What is under my prongs?

[Mike R]

looks like polishing compound to me, not unusual to find it under prongs.

Thanks Karl - will it just fade away over time? do I have to brush/clean it to get rid of it? will my stone be at risk of falling out if this is present or not present?

Really appreciate your input!

Sorry but that is not any metal polishing compound that I know of, for w/Gold the common polish is either brown or red. I have also seen green and pure white.

In my opinion that is either some type of glue (more likely) or when you were wearing the ring it may have been covered in whatever it is and you didn't do a good job of cleaning under the claws, (less likely because you would know about this)

Princess cuts are more difficult to set, the sharp corners can chip easily during setting if your not extremely carful.
This is still no excuse to use glue though, glue should never be used because it does break down and discolor over time.

Sorry for the bad news, have you had it checked by an independent appraiser.

How's the plating wearing this time around?

I've had it back now for 3 weeks and its fine. Sad that at the 3 week point, I'm starting to watch for discolouration!

I sent these same photos to the sales person and the owner - both emailed back with "nice shots" and that's it! okaaaaay.... Neither commented on the brown junk.

I have not had it appraised yet, but it has been steamed twice since I got it back early/mid February because I was in a mall and tried on some rings and both times, was offered to have it cleaned. I would assume if that was something easily removed, the steaming should have removed it... is that correct? I also clean it with Dawn liquid/water/supersoft baby toothbrush, so there is not a lot of stuff getting in there that I don't know about or haven't cleaned off.

My fear is that the corners are broken, they have not told me and they just 'glued' it back in place. At any point, I'm going to look down and see it's missing. Just a fear of mine.

Thanks for your input Mike (and you ARE a creative genius -love Zehra's ring!!!)

I think you really do need to get it checked out by an independent profitional.

Please do not try and scrap it away yourself, if steem cleaning hasn't dislodged it then it's not going to be easy for you to remove yourself and you do not want to be blamed for any damage caused.

Like I said before, it's not polishing compound, without seeing it in person I can't tell for sure what it is but if I had to make an educated guess I would say it is glue, I have seen this look a lot on pearls.

The good news is I don't think your diamond is going to just fall out.
Like I said before you have to be very carefull with the corners on princess cuts during setting. I have seen a few times where setters will push the claws over the corners enough to secure the diamond, but then stop before pushing the claw all the way over against the stone, this lessens the risk of breakage.
The problem in doing this though is that although the stone will not fall out of the setting it does rattle and move slightly in the setting, to stop the rattle I have seen people use glue. (again a big no no)

Before you go back to the store and tell them you think you have glue on your diamond I would get evidence in the form of an appraisal so there is no arguments.

Good luck!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Girl you live near a major (ish) urban center. Get your tushy to a highly respected jeweler with an IN HOUSE bench and get an answer. Not a mall jeweler. Look for the best.

 

[Enerchi]

Girl you live near a major (ish) urban center. Get your tushy to a highly respected jeweler with an IN HOUSE bench and get an answer. Not a mall jeweler. Look for the best.

LOL! Yes sir Madam Dreamer!!

I will make it my mission this week and keep you posted! (You are such a task master! ROFL!)

 

[Mike R]

Girl you live near a major (ish) urban center. Get your tushy to a highly respected jeweler with an IN HOUSE bench and get an answer. Not a mall jeweler. Look for the best.

LOL! Yes sir Madam Dreamer!!

I will make it my mission this week and keep you posted! (You are such a task master! ROFL!)

Great advice Dreamer, well said!

That's great to hear, if your going to want to take the piece back to the store that originally set your diamond I would recommend that the appraisal is done by an independent appraiser rather than just going back to them with the opinion of a competing retailer, it will have more pulling power to get your ring fixed properly if you have the problem written down in black and white.

While your with the the appraiser you should tell them about your last problem with the plating, have them check the whole ring.
It would be good to ask them while your there if your ring has any micro porosity issues while it is being checked over, this can cause a soft dull grey look to the surface of the metal. (<sorry Im not trying to worry you at all, and in the pictures I can't really see any micro porosity but it's good to have all possible problems checked out at the same time)

Good luck, I really hope that it's just some wierd alien dirt that is attracted to the shade under prongs.

 

[Enerchi]

UPDATE:
Just back from the appraiser. Yup --- as we all suspected, its GLUE! We all saw it on all 4 prongs under their 30x GIA microscope (Man, that is ONE COOL TOY!!!) They had a goldsmith on site, he took me to the back, steamed my ring to see if the globs of glue were able to be dislodged then looked under the microscope again - nope, its all still there strongly attached. The issue they say, is that with glue (which is used to set stones regularly in West Africa, as an example they gave me) it can dry then flake off. Once off, the stone is then able to 'move' in the setting. Diamonds being harder than gold, could work its way to ruining the seat under the prong. If the diamond is lose, something could case it to chip/fallout/crack, etc. Decision was made on site to 'burn' the glue off to see if it sits properly in the seat and see if there is a chip on the stone corners that the glue was covering - which should have been noticed by the appraiser as a splinter, but they could not see the corners fully, because of the prongs.

