While diamonds are forever, their settings need not be. If you were lucky enough to receive a diamond engagement ring, you may no longer feel the same way about it now than when you received it.
If that's the case, as the owner of the diamond, it's your prerogative to display it in a setting that pleases you. I can think of several good reasons to redesign your engagement ring:
You're divorced or getting divorced. Unless you want the world to assume you're still married, you'll want to take that ring off your hand soon. Yet that's no reason to leave your precious sparkler sitting in a jewelry box. Why not redesign your engagement ring into a different piece of jewelry? A solitaire stone of any size looks classically elegant suspended from a metal chain around a woman's neck.
A few years ago De Beers began promoting the idea of the right hand ring and encouraging designers to be creative with it. Such a ring isn't particularly a symbol of love, but one of style that a woman selects on her own.
The diamond is flawed. I was thrilled to receive a one-carat diamond that had been handed down from my husband's family. I wore it in a solitaire setting until I started fixating on its broken culet, the point at the bottom of the stone. Every time I looked at the ring, my eye went to the imperfection. Rather than point out the flaw to my husband or suck it up, I redesigned the ring, sinking the point into a bezel setting and never having to eyeball it again.
You don't like the setting anymore (or perhaps you never did). Perhaps you weren't consulted on the design prior to the proposal — and it was never to your taste. Or you once thought yellow gold complemented a diamond but now consider white gold or platinum much more elegant. Ring styles do go in and out of fashion (ever see anyone wear a pinkie ring these days?), and you don't have to wear a style your taste (or your finger) has outgrown.
You've got a pair of diamond studs you no longer wear. A three-stone ring can add a lot of sparkle to your hand, and if there's a pair of studs sitting in your jewelry box, you can redesign your engagement ring without having to go out and buy new diamonds.
To convert your ring into a piece of jewelry that you love, ask a jeweler if she can recommend a designer that you can work with. The Perfect Setting is one company that specializes in restyling, resetting, and rejuvenating jewelry and shows before and after photos on its website.
Let's face it: Being able to redesign your engagement ring is a luxury. But if it's something that you wear every day, investing in an upgrade can offer as much satisfaction as looking at that precious stone and the love it symbolizes.
Or sell that diamond and take a trip!
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