Shall I clean out antique jewelries?

[pricescopenewbie]

I am pretty new to the antique jewelry world so this might be a silly question ...

A lot of antique jewelries have closed back and the diamonds show colors from the foil. I heard that some jewelers can take the diamonds out of the setting and clean them up. I wonder if you would recommend doing this? How does it impact the value of the antique pieces?

Thanks a lot for your input!

 

[Bron357]

No no no and no.
genuine Georgian jewellery is rare and desirable and it’s value is based more on rarity than the sum of the parts.
Diamonds in Georgian jewellery are foil backed because they are not facetted for light return.
Of course they could be re cut to modern standards but you will lose maybe 50% of the carat weight and 80% of the value.
There is no shortage of modern cut diamonds, millions out there, why turn a rare antique diamond into something like everything else?

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

@pricescopenewbie listen to Bron

thanks goodness you asked first

 

[pricescopenewbie]

@Bron357, thanks a lot for the input! I might have confused you in my original post. I didn't mean to recut the diamonds. A lot of these diamonds look like brownish or black-ish because moisture went into the foiled back and over the time blackened (oxidized?) it. I was wondering if you can take the diamonds out, clean out the dirty stuff from the foiled back, and put the diamonds back in, so that the diamonds will look shining again?

I guess the answer is no, but just want to confirm.

 

[Bron357]

Sometimes the antique items can be restored by re foiling etc but it is fiddly work ie expensive and requires someone familiar with this type of repair.
Its often tricky with antique pieces, sometimes if you restore them you actually reduce their appeal and therefore value.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I think we need photos
(Ok we are a nosy lot here )

 

[pricescopenewbie]

I don't have any now, but I am eyeing a few. The prices are pretty high so I am still thinking...