I forgot to answer the integrity question. If it's only the bottom half of the ring that needs a reshank, you can tell him that. To build 4 prongs means they will cut off the current prongs and build new prongs with new gold for you. If there's no porosity, new lower half shank and new prongs attached to old top shank should be sturdy, no integrity issue. But you will notice that much of your old ring is taken away and that might be an issue if you're sentimental. If so, it's better to use the old setting for a gem stone and get a similar new setting for your diamond. I'm no jeweler but I'd think the integrity is more an issue if I only add solder to the prongs. I'd be more concerned about the prongs than the lower shank here as a diamond can be lost if the prongs are loose.
You have to know the quality of this persons work. If they can bulk things up seamlessly, and do a quality job retipping, it's worth doing so. But you really probably need it reshanked, vs a patch job on that end.
Yup, repairing the old ring would preserve the sentimental value of it. Also brings to mind that philosophical idea: how much of the old ring can be replaced and still retain its status as the old ring?
Make sure they retip all the prongs at the same time. I had an emerald and diamond ring that needed retipping and I was balking at the price (multi-stone ring with lots of prongs). They convinced me that they could just do half the prongs and it would be fine. The new prongs are quite a bit larger than the old prongs and to me the ring looks lopsided now.
For cost and safety reasons, I would get a new ring and melt down the old ring to make a pendant or something. Your current setting is common enough that the price for a new one is not much more than the total cost of repair. Besides, there are just too many uncertainties with the integrity of the repaired ring (repair everything that is needed to fix and do so correctly by a skilled henchman). I think I would be more bothered by losing the diamond than the old setting.
Look at the situation this way. Here is your chance to "upgrade". Do you want to stick with a classic solitaire or something else?
I would just repair the old ring.
The gold on the back of my engagement ring has grown very thin over the years. Worried that it may soon wear all the way through, I took it to a jewelry store in town that's known for excellent craftsmanship to see if they could add some gold. Their goldsmith looked at the ring and said that the gold on the prongs holding the diamond in place is also wearing thin. Ideally the mounting should be replaced, but they could also solder some gold to the prongs for a sort of temporary fix that should last a few years. To fix the back of the ring they would cut off the shank and affix a new gold backing to the ring. All this would cost about $365-$375. That would include adding a new mounting. Cost would be about $275 to simply add gold solder to the prongs while replacing the back of the ring.
The ring is a solitaire, with a traditional Tiffany-style setting.
An alternative would be to buy a new ring setting, which is really not what I want to do since I love this ring, DH picked it out for me so many years ago, and it bears all the sentiment of that.
But here's the clincher. They had in their sample box a ring setting that's nearly identical to my ring, it's my size, it would fit my stone, and since this style seems to have gone out of fashion, they offered it to me at just a bit over $200. My reservations include the fact that the white gold ring mount (the prongs, or crown or whatever it's called) don't look quite as substantial around the base as those of my current ring. And of course, it's not the ring DH bought me.
My questions:
What would you do?
Does anyone have an engagement ring in which the prongs have worn down due to age, and what did you do about it?
Has anyone ever replaced the back of their engagement ring when it thinned?
Anything else I should consider?
I just had a similar dilemma. The mounting on my solitaire E ring had worn all the way through on the front and back at the base where the wedding ring rubbed against it. I'm very sentimental about these rings so decided to repair it. The jeweler replaced the mounting and it now looks exactly the same, can't even tell, and I don't even consider the repair any more than I would repairing the prongs.
Your friend's ring most probably cracked due to porosity in the metal. You can't really tell if a band is porous unless they are very sloppy with their work as the bench can always touch up the porous outer part before delivery. But porous inner part, we won't have any idea till it cracks. But you shouldn't worry about cracking since it isn't so common. So make sure you get a jeweler who will be responsible even if such a thing happen a few months down the road.
Ask to see samples of each bench's work. Pick the one with the best craftsmanship for your repair. It might be the most costly bench though. Usually one gets what one pays for so it's worth it for the peace of mind. Hope to see you post photos of your repaired ring soon.
A ring that has had a section replaced will not be as strong (although strong enough to function as a ring in most circumstances!)
Your jeweller is doing you a favour in replacing the head as well. You would be devastated in having your diamond go missing, so the new head is a no brainer.
In your position I would probably lean towards getting a new ring made up (or order a similar one) that is very similar to the old.
You could take the opportunity to have the head made in platinum, if you like. You could tweak the design (if you chose to have it made up specifically for you), or you could find a design that might address some of the issues you had with the older ring design wise (eg lower set).
If you were really keen you probably could organise to melt the ring down for it be used in your new ring if you were interested in having it made for you locally, but this would be a more expensive thing to do than just getting a setting ordered in.
As I said before, my diamond is very sentimental because my husband picked it out for me over 16 years ago. I tried to bring some personal meaning to my new custom ring by adding 18 pave diamonds that represent our wedding date and 18 is also a lucky number. I know my ring is not everyone's style, but I, too, wanted my diamond to sit lower. I couldn't be happier with the results.
There are so many ways you could reset your diamond to make it secure for the next 23 years! Good luck with your decision!
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I agree Bagwannabee, your ring is lovely!
How many years of wear did it take for the wear to happen? My e-ring is also worn where the wedding ring has rubbed against it. I've been wearing my e-ring 24/7 for 25 years and looking at it closely the whole ring is pretty battered. Good to know that a good jeweler can make it look like new.
About the same, 25 years of 24/7 wear.
Good luck with your decision.