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question re: refurbishing pre-loved

teobdl

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 8, 2013
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986
I'm in a "crunchy" crowd, many of whom have bought pre-loved jewelry from pawn shops, or re-used their parents'/grandparents' to use for their own engagement. What they wear looks good from a distance, but I never have an opportunity to inspect things closely. For those of you who have pre-loved jewelry, especially diamond rings, what does it take to refurbish both the diamond and setting? How "new" can it look?
 
It depends on the design of the ring and how hard it was used. Rings can be re-shanked. Prongs can be replaced / rebuilt. It's easy to repolish a simple setting that has no pave or engraving. Thinned-out and/or bent or wrong size shanks are the most expensive things that I've had repaired. Some of those antique rings were not ever meant for daily wear. Engraved design damaged or worn off takes a good bench jeweler to fix and not every store has that kind of skilled person available.
 
What is a "crunchy" crowd? Never heard that term. Are you interested in pre-loved for sentimental reasons or cost or style?
 
I am pretty crunchy, and I really like up cycling jewelry, taking pieces that aren't worn in their current condition and combine, add, subtract, reset to make them into something more wearable.
For instance I inherited a ring with a 1 carat OEC and 2 old mine cut side stones in a contemporary 60s style setting. I had the center stone removed and put In a vintage ish halo pendant setting. I had a lone oval aquamarine earring (lost the mate) and it went into the setting and my mom wears the ring. I had a necklace (from a pawn shop) with a .40 ct OEC and a ruby ring with 8 side stones. I had my jeweler find a match for the .40 OEC and then had earrings made with 4 stones from the ring on each earring.

For new jewelry you might want to check out Brilliant Earth. They have ethically sourced stones, recycled metal settings and vintage pieces.

But it is all a personal choice. My mom has issues with me deconstructing stuff, I think she gets attached to stuff, and also she switches her jewelry more than me, I would prefer to have fewer nicer pieces that I would wear a lot than have a jewelry box full of stuff I won't wear.
FWIW it might be easier for me to do this since my E-ring's center stone is from a necklace that belonged to my DH's grandmother.
 
I have spruced up pre-loved rings, heirloom ring and recycled (reset) other rings. How new it can look will depend greatly on its original condition and the skill of the benchperson. On the pre-loved ring, it was in excellent condition but needed major surgery to fit a stone that is 1 mm too large. The heirloom ring's engraving is in reasonably good condition and the jeweller only needed to fix a good sized crack in the shank. Another pre-loved ring needed the shank rebuilt because it was too thin. Even if it is a simple job, unless the bench is skilled, it is easy to mess up a refurbish.
 
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