Please share your fishtail prong solitaires!

[wolftress]

I have recently fallen in love with antique fishtail prong soltaires but I''m not sure where to get them! I would love to see any other fishtail-pronged rings.

 

[gemgirl]

My Mom''s engagement ring (which I already have even though she''s still alive) is a 1.30 ct round and has a platinum fishtail setting, but my Dad bought it in 1953, so I couldn''t help you as far as where to buy one. I like it because it makes a round stone almost squarish. It''s a very beautiful setting.

 

[kathleenmv]

Hi Wolftress!

I''m a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge fishtail prong fan. I actually just had a 3-stone fishtail prong ring made by Knox Jewelers. It was inspired by Selkie''s drop-dead gorgeous 3-stone ring from Cross Jewelers. I''ll see if I can dig up the links for you.

In terms of who sells ready-made solitaires with fishtail prongs, this is what comes to mind:
Cross Jewelers
wannabuyawatch.com
artdecodiamonds.com
Doyle & Doyle
antiqueengagementrings.com
Fay Cullen

Ummmmm...That''s all I can think of for now. Last time I looked, all had lovely settings.

Is this for your yummy new OEC or another project?

 

[wolftress]

gemgirl, your mom''s engagement ring sounds beautiful. Please share some pics - we all love antique jewellery here

kathleenmv, thank you so much for all those websites! I had a lovely time drooling over all the antique settings. So far, my favourite is one from antiqueengagementrings.com but I don''t think they do resizing and my fingers are size 2.75

It didn''t look like Cross Jewellers and artdecodiamonds had any ready-made settings listed, so I''ve emailed them to see if they can help me.

Yes, this is for my OEC... she''s happy and sparkly in the 6-prong setting but I think she deserves something better

 

[kathleenmv]

I think your OEC would look scrumptious in a fishtail prong setting! Yowza!!

And lucky you with such a small ring size. My size 6 mitts covet that!

Here are a couple I was thinking of from Cross. (Not sure if you saw these or if they''d have to custom-make it to fit a smaller ring size):
http://www.crossjewelers.com/style/prong/aspen.htm
http://www.crossjewelers.com/style/prong/victory.htm (Selkie has the three-stone version of this one--beautiful!!)

And here''s one I like from artdecodiamonds:
https://www.artdecodiamonds.com/products.php?id=1041&l=0&u=2147483647&sortway=desc

Oh, and another. Hard to tell from the pic what the workmanship is like, though:
https://www.artdecodiamonds.com/products.php?id=1037&l=0&u=2147483647&sortway=desc

Can''t wait to see what you find. Best of luck with this fun project!!

 

[ericad]

Check out mountings on valerio.net!

 

[wolftress]

kathleen, the Victory is the ring I enquired about at Cross! I love the subtle engraving that makes the centre stone really pop. I sometimes wish my fingers were normal sized because I can''t really buy any rings ''off the rack''. Maybe we can swap fingers for a day

so I can try on your beautiful three-stone ring!!!

ericad, I can''t believe how cheap the mountings are at Valerio! They''re stunning... I was so disappointed that Ari didn''t have anything in my budget (DH thinks I''ve been very naughty with jewellery expenditure these last three months) so I''ve had to cut back on the amount I can spend on a setting. I''ve emailed Valerio re. sizing issues. Hopefully they can resize for my scrawny fingers!

 

[kathleenmv]

Wolftress, I''d take your dainty finger anytime! Swap away!

The Victory is a beaut, eh? That''s what I based mine on, too. Once I saw Selkie''s ring, I fell in love.

Those Valerio are lovely--and the prices are awesome. Thanks to Erica for posting. Great site!

 

[Nicki]

Here''s mine. It''s a .81 C D SI1 Superbcert diamond. The diamond and setting are both from Excel Diamonds.

 

[Evelynn]

Wolftress, it''s not a solitaire, but it IS my absolute favorite fishtale setting ever!! EVER!

It belongs to Circe and it holds a 1.46 J. Gorgeous!

 

[Evelynn]

.

 

[Evelynn]

Sideview..

 

[Circe]

Aw, thanks - I''m really flattered! I''ve been admiring your beauties for the last few days enthusiastically ... they''re *amazing*.

Wolftress, I found my setting more or less by chance: we went to pick a stone from a friend of my father''s, and once we''d settled on that, he asked how we were planning to set it. I''d been thinking about getting a bezel to protect the girdle, maybe in rose gold, and when I said that ... eesh! Turns out, he had strong opinions about diamonds belonging in white metals. He pulled a SACK of settings out of his safe and spilled them over the counter, just to show us what it would look like in platinum, and this one winked out at us first thing. An hour later, it was set and on my hand ....

I''m not sure where you are geographically, but if you''re in a town with a 47th equivalent, or a fair number of jewelry stores, it might make sense to hunt around to see if anyone''s got a similar sack: most of the jewelers I know buy settings, either for scrap value or "just in case" (we''re a breed of magpies). Since you''re aiming towards an antique, serendipity just might strike ....

