Posted 13 years ago
bahamaboy
(224 items)
This is three sets of about roughly 70-80 sets I bought at auction many years ago. The vast majority are from the late 1940's through the 1950's. I love the artwork on all of this old 14k. These were bought originally to be scrapped and used to make other jewelry items but after looking closely at the beautiful "artwork", I just couldn't bring myself to destroy them. So sets they will stay. The main diamond in most of these rings average 10-15 points. For those of you that don't know, it takes 100 points to equal a full carat. Some of the main diamonds are a bit smaller and a few are slightly larger.
I have a few vintage pieces like this too. I love the old rings, there is so much detail in them. Glad you didn't destroy them!
Really. I had the "smelter" cranked up piping hot and was ready to make some ingots. But common sense got the better of me. It was only after I started looking at them under magnification separating the 14 from the 18k and so forth that I really got to looking at the detail. I don't see small diamond rings today with near the detail. You have to buy a 50-150 point ring to get hardly any detail at all. And these little guys, some barely 6-8 points and for them to have the detail they do. Boy, oh boy, how I long for the "good 'ol days". Thank you for taking the time to look and also thank you for your comment tikiray.
Just think of all the people that didn't let common sense get the best of them! So many of these old sets are scrapped for their gold and diamonds, it's sad. Glad you came to your senses. :) If I have time today I'll post some of my rings.
When my husband asked me to marry him he gave me his mother's engament ring . I just loved it and it had a lot of detail like some of these . I wore it for quite a few years when I lost the largest diamond while working because one of the prongs was worn . I was able to find the diamon again . It is a long story so I will not go into it . I took it to the jewelry store to have it fixed . They told me it was not able to be fixed and I believed them . They talked me into getting another set of rings and putting my diamonds into them . That is what I did and I have never liked it . A few years later I took my rings back to have the diamonds channel set into new rings . I wanted all of the diamonds channel set including the largest one , which is not very big at all . When I went to pick them up the largest stone was in tall prongs taller than ever before instead of channel set . When I complained they told me that was the only way they could do it . I was so upset that I just put the rings away and have not worn them since !
Wow Nancy, that's very sad that you don't have the "intact set" like you started with. Also I find it hard to believe a good jeweler was unable to do the ring exactly like you want. Not that I don't believe you but him/her. They should have been able to do it exactly like the other. I think it just would have been a little more difficult and they didn't want to tackle it. Craftsmen of today don't hold a candle to those of old. I have many of these sets for sale at my jewelry and coin business on eBay and I have gotten numerous compliments after sales and even from those that don't buy, about these older sets and their detail & beauty. I'm glad I kept them intact. Thank you for taking the time to look and to comment. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Regards, Kerry
bahamaboy, I posted some of my rings for you to check out. Enjoy!
I just took a look at them. They're awesome to say the least. And the 'kicker" is, is that back in the day, these were the type the average person or couple would buy because the diamonds were not that large and the gold content was not that substantial. They were quite affordable to the average couple. If the detail was put into these lower priced type of wedding sets, I'm certain the ones with the larger main diamond would be even more attractive. I've only owned one very old engagement ring with a large diamond (just shy of two full carats) and I actually had people fighting over it and I ended up selling it for several hundred more than my asking price. I had to do something nice for the loser as they were threatening to leave me negative feedback because they didn't end up getting the ring. The main diamond was surrounded by 6 other diamonds that were close to being a "third" carat each. This was a ring that I was going to salvage the diamonds to put into other jewelry pieces, and melt the remaining white gold. After I showed the ring to several people "in the know", they informed me that this type of older jewelry was "highly sought after" and I would probably do much better by leaving it alone and selling it as is. They were right.
Good story! Glad you didn't melt it down!!