Ladygrey
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2017
- Messages
- 167
Hi everyone, I’m looking to sell this incredible, enormous rose cut cluster ring that dates, I'm guessing, from the late Georgian / early Victorian period. There is no foiling on the back of the stones, making it much much easier to wear and care for than many rings of this style. There are no hallmarks, and I think it's a lot earlier than compulsory hallmarking in the UK. I bought it here in the UK and presume it's either English or Continental. Now, some details:
The head of the ring is approx 20mm. Central diamond is 8mm-8.5mm (huge!) The outer diamonds, which are not completely round, range between 4mm (at the narrowest points) to 6mm. Because these are rose cuts, I'm not sure of the carat weight, but I would imagine at least 2 carats from my very rough calculations - you can see from the pictures that there is a LOT of diamond. (For scale on the additional pictures, my ring finger is a 7).
The ring is currently a UK I (US 4) but the majority of the shank is entirely plain and it should be able to be resized quite a few sizes. Of course, I would *only* take this for resizing to a jeweller who has lots of experience working with antiques and truly knows what they are doing. If you have average to big fingers (like me!) it works beautifully as a pinky ring. The top diamond moves ever so slightly within the claws - it's a 9 claw mount so I don't think it's in any danger, but worth mentioning.
Onto the diamond personality and characteristics: Overall, the diamonds are bright and clear and well matched. The central diamond has two eye-visible inclusions (white / clear, not black) and a noticeable chip, which are visible in the photographs. I've taken account of these imperfections in the price. [edited to add - now I’ve MORE THAN taken account of them!!]
The diamonds have the lovely limpid, watery feel of un-foiled rose cuts, particularly in bright light. In lower light, they change personality completely and become much more silvery and glittery (I've included a few lower light pictures so that you can see the personality change). Gorgeous both ways! Apart from the inclusions noted, the central diamond is very clear, as are the surrounding diamonds. Of the nine smaller diamonds, one seems to have an area of cloudiness in the bottom half, and some have some scattered unobtrusive inclusions. Overall, I'd say that these are a great example of beautiful antique diamonds. The rainbow flashes off this ring in the sunlight are crazy - I've never seen rose cuts with this much fire, probably because they are so huge. Take a look at all the photos and videos to see what I mean!
Of course, this is a very old antique jewel and if you are looking for a perfect D-colour Internally Flawless stone with no wear, this won't make you happy. However, if you love antique jewels and understand their beautiful quirks, this is an absolute jaw-dropper.
The mounting on this is lovely. All obviously handmade in antique yellow gold, the shoulders are shaped into a fleur-de-lys and each diamond is held into a beautiful pierced crown-like claw mount. The central diamond is then raised up on prongs and held a little higher above the finger.
I’ve just dropped the price of this piece considerably. A few weeks ago, when I finallly decided to sell this, I was all ‘I’m in no hurry to let this go, the price is firm’. Now, it’s “well, we had a good time together but I’ve moved on” and I’ve slashed the price by $1500. My impatience is your gain, but I really think this is as low as I can possibly go!
As you can probably tell, I really love this ring and would love it to go to a good home. Any questions just let me know.
Additional photos:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/calsterrr/sparkly-things/
Videos:
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