Back to the workroom and the goldsmith protected the ring first, with what looked like a waxy compound, then he used a mini blow torch to burn off the glue - that was pretty cool to watch! Turned black and smoldered in all 4 corners.

Once the glue was burned off, there's my stone, " a rockin' and a rollin' " in the prongs. DAMN! Saw it again under the microscope and it wasn't even sitting in the seats of the prongs. They offered me the opportunity to take it back to the original store and have them reset the diamond or they could reset it for me. At this point (based on the 'looks' shared between the appraiser and the goldsmith when I told them who in the city did this work, as well seeing for myself the condition of the setting) I decided to let this place reset my ring. The extra cost for this is inconsequential to know my stone will now be safe. Plus - I'm so "Two Thousand and LATE" with the original store pfffft, they will not be getting any future business from me and I'll probably speak out unfavourably if ever asked about them.

Back again to the backroom and he removes the diamond from its setting and we can all observe, at super high power, there is nothing wrong with the stone and they did make the "plate and seat" properly in each prong, so resetting won't be a problem. Whew - at least something is going well at this point! And all 4 corners are perfect- no chips/splinters/shatters anywhere.

He will also recut the prongs to make them look like what he called "pigeon claws" and what I call "spider claws" ... you know that pointed tear drop/VC style prong.

Their suggestion was to contact the original store and give them an update of what is going on. My thoughts are ... forget it. Water under the bridge. I always had a gut feeling that was not comfortable about them and when they replied to my photo's I sent via email with a "nice", well, no more contact is perfectly fine with me. I don't need to go back and go 'blah blah blah' about issues. I'd rather be done with them, so I'm having this place go ahead with the reset and I'm chalking the first store up to a bad experience that is over with.

MikeR, I did ask about porosity of the metal and they confirmed it was 18k WG w palladium and that it was not porous but that rhodium just wore off too soon. oh well.... But they will re rhodium plate it again as they need to work on it, so it will look like new --- AGAIN! This poor ring has more mani/pedi's than I get!

There we are with the latest news and some time later this week I'll have it back along with the written appraisal.

 

[slg47]

Enerchi I am glad you got to a competent jeweler!!! I am so glad they can fix it for you and set your stone properly-without glue.

 

[elliemay]

I'm so glad you got it sorted, Enerchi! Can't wait to see the new prongs!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Great! And it seems like you have a good bench now.

I likely would do the same as you, not deal with the other vendor again. If they knew they were doing something wrong and could fix it, they would have already. I tried three local jewelers for small things before I found the one I use now, who costs a little more but seems to actually know what they are doing. Like the place you dewscribe, their bench is RIGHT there, the person you speak to IS the metalsmith, and they can do small tasks in moments while you watch!

Can't wait to see the new prong work, too, I think you will be pleased!

 

[ame]

WOW. Well that's an amazing new jeweler it seems you might have found and I am glad they can fix it up. I REALLY hope that when you get it back it's perfection.

 

[Amys Bling]

If it were my ring I would want to have it evaluated. If the corners are chipped, you don't want them to come back on you and try to claim that you caused the damage. I have a bellyache just thinking about it. Have you photographed it again, can you still see it after having had it steamed a couple of times?

Exactly. I would def verify its not chile or damaged.

 

[Karl_K]

Glad you found a good benchman and an appraiser who was able to fix it up for you and get to the bottom of it.

 

[Enerchi]

Thanks SLG, elliemay, DD, ame, amy's bling and Karl K- it is a relief to know that it is going to be set properly.

Was telling a friend about this and she's all about "go git the bad guys" and I'm kind of wondering if I should tell them the situation to date. What eats at me is that after seeing my photos, not to come back with an "oh - lets fix that for you" kind of comment just says they don't really care about their quality. Is it better to leave it alone and be done with them (my original plan) or not?

...and yes indeed - I am VERY excited about the prong work. I LURVE me some nice prongs!!! (and prawns, too, if we are having seafood! )

 

[Dreamer_D]

Well, what outcome would you hope for by talking to the original jeweler?

 

[Enerchi]

Well, what outcome would you hope for by talking to the original jeweler?

I'm sure nothing good would come of it, it would just be a "moan-fest" on my part and they would be denying any wrong doing. I was just rambling out loud It wouldn't be worth it - why stir up trouble. Just had to put that thought out to the universe and chew on it for a moment. Back to my original "leave it alone" plan.