 

[LadyAmythyst69]

I''d love to see what a square stone would look like in that setting.

That''s sort of an old-fashioned look isn''t it? (Not meant in a bad way!) I know it was really popular at one time but I can''t seem to think of what time period - anyone know? I''m always interested in "historical" jewelry.

 

[wolftress]

Nicki, that setting looks amazing on your hand. It makes your beautiful diamond ''pop'' in the setting. Do people sometimes ask if it''s a princess diamond? I like the way fishtails make rounds look a bit square-ish.

Evelynn, thank you so much for posting Circe''s beautiful ring! I knew someone had a fishtail setting as their avatar, I just couldn''t remember who it was. Circe, that setting is classic and absolutely amazing. I love the baguettes at the side too. I''m in Melbourne, Australia so it''s a bit far from NY! I haven''t found many antique jewellery stores around here. There are one or two in the city, but they don''t sell settings. I guess I''ll have to find my setting online!

LadyA, I think this setting was really popular in the 60s or 70s, along with the illusion setting. I love the retro, antiquey look! I too would like to see how a square stone would look in a fishtail.

 

[Circe]

Oh, it''s *definitely* old-fashioned ... one reason why I like it so much! I think the popularity of the cut actually dates a leetle further back than the 60s ... insofar as I''m aware, a lot of fishtail settings date back to the 20s/40s. They seem to have kind of "grown out" of the illusion settings which were popular at the turn of the century. Given the platinum and the baguettes on mine, I lean towards a probable postwar period of construction ... but there''s really no way to tell. Heck, it could have been made last year, given the resurgence of interest in the design these days!

The combo effect of square/round is really nifty to me ... kind of the best of all possible worlds. One thing I like about it is that it gives the illusion of greater size, to combat the nasty shrinkage ... I wonder if it would do the same with a square stone, or if it might work in the opposite direction. Only answer I can see if for one of us to try someday! Additional bonus is, it would probably provide more protection for the corners of a princess ....

 

[LadyAmythyst69]

I''d love to see a princess cut in that setting.

I love those retro rings. For some reason I keep thinking 1930''s & 40''s on those fishtail ones. I certainly haven''t seen that many though so I wonder where I am getting that impression from? LOL - who knows with my brain.

 

[Selkie]

Yes, I think fishtail prongs were really popular starting in the 30''s and 40''s. Cross promotes the Victory ring as being from a WWII era design. The setting is made by Jabel, a die-struck jewelry mfg. in NJ that''s been around since 1916. I saw several fishtail prong antique rings in an antique store in Monterey, CA this weekend, most with small diamonds. I''m thinking of starting a collection!

 

[Selkie]

Circe, I love your setting. Cool story about how you found it, too!

 

[Circe]

Pssst, LadyA! I stumbled across this, and thought of you ....

ETA: for some reason, the link refuses to embed, so I''ll just post it directly: for the link-phobic, it leads to a completed eBay auction for a princess-cut stone in a fishtail setting.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ANTIQUE-PLATINUM-SAPPHIRE-DIAMOND-DECO-ENGAGEMENT-RING_W0QQitemZ280161245368QQihZ018QQcategoryZ52587QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[LadyAmythyst69]

Date: 11/28/2007 6:54:13 PM
Author: Circe
Pssst, LadyA! I stumbled across this, and thought of you ....

ETA: for some reason, the link refuses to embed, so I''ll just post it directly: for the link-phobic, it leads to a completed eBay auction for a princess-cut stone in a fishtail setting.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ANTIQUE-PLATINUM-SAPPHIRE-DIAMOND-DECO-ENGAGEMENT-RING_W0QQitemZ280161245368QQihZ018QQcategoryZ52587QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

That''s nice. I like the sapphire in the princess cut.

 

[surfgirl]

I really like these settings...They look like they''d protect the stone well too. Very practical, yet so unique!

 

[Odilia]

It's funny some of you brought up the age/timeframe and antique-ish look. A friend of mine has one very similar (I'll attach pic), which I love. The day I took these pics (on my hand) I was just starting to look into what type setting to reset my e-diamond, and I love that this ring is a round flanked by baguettes, totally classic, and the fishtail prongs give it that antique look (and to me, keep a "total classic" from being boring). My friend got married in the late 1950's I think, and I believe the ring was new at that time.

So I showed it to my DH on my hand to see what he thought, and he said, not very enthusiastically, "It's okay." I said, "just okay?" and he said, "it's kinda modern."

ETA: In our lexicon, "modern" = bad (for jewelry) We both like more classic and also antique type jewelry, but not really into super-modern. I think the step cuts like baguettes look to DH like they're 'modern'...

 

[Odilia]

This is not really a solitaire either, and I'm not even sure if these are exactly considered 'fishtail' prongs, and it's another pricescoper's ring (I believe her name is kittykat), but I always thought this was a beautiful ring: