Looking for thoughts on resetting aquamarine stone

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#46
essiedub said:
I definitely have jewelry in my blood! :biggrin: I get it from the aforementioned grandmother, but my mom loves jewelry too, just different kinds (she has a lot of Native American jewelry, which I can appreciate but don’t have a real affinity for). I even worked at a jewelry store in college, but it was mostly handcrafted stuff, very little fine jewelry.

I’ll be taking the ring in to a very well-established jeweler in my city, so I’ll definitely ask them if they think the stone is aquamarine or something else. It would be very interesting if it was a pale emerald or tourmaline!

Here’s a couple of photos of my tourmaline ring (also pictured with my favorite David Yurman ring). It’s beautiful but I can’t seem to get myself to wear it much because 1) it’s very fancy and I’m not :P, and 2) I tend to gravitate toward blues, so a big green stone doesn’t match a lot of what I wear. Maybe I just shouldn’t care and should wear it anyway!

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Oh come on in...baubles in all colors!! Why limit yourself to blues? The green tourmaline is really nice - definitely a fancy piece! So have a cocktail with it:drinks:[/QUOTE]

LOL, I'd love baubles in all colors! I just have this thing in my head that the color of my jewelry has to match my outfit and my other jewelry. Which is kind of silly because I don’t match my jewelry metal to the hardware of my bags. I just need to get over it! :lol:
 
#47
catsinthebag said:
Oh come on in...baubles in all colors!! Why limit yourself to blues? The green tourmaline is really nice - definitely a fancy piece! So have a cocktail with it:drinks:
Click to expand...

LOL, I'd love baubles in all colors! I just have this thing in my head that the color of my jewelry has to match my outfit and my other jewelry. Which is kind of silly because I don’t match my jewelry metal to the hardware of my bags. I just need to get over it! :lol:[/QUOTE]

In my mind Paraiba tourmalines are the holy grail of gems. they only find 1 for every 10,000 diamonds!

You should check out this etsy shop for Paraiba's and general inspiration for colored gems. So many gorgeous pieces and she gets her own gems directly from the source.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/yvonneraley?ref=condensed_trust_header_icon_reviews
 
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#49
lulu_ma said:
LOL, I'd love baubles in all colors! I just have this thing in my head that the color of my jewelry has to match my outfit and my other jewelry. Which is kind of silly because I don’t match my jewelry metal to the hardware of my bags. I just need to get over it! :lol:
Click to expand...

In my mind Paraiba tourmalines are the holy grail of gems. they only find 1 for every 10,000 diamonds!

You should check out this etsy shop for Paraiba's and general inspiration for colored gems. So many gorgeous pieces and she gets her own gems directly from the source.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/yvonneraley?ref=condensed_trust_header_icon_reviews[/QUOTE]

Wow, lots of ideas here! Thank you!
 
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#50
I will be the dissenting voice.

I think you really need to decide if you love the stone or just want to wear grandma’s ring because it was grandma’s.

My family has always been on the belief not to not hang on to old stuff just because it once belonged to family. Memories are in your mind, not based on possessions. And if an item is of high value, sell it and purchase something you enjoy and make that the memory.

I think if you want to keep grandma’s ring, you should not reset it. Wear it as is, it is truly “grandma’s ring”.

If you reset it, make sure you really love the stone and not waste money forcing yourself to love it.

The stone is not a well cut stone, there is a big window in the center and for a aqua, it is not an optimal color. You will not get a lot for it if you resell it either. Putting it in white gold will not make a big difference as the stone is the same. You could try recutting the stone to make it sparkle more, but that to me would not be a wise use of money for that stone. Plus, you are now altering “grandma’s stone” so why not just buy a new ring if you like aquas. I am with you in that I prefer darker stones like a sapphire. They look far better on me than an aqua. I would never buy an aqua. They look dead on me too.

I just want to share my two cents (a bit blunt I know), so you can be objective about this before throwing money into this, especially if you don’t love the stone.

For me, I would keep it as is, and wear it for fun... grandma’s ring. Then buy a new ring you truly love.

Hope that helps.
 
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#52
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#53
willeyi said:
I will be the dissenting voice.

I think you really need to decide if you love the stone or just want to wear grandma’s ring because it was grandma’s.

My family has always been on the belief not to not hang on to old stuff just because it once belonged to family. Memories are in your mind, not based on possessions. And if an item is of high value, sell it and purchase something you enjoy and make that the memory.

I think if you want to keep grandma’s ring, you should not reset it. Wear it as is, it is truly “grandma’s ring”.