Voice of reason has spoken!

 

[Christina...]

Well, that is good news! I was getting a belly ache thinking about what was going on underneath those prongs! I'm excited to see the new prong work too! I see those beautiful VC and LM prongs and then look at mine and they look so bulbous! Happy it worked out for you Enerchi!

 

[Amys Bling]

Glad it all worked out

 

[Mike R]

That's great that your getting things sorted out, I'm really glad I decided to speak up, I knew it wasn't polishing compound.

I personaly think you should let the jewelry store know, it is possible that they do not know how bad the contractor is that they are using to do their work, you could save them and other clients from problems in the future.

Yes they should have seen the problem in the pictures you sent them but it is possible that if they contract all their work out that they just don't have enough experience to understand that the are supplying bad work to their clients.

I'm happy you found a great local jeweler!

 

[Dreamer_D]

I don't think telling them what they did is stirring trouble. Mike makes a good point. Call and ask to speak to the manager and just say "Hey, I was very unhappy with the work you did on my ring. I found out that the stone was set with glue, which is not the right way to do things. I will be taking my busienss elsewhere in future, but wanted to tell you about this poor practice by your bench so you can rectify the situation for future customers."

Or something like that.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Very happy to hear the problem was resolved and that your stone is in good shape!

 

[Lotus99]

I'm also happy to hear you found a jeweler who can fix this for you.

Those loupes/super macros are scary things, indeed.

 

[Enerchi]

I'm also happy to hear you found a jeweler who can fix this for you.

Those loupes/super macros are scary things, indeed.

I agree! It was amazing to look that deeply at my stones, but sometimes... "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then" (YAY - I'm quoting Toby Keith on Pricescope!!! woo hoo! )

 

[Enerchi]

That's great that your getting things sorted out, I'm really glad I decided to speak up, I knew it wasn't polishing compound.

I personaly think you should let the jewelry store know, it is possible that they do not know how bad the contractor is that they are using to do their work, you could save them and other clients from problems in the future.

Yes they should have seen the problem in the pictures you sent them but it is possible that if they contract all their work out that they just don't have enough experience to understand that the are supplying bad work to their clients.

I'm happy you found a great local jeweler!

Thanks Mike - I'm glad you spoke up too
If you didn't do your own benchwork, would YOU want to know this info - even after not acknowledging it via photos sent in an email? Just curious. What would you do with info on a call from a client, if this were the case?

 

[Enerchi]

Very happy to hear the problem was resolved and that your stone is in good shape!

ME TOO!!! I am sure I was holding my breath the whole time he was removing it from the prongs. He even had the nerve to go "oh!" as he took it out - which made my heart drop - but caused him fits of laughter! I guess it has to be a goldsmith joke!!

 

[Enerchi]

I don't think telling them what they did is stirring trouble. Mike makes a good point. Call and ask to speak to the manager and just say "Hey, I was very unhappy with the work you did on my ring. I found out that the stone was set with glue, which is not the right way to do things. I will be taking my busienss elsewhere in future, but wanted to tell you about this poor practice by your bench so you can rectify the situation for future customers."

Or something like that.

Good point. I will chew on this for a bit. I know he is not on the store on Sunday's so I don't have to do anything today - phew!

 

[Sky56]

Thanks for the detailed update. Good to hear things are going well.

 

[Mike R]

That's great that your getting things sorted out, I'm really glad I decided to speak up, I knew it wasn't polishing compound.

I personaly think you should let the jewelry store know, it is possible that they do not know how bad the contractor is that they are using to do their work, you could save them and other clients from problems in the future.

Yes they should have seen the problem in the pictures you sent them but it is possible that if they contract all their work out that they just don't have enough experience to understand that the are supplying bad work to their clients.

I'm happy you found a great local jeweler!

Thanks Mike - I'm glad you spoke up too
If you didn't do your own benchwork, would YOU want to know this info - even after not acknowledging it via photos sent in an email? Just curious. What would you do with info on a call from a client, if this were the case?

I find it almost impossible to beleave they saw nothing wrong with the pictures you sent them, because of this I would like to believe that they are clueless business owners that are placing their trust in their contractors skill to do the correct thing by their clients (the only alternative is they are shady themselves)
Because of this I really do think they need to be made aware that they have lost a client and will also probably loose other future clients.

I would send them a polite email saying that your not looking for a discussion about the situation or an argument but just tell them how disappointed you were in the work they performed for you and how much trouble and money it has taken to fix the situation.
Hopefully by doing this the store can find a better contractor to send their work out to and you can save other people from going through your terrible situation.

Take care, Mike.