Opal help please

[LuluUFO]

Hi
New User here. Bought a second hand 18k gold and diamond ring with an opal as main gem. It was sold to me as an Australian opal.
I love it but.. the opal is not centred. I’ve asked the store to reset it twice but no luck, still off centre. It’s my first opal piece, what am I missing? Is it that difficult to put it straight?
Thank you!

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

Do you have another picture? I'm not sure what you're referring to.

 

[LuluUFO]

My husband says the same, may be it’s me..
I thought this was the best picture, if you look at the claws vs the opal, don’t you think it’s not centered?
Here goes some more pictures.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

Ahhh ok I understand now!

It needs to move back by about 1.5mm from the pic. I can only empathise! I have no idea how easy or hard it would be to shift it.

Someone will come along and help hopefully!

 

[peacechick]

Those claws don’t feel secure to me if the opal can slide off-centre so easily. Can you post a vertical shot to show if the opal is actually an even oblong or is it a tapered oblong? If it’s tapered, that could be why.

Personally, I would ask to redo the prongs as I’m not confident they can keep the opal in place if the one should loosen. I think the safest would be to have one prong in each corner at minimum, and go up to six or eight even.

Perhaps the opal experts can chime in, especially those with large ones.

 

[LuluUFO]

Here is a picture from the top, looks symmetrical enough to be set in the middle, no? Your suggestion to redo the claws is a good idea.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

The left prongs are lower than the right prongs.....

I think you need to move the stone down and get prongs that line up. They will never line up this way because they're built misaligned.

 

[LuluUFO]

I see... if I'll need to redo the setting, what about mounting the opal flush with diamonds?
Looks like the most common are cabochon opals, this one is flat and I can't find any example of good settings for flat gems unless signet type of ring.
Thank you btw for taking the time to answer.

 

[peacechick]

The prongs are misaligned for sure. It’s weird if the jeweler allowed that out of the shop! I would go to a different place if possible. I don’t think the whole setting needs to be discarded because it does fit the shape of the opal well, and I think it’s very pretty. To me, the setting is fine and only the prongs need redoing.

It shouldn’t be hard for a competent bench to only rebuild the prongs from scratch— I have had that done before and I don’t think it should cost beyond a couple of hundred (I had a bunch of things done at the same time so I’m sorry I can’t give a more exact estimate).

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

Everything @peacechick said!

My bestie has had a halo "stretched out" a bit to fit a heart stone and they did a great job. I don't think you need anything as drastic as this.

Anyone decent should be able to make you some new prongs.

 

[Autumn in New England]

Ahh I see! So, yeah, it's definitely not the stone. It's the mounting that is askew, and no amount of resetting will fix it. The prongs will most certainly need to be redone to achieve the symmetry you're after. Wow a gorgeous piece though!!