New e-ring - Old Mine Brilliant

[foxglove]

Second time a charm? 1.16 ct old mine brilliant ("true antique cushion") I / SI1 with strong blue fluorescence.
Size 3.5 finger
Photo taken with a 4 year old iPhone SE. Whether it focuses on the right thing is completely by chance for me lol.
Love Leon Mege's work, never thought I'd owned one of his pieces.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Very nice! The cut is lovely. It’s a very very old diamond. Love a 150+ yo treasure.

 

[lavenderdragonfly23]

Congratulations! She’s an oldie but goodie! And Leon to boot! What a beautiful ring, so many congratulations… enjoy her!

 

[WhoaNelly]

Woo! What a beauty! Congratulations on the ring—both the diamond and the setting.

 

[foxglove]

Thank you! How do you know it is a very old diamond? I am now super curious about the history. It is apparently hand cut by cutters in New York - but I thought this is a modern day thing.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Thank you! How do you know it is a very old diamond? I am now super curious about the history. It is apparently hand cut by cutters in New York - but I thought this is a modern day thing.

Oh is it a modern reproduction? If so it’s very authentic looking. Who sourced it for you? Is “true antique” a brand name?

 

[distracts]

Gorgeous! It looks perfect in every way.

Oh is it a modern reproduction? If so it’s very authentic looking. Who sourced it for you? Is “true antique” a brand name?

Yeah, it's Leon Mege's antique-style diamond line

 

[maryjane04]

Congratulations and love your ring haha but especially love the labubu special appearance. How amazing to have a Leon Mege ring. Wear it in good health.

 

[Scon_ce]

It's beautiful! Congrats!

 

[Ally T]

Beautiful diamond & lucky lady to own a Leon! Congratulations!

 

[MissGotRocks]

Congrats! Your ring is just beautiful! Haven't seen a Leon around here in a long time - thanks for sharing!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Gorgeous! It looks perfect in every way.



Yeah, it's Leon Mege's antique-style diamond line

Interesting. It’s. Avery convincing replica of a 19th century cut!

 

[foxglove]

Oh is it a modern reproduction? If so it’s very authentic looking. Who sourced it for you? Is “true antique” a brand name?

Leon sourced it and it is supposed to have been hand cut the old way. Imperfection and all.

My fiance really agonized between two stones. This one and a lab that was obviously more symmetrical, better specs all around, bigger, and cheaper. He had Leon send videos of them side by side and chose this one. He showed me the videos after the fact - there are some intangible differences which I found really neat.

Thank you for all the well wishes. We nicknamed the stone “chunky”. lol. For the chunky facets.

 

[Dreamer_D]

It’s nice to see an authentic looking antique style cut. I wonder if Yoram cut it?

Your fiancé made the absolute right choice IMO. I’d love to see more photos and the lab report if you have it. I’m very curious about the diamond’s cut.

 

[Inked]

OMG its beautiful AND LEON!!?? Lucky girl!! Old mines are my absolute favorite but they're so hard to find. Enjoy your new beauty!!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Stunning and very desirable! Congrats!!!

cheers--Sharon

 

[newtojewels]

Gorgeous! Please post 300 more photos!

 

[oncrutchesrightnow]

Beautiful!

 

[Catmom]

It's beautiful!

 

[foxglove]

It’s nice to see an authentic looking antique style cut. I wonder if Yoram cut it?

Your fiancé made the absolute right choice IMO. I’d love to see more photos and the lab report if you have it. I’m very curious about the diamond’s cut.

Here's the lab report - https://www.gia.edu/report-check?locale=en_US&reportno=2225168279

I wonder if I should be weary about the "natural" inclusions (or just areas of the stone left unpolished) around the edge. It's so easy to look at the lab report and inclusion map and get hyper focused on what's not perfect about the stone. But then I look at the stone in real life and it is super pretty.

This blurry pic is a screenshot I took of the video that was sent by Leon. lol Left is the lab with nice symmetry. Right is chunky where you can tell is a bit wonky in comparison.

 

[newtojewels]

Here's the lab report - https://www.gia.edu/report-check?locale=en_US&reportno=2225168279

I wonder if I should be weary about the "natural" inclusions (or just areas of the stone left unpolished) around the edge. It's so easy to look at the lab report and inclusion map and get hyper focused on what's not perfect about the stone. But then I look at the stone in real life and it is super pretty.

