|
Legacy
Something Old
Modern brides-to-be are finding the perfect marriage of romance and individuality in antique and vintage engagement rings.
By Phyllis Schiller
|
| Diamond and platinum Art Deco engagement ring, circa 1925, with 1.17-carat center round brilliant-cut diamond and ten additional diamonds in a filigree mounting with engraved wheat design on shoulders. Photo courtesy Doyle & Doyle. |
Seen on red-carpet celebrities and real-life royalty, in the pages of fashion magazines and period dramas on both the small and large screens…it seems that antique jewelry is everywhere these days. “It’s in the consciousness,” says Lisa Stockhammer-Mial, president of online retailer The Three Graces. And while antique and vintage engagement rings have long been an estate jewelry staple, their appeal is reaching an even broader audience of today’s brides.
“The trend may have started because these rings were pretty and a little more affordable for young couples,” points out Annette Brandt, A. Brandt & Son Antique and Estate Jewelry, Narberth, Pennsylvania. “But now, everyone seems to love them.”
According to Elizabeth Doyle, co-owner of Doyle & Doyle, New York City, “customers seek out antique engagement rings because they’re looking for something different; something special or unique. They want to find something that’s just theirs versus a ring that anyone can go to the store and buy.”
You could blame the uptick in popularity on the enormously popular Public Television show “Downton Abbey,” but the truth of the matter is that Edwardian and Art Deco designs resonate with brides. “These rings are just so pretty,” says Brandt. But more than just pretty to look at, she says, these period rings touch women’s hearts. “Their eyes are looking at it but it’s their hearts that decide; if the ring brings out emotion, that’s the one they’re going to buy.”
“Since ‘Downton,’ I do think we’ve had an upswing in desire and appreciation for Edwardian pieces and their daintiness, femininity and lacelike designs,” says Nancy Revy, chief executive officer (CEO) of Beladora.com.
Art Deco, says Doyle, can cover so much, from the very traditional to the more elaborate, glamourous rings, so it has something for everyone. “But it still looks like an engagement ring, which is important to our customer.” Added to that, she says, is the social responsibility aspect. “A lot of our customers might even be planning a green wedding, so the recycling aspect of it would be important to them — that they’re not buying something that is contributing to any issues that are going on now.”
Both Edwardian and Deco mountings feature platinum or 18-karat white gold mountings, the whiteness of these metals is a popular choice to set off the diamond, says Brandt.
Although Stockhammer-Mial sells Victorian rings in both rose and yellow gold — and sometimes two-tone settings of white and yellow gold — she agrees that the more popular periods are Art Deco and Edwardian, with their platinum settings. “Some people veer a little more toward the geometric with Art Deco, but many, many really want the swooping, graceful curves and little bows or tiny details that are much more in the Edwardian period.”
Offering the story behind the ring makes the purchase so much more personal. There is an enduring sense of history, that it’s not just something for today but to be passed on to generations to come. “The rings have been on a journey through time,” says Kimberley Thompson, vintage and estate buyer, JB Hudson Jewelers, Minneapolis, Minnesota. “I can check the hallmarks to find out whether the ring was made in America or on the Continent. I can point out the details that reveal the time frame, whether it’s knife-edge platinum or pierced work, cast or engravature, hand or machine millegraining.”
“They want something that has a vintage look. And there is the perception that they are going to get something that is better quality and has more hand workmanship,” says Jeff Russak, owner of Lawrence Jeffrey Estate Jewelers, Litchfield, Connecticut.
“They love to know when it was made and what was going on in that time period,” states Doyle. “I think that’s another reason that Deco is so popular. It’s such a romantic, exciting period in our history. Sometimes there’s even the original date engraved inside the ring and then you could look up what happened on that day. It might have been Valentine’s Day or Christmas Day. There’s this feeling of being attached to history that is appealing to our customers.”
For Brandt, along with the perennially in demand round diamonds, “cushions are very popular right now.” Stockhammer-Mial has also seen a response to rose cuts in recent years.
Andrew Nelson, co-owner of Nelson Rarities in Portland, Maine, says, “We have a very strong market for people who don’t want to have a radiant cut, for instance. But they want an antique Asscher cut Deco ring.”
Thompson says she is also finding the 1950s rounds with the beautiful tapered baguettes on the sides gaining in popularity. “We’re getting a little away from the more floral, fully pierced millegrain mounting into the precursors of the three-stone rings — the center stone with two sides.”
Sometimes, says Stockhammer-Mial, a little education is necessary. “I point out that ‘H’ can be a good color for an old mine cut diamond.” She says she tends to “stick to a little higher color. I don’t go much below a K; we don’t want to sell diamonds that are not eye clean or have lots of black in them.”
Another factor, Russak points out, is that the older, more open cuts have a different level of scintillation than newer diamonds. “Rather than throwing back a strong, almost confusion of sparkle, they throw back more cohesive shafts of light to the eye that can be very appealing.”
Just as with new rings, consumers find certificates for the larger, better stones are desirable and most dealers will provide them, unless removing the stone from the older mountings would cause a problem. Older cuts are graded in the same way as more modern diamonds, Russak says, which can lead to some issues when it comes to clarity. “There are marks off for things like symmetry, and a lot of the old cuts, made without the precision tools of today, lack symmetry and/or may have been bruted in a rough fashion so they may have flakes and chips on the girdle. A stone that would otherwise be a VS1 can wind up an SI1 or even SI2, if it’s held up to modern standards. So in a way, sometimes you can get a bargain with an old stone because while nice, it just didn’t meet the technical demands of a higher grade.”
Finding antique and vintage rings that meet estate jewelers’ quality criteria can be difficult. “These things are very hard to find,” says Nelson, “and the better ones are in very short supply.”
Sums up Thompson, “You have to realize that what we’re dealing with is finite. But trends in estate are not finite. As soon as the next movie comes out and has great 1960s French pieces or some really cool 1970s big stones with trillions, then that will be the rage and everyone will be searching for that next trend. But I do think there will always be an area in our hearts reserved for these sweet, wonderful Edwardian and Art Deco rings.”Article from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2013. To subscribe click here.
|
|