Restoring an Heirloom Ring

This week, I wanted to share with you a restoration project we completed recently for a wonderful client whose heirloom sapphire and diamond ring needed some serious attention. Read on to see our spot-on update for this beautiful antique ring…Our client came to us with a family ring that was too large for her finger. Unfortunately, upon examining the ring we realized that the shank was too thin to safely resize and wear, so we instead recommended rebuilding the original shank in order to strengthen it. Our client was nervous about the plan: the beautiful Victorian style setting displayed a lovely “old gold” rosy hue, which she loved, and she appreciated the delicate nature of the design, the subtle line detailing along the shoulder. But, we assured her that we would be able to replicate the original band nearly exactly, and she gave us permission to do the full work-up. Our goldsmith melted a custom alloy to perfectly match the new shank to its original hue. He removed the original shank and used it as a template to replicate it, taking care to recreate the lines along the shoulders and the width and profile of the band overall. Our client opted to keep the original shank for nostalgia, so we gave that back to her otherwise intact. 

 Before

After

 As you can see, the end result is just about as perfect as can be. I honestly had a hard time differentiating between the two images when our manager, Ana, sent them to me! Our client was thrilled with the result and was so happy that she could safely wear the now-appropriately sized heirloom once again.Projects like this are really the type of work that sets our goldsmith apart. Ricardo is amazing at restoring antique jewelry, and our “less is more” approach to conserving heirloom pieces has earned us the trust of our clients in situations like this where a total revamp is actually necessary. If you have an heirloom piece that needs some love, bring it to our shop and we’ll give you our recommendation for keeping it in sound shape for another lifetime of wear!