This blurry pic is a screenshot I took of the video that was sent by Leon. lol Left is the lab with nice symmetry. Right is chunky where you can tell is a bit wonky in comparison.

For me it's the right one 100%! But you still owe us 299 more photos

I wouldn't personally worry about an indented natural, basically all of the girdles of original antiques have them.

 

[Dreamer_D]

For me it's the right one 100%! But you still owe us 299 more photos

Your BF totally chose the right stone. This one has soul, even if it is a new soul lol

I wouldn't personally worry about an indented natural, basically all of the girdles of original antiques have them.

No me neither.

Are you sure this is a modern cut stone? Fair symmetry and good polish and an unfaceted girdle… if modern cut someone is really practicing the old ways! It’s truly indistinguishable from a real antique. Could Leon have bought an antique and slapped his brand on it? Are all his branded stones like this? Where is he getting them??

 

[Tartansparkles]

Your wonky chunky stone is beautiful.

 

[foxglove]

Honestly I have no idea if this is actually a modern stone - and I would be absolutely tickled if this were an actual antique stone. According to his website:

"The majority of our True Antique™ cushion diamonds are newly mined diamonds. On rare occasions, we re-facet old material dating from 1860 to 1915 that comes up at auctions. The old stones taken out of period jewelry usually have poor symmetry and odd proportions and are covered with large chips and severe abrasions from years of wear. The vintage charm of the original outlines is preserved during the cutting, but the brilliance and shape are greatly improved."

This one might very well have been one of those old stones given the wonkier original outline? And apparently these are all hand cut by a family of multi-generational cutters that do things the old way - so I would imagine even the new materials would have the antique-like facets.

So glad to have you folks asking questions making me probe deeper into the possible history of my chunky.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Honestly I have no idea if this is actually a modern stone - and I would be absolutely tickled if this were an actual antique stone. According to his website:

"The majority of our True Antique™ cushion diamonds are newly mined diamonds. On rare occasions, we re-facet old material dating from 1860 to 1915 that comes up at auctions. The old stones taken out of period jewelry usually have poor symmetry and odd proportions and are covered with large chips and severe abrasions from years of wear. The vintage charm of the original outlines is preserved during the cutting, but the brilliance and shape are greatly improved."

This one might very well have been one of those old stones given the wonkier original outline? And apparently these are all hand cut by a family of multi-generational cutters that do things the old way - so I would imagine even the new materials would have the antique-like facets.

So glad to have you folks asking questions making me probe deeper into the possible history of my chunky.

Your diamond is gorgeous either way so this is mostly just a fun academic conversation…

It’s hard for me to imagine that a modern cutter would leave the polish at “good” and wouldn’t facet the girdle. I also am curious if a modern cutter would leave the girdle “extremely thin” (which by the way is a risk for chipping so you may want to check that the extremely thin areas are covered by prongs. If not you will need to take care with those exposed edges)! Tell me: is the girdle of the diamond white and frosty looking?

I’m curious what @LightBright thinks! Honestly it would save LM a lot of money to leave a nice antique alone.

 

[LightBright]

Your diamond is gorgeous either way so this is mostly just a fun academic conversation…

It’s hard for me to imagine that a modern cutter would leave the polish at “good” and wouldn’t facet the girdle. I also am curious if a modern cutter would leave the girdle “extremely thin” (which by the way is a risk for chipping so you may want to check that the extremely thin areas are covered by prongs. If not you will need to take care with those exposed edges)! Tell me: is the girdle of the diamond white and frosty looking?

I’m curious what @LightBright thinks! Honestly it would save LM a lot of money to leave a nice antique alone.

Yes I agree that the frosted unfaceted extremely thin girdle, and good polish and fair symmetry can indicate an untouched stone. I’d like to see close ups!

 

[foxglove]

Alright, so here are some attempted close-ups of varying degrees of quality when it comes to the side view. I love the higher crown, which is what attracts me to antique cushions in the first place.

I think the girdle is somewhat protected by the setting but it does peek out.

 

[newtojewels]

I love that side view! Just gorgeous!

 

[foxglove]

Thanks! My pictures are so crap though. First pic you see all these chunky facets and last pic looks like a clear blob. Also, I find zoomed-in hand-skin kinda gross. lol