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A Traub Orange Blossom Tale

YadaYadaYada

YadaYadaYada

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Feb 2, 2016
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You guys ready for an epic story? Today we decided to venture out to some antique shops, the first stop yielded a pretty little four stone pink cz ring, not old but nice for a little fun, it happens to be Diamonique which is relevant later on.

We decided to venture out to this little antique shop down by the shoreline, they always have lots of jewelry but overpriced as you would expect. So I'm looking around and DH and our younger son decide to go to another shop in back of this one, I'm poking around with my older son scanning the cases of jewelry. I spot some pretty rings, there is what looks like an old one with a Diamonique on top of it, that diamonique was following me today! I'm trying to read the tag on the older looking one and it says "14kt Diamond Ring $70.00".......wait what?! Okay I need to look at that!

Call the nice man over and he opens the case and hands it to me, I'm looking at it and there are words on the inside...I angle it to get a better view and it's a Traub stamp with "Orange Blossom" on one side and the Traub hallmark and 14Kt on the other. Eeeeeeek!

So I quit my jewelry browing after that because I really just wanted to pay for it and make it mine! Get it home and wash it up and oh isn't she pretty. Unfortunately we got home late and there is no sun so bathroom shots were the best I could do. The prongs need to be retipped, it's amazing the diamond didn't fall out they are so bad!

I don't have calipers so was trying to determine size, I compared it to my 1/3 carat OEC what do you guys think for possible size here?

Here are some pics and I will get outside shots on a better day.

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Oh my goodness what a wonderful buy! And those prong - EEEEK! You’ve performed a public service by rescuing that diamond from almost certain disaster! :appl:
 
Oooooh, Girl!
A very lucky find! $70 bucks? Someone messed up in the pricing department! And the stone looks so clean!
It's crazy how the prongs get so messed up on these older rings. I have been wearing my right hand RB every day since I had it reset in 2003. The prongs are still fine. But I'm not scrubbing floors and chopping firewood while wearing it.
Yay for Stephanie! I guess you forked over some of that yard sale
money from yesterday.......:lol-2::P2
 
What a great price and I love that setting and stone! She looks a little smaller than your OEC? Nice profile!!
 
Thanks @VRBeauty, I'm going to tell DH from now on that I'm a rescue squad for jewelry, saving vintage one ring at a time lol!

@stracci2000, it's funny how it worked out with the yard sale money, we couldn't let it sit around too long! You had prongs retipped recently right? With a pawn shop find if I remember correctly. How much will that set me back you think?

Thanks @foxinsox, it's really a nice little ring, with a little rehab and resize it will be perfect. I'm going to bring it to the jeweler tomorrow to find out about the prongs and I'll have them measure it.
 
@StephanieLynn, The first jewelry store I went into wanted $150 for all six prongs. No way! The second place I went to is an actual jewelry repair shop. They quoted me $75, but when I picked it up, the bill was $64. I think I may have done a backflip in the shop!
So I guess it was $10/prong plus tax. They actually cut off the old prongs halfway down and added new tips.
With your ring, I'm not sure how it will be done, since the prongs are different. I watched some videos on Youtube of retipping being done.
Very interesting!
There are a couple of different techniques. I would plan on spending
$50-60.
 
What a gorgeous stone & It looks so clean! Those prongs are making me twitchy - be sure to get those seen to asap. I can't believe how little you paid though?? I am so jelly!!
 
@stracci2000, $50-$60 doesn't sound bad but something tells me the jewelry stores around here are going to charge an arm and a leg, you know because people here have so much money and all LOL! I guess we will see what they say and I will report back.

@Alex T, those prongs are they not the worst you have seen? I believe that people do not know that prongs wear down over time and just wear their rings all the time and expect them to hold up year after year. Perhaps thats why this one was such a deal, because they didn't want to spend the money to get it wearable again!
 
So I brought this one to the jeweler today and they told me eight prongs need to be retipped at a cost of $150. Well that to me wasn't so bad but she also recommended it be reshanked and if I do that I will lose all the engraving plus the jewelry hallmarks.

So the prongs are a definite but I'm really lost on the reshank, I know the hallmarks are important to the piece and I don't want to lose them especially if I wanted to sell down the line. She said it would probably be okay for occasional wear with the profs done and the existing shank.

Thoughts?
 
The sun finally came out today so I took her out for a few photos. She is such a little sparkle bomb but her setting is such a hot mess :nono:

I forgot to add that the jeweler yesterday said she was about a 1/4 carat :rolleyes2:


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Oh that is such a pretty diamond! Great find @StephanieLynn! Idk, I'm thinking maybe you could skip the reshanking? I have a few vintage pieces with thin shanks and I'm just careful when I wear them. It's up to you, if it's super thin then maybe, but my gut reaction is to not do it.

It really is amazing the beating some of these older rings have taken!
 
I recently had a ring reshanked. It wasn’t dangerously thin, but thin enough that I’d think twice when reaching for it and avoid it for certain activities. It’s the ring I wear when travelling or camping, and any hallmarks had long since worn off, so I decided to get it reshanked for my own piece of mind. In other words, I think you can trust your own instincts when it comes to reshanking, just as you can trust yourself to avoid wearing that ring for activities that might stress the shank.
 
