Repaired setting...

[absintheur]

I recently purchased a great antique .5 carat diamond and platinum engagement ring... I'm terribly happy with it, but before I could present it, I managed to drop it and damage the setting. I knocked out the stone and put a crack in the neck beneath one of the prongs. Mind you, the ring had managed to survive for nearly 100 years before I got my hands on it.

I took the ring to my local jewelry repair location (in the Los Angeles jewelry district) and they put about $55 worth of work into the ring. They unbent the setting, put a patch over the crack, and extended the prongs to better hold the stone. It's all in one piece and I'm relatively happy with their work.

The problem is twofold:

First, I can see the solder point on the face of the setting where the crack was patched. It stands just a bit proud. Is there any way to have this filed down?

And Second, and more damningly, the excess metal on the prongs has slopped onto the stone. Not enough that it can be seen under normal every day conditions, but when the ring is held up to one's eye -- it's clear that the prongs are a bit sloppy. One even stands a bit taller than the others.

Any ideas of where I should take it to get these things looked at? Am I ever going to be happy with the repair work, or do damaged rings always look a bit patched together?

 

[Mara]

Sorry I can't give you any assistance on your question but I just wanted to say what a gorgeous ring it is! If it is the one by your name, its very beautiful. Then again I am a huge sucker for antique rings..particularly from around the 1920's.

Hope someone else can help...

 

[absintheur]

Yep, that's the ring. I've attached another "before" picture to this post. Unfortunately, every time I look at it now, I see the repairs. The truth of the matter is that they're very good on the whole, and I'm just living out the trauma of having damaged such a beautiful little thing.

The stone is a .5 carat Old-European cut. The seller said that they graded it a I color VS1, but the jeweler who did the repairs insisted that it was a G color VVS1 and the most "modern looking" Old-European cut stone he'd ever seen. It took him more than a minute to settle into the notion that it wasn't a modern stone. He stared at it for quite some time. The ring, in total, cost me less than $1300. I don't really know whether that's a good deal or not. I bought it because I loved it. Then I broke it.

The setting doesn't look as cleanly geometrical with the repairs. I wish I could upload a scan, but I don't have a camera at the moment.

I don't know whether there's any such thing as the minute level of detail work that this repair would require. It might be a humpty dumpty situation. The platinum was just so thin on base of the setting, I don't know whether anybody could freehand work that fine.

 

[absintheur]

This will give a sense of what I'm talking about :

 

[Mara]

Well I don't know about repairs..but I guess if you had to keep it the way it was..it just adds to the beauty of the old stone and setting. Chances are the setting has taken a few nicks and scratches over the 100 years it has existed, so what are a few more, plus a repair? The fact that its an old setting and stone in itself make the piece unique and very valuable in sentiment, the fact that it now has a few more 'imperfections' can only add to its character!

I do know that you probably feel upset at having damaged it...and that is unfortunate. I am sure I'd feel similar. Did you try taking it to another jeweler or a metal worker? Maybe they can help?