Vintage Engagement Rings
Vintage Styles of Engagement Rings
Our concern here, it must be stressed, is not with true antique diamond rings, but with designs that take stylish elements from true vintage engagement rings, weaving them into new, bolder designs that carry a vintage style to them. A piece of jewellery can say a lot about the wearer, and each piece worn, is a very personal experience. For this reason, many people wishing to capture the elegance of designers such as Winston, Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels, Webb, or Vedura, at a more realistic price, can find exceptionally high quality vintage style engagement rings, with extremely well cut diamonds, as opposed to older less proportioned antique cuts of diamonds.
Many modern styles make the concept of vintage engagement rings a discerning choice, with several advantages. Many of the styles are based around cluster designs, with a greater carat weight divided between several diamonds. This makes the ring very good value, in comparison to styles such as the classic solitaire, more expensive for an equivalent carat weight. Vintage rings, with cushion cut diamonds are consistently popular, as the cushion diamond evokes a decadent age, when this style of diamond was most popular. Even after a century, this cut of diamond remains popular. It has romantic connections and a definite antique look to it, making it perfect for a vintage style of ring. Modern cushion cuts have also been called "candlelight diamonds" due to their romantic connection. The name describes the simple shape, which is quite literally as a cushion, square with rounded edges and brilliant style faceting. This can be square, or rectangular and modern versions are better proportioned, and less deep, providing a larger appearance, from older, deeply cut examples.
Fig 1. The image to the right shows a loose cushion cut diamond. The name originates from the pillow like appearance of the diamond and gives each ring a classic look that is hard to achieve with more modern cuts of diamond. These work very well within four claw settings, as either simple solitaire designs, or as part of a larger, and more elaborate vintage style engagement ring, such as the cluster. Since each cushion is brilliant cut, the faceting allows a significant amount of brilliance from the stone. |
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Vintage Style Clusters
Many of the diamond clusters provide a vintage feel to the style, reminiscent of the decadence of the 1920's - 1930's, when elaborate Art Deco pieces were produced. Still highly collectable, such pieces by Cartier are sought by collectors across the world. Shown below are a few different styles which we feel are vintage engagement rings styled in a traditional way, but produced with highly refined modern skills using beautifully proportioned modern cut diamonds.
  
Vintage cluster style R1D001S Cushion cluster style R1D016S Vintage engagement style R1D012S
Simple Classics
One of the most famous styles of engagement ring without exception has to be the Tiffany style of engagement ring. For anyone considering a true classic, a simple six claw setting has to be one of the most timeless classic designs. Finely worked details within the simple setting can provide a more traditional feel. Such vintage engagement rings, styled in this way will never be out of fashion and are also hard to date. For anyone requiring that true antique touch, we can even incoporate a Victorian cut diamond. With less symmetry, we prefer to use more modern cuts, but our bespoke service can incorporate such a diamond if required.
  
Classic solitaire style R1D077 Vintage ring style R1D051 Classic Vintage 3 Stone Ring
Hopefully some of the above information has given you some further ideas of designs modelled on and inspired by vintage engagement rings. For an altogether personal service, we also offer a fully bespoke design service, whereby any style of ring, modern or antique, can be created with any detail required, with the provision of fully rendered images prior to manufacture.
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