HELP! Advice for inherited ring

[rkelias]

Please give me your advice! My grandmother, who I was very close to, recently passed away and left me a ring that she wore every day. It was originally one of a pair of earrings that belonged to my great-grandmother. It is a "cluster" setting very similar to the one on the cover of this month''s Martha Stewart Wedding mag (on the right side third from the bottom of the page). The center stone is about 1 to 1.3 carat and then there are 8 smaller stones surrounding it.

link to a thread with the Martha cover: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/martha-stewart-wedding-diamond-cover.37752/

Here''s what I need help with. The setting is in yellow gold (not platinum with smaller stones on the band like in the mag pic) and it was in bad condition, the inside was all black (I don''t think it had been cleaned for 20 years) and I noticed that two of the prongs on the smaller stones were broken off, so I stopped wearing it and I''m going to the jeweler in two weeks to figure out what to do with it.

I think that the setting is beautiful, but it''s going to take a lot of rebuilding work before its wearable again and I don''t have any other yellow gold pieces (I have white gold). I think the stones aren''t of great quality, which may make them look better in the yellow.

Should I have the jeweler rebuild the current setting? Take out the stones and reset in a similar setting in white gold or plat? I want to wear it and I do love it, just need some help. As some history, when she made it into a ring from an earring, she raised the center stone slightly so it''s more dome-like from the side instead of flat, so there is prescedent for alteration, I was thinking about adding tiny pave diamonds on the band possibly like in the martha picture.

Any advice is much appreciated. Also, I tried to attach the picture of the mag cover, we''ll see if it works (new to this).

Thanks,
rkelias

 

[widget]

Hi, rkelias! Welcome!

How wonderful that you have your grandmother''s ring!

I guess a lot would depend on what the jeweler says after he/she''s seen it....and determined how much work would be involved with restoring it. Are they experts in antique pieces?

It is probably less of a "sin" to dramatically alter it since as you say it''s already been altered twice (converting it from an earring and raising the center stone). That said, if it were me, I''d probably want to keep it looking like how I remember my grandmother wearing it.

You might ask them about the possibility of having it rhodium plated so that it will go with the rest of your white metal jewelry...

Good luck, let us know what you decide, and we''d love to see pictures!

Heirlooms like this are SO special...
widget

 

[Kaili]

I love that cluster ring!!! Yellow gold would be beautiful for a design like that, but if the color would keep you from wearing it, that is an important thing to know. I think it is better that you can wear the lovely gesture and remembrance of your grandmother.

Widget has a great idea with the rhodium.

I would definitely talk over the options with your jeweler.

 

[rkelias]

Thank you both for your advice, I will definitely discuss the rhodium possibility. I can't wait to see what the ring will look like after it's cleaned well, I can't begin to describe how dirty it was inside, the gold had turned black with crud.

As for the jewler, they are experts, so I'm not worried about that. I want to go somewhere that will give me good advice as well about what can be done and what shouldn't be done, the last thing I want is to ruin it!

Before I have them do anything I will be sure to post some pictures, right now my aunt has the ring and I am meeting her at the jewler in a couple of weeks, I'll take pics then. In the meantime, I was thinking about resetting my current ering for a while, it's a very simple x-type setting in white gold similar to the whiteflash setting attached. I had wanted a halo setting with micropave like on the martha cover left side third from the bottom. I've always wanted a cushion cut, but I just keep feeling like everyone is getting the halo and it's going to feel very '2005' in a few years - now I'm thinking that I won't reset my ering and instead wear my grandmothers, with a "new to me" kind of feeling.

The point it, I think I might put micropave on the band of my grandmothers ring, adding my own little 'touch' like she did (similar to the cluster ring on the cover), then of course consider the rhodium - that decision will be based on what the jeweler thinks about it.