Platinum filigree castings

Please help,

We have a job now where the customer has a 1.00 ct. center and they want a
very fine filagree PLATINUM mounting. I am trying to find a casting house
that has a line of these before I have to make it. They are not going to
want to pay what I am going to want to charge for all the time this will
take. One of the guys at the shop refers to these as “doin hard time”.

Thanks,
Mark P.

We have a job now where the customer has a 1.00 ct. center and they want a
very fine filagree PLATINUM mounting. I am trying to find a casting house
that has a line of these before I have to make it. They are not going to
want to pay what I am going to want to charge for all the time this will
take. One of the guys at the shop refers to these as "doin hard time". 

I remember seeing a line in one of the Platinum Guild books. Maybe if you
call them up they’ll refer you. Another source for referrals is the MJSA
in Rhode Island. I’m sorry I don’t have the phone numbers available
tonight, maybe tomorrow…

Jeffrey Everett

Hi …try Whitehead brothers for old filagree. I think that the
goldsmith’s there are well into their nineties, for the work is truly in
the old style. see JCK directory…Steve

Steven B. Wardle & Barbara W. Knowlton
Designer-Goldsmiths
Forest Beach Design
Chatham MA 02633
508-945-7334

Try the web site http://www.tradeshop.com . That is Ray Elseys outfit. I
understand they specialize in platinum settings.

Skip Meister

                                  Skip Meister
                                NRA Endowment and
                                   Instructor
                                @Skip_Meister
                                04/22/9711:14:16

Mark,

I am not a jeweler, just a consumer with a love for beautiful antique
jewelry. I hope I don’t sound too unknowlegable, but what I did may be of
some help to you. I wanted my engagement ring diamond reset in an ornage
filigree platinum mount. The mounts I saw in the catalogues were terrible.
Also, when jewelers showed me the finished products that came from the wax
casts in the catalogues, they were light, thin and nothing like antique
platinum rings. I also checked out a company on the web, called Antique
Timepieces. They do beautiful die struck mounts, but the cost of the mounts
is prohibitive. They want over $1,000. a mount in white gold, not even
platinum.

I then went to an estate, antique jewelery store and saw the most beautiful
either art deco or Edwardian platinum ring. It was sold, thankfully,
because it cost $6,000. At any rate, they offered to make a cast of the
ring for me. The jeweler there does all their antique work and promised me
that the new mount would be identical to the original. I had my doubts, but
loved the ring so much i decided to try it. Well, the jeweler cast the
ring, and i saw it when it came back. I was shocked at how much detail was
captured. The finest thin lines of filigree all came out intact. The
jeweler went over it all and milgrained it and cleaned it up. The new owner
of the real antique hadn’t come to pick up the ring, so i got to look at
them side by side. I’m a perfectionist, and was shocked to see that they
were a perfect match!

Now i’m not sure if what this jewelry store did was ethical. I’m sure the
person who bought the antique ring thinks they have an original. But for
me, i couldn’t be happier. So this is just one idea for getting a copy of a
filigree ring. Of course you’d have to have the original to make a cast
from, and of course the customer would have to like the mount, and the 1
ct. diamond would have to fit.

Now i have a question, and i hope it’s ok to ask, even if i’m not a
jeweler. If it’s not, just please ignore it. My question is, my original
stone from my engagement ring was a half ct. oval. I thought it would be OK
in this new mount, but i don’t want the jeweler to mess around with it.
It’s so beautiful just as it is. The orig. ring took a 3/4 ct. diamond. I
recently bought a sapphire for it, that i bought at a gem show. I thought
i’d looked at it thoroughly, but when i got home, in the daylight i saw a
window going right down thru the stone.

I’m thinking of trying to return the stone, and possibly trading my oval
diamond in for a 3/4 ct. old European cut diamond–to be correct with the
mount. Does anyone have any ideas on this? Will it be a lose/lose situation
for me, if i do a trade. Me losing the value of my diamond, and paying
again in trade up. Are European diamonds less costly than the new brilliant
cut diamonds. Of course i know the three C’s play a big part. But all
things equal, what do you think? Sorry if my questions are innappropiate.

Best wishes,
Joyce