question for the jewellers/gold/silversmiths

[lph]

I seem to have read that there are several TE'ers that make jewellery of some sort, so I was hoping I could maybe get a tip or two 'cos I'm really clueless about this sort of stuff.

When my grandmother died 2 years ago I inherited a diamond ring. I'll post photos once I get home. It's a white gold ring with some filigree, if that's the correct term, and a quite large single diamond. According to a jeweller my MIL took it to it's fairly valuable, especially because of the filigree work which is old-fashioned and a little unusual.

I would really like to wear it in memory of my grandmother. Funny thing is she was very frugal and low-key and I never saw her use it herself. She inherited it as a brooch from her mother originally.

I don't wear rings regularly, and when I try I end up fiddling with them and taking them off and leaving them places. So I was thinking of having it remade into an earring and getting my ears pierced. I have only worn clip-on earrings a few times but I like the way they look on me and I was thinking an earring would be relatively safely attached. It would have to be "dance-proof" ;)

Any thoughts? Would it be very expensive to have it re-fashioned? Would you consider it silly to "ruin" the filigree ring? I could also keep the ring as it is and have an earring attachment or pendant attachment added, I guess, but the diamond would then point down and not be very visible.

Grateful for any feedback!

[redrhodie]

My thought is that you could have the diamond unset from the ring and reset into an earring, then get another gem (maybe a birthstone) to replace the diamond in the original filigree ring setting. That way, you get the earring that you will wear a lot, and still have the original setting intact.

ETA, turning the existing ring as it is into an earring may be too heavy on the ear. If you keep the new earring design simple, it shouldn't be too expensive.

[Flur]

Do you wear necklaces? It might be possible to fashion it into a necklace without losing the filigree (I'm also not a jewelry-maker so I don't know for sure), or you could leave it as is and wear it on a chain.

[lph]

Thank-you for the thoughts, redrhodie and Flur. This is why I'm not good at owning anything valuable, I get all flustered about how to take proper care of it... :p Here are a couple of photos, in case anybody else wants to weigh in. Don't spook, it's just my (normally unhairy) little finger, magnified a few times. That's another reason I'd rather not wear it as a ring, I have big fat fingers and can only fit it onto my pinky.

[shootingstar]

You might want to try things slowly. Since you haven't pierced your ears yet, you have to start with that first.

I'm like you ..I worry about losing valuable jewellery which is why I don't wear /buy any rings. Instead it is pierced earrings. Alas, cycling lots does limit on wearing my full range of earrings..even earring with a butterfly backing.

Gee, you'll be wearing diamond earrings most of the time then?
I like the suggestion of still keeping the filigreed setting but put in a different stone if you have the diamond..reworked.

I love that filigreed ring setting. It is a wonderful design. My mother has a large jade ring with a gorgeous ,almost art nouveau stone setting with some filigreed swirls that she only wears for special occasions. The ring must be from the 1940's ...from China.

[Grog]

It is BEAUTIFUL. This is very similar to the type of setting that I would have liked for my engagement ring, but having any type of filigree just shot the price of the ring through the roof and as I'm not a jewelry type I went for something simpler.

But what a gorgeous ring!

Certainly it can be resized a little bit (although not a lot due to the amount of detail!), perhaps it would fit your fingers then, and you could wear it on special occasions? I know nothing about jewelry, but that piece is gorgeous.

[silver]

I've been pondering this one. So far I've not bee able to come up with a great idea for you. I do think to maybe give it some more time before you make a move.

questions: did you intend to just wear a diamond in one ear? that's fine if that's what you had in mind, just thinking this through. Maybe you could consider having your ear pierced in the upper cartilage for the diamond placement.

As someone above said, maybe consider having the ear pierced first and try another piece similar to what you have in mind before having the actual piece altered.

As an earring, I would recommend having the diamond set in a solitare setting with a locking (screw on) ear nut so that it would be secure.

It is a beautiful piece, but I am so much more into having things that you enjoy wearing.

I do think that you should still consider a necklace, that was my first thought. I wonder if the ring styling could be retained fairly intact and the diamond remounted so that it faced the side.

[lph]

Gee, it does look pretty in the photo, doesn't it? :p It looks smaller irl.

I usually wear only a small pendant on a leather string, often for months at a time, so I'd only be wearing it on special occasions anyway. I guess if I got my ears pierced I'd have to wear something in them regularly to keep them from fusing, right? That's ok, I think I could quite happily wear small amber or hematite studs daily.

Since I wear necklaces my first thought was to hang it on a chain or refashion it as a pendant, but it would be so small and dinky. I think the diamond would "come out" better on an earring close to my face. I was thinking of just the one diamond on one side and a small plain stud on the other side.

Good idea to get my ears pierced first and see how I like that. Upper cartilage - wow, never thought of that.

[redrhodie]

Oh, it's lovely! You can absolutely use the diamond in a pendant, and not have it be dinky. You just have to have more metalwork going on around the stone.

This pendant uses much smaller diamonds than yours: