Question
My precious heirloom e
Hello there,
My fiance proposed to me with a family heirloom: a platinum engagement ring from probably the early 1900s. We noticed that the center stone was a bit loose, so when we had it re-sized, our guy who did the official appraisal suggested we cap the prongs with white gold to keep the diamond safe.
The thing is, these white gold "caps" don't match the platinum in color. Plus, they not only seem to be slightly irregular in shape, but the original lovely detailed prongs that I LOVED have been totally covered over! It's so different that I can't even look at it without feeling upset.
I'm wondering if this is really the way the loose center diamond should have been addressed. I can't imagine there wasn't a way to simply tighten the prongs (the ring is in fabulous shape and doesn't appear to be damaged). What should we tell our jeweler when we take the ring back?
Thank you for any help you can be. I'm desperate to repair my ring's prongs to their original detailed beauty!
- Mo
P.S. This picture is of the ring BEFORE we had the prongs re-capped. I miss those lovely things. There was even detail along the sides of the prongs!
AnswerHi, Morgan. I can understand your situation to some extent. There is possibly some remedy but you must decide after speaking with the jeweler who did the work if you want the revisions done there or somewhere else.
Without having the ring in my hands and viewed closely from several directions, I cannot say anything about the necessity of the building the prong tips.
TIGHTENING A LOOSE STONE AND BUILDING UP PRONGS
Tightening of this sort of older and lovely stone setting style is generally done in two ways. First, the prongs may be gently squeezed a tiny bit toward each other, from each prong to its right or left neighbor, going around the stone in the process. This action works the prongs safely up against the girdle (waist)of the gem, tightening the stone in the setting. A second method if needed means actually pushing down on the prong ends to force tighter contact with the stone just above the girdle. Note that in the style of the ring, the actual extended parts of the prongs from the stone down is fairly short, making the "squeezing" method more difficult.
Building up prong ends is done when a judgment is made that wear is sufficient to put the stone in jeopardy. Then, metal is added to the prong tips to add wear time to those critical parts of the setting. Generally, metal of the same quality and color as that of the setting is used. However, platinum is a very high temperature metal and trying to directly weld platinum to the prongs will burn and destroy the diamond (or any other stone). While some jewelers including me will sometimes use a high karat white gold for the prong tips depending on the ring, platinum is preferred. The platinum must be brazed to the original prong tips using a white gold brazing ("solder") material.
I will use a white gold tip proven to stay white or with platinum tips use a white gold solder proven to stay white. Still, the color will not match exactly. The ring should be given a rhodium plate on the setting part at least to even out the color when white gold tips are used. With platinum tips, I will rhodium the tips but after some time all looks fine and the rhodium does not need to be repeated because the braze line is minute and not generally seen.
YOUR RING
The jeweler could replace the white gold tips with platinum. These will need to be gently carved by hand tools and tiny cutting burs to decently replicate the style of the original prong tops. The extra work results in a repair much more closely looking like the original. Still, it will never be just like the original since it is new work, thicker metal and hand work varies in this sometimes difficult task.
Any excess white gold solder from the first work should be gently sanded away and any design replaced using what tools may be needed.
WERE THE PRONG CAPS NEEDED?
Apparently the jeweler thought prong tips were needed. As said, there is no way for me to really know. If the prongs were not too thin, it is possible the tightening was not working and a decision was made to add the prong tips to effectively tighten the stone. I would prefer to tighten a stone with the metal present but that does not always do the job, especially if the metal is judged as getting thin from wear.
WHAT TO DO
Mo, I suggest you go to the jeweler and express you concerns, kindly and calmly as you can. Ask what can be done. See if any suggestions I have made are offered. If not, ask if they could take off the white gold and put on platinum tips. If they say that is not possible, ask why and tell them you will think about it. Leave with your ring. Go to the best store you know of in your area where a jeweler works in-house. Ask about the platinum tips being installed and the design being redone. Let them know you do not expect the design to look as an exact duplicate of the original but want it to be close and to reflect the style of the setting as done originally. (Take a print of the photo with you, large as you can get it an still be a clear print.)
Why leave the first store? For some reason they do not want to redo the tips with platinum, either unsure how to do it or possibly trying to avoid more work partially at their expense.
Please keep this in mind:A store where the work was not done in the first place may be reluctant to redo the work of another jeweler. Do not let this surprise you. No jeweler wants to jump in and redo an outside repair which is essentially a mystery to them as to what solders, etc., were used in the first repair service. Jewelers do not want surprises in what would normally be straight forward service.
If someone else will not do the work, go back to the original place and ask for platinum prong tips using high karat white gold solder and as much restoration of the design as possible. Let them know you simply cannot be happy with the work as it is and believe they can make it more suited to the style and metal of the ring.
And, in that, I do wish you the very best.
God Bless and Peace. Thomas.
