{"id":7674,"date":"2018-10-24T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/?p=7674"},"modified":"2018-10-24T09:35:41","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T13:35:41","slug":"should-you-reset-an-heirloom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/should-you-reset-an-heirloom\/","title":{"rendered":"SHOULD YOU RESET AN HEIRLOOM?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Resetting<\/div>\n

So you’ve inherited <\/strong>a beautiful old piece of jewelry right out of the early 1900’s<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nYou know it’s old because it was your dearly departed great great grandmother’s diamond ring.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now it’s yours!<\/h2>\n

\nJust by looking at this old ring you’ll see that there are no stamps or markings<\/strong> inside the ring to tell you what type of metal it is.<\/p>\n

\nAnd it has some small diamonds in the side that look like they’ve been rounded off<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nPlus, the diamond in the center isn’t exactly round<\/strong> and it has what looks like a “bullet hole<\/strong>” in the center of it (See picture). So there’s no question whatsoever that it’s old.<\/p>\n

\nBesides being old and outdated, the prongs are broken<\/strong>, worn, the mounting is bent, the shank is thin<\/strong>. You can’t wear it as is.<\/p>\n

\nSo the big question becomes:<\/strong> Should you remount it into something modern and new, or just leave it alone?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nIt all boils down to 2 things:<\/p>\n

Cost and risk:<\/h2>\n

\nCost, because a new mounting won’t be cheap<\/strong>. Normally diamond mountings can run on average of $500 and up<\/strong>. That all depends on how elaborate the Ring is, how much metal is used, and how many diamonds you want<\/strong>.
\n Labor involved…<\/p>\n

\nI know, you’d like to reset all those small heirloom diamonds<\/strong>, but trust me, you don’t want to go there<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nThose small diamonds are just not worth it<\/strong>. The cost of resetting those little bitty suckers would be more than they’re worth<\/strong>. Usually up to $100 per stone<\/strong> to reset. And chances are good those small diamonds are not just diamonds, but chips<\/strong>. I always tell people, unless the side diamonds are large, forget them<\/strong>. Reset the center large diamond only<\/strong>. Keep the small diamonds in the old mounting and hang on to it for sentimental reasons<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Grandma would want that.<\/h2>\n

\nNow as far as the center diamond goes, keep in mind, not all diamonds can be reset. There’s always a…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Risk!<\/h2>\n

\nHere’s something that’s interesting…<\/strong> The older the diamond, the bigger the risk<\/strong>. This is because that diamond more than likely has gone through a lot of wear and tear. Old mine cuts, or old European cut diamonds<\/strong> (bullet-hole diamonds), usually have little chips and breaks<\/strong> (called a bearded girdle<\/strong>) taken out of the side. After so many years, those chips will circle around the outer edge of the diamond.<\/p>\n

\nYou can even feel them with your fingernail. Run your nail around the edge of the stone… Do you feel those little nicks? That’s the bearded girdle.<\/p>\n

Chipped girdles:<\/h2>\n

\nA diamond with a chipped girdle makes it very hard to reset<\/strong>. Applying too much pressure to those chipped areas can cause your heirloom and precious diamond to bust<\/strong>. Jewelers have to be ultra careful<\/strong> and extremely cautious<\/strong> when resetting them. There’s always a BIG risk!<\/strong><\/p>\n

My advice?<\/h2>\n

\nMake sure you insure your heirloom<\/strong> and make sure the appraisal is up-to-date FIRST.<\/strong> That way, if something does happen to the diamond, insurance will cover it.<\/p>\n

\nAll in all, resetting it depends on how big the diamond is, and if it’s worth it<\/strong>. If the diamond is .50 carats or bigger, I’d say go for it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nAnd if you don’t like the “bullet hole<\/strong>” that resulted from that old cutting style, you can always get your diamond recut<\/a> into a modern brilliant cut diamond<\/strong>. It’ll make the diamond a little smaller, sure, but it’ll look awesome and bright<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nLastly, don’t forget to get it re-appraised<\/strong> after you have it reset. You’ll want a new appraisal in the new mounting with a new value. <\/p>\n

\nGrandma may be gone, but her diamonds have never looked so good.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nCheers! :)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So you’ve inherited a beautiful old piece of jewelry right out of the early 1900’s. You know it’s old because it was your dearly departed great great grandmother’s diamond ring. Now it’s yours! Just by [Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diamond-guide","category-diamonds","category-jewelry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7674"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}