HI:

Great find! Really pretty!

cheers--Sharon
 
Thanks @junebug17 and @VRBeauty, I will probably just get the prongs fixed and leave the shank. I can't stomach losing the hallmarks and engraving on the inside. It is too small currently but if I lose weight (which I need to do anyways and keep putting it off) it will fit fine.

Thanks @canuk-gal!
 
StephanieLynn said:
The sun finally came out today so I took her out for a few photos. She is such a little sparkle bomb but her setting is such a hot mess :nono:

I forgot to add that the jeweler yesterday said she was about a 1/4 carat :roll2:


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This is quite a collection you've got going here! I love the look and vibe of petite vintage solitaires. I think you really have a good eye for finding these.
 
Thanks @natasha-cupcake, I just buy what I like if it's a reasonable price. Have you been out antiquing lately?

We went to the Stratford Antique Center today which we'be been to before but the prices have really gotten silly there so will probably need to find some new spots. We also went to a few nice shops in Seymour.
 
StephanieLynn said:
Thanks @natasha-cupcake, I just buy what I like if it's a reasonable price. Have you been out antiquing lately?

We went to the Stratford Antique Center today which we'be been to before but the prices have really gotten silly there so will probably need to find some new spots. We also went to a few nice shops in Seymour.
Click to expand...
I love the Seymour shops! They are very close to me. I went a few times over the summer and definitely need to stop in again. I went to the Woodbury Flea Market yesterday, but didn't find anything of interest, except for some gorgeous Russian laquered wood boxes. They were a little too much money for me so I passed.
 
StephanieLynn said:
The sun finally came out today so I took her out for a few photos. She is such a little sparkle bomb but her setting is such a hot mess :nono:

I forgot to add that the jeweler yesterday said she was about a 1/4 carat :roll2:


IMG_9621.JPG IMG_9623.JPG IMG_9627.JPG IMG_9628.JPG IMG_9629.JPG
Click to expand...

I just love all these rings! They are so gorgeous!
This last purchase is one for the record books at $70!!!
 
@stracci2000, thank you! That means a lot coming from the OEC queen!
 
What a wonderful find! I wouldn’t reshank the ring either... just do it if it breaks, you won’t lose the ring if the shank breaks right?
 
@peacechick, I wouldn't think so, in my mind it wouldn't be like a necklace falling off :confused:
 
Thought I would share a bit more that I learned about this diamond today. I brought a bunch of pieces to an appraiser to get ideas about color and clarity and it turns out this one was graded as a .29 F VS diamond! Also and even better, she said it is a early round brilliant/transitional, I've really wanted a transitional so this was great news.

Now she said the setting is totally shot, don't bother with the prongs, don't bother with a reshank, just forget about the setting all together. She gave me a wholesale price on the diamond that was well above my initial investment. So in the end I don't have a Traub ring but I do have a pretty nice diamond to do something with :appl:
 
StephanieLynn said:
Thought I would share a bit more that I learned about this diamond today. I brought a bunch of pieces to an appraiser to get ideas about color and clarity and it turns out this one was graded as a .29 F VS diamond! Also and even better, she said it is a early round brilliant/transitional, I've really wanted a transitional so this was great news.

Now she said the setting is totally shot, don't bother with the prongs, don't bother with a reshank, just forget about the setting all together. She gave me a wholesale price on the diamond that was well above my initial investment. So in the end I don't have a Traub ring but I do have a pretty nice diamond to do something with :appl:
Click to expand...
Great news! And to think you only paid $70!
 
Right? Can't complain that's cheaper than a nice dinner out around here!
 
StephanieLynn said:
Right? Can't complain that's cheaper than a nice dinner out around here!
Click to expand...
Yes, $70 doesn't buy much anymore.
This diamond would make a lovely solitaire pendant!
I say this because you have so many diamond rings..............:lol-2::mrgreen2::P2
 
So true, especially with kids, we go out every once in a while and it's no less than $80. I have two boys so that doesn't help!

Funny you mention the rings because I am working on selling them :-o I'm keeping my three row diamond band and the ring I just got and probably both of my pink sapphire rings but the rest I hope will find good homes.

It's nice to have them but I wear the same couple of rings all the time so it just doesn't make sense to keep them sitting in a box you know? Plus I am having a pendant made, that project is on hold for now but once I have it that will be my go to pendant. I will do something with it though no worries!

Did you find anything good this weekend or did you take a weekend off from treasure hunting?
 
I feel guilty if I don't go out on Friday and Saturday. What am I missing out on if I don't go? Yes, obsessive I know. The old "what if?"
I found some old jewelry boxes, and a few rings.. I put my rings in them for the pic. I think the black lacquer box is missing her ballerina!
The close up ring is 14k and low quality tanzanite. The photo makes the stones look blue, but they are lilac color. No diamonds there, just bumps! An ugly ring for sure, but for $1.00, it was a deal! I will try to sell it.
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