Questions for experts about tightening prongs, and polishing platinum alloyed with cobalt. Plus I j

[Daniela]

My diamond is starting to move in its setting. I can tell if I look closely that it is beginning to "unseat" itself and that soon it will be loose. I therefore need to take it to a local jeweller in order to have it fixed.




Since I had my stone upgraded a few months ago, I have always known that the prongs weren't exactly sitting on the crown of the diamond. There has been the barest space between all of the prongs and the diamond since the beginning. When you look closely, in fact, it looks like the "what not to do" picture for the Tiffany and Co. website (only pic I could find that perfectly describes what I mean):




(Edited to say that my prongs look like the top of these prongs, not the bottom. That is to say, they are not touching the stone, but there isn't an enormous gap beneath all of them, either)









I have been sort of waiting for the stone to come loose because I wasn't really convinced it was set right in the first place. My first question is this: Am I right to think that this indicates a poor setting job and will inevitable compromise the security of the diamond in the setting? Or am I overreacting? Do other people's rings look like this? Is this normal?




I have been quite disappointed with the quality control service that my vendor provided (or rather did not provide) on three separate purchases. I actually mentioned this potential prong problem in the beginning to them, but since the stone didn't seem to be moving anywhere and since I wasn't about to send it all the way back to them again from Canada, I just hoped for the best. In addition, to start from the beginning of this whole mess, my original stone, the first stone I bought before the upgrade was also loose right away, and there were two ugly black marks on the bottom of the shank. Then when I upgraded I asked for the inside of the head to be polished, and they sent out the new ring without doing this at all, and the polish was generally worse than when I had sent it off (little dent like things on the inside of the ring, like even the outside of the ring hadn't been polished after resetting the stone). And then of course there is this question of the prongs. I also purchased a small pair of diamonds at the same time. There is a black patch with I can't really identify on one of them, that I'm also going to take into my local jeweller to be repaired since I have to go there now anyway. I tried to scrub it away, but I don't think it's dirt.




I've never really explicitly stated my frustration on post on Pricescope, and I want to get it off my chest now, so thanks for letting me vent. It's really bothering me that I've had so many problems with something that should make me so happy.




One last question: I'm also going to try and have the inside of the head of my mounting polished since the stone is coming out anyway for the readjustment. So another question I have is regarding polishing: Does a platinum ring alloyed with cobalt that has been sized need to be treated differently than a platinum ring alloyed with something else? I know that it is treated differently during sizing. So does it also need to be treated differently during polishing? Do I have to worry about the sizing seam or anything? And how likely is it that my jeweller will have the right tools and will be able to polish the inside of my mounting?




Thanks for your help, everybody.




Daniela

 

[Daniela]

Thanks for your reply, Dave. What I mean about my stone looking similar to that picture is how the prongs look on top, not on the bottom. Does that change things at all?

 

[denverappraiser]

I agree wholeheartedly with Dave. This is not secure and you should deal with it immediately. It's also likely to be destructive to your clothing. Depending on how severe the overcutting is, it may be a little difficult to repair but it's not impossible. It may be possible for the jeweler to simply reset the stone and cut the seats properly but, in the extreme, it will be necessary to remove the stone, replace every prong (using a laser because of the platinum) and then reset the stone. I would be a little nervous about sending it back to a dealer that has proved to be a problem on 3 separate occasions but this depends a bit on how severe their other errors have been. It’s not really all that hard a job but it’s a little time consuming and the repronging, if needed, required a rather specialized tool. A skilled bench jeweler would probably charge you less than $150 to do this. Presumably the original setter would be willing to do it for free.

Edited to add: If the problem is only the portion above the stone, the repair is quite a bit easier. It is still necessary to remove the stone to do the inside polish that you want but the laser work probably won't be necessary.

Neil Beaty, GG ISAA
Independent Appraisals in Denver

 

[Daniela]

Dave and Neil,




Assuming that the prong problem can be fixed, do you gentlemen have any comments on how difficult it is to polish the inside of the head of a mounting?




And no, it's unlikely that I'm going to send it back to a vendor that has a sub par bench jeweller.

 

[Daniela]

Steve,




You have asked a good question. The upgrade wasn't actually an upgrade in size, it was an upgrade in clarity. The inclusions in my SI-1 bugged me, so I got a cleaner VS-2. Therefore there should have been no difficulty with the size of the stone (going from a 1.013 to a 1.012!).

 

[pyramid]

As you would have to send the ring away from Canada if you went back to your original jeweller, I hope it is not a vendor on this forum.

 

[Daniela]

----------------
On 10/26/2004 9:55:21 AM pyramid wrote:





As you would have to send the ring away from Canada if you went back to your original jeweller, I hope it is not a vendor on this forum.
----------------

It is a vendor on this forum, although I have not named names. They are in the States and I am in Canada, which makes this whole situation all the more disappointing and inconvenient. I won't be sending the ring back there (at least, I hope I won't have to).

 

[denverappraiser]

Polishing inside the head requires removing and resetting the stone but it's not otherwise all that difficult. It's just work. Replacing the head may or many not be necessary depending on the nature of the setting problems. The process of setting a stone involves starting with rather heavy prongs and cutting away material to have it perfectly fit the back of the stone. Obviously, you can't put material back after it's been cut away to fit a different stone. All the jeweler can do is resetting is to cut away more. If this is what's needed, great. If too much has been removed already, then the head must be replaced. As with the repronging process described above, this usually isn't especially difficult to do. Most rings are designed to easily accept a variety of different heads because customers will buy a variety of different stones and the manufacturer wanted their ring to be appropriate for as many customers as possible.

Neil Beaty, GG ISA
Independent Appraisals in Denver

 

[perry]

Daniela:

You have not mentioned what style of ring you have.

Something you may wish to consider if you have a fairly basic ring is perhaps have a local jewelers reset the stone into another ring (despite what the original vendor should do). I realize that this may cost a few more $, but it should be a permanent solution and get you a local person to work with (and there are good local jewelers available, and you do not have to explain where you got the original ring - just ask for a new setting).

I admit that this becomes more difficult as for the more expensive rings.

However, it also has the added benifit of your changing to a different setting that you may like more.

Perry

 

[noobie]

Sooo Daniela, what happened?

I hope you get this resolved and in due course you share your experiences with us, once you feel you have resolved your issues with the vendors. It''s good to read both the good and bad so we don''t have to go through the same thing. Unfortunately you happen to be the Guinea Pig in this case.

Good luck!