{"id":339,"date":"2011-04-01T13:26:50","date_gmt":"2011-04-01T18:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mardonjewelers.userblogs.ganoksin.coms\/?p=339"},"modified":"2011-04-01T13:26:50","modified_gmt":"2011-04-01T18:26:50","slug":"a-lady-diana-ring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/mardonjewelers\/gemstones\/a-lady-diana-ring","title":{"rendered":"A Lady Diana Ring"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Royal<\/em><\/em><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n

We’ve just completed this gorgeous sapphire and diamond ring, inspired by the engagement ring of Lady Diana and soon-to-be Lady Kate. This basic design, where a colored gemstone is surrounded by a circlet of diamonds, has been a favorite for centuries. Since everybody and their uncle has been doing versions of the ring, we decided to show off a well made quality piece by Mardon.<\/p>\n

We studied the available photos of Lady Diana and Kate Middleton wearing the ring because we wanted to portray the Lady Di design as accurately as possible and get the exact structure and prong layout. It was challenging to keep the overall proportion and look of our ring similar, because we used a smaller sapphire– 3 ct vs the original 12. And where her stone is an oval, ours is similar but slightly different–the classic cushion antique shape often used for fine sapphires. Adjusting the stone sizes for the cluster surrounding the center, we were able get the same number of diamonds. We used a good match of VS quality diamonds, all recycled from estate jewelry!<\/p>\n

You can see the gem report for the sapphire in our Gallery of Gems, I-17700<\/a>. It’s a classic cushion shape, beautifully cut, eye clean, with a vivid velvety medium dark blue color. Although a Ceylon sapphire, the stone has a slightly sleepy appearance the softens its look, reminiscent of Kashmir sapphires. We think this stone is richer in color– the Lady Di sapphire seems bit dark, as you can see from the photos. We’ve surrounded it with over a carat of dazzling VS clarity diamonds of G to H color and set the gems in solid 14K white gold.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Princess

Princess Diana and Prince Charles wedding rings<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Kate

Kate Middleton's engagement ring<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Kate

Kate showing the ring<\/p><\/div>\n

Based on our experience making jewelry, and seeing just how the royal ring was put together, we produced two separate components, the gem cluster and the ring shank\/underbezel, on our new digital rapidprototype CAD\/CAM system. Then\u00a0 our goldsmith built the prongs as shown in the photos of the actual ring. Our method was actually much like the original for making this style completely by hand, with the exception that we produced the main parts with modern technology.<\/p>\n

\"Rapid

Rapid Prototype Parts<\/p><\/div>\n

As we were briefing our goldsmith, Scott, on how the ring should be put together, the gems set, the piece polished, etc., he told us a very interesting story of his encounter with Lady Diana’s ring.<\/p>\n

In 1987, early on in his career,\u00a0 he was working for a high-end jewelery maker located in Palm Springs, CA. Owner of a truly carriage trade business, she was preparing a line of jewelry items for Harrod’s, the famous department store, and was making a lot of trips back and forth to London. One day, after she returned from London, her shop foreman handed Scott a big sapphire ring and asked him to check the prongs for tightness and wear, mentioning that this was actually Lady Diana’s ring!<\/p>\n

At the time, Scott had been working with a lot of large fine gemstones– his recall is that the ring was not impressive, especially compared to the other pieces he had been seeing. This jives with the fact that while Diana chose her ring from a group of rings presented by the then Crown jeweller, Garrard’s of Mayfair<\/a>, the same ring was a standard item, available in the Garrard catalogue, and the original cost was a nominal 28,500 British pounds.<\/p>\n

Of course, now that it is one of the most famous pieces of jewelry in the world, the ring of Lady Diana was last valued at 250,000 pounds due to it’s provenance. With the upcoming wedding and further association with the royals, who knows what it’s ultimate value will be. Kate Middleton, soon Princess Kate, and perhaps Queen Catherine, will certainly be a fashion setter for years to come- all the while, history is being made!<\/p>\n

\"kate-middleton-engagement-ring-picture\"<\/p>\n

\"kate-middleton-engagement-ring\"<\/p>\n

We’re very pleased with our version of this classic design, and though it is a truly luxurious and expensive piece, it’s ever so much more affordable than the ring William gave to Kate. Best of all, like Diana and Kate, it’s a one-of-a-kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve just completed this gorgeous sapphire and diamond ring, inspired by the engagement ring of Lady Diana and soon-to-be Lady Kate. This basic design, where a colored gemstone is surrounded by a circlet of diamonds, has been a favorite for centuries. Since everybody and their uncle has been doing versions of the ring, we decided […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,6,7,8],"tags":[50,68,78,83,104,153,156,165,204,205,209,220,246],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/mardonjewelers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/mardonjewelers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/mardonjewelers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/mardonjewelers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/mardonjewelers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/mardonjewelers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/mardonjewelers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/mardonjewelers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/mardonjewelers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}