Show us your vintage-vintage inspired Engagement Ring!

[The Shirt]

That is lovely! I have something similar in my mind. Very exciting for you.

I'm pretty excited. For valentines day the fellow is taking me ring shopping. I couldn't be more thrilled. I'm a control freak so of course I want to pick it out myself. I wish I knew of a place to actually buy a true vintage ring. Does anyone have experience at antique malls/shops with getting an outside evaluation of a particular ring? I have a huge fear of being swindled.

 

[Halfjill]

Brook that ring is beautiful! How glamorous.

C-dot, did you find anything more about 'belt' designed rings? I have one my grandmother gave me, it is gold, could do with a clean! I'd love to know more about it though, I thought it was a very interesting design.

Lovely rings everyone, super envious!

 

[certainlyred]

I'm not sure how authentically vintage my ring looks, but I love it. My fiance's dad is a metal smith and the dean of the metals and jewelry dept at his college. Isaac commissioned one of his dad's old students to design and make my ring! So it's one-of-a-kind, just for me, and I think that is the sweetest thing.

It's a small, round, bezel set diamond with a silver band that has little vines around it.

 

[Miss Bunny]

I was lucky enough to be given my grandmother's engagement ring. She was married in the late 20s and was married for over 50 years. She never had it re-set even though it was broken, but that's how she was! I found an almost identical setting so I did have the diamond switched over but at least I can wear it now.

(Please pardon my strange nail polish!)
Edited to change to a picture from a link (finally figured that out!)

 

[nostalgic]

Here's a link to mine:


I hope it shows up okay. The ring is badly in need of cleaning
We've been like an old married couple for almost as long as we've been dating so there was very little question about marriage. We were originally looking at Tiffany type stuff and I just could not justify that kind of expense on something that's supposed to be sentimental. He was also still finishing school so it's not like we had that income available. I took matters into my own hands and scoured the mall type shops for something vintage looking and more unique. I settled on three, dragged him to see them and chose him to pick one whenever

edit: omg sorry for the huge pic! How do I just get it to link?!

 

[ColeV48]

I had been looking for a completely different ring, but I found this one at an estate sale and fell in love. It even fit perfectly, so I couldn't say no! They had it listed as 1930s:

 

[MaryMary]

Ok, so I am not married but....

Hi ladies great thread!

Ok, so this is funny...I own two vintage engagement rings...but I am not engaged!!! (hahaha is that bad luck, like buying a wedding gown before you're engaged??)

Anyway, I couldn't resist, the first one I got as a grad present from my grandparents, I wear it like a normal ring. It is from the 40's and has a central diamond with three small diamonds on either side that are shaped in the gold setting to form leaves, so the whole ring looks very flower-like, with these leaf shaped diamonds on either side of it. I turned it to the side so you could see the leaf detail.

The second ring is from the 30's, and rather than diamonds and gold, it is an aquamarine set in stirling. Apparently in the 30's during the depression, people couldn't afford a lot so aquamarines and silver became more popular. I love it because it once again looks like a flower, and aquamarine is my birthstone!

Stunning rings ladies, wow, I hope when I finally do get engaged mine is as stunning

p.s - this is my first time posting my own photos, not sure if this is going to work, but if not, I'll try it again!

 

[MaryMary]

hmmm

Ok, so it didn't work...just wondering, under posting rules, it says "I may not post attachments" why am I restricted to do this? Or does that have nothing to do with posting pictures...? I'm confused

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

Looks like you're trying to link to pictures on your own computer - that will never work! You need to upload the photos to a free site like Flickr or Photobucket and then link to them. Hope that helps!

 

[December]

I've been away for quite a while and never got round to posting a picture of mine.

Here it is, it's an Edwardian sapphire and diamond ring.

It makes my normally tiny fingers (size H!) look like big sausages in this photo!

 

[23SkidooWithYou]

That is lovely! I have something similar in my mind. Very exciting for you.

I'm pretty excited. For valentines day the fellow is taking me ring shopping. I couldn't be more thrilled. I'm a control freak so of course I want to pick it out myself. I wish I knew of a place to actually buy a true vintage ring. Does anyone have experience at antique malls/shops with getting an outside evaluation of a particular ring? I have a huge fear of being swindled.

Jenny,

I spent 15 years in fine jewelry retail. My experience is in better department stores, so I'm no expert in antiques or loose stones. You might already know some of this, but just in case...

