settings. I like the idea of floral or wrap around type settings.

 

[rockysalamander]

Yeah I agree they are all quite modern. I think the engraved ones look less modern. This one for example I personally really like and this isn't usually the type of ring I would like at all.

@rockysalamander likes a particular designer whose name I can never remember and she does very floral type settings. I like the idea of floral or wrap around type settings.

I think you might be thinking of Maevona...?

 

[Lykame]

I think you might be thinking of Maevona...?

Yes!

The number of times I have tried to remember that, I've even stalked your posts but can never find it. Hehe.

 

[LightBright]

Thank you @ringo865! I took these quickly with my phone and a macro lens. The setting is all 14K but the top is white gold as you can see here.

Taking macro shots of a chipped diamond is painful, like I can't imagine how someone managed to chip both sides north and south

It’s beautiful, don’t change a thing.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Okay went to see the jeweler and he was very impressed with both the color and clarity, said it is very clean and his first suggestion.....have his diamond cutter recut it into a MRB He said as is it would be lucky to fetch $500 but recut into a modern night fetch $4,000

No, not interested, which I could see he was surprised about so I suggested a bezel setting but he felt like too much of the diamond would get covered by the bezel to completely cover the damaged areas and would make the diamond look smaller. His suggestion is to have the four prong head cut out and put in a six prong head which would better protect the diamond and save the setting. He gave me a price of $240 for that and a resize. He showed me an example of his prong work and I was happy with what I saw.

So that is the plan, thoughts on that? I realize I will still need to be careful with it, I always take my rings off for any strenuous activities or housework.

 

[Wewechew]

@StephanieLynn I ended up setting it in a bezel pendant. I wear it daily

 

[amoline]

That pendant looks fantastic! What a great ending to this diamond's journey.