in the mood for a treat today & swung by my pawnshop. didn’t spot anything that grabbed me so asked if they had any 18k plain bands in the back. what the new kid came out with was…uh,different.
visualize 3 flat-set diamonds(want to call it almost a cartouche design) across the top. band is open/light/lacy/vines? white gold. stones are old mine-cut,not quite a 1/4ct each. look says mid to late 20s to me
oh,& it fits.
not my usual style of course but it did whisper,“where you gonna find another like this for $500”
Probably a dumb question but did you take a photo? Old mine cuts pre-date that period. They would be 19th century. Old European cuts would still be in the early 20th century. And they could all have been reset into a newer setting which if white gold would date to around the Deco period. If platinum you could be looking at around 1870.
All that being said, the natural diamond market is soft with the lab grown. However, I have seen a renewed interest in the old cuts for obvious reasons. Bottom line, I think a retail price of $500 would be reasonable. The clarity should be VS to VVS range, and the color of the old diamonds is not as white which I think gives them more character and appeal.
See if you can get a photo and I can narrow it down better.
@newpawn I’m with @StevesTrail on this - please post a photo of the ring, if possible. I’ve got quite a bit of Victorian/antique and vintage jewelry so I’m interested in seeing this ring. Off the top, most likely Old European Cut (OEC) diamonds. I’d definitely use a loupe to look at them. Even though the diamonds are set flush, you should check for nicks, cracks, and inclusions. Do the diamonds have a (slight) yellow hue? It’s always a bonus when a ring fits .
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