If you reset it, make sure you really love the stone and not waste money forcing yourself to love it.

The stone is not a well cut stone, there is a big window in the center and for a aqua, it is not an optimal color. You will not get a lot for it if you resell it either. Putting it in white gold will not make a big difference as the stone is the same. You could try recutting the stone to make it sparkle more, but that to me would not be a wise use of money for that stone. Plus, you are now altering “grandma’s stone” so why not just buy a new ring if you like aquas. I am with you in that I prefer darker stones like a sapphire. They look far better on me than an aqua. I would never buy an aqua. They look dead on me too.

I just want to share my two cents (a bit blunt I know), so you can be objective about this before throwing money into this, especially if you don’t love the stone.

For me, I would keep it as is, and wear it for fun... grandma’s ring. Then buy a new ring you truly love.

Hope that helps.
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I really appreciate your feedback! One of the reasons for starting the thread was because of my dilemma over not really loving the color of this stone. I don’t want to throw a lot of money at it and still not love it. So I value your bluntness — I truly want all points of view on this. I want to be sure I know the limitations of this stone and what my options are before I decide. At the very least, I may follow @papertiger’s suggestion to have the setting dipped so it will look like silver or WG which is my preference.

The thing about memories is, I don’t have many of this particular grandparent. We lived far away from my grandparents, and this grandmother died when I was only 11. So I have a few very specific memories but didn’t have much time with her. What I do know is she was really into jewelry and clothes. She did her nails once a week like clockwork and had her hair “done.” I sometimes wonder what fabulous designer clothes and bags were shipped off to Good Will after she passed away. I’ve also been told that I’m like her in that jewelry-loving way, as if I must have somehow inherited it from her. My mother, by contrast, is very low maintenance, so I’ve been told that I must have “gotten this from” my grandmother. Right or wrong, it makes me want to hang on to the few things I have that were hers, whether I remake them or not. I think it’s OK to keep some items just because they belonged to someone special. :smile:
 
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#55
catsinthebag said:
I really appreciate your feedback! One of the reasons for starting the thread was because of my dilemma over not really loving the color of this stone. I don’t want to throw a lot of money at it and still not love it. So I value your bluntness — I truly want all points of view on this. I want to be sure I know the limitations of this stone and what my options are before I decide. At the very least, I may follow @papertiger’s suggestion to have the setting dipped so it will look like silver or WG which is my preference.

The thing about memories is, I don’t have many of this particular grandparent. We lived far away from my grandparents, and this grandmother died when I was only 11. So I have a few very specific memories but didn’t have much time with her. What I do know is she was really into jewelry and clothes. She did her nails once a week like clockwork and had her hair “done.” I sometimes wonder what fabulous designer clothes and bags were shipped off to Good Will after she passed away. I’ve also been told that I’m like her in that jewelry-loving way, as if I must have somehow inherited it from her. My mother, by contrast, is very low maintenance, so I’ve been told that I must have “gotten this from” my grandmother. Right or wrong, it makes me want to hang on to the few things I have that were hers, whether I remake them or not. I think it’s OK to keep some items just because they belonged to someone special. :smile:
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Yes... I like her suggestion too... I think dip in WG is the perfect solution. You still have grandma’s ring as-is and didn’t take it apart.
 
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#56
Hi everyone, first time posting here
I have just reset my first piece of jewelry and loved the process
My mum gave me an aquamarine ring my dad gave to her but it was too big for me to wear and I wanted something easier and a tiny bit more modern. I found a very talented local jewelry and we draw an idea for a pendant together. It’s 18k rose gold with 6.3 ct aquamarine and 3 very small diamonds.
Two months later and I finally have it, it’s my new favourite piece! I feel like I opened Pandora’s box because now I want to make lots of custom pieces
Anyway, I hope it can give some ideas, I love making new things using old ones
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#58
essiedub said:
I love the idea of resetting jewelry. This piece has a minty green color, which is quite lovely against your skin tone. Are you sure this is an aquamarine? No matter..pretty nonetheless. I think you should make it into a necklace.. in the slider style, set horizontally. You may be able to keep the yellow gold prongs and backing to save a few bucks but The jeweler would need to balance it so it doesn’t flop over or put the invisible bail closer to the top. Then you can wear it on a white gold chain, mini beaded necklace, or teeny seed pearls. For added drama, though a bit more formal, how about a black cord?
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Love this idea. The stone could be set horizontally fixed on a chain, no slider and the chain positioned in two places on the top edge. The chain would need to be a little heavier to be balanced with the size of the stone. I also think it looks pretty in the yellow gold.
 
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