The future Mrs. Stockton and I received her engagement ring last Friday. The jeweler is an old friend and made me a nice deal. We selected an antique setting (platinum, 4 prongs) and a different antique diamond. He set the stone and re-sized the ring and FedEx’ed the thing to us. It is round (the stone) and just under 1 carat.
Upon examination, the stone is not moored tightly in the prongs. With my fingertips, I can turn the whole thing 360 degrees with no effort whatsoever. It is not “loose” or wobbly, it is just “turnable.” Is this a concern? I’m not obsessed about it and I don’t want to complain to my old pal (who pulled a lot of strings to bring it in on time and under budget). Is there a doper out there (hello, SamClem!!) that can tell me if this is a worrisome thing that needs to be fixed or a typical situation?
Disclaimer: Despite my newbie post count, I’ve been here for years - lurking since the days of Melin and Satan (and Heather-you-know-who) and lost several dozen posts in the recent unfortunate meltdown. I’ve searched the archives and found several threads about a diamond’s WORTH and why NOT to buy them, but nothing on a loose rock. Searching Google for “Loose engagement ring stone” brings up exactly 12 zillion sites that advise buying your stone loose, then buying the setting. Anyone? Ease my mind here.
a stone that has been set properly, should not move.
how old is the stone? What type of cut?
Mine is from my Great Grandmother’s ring, made sometime around 1913. The cut is old European and needed a special 6 pronged setting.
Go to the jewler, post haste!
How old is the stone? Don’t know. It’s old. We made a considered decision NOT to support DeBeers or the nasty stuff that’s going on in Africa now, so we chose an antique stone. It IS old euro cut. Your 6-prong solution is on the mark, because a single prong failure on this 4-banger will lead to immediate catastrophic loss. Looks like we’re off to the jeweler unless some other teeming experts chime in with the “all-clear”.
(Credentials: jeweler’s daughter and grandaughter, worked in the business for many years) Go to a jeweler and get the prongs tightened. You most likely won’t lose the diamond unless the prongs gap so widely that the diamond can be pried out, but a stone is not supposed to be able to turn around like that in its setting. The cost will be minimal and if left alone the movement of the diamond can cut into the prongs of the ring and wear them down quickly, and so weaken the prongs and increase the chances of losing the stone. So: no, not an emergency, but get it fixed soon.
Incidentally, switching to a six prong will make the stone more secure and has a more “rounded” look, but even standard 4-prongs are set well enough that breaking one prong doesn’t mean the stone is neccessarily going to fall out; those stones are set tight in strong metal. And if your prongs are platinum, there’s not much in the way of a tougher metal. So if you like the look of a four-prong better, I don’t think you’re endangering your diamond by using it; I prefer them myself.
Yes, me too, wring. I got my pearls for my college graduation, but they were AAA quality; I know since I filed the order myself. I worked in the store since I was high enough to clean the glass cases.
I don’t know what you should do. But I know what I would do. I wouldn’t wear the ring until I had a jewler reset the stone, even if every single SDMB diamond “expert” said that loose is OK.
All the stones in my many rings get loose all the time and have to be tightened at enormous expense by arrogant jewellers, who I never had a good experience with. Even if you can get past their snottiness they know nothing and have some slave labor in the back room. My current jeweller calls his, “The chinaman.” NEvertheless I agree with everybody else, get it tightened but plan to get it and every ring youhave tightened all your life because they have not figured out how to keep them tight. Well actually they have but they don’
t want it to get around. In other words probably a million clever minds have come up with some device that would keep your stones tight forever, but then there wouldn’t be enough work for jewellers. Like dentists, they would have to think up various other things to do with your jewels.
If you go to one of the big gem shows or a jewelry show you’ll find all pleasant dealers and they might even tighten a stone for you if you buy something else. You get much better deals in jewelry at a big gem show too. One of them told me once hold up your ring taken off to your ear and tap it on the ring part, not on the jewel part, and if you hear it rattle, get it tightened.
Just for fun ask a jeweller sometime what a diamond is made out of and what rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and topazes and tourmalines are made out of.
On behalf of my father (the jeweler), let me assure you that not all jewelers deserve the characterization that you give here. Generalizations like the ones you made are particularly odious when they’re made based on what (given your post) was limited information.
Certainly there are crooks, in any business. And, I’m sorry that you’ve dealt with people you didn’t care for or trust.
However, your little ‘test’ for a qualfied jeweler (and my dad studied for years, in addition to being a quality artist), is insulting.
Tell ya what - Sam’s Club and Wal Mart have jewelery counters. And there’s some really nice pieces to be had at art shows and so on.
Please, however, be assured that your experience was only your experience, and not necessarily the best predictor for anyone else.
Thanks all. Looks pretty darn unanimous in here.
Gaudere - Great info.
DDG - Leave it to you to find the proper google search string. Thanks for the links.
DSimmons - Words of wisdom.
Wring - Amen! The key word is TRUST.
Interestingly, I am not having a good experience with you.
You have to choose, right now, whether you want to continue to contribute to General Questions. Because I’m sick of you bringing your opinions into this forum.
I got my pearls for my college graduation, but they were AAA quality; I know since I filed the order myself. 
I worked in the store since I was high enough to clean the glass cases.