Learn your " C's" (cut, color, clarity, carat weight)
http://www.gia.edu/lab-reports-services/about-the-4cs/index.html

Carry a print out of the Gemological Institute of America's (GIA) color/clarity rating. Don't mess around with made up quality codes, they should be able to give you a real GIA rating (F in color, SI2) not some made up mumbo jumbo.

Your best color starts with "D" not A. If memory serves, you start to see yellow around "J" and it just keeps getting darker until you hit "champagne" (which is NOT the same as a fancy yellow "canary") and "chocolate" which is a nice way to say brown, lol. Seeing yellow can be hard to learn. Harder still in a yellow gold setting a little easier in white metals due to the contrast. If you have any doubt, hold it against white paper and if that doesn't work, ask to compare it to a ring that is actually out of your price range. Odds are the higher the price, the better the color and you can see how far off the ring you are considering is! Avoid anything described as "commercial white", it's what we used to call "frozen spit" because that's what it looks like, imagine.

If you are looking at round cut, try to study examples of a modern day round brilliant and the vintage "mine cuts" (named because they used to be hand cut fresh out of the mine). There is a difference and those clues can help you determine if it's entirely antique or if the main stone has been replaced by a modern. Certainly a personal choice, but the seller shouldn't try to tell you it's an old stone if it's not. Here's a brief article on the differences:
http://www.topazery.com/antique-diamonds.htm

*I have a solitaire that was my Great Aunts (1940's) and her MIL's before her. I was told it's a mine cut but it's totally round, not cushion shaped like the example in the link. The faceting is different, the crown higher, the girdle thicker and the culet is flat not pointed like a modern.

Learn how to use a 10x jewelers loupe. It's like using a microscope, put the loupe to your eye, keep both open if you can, and bring the ring up to the loupe until it's in focus, move the ring until different layers of the stone are visible, ie at one angle you get a reflection off the table and can see if it has surface pits, cracks or scratches, at another angle you can see deeply into the stone to reveal inclusions, bubbles, feathers, cracks, etc. You can also see a general dusting of grey in a poor quality stone. Don't just look from the top, look at the side, examine the girdle for knicks or the start of a crack, check your culet as a point usually means it's a modern cut stone.
*Make sure they polish the ring before they give it to you, you don't want to *think* you're looking at a finger print and find out later it's a flaw you weren't counting on.

Look at the metal work on your setting. It should be smooth, no bubbles or "pits" in the metal which indicates porosity (the metal was heated to an incorrect temp and air bubbles popped), watch for porosity especially on your prongs. Sometimes old rings need to have the prongs retipped. I had mine done and under a loupe you can see all little pit bubbles, bummer. Make sure your prongs touch the stone and the setting is secure, wiggle it with your fingernail, if it feels loose give it a little rattle near your ear to see if you can hear the stone moving against the metal. If so, it needs to be adjusted. Check your stone especially near/under prongs. Jewelers will hide flaws under a prongs. That's not bad because you want to set the stone to it's best advantage, just check to make sure they are honest about the incidence of inclusions.

Beware shallow cuts! They will show a huge crown (top) but the pavillion is shallow (the cone part under the crown_. You can hide a shallow cut in various settings and the tactic is employed a lot in gents rings because their settings are flatter than ours (the boys do get a lot of visual bang for the buck though!) I just don't feel shallow cuts sparkle as nice and they look sort of funny in a high setting when you admire it from the side.

Ask if you are looking at the stone under diamond lights.
Ask if you can see the ring in natural light. It would be awesome if you could see it in day light! Some jewelers will step out with you briefly, others can't for security reasons.

Know your metals and karat marks and the conversions because it might be stamped either way, unsure how antiques are stamped.
14k = 585
18k = 750
Platinum is more dense than gold and feels like a ton in your hand. It's a little duller than white gold too and won't shine exactly the same.

Quality being equal in all areas, diamond weights and their prices are not proportional. Because the market (you diamond buyers) go for popular weights like 3/4 th carat or 1 carat or 1 1/2 carat (don't I wish!), the industry spikes the prices on those weights. So, a diamond that is an odd 90 points like mine (nearly a full carat) may look really close to being a full carat but not be quite as expensive as the 1 carat. *The only thing to remember with off size stones is that if you buy loose and have to set it, there might not be a prefabricated setting that fits it...you'd end up paying to have a custom setting cast for your stone. Oh, and carat weight is just that, a weight not a dimensional size. So again, if buying a loose stone, it may be 1 carat and still not fit a prefab setting if it's proportions are odd. It must be the correct weight and dimensions to fit prefabs.

