Antique 1.82 CARAT Natural Old European Mine Cushion Cut Hybrid DIAMOND Solitaire Engagement Ring 18k Gold Solid Yellow Prong w/ Cert Ooak

I take regularly scheduled inventory trips to Europe and around the USA to find unique antique items to bring you! I recently completed two Spring trips (see my instagram to follow along! : ). These pieces were all hand picked one at a time to assemble a collection that I hope you will enjoy! Thanks for stopping by!

ABOUT:

An awesome example of a one of a kind antique diamond! This timeless classic holds an antique diamond in a vintage four prong setting. The diamond is 1.82 carat, comes with a certificate and is sort of a hybrid cut. Its shape is slightly east west oval / cushioned so at first look it appears like an old mine cut, but it has the shorter crown and more symmetrical pinwheel faceting of an old European cut. (It comes with a certificate which describes it only as "cushion cut".

This stone has stories to tell as it was touched up at some point in its life. It has the frosted girdle of an antique diamond, cut in methods no longer used, but only on two of the sides. The other two sides have a polished and faceted girdle so it was re-polished at some point.

One very interesting thing to note about this stone is that the original frosted sides are the north and south ends of the diamond. The east west sides, which are wider, are the faceted and repolished sides. Which means that in its original cut it was even wider than it is now!

What a wonderful stone, bright white and sparkly with such wonderful fire!

It is propped up to catch the light in four chunky prongs that are sturdy and excellent, making this beauty ready for regular wear. With the height, it stacks wonderfully and wow is it impactful. The stone has a deep pavilion but not a super high crown so by millimeter to carat diamond charts, it faces up larger than its weight.

For the setting, I am saying vintage only because, while the gold has a wonderful patina and is definitely not new, it doesn't look quite as old for me to confidently say the setting is over 100 years old / antique. The French hallmarks do show quite a bit of wear however. We know the stone is antique because it was cut using methods no longer in use today. But it was also common during the vintage period for antique and heirloom stones to be reset at a later date. Without date marks we can't really say for certain so I am listing it as vintage to be safe. We always wish we knew what stories these pieces could tell!

I love antique diamonds, even those with inclusions and hues and eccentricities typical for the time, because some of those were still among the best available in the market during that period, and were expertly cut by hand to enhance their best characteristics. So I don’t often like to compare antique stones against "the Four C's" modern grading standards that were created for mathematically perfected machine cut stones produced by the millions of carats each year - but I will pass along the grades as they were given to me of SI1 in clarity (it has one inclusion) and H in color (near colorless). See more notes below as I always provide more detail about each exact / individual diamond than just a letter grade provides.

There is no GIA lab in France where I purchased this but it comes with the certificate from HRD Antwerp (the diamond capital of the world : ) - Note that it is a photocopy / paper certificate but the information matches the stone exactly including the inclusion diagram so we know it is accurate to the stones' characteristics.

Please note the measurements as I have small fingers and it can be difficult to determine scale from pictures. Antique box is not included.

MEASUREMENTS:
Size 5 3/4

The diamond measures 8mm x 7.4mm set wider east to west. 1.82 carats.

The piece weighs 3.3 grams.

IMPORTANT CONDITION NOTES:

Not a chip on it. The frosted north south edges of the girdle have a triangular facet underneath that was not perfectly polished and shows the crystal formation of the diamond which is not visible except under magnification when studying the underside of the stone, but is pretty cool to see. There is really just one inclusion, a crystal pocket with some gray carbon within it. It is not large like an ink spot, but you should be able to seek it out with the 20x zoom feature which makes it much more apparent than could be seen while wearing. No readable warmth to the stone and this one has an excellent rainbow fire. Lots of life to this one of a kind diamond.

The stone is secure in the setting and does not move, it is ready for daily wear. There is some warmth and patina to the north and south edges of the setting that could easily be cleaned up if desired, but most of my buyers prefer original patina.

Love this one!

Please note that all my pieces are pre-owned and in estate condition. They will have patina, surface wear, a few small nicks. These pieces may also have evidence of a sizing, some build up around the stones and / or inclusions seen under magnification, typical for antique pieces. I have mentioned any noticeable issues above and they are all still wearable and eager to be loved and accepted for many years to come, (the preservation of antique jewelry, even those with signs of their age and history, is important to me. : )
But - Please note due to age, this piece is not in mint condition. Pictures also serve as part of the description and condition report so please utilize the zoom feature which will magnify any wear significantly more than what is visible to the eye while wearing : )

I enjoy making my customers happy and matching unique pieces with new homes. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions! It means a lot to me that you are visiting my shop! : )

SOCIAL:
Please feel free watch @mouseshouseantiques on Instagram for inventory drops, sneak peaks and previews! And check out my website www.MousesHouseAntiques.com as I can add more pics there so you can get extra looks : )

A note about antique diamonds:
The whole "4 C's" of cut, color, clarity, carat didn't come about until the 1940s so prior to that and especially on antique pieces, there was not as much emphasis placed on those things. (Sure people probably appreciated a certain look of a certain diamond as it appeared to the eye but it was not a graded scale like we have today for machine cut stones.) It is difficult to judge antique stones against modern day diamonds with their grading system evaluating their mathematically perfected proportions using methods and standards that didn’t exist for hand cut old cut diamonds. No two old cuts are the same as they were crafted in times lacking those modern standards. The diamond cutters of the time were experts at hand cutting each stone to enhance it which means that even lower color grades can be cut to appear whiter. (Although it is also worth noting that many antique collectors prefer and seek out antique diamonds with warmer hues.)

It is also interesting that "lower graded" diamonds in today's scale system, were some of the best on the market during that period! So it is less about their grades and more about the unique play of light and color that each one can offer. I read one article that put it: “When searching for the perfect old cut diamond (for you), you need to view them through different eyes as you would for a modern diamond." Laboratory grading reports don’t offer too much information in regards to the beauty or sparkle of an antique diamond, which is based on the individual character and uniqueness that each hand cut stone potentially offers.

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