Patina lightened/removed from antique ring when resizing?

[asterisms]

Hi all, looking for some advice.

I recently bought a beautiful antique Victorian-era ring with foiled rose cut diamonds. I asked the seller to have her bench resize it for an extra fee, making the ring final sale. They're a pretty established antique jewelry account on Instagram and assured me in response to questions that the hallmark would stay intact and that the engraving on the band would stay continuous.

The seller just sent back a video of the resized ring. The patina is now several shades lighter. Sorry for the super zoomed in photos, I don't want to show the whole ring in case I'm being unreasonable and the seller's in the right.






When I told them I was thrilled with the resizing work but disappointed that the patina had been removed without letting me know, they told me that:

• "it's unavoidable" and it "still has quite a bit of patina"
• "You didn't request on the 100% preservation on patina, which is hard to accomplish during any sizing or repair"
• "Patina will not affect the value because it's very easy to recover or can manually produce"

I didn't think to explicitly request that the patina be left alone because the same jeweler had done the pin-to-ring conversion and the patina had been left intact. I also feel like adding chemical patina or imitation patina isn't the same as genuine markers of age.

They offered to refund the ring less the $70 sizing cost—I hadn't asked for a refund, just expressed confusion about the loss of patina—but the rest of their messages were deeply unpleasant and defensive. I love the ring, so I don’t know if I should take delivery of the polished ring or write off the resizing cost and move on…

Sorry for rambling. Hoping for a sanity check!

 

[Rfisher]

Does it look all over pleasing after the work - or is the patina spotty and uneven?
Was the patina (after the pin to ring conversion ) really genuine unmolested patina?
It does seem if they could have accomplished that - they could have accomplished it with resizing it as well? I’d assume?
I can’t speak to what’s worth more - but if that’s what you want and prioritize - that’s what you want. Is forcing it naturally along an option? Like in a bag next to an egg maybe?. Manually applied a solution, I wouldn’t choose for this instance.
Is your communication written or vocal? If it’s written and it’s seemingly getting terse - maybe go vocal so that can get cleared up?
Maybe it’s unintentional and might be both ways? Is this a business IG or a hobby turned business IG? Don’t answer - but I think sometimes it’s indicative of customer service ability/skills? No guarantee with either, though.

Hope this turns out well for you!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Hi all, looking for some advice.

I recently bought a beautiful antique Victorian-era ring with foiled rose cut diamonds. I asked the seller to have her bench resize it for an extra fee, making the ring final sale. They're a pretty established antique jewelry account on Instagram and assured me in response to questions that the hallmark would stay intact and that the engraving on the band would stay continuous.

The seller just sent back a video of the resized ring. The patina is now several shades lighter. Sorry for the super zoomed in photos, I don't want to show the whole ring in case I'm being unreasonable and the seller's in the right.






When I told them I was thrilled with the resizing work but disappointed that the patina had been removed without letting me know, they told me that:

• "it's unavoidable" and it "still has quite a bit of patina"
• "You didn't request on the 100% preservation on patina, which is hard to accomplish during any sizing or repair"
• "Patina will not affect the value because it's very easy to recover or can manually produce"

I didn't think to explicitly request that the patina be left alone because the same jeweler had done the pin-to-ring conversion and the patina had been left intact. I also feel like adding chemical patina or imitation patina isn't the same as genuine markers of age.

They offered to refund the ring less the $70 sizing cost—I hadn't asked for a refund, just expressed confusion about the loss of patina—but the rest of their messages were deeply unpleasant and defensive. I love the ring, so I don’t know if I should take delivery of the polished ring or write off the resizing cost and move on…

Sorry for rambling. Hoping for a sanity check!

i dont think your being unreasonable
a lot of people seem to like 'original- genuine ' patina
i think the jewler has f-ed up

im hopeful you still love the ring

 

[bludiva]

They should have warned you that working on it is going to affect the patina imho. They could have offered to re-blacken it maybe but you can let nature do it as well.

 

[blingmeupscotty]

I think that when it comes to vintage items [anything historic WITH patina] it too often goes unchecked. This [unfortunately] is a gross negligence on the part of the bench. People buy vintage pieces for a reason. If there is to be any custom alteration to the piece that will modify it in ANY way [this includes the patina] then it should be given disclosure up front.

Now having said that-I dont think the bench or seller was shady about it. I just think it was something that went unmentioned. They assumed you knew the patina would not be in tact after modification, and you assumed if it was going to change they would let you know. It is a heartbreaking mistake though. Because the patina of the metals in any vintage/antique piece is really what make our hearts swoon.

I learned that the hard way with my grandmothers wedding band. It had a rich 18k 50y+ patina, I took it in to be "incorporated" into a different type of heirloom ring.. and lost everything original about my grandmothers ring. I was heartbroken. I had no idea, and the jeweler had no idea that I didn't realize I would lose my rich gold color that only came with age.

So sorry that happened to you

 

[Beaders Secret]

Is the ring Sterling Silver?

Did the ring need upsizing or downsizing?

When upsizing, sometimes there are options/ways to gain some size without needing heat or leaving many signs of the ”stretch”.

However when going the other way there aren’t really any good options to shrink metal, and then a cut and solder/weld is needed, and then there is no option but to perform finishing works which are going to alter the surface finish.

I don’t think there is bad intent or lack of due care on the part of the people doing it, excepting perhaps a failure to set expectations/well communicate what is involved in making the change of size.

 

[Mreader]

Is the entire ring lighter or just the part where it’s sized? I’m trying to figure out how all of the patina was removed during sizing if it’s the whole ring. In other words did they polish it?

 

[asterisms]

I went with my gut feelings and I took the offered refund, less cost of resizing.

I found the seller's claims really hard to believe ("he didn't remove the patina," "the only part that he polished is the shank," "hand touch or tool touch during the process may cause some loss of patina," "lighting differences"). All that in combination with the loss of patina overwhelmed how much I loved the ring. None of the reasons sufficiently explain why the ring is uniformly lighter and shinier, including the nooks and crannies of the engraving, and I think it'd be impossible for anyone looking at the videos of the ring before and after resizing to take her word that it hadn't been polished.

That said, I totally agree that it wasn't intentional and there wasn't bad intent to begin with, I just wish the explanation had acknowledged the miscommunication and the fact that the entire ring had been polished, rather than double down / try to make me doubt what I was seeing.

@blingmeupscotty I love your handle. I'm so sorry about your grandmother's wedding band, and I feel like I completely understand your heartbreak. The same thing happened to my father's 22k original wedding band. All of the beautiful marks of wear and color were polished away. I learned to be extra careful after that with less specialized jewelers/benches, but this time I guess I gave too much credit to their experience with antique restoration/work!

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. Really appreciate the sanity check.

 

[bludiva]

maybe a tradeperson will comment, i'm not sure but i *think* that heat could lighten the patina. sorry you went through this and hope they learned their lesson about setting expectations. fingers crossed there is another vintage piece around the corner for you!