the ring was originally a gift from her beloved grandmother, and she had used the center diamond for her engagement ring. fast forward, after the marriage ended, to her recent phone call inquiry …
do i buy jewelry? why, yes, i do!
and, so, into the shop she came.
as we were chatting – a getting-to-know-you kind of chat – it came out that she had her late nana’s original ring with her. i showed her an example of what i love to do – reimagine and repurpose one piece of jewelry into another. she was immediately intrigued by the idea of restoring nana’s ring to its original form but modifying it to wear in a completely different way. fortunately for our project, this granddaughter had had the foresight to keep the original mounting in one piece and had not traded it in towards her wedding set.
as happens with jewelry, tears were shed while the thought of wearing something so precious was within reach.
the original set possibly dates from the late mid-twentieth century
many times the simplest tweak works wonders
i made a very simple design change to give the ring a new look by “turning” the center crown of the ring so it will not point down but will be more face-front when on a chain. the new center setting for the round diamond is a traditional box-style claw-basket. it has one cluster prong at each corner which was very popular from 1930 to about 1960 or so. the setting both protects the diamond and makes the stone look larger.
all of the diamonds in the pendant ring are modern round brilliant-cut diamonds. the center diamond is 0.55 carat, the side stones are about 0.20 carat total weight. although i did not grade the color or the clarity this time around, they are all lovely stones and do exactly what they should do which is to sparkle!
- 14k yellow and white gold diamond ring pendant
- Location: Torrington, CT
