My Latest Grand Bazaar Find

[MrsAkin]

Hi Everyone,

About a month ago I got the jewelry bug so I visited Grand Bazaar in hopes of finding something I like, hopefully a ring. My sister in law told me about this jeweler that she and her sister visit frequently. His shop is located in a not so crowded part of the bazaar, away from the main street. He mostly sells antique looking stuff and also buys second hand jewelry. Now the ring I bought is made in a style that was popular around Istanbul until 1950's I think but it's coming back in style because of a TV show about the Ottoman Empire. Let me show you the pictures:

The diamonds are not well cut compared to today's standards. The jeweler puts some kind of metal leaf under the stone to make it reflect the light better. What I want to know is, is this particular mounting style popular around other parts of the world or is it specific to our region? Can you ladies shed some light on this matter?

 

[AGBF]

I am sorry, MrsAkin, but I cannot shed any light on the popularity of the style of this ring. When I looked at it I wondered what metal was used on it. Do you know if it is set in white gold or platinum or if it is set in yellow gold but coated with one of the other metals (I wouldn't have thought it was coated, but you said that it was). Can you tell us any more about it? It is certainly interesting and looks antique.

Wear it in good health!

Hugs,
Deb

 

[MrsAkin]

Hi Deb,

Thank you! I actually thought you would be interested when I created this topic. I assumed some other Pricescopers would know something about this mounting style but it doesn't seem to be popular. I got this ring really cheap. The stores in the main jewelers' street in Grand Bazaar sell rings like this for 3 or 4 times the price I paid. It's insane how much they earn by selling anything other than high karat gold. Now that it's summer it's getting so hot in here and I'm not good with heat, my fingers get painfully swollen. Thankfully this ring is comfy and it's still shiny enough to keep me satisfied until I go back to my regular ring size.

The part where the ring hugs my finger is made of 8k gold. It has a copperish hue. But the top part is what's confusing me. The jeweler told me to keep the ring out of water. Water is supposedly damaging for the metal foil between the table of the ring and the stones. I think it is the foil which gives the table it's black look is kind of like the black material behind a mirror ( I don't know what it is called in English) . Just as making a glass reflective, it makes normally dull looking stones like rose cuts shine a lot more. Does it make sense to you?

I found a few other jewelry pieces made just like my ring. I'm adding pictures:

 

[AGBF]

MrsAkin,

I really, really love the other jewelry pieces together with your ring! They look magical to me. They are very evocative. They look-to me as someone from the United States-like something a child in a story about magic would find that would lead him to all sorts of adventures with his brothers and sisters! But you didn't tell us if those pieces are yours or if a vendor just allowed you to photograph them. I guess it is too much to hope that you own them all! They are simply gorgeous!!!

PS-That isn't your ring, is it? Is that photo a professional one taken of jewelry similar to yours?

Hugs,
Deb

 

[MrsAkin]

Deb,

I found that picture online, I think it is from a jewelry catalog. I only have the ring in my hand shots. The ring in the catalog picture seems to be bigger than mine. I really love the shape and design of the pendant although I can't see myself wearing it in real life. It seems so intricate to be worn with such a simple chain. Maybe it would work better as a brooch? I also love the crescent and star brooch but I may be biased as it kind of symbolizes the Turkish Flag

The jeweler which I bought my ring from had some other pieces you would be interested but it never occurred me to take photographs as the little shop had quite a bit of traffic that day. Now that my anniversary is approaching I'm getting the itch to go and check out the bazaar again but being 27 weeks along in the heat of july it seems fairly unlikely. Oh, you should really visit Istanbul sometime! If this one picture looks magical to you then I'm sure you would really love the architecture and the old palace jewels among other things.

 

[partgypsy]

I think the ring is very lovely, very mysterious. It looks like the stones could be older cuts? But can't tell from distance.

I know someone chimed in here before having an antique foil backed ring which was ruined when she took it into a jeweler to have it resized? I believe and they cleaned it, removing the oxidation and also it clouded the stones.
Someone who was an expert on antique jewelry also stated it was called foiled back jewelry and should only be cleaned and worked on by someone who knew antique jewelry, and not to clean using modern techniques including immersion.

 

[MustangGal]

There's similar pieces on ebay lately, all from sellers in India. Your looks better quality than most (like this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/0-86ctw-ROSE-ANTIQUE-CUT-DIAMOND-14k-GOLD-WEDDING-RING-/121092104793?pt=US_Fine_Rings&hash=item1c31a6e259 )

 

[arkieb1]

Hi Generally Rose cuts and Old mine cuts (we are talking really early cut diamonds) were often foiled backed. This is to pick up the light and reflect better as they were usually lower clarity and poorer cuts because they were cut by hand methods before they discovered magic diamond proportions that led to the development of later OECs and then brilliant cuts. Whatever you do don't put it into an ultrasonic or use chemicals to clean it.

These type of pieces are common in the Georgian period and early Victorian period, if they were genuine diamonds the gold of the time tends to be a lower carat and a mix as well. The burnished or blackened look could be a combination of silver over gold, burnished gold or other alloy as the type of metals they worked with usually silver and silver mixes were different back then as well. They made a lot of copies of this style of ring in the Art Deco period to the 1950s many have paste stones, some have real ones. They make a lot of copies these days in India using Rose cuts.