Re-Tipped

[caolsen]

Those of us with old pieces know the challenge of keeping them wearable while keeping their original aesthetic.

Sometimes the old world craftsmanship can be a change even for the best bench jeweler.

I had needed to get a tab prongs on this ring read tipped, but it was a challenge considering how the tabs were integrated into the original setting. They were thin & one had lost about half its prong.

I finally bit the bullet and couldn’t be happier.


We opted to keep the prongs at 12 and 6 o’clock as double prongs and go with one larger prong at three and 9 o’clock.

Anyone else have an antique piece they’ve had to think long and hard about when it comes to maintenance repair so that they can keep on wearing the peace with the stones been fully secure?

 

[LightBright]

I love the elevated height of your diamond in the new prongs. You can see so much of the diamond. Did you raise the diamond further than the original height? I’m contemplating doing this myself with a similar ring. If you want to share what bench worked for you, please do. Lovely results!

 

[caolsen]

I love the elevated height of your diamond in the new prongs. You can see so much of the diamond. Did you raise the diamond further than the original height? I’m contemplating doing this myself with a similar ring. If you want to share what bench worked for you, please do. Lovely results!

Thank you. The diamond is at the same depth as its original build - it’s an original die struck piece and we didnt think it had been re tipped. So we kept the prong height identical. Being a tranny/circular brilliant there is plenty of depth below the girdle.

The work was done by a really small, one man show in Charlotte, NC. His bench is literally him at his bench. I don’t think he even has a website, but I’ll ask. When I moved to NC I found him by accident, and have been quite happy. He’s an Eastern European emigre who has clearly been properly trained as a jeweler but in the suburban US market, he does so much replanting, re sizing and basic repair of mass produced stuff that his skills are under utilized. He doesn’t sell much new stuff, he really is a bench at heart. As he said to me, he is a car mechanic, not a car dealer with a mechanic.

When it comes to complex restoring of old pieces, I’ve been blown away.

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Well, if he does have a site I'd love to know about it. One of the reasons I tend to not buy the antique pieces I find is not having a jeweler who can do delicate work in my area with reasonable pricing.

 

[junebug17]

Oh this turned out beautifully! It looks great, he did a wonderful job. Probably feels like a new ring to you! It's a gorgeous ring.