Speaking of prefab settings, if you aren't finding what you like in the antique market, ask jewelers if they can get you a "head" (the entire top part of the setting that encloses the stone) in the style you like. Sometimes they can mount a stone in the selected head and integrate it with another band style.

If you do stick with antiques, don't be afraid to think outside the box! If you see a setting with a center ruby, ask if they'd be willing to upgrade the stone to a diamond...and conversely if you wanted a sapphire but it's holding a diamond, ask...they just might work with you.

Bottom line with diamonds is that none are really perfect. Learn what little characteristics you can live with. Me, I can't bear bad color, a decent color with a little carbon speck or two hidden under a prong would work for me. An internally flawless stone with bad color just wouldn't cut it.

Sorry to go on, but I hope this helps!

One last thing...Appraisals! Do NOT under any circumstance have an appraisal done by someone whose fee is a % of the value of the ring! They jack it up on purpose to inflate their fee! I'm not really sure antique dealers will allow you to take the ring and have it appraised prior to purchase and some may not allow for returns afterward. They will be skeptical that the other jeweler might have switched stones, blah, blah, blah. To really and truly appraise a stone, weigh it, etc, it should be out of the setting and I wouldn't recommend playing with that if there's any chance you may need to return it or exchange it.

 

[MaryMary]

Yayyy it worked!

Thanks Fleur!!!

Ok, so this is funny...I own two vintage engagement rings...but I am not engaged!!! (hahaha is that bad luck, like buying a wedding gown before you're engaged??)

The first ring is from the 30's, and rather than diamonds and gold, it is an aquamarine set in stirling. Apparently in the 30's during the depression, people couldn't afford a lot so aquamarines and silver became more popular. I love it because it once again looks like a flower, and aquamarine is my birthstone!

[/IMG]

this ring I got as a grad present from my grandparents, I wear it like a normal ring. It is from the 40's and has a central diamond with three small diamonds on either side that are shaped in the gold setting to form leaves, so the whole ring looks very flower-like, with these leaf shaped diamonds on either side of it. I turned it to the side so you could see the leaf detail.

 

[23SkidooWithYou]

MaryMary,

Oh my STARS!!!
Scrumptious, darling, just scrumptious!

Are they family gems or lucky finds?
Platinum, white gold, what? Tell the drooler...I mean girl, tell the girl.

 

[MaryMary]

Thanks Skidoo that is so nice of you to say!

I kind of messed up my last post, I included the photos but no descriptions so I now have added the descriptions to my original post.

Basically, they were both lucky finds, and I snatched them up right away! The 30's ring is aquamarine and silver, because apparently due to the depression ppl really couldn't afford much else.

The 40's ring is two types of gold - a yellow gold band with a white gold setting. I found that really different! It has a diamond in the middle, and 6 small diamonds, three on either side to represent the "leaves" that make up the flower shape.

They definitely are my treasures!

 

[The Shirt]

23- OH MY! Thank you, thank you for all this information. It is very helpful. I had done my research about the GIA certifications and such. The ring I found has been appraised twice with certificates. I was wondering if I should take it in for my own evaulation as well. The above notes though will let me do some of the evaulation on my own. We did find that we can return the ring, the fellow has been in the business for 25 years and I have only found good feedback.

Mary Mary - quite lovely! I found so many out while I was looking with my beau that I will definitely purchase something for myself in the future. Don't feel bad about already having 2.

 

[Lollipop]

All these rings are gorgeous! I'm drooling over every single one of your guys rings!

 

[Miss Golightly]

MaryMary,

Oh my STARS!!!
Scrumptious, darling, just scrumptious!

Are they family gems or lucky finds?
Platinum, white gold, what? Tell the drooler...I mean girl, tell the girl.

I have to agree with 23SkidooWithYou - those rings are divine!

 

[The Shirt]

Finally happened

I couldn't be more excited. Unfortunately my camera isn't the best anymore.
We found this 1910 (or so) ring at a lovely little antique store in Stillwater, MN. I could barely walk out of the place without tears - I loved it so. Waiting for a couple of more months nearly killed me. Now my feet don't touch the ground.

 

[texasgirl]

Yay! Congrats!!!

 

[LittleMissPussyCat]

Heres my engagement and wedding rings, my wedding ring is from 1877 and my engagement ring from 1921 (I think).