Antique Gold Rings

Q: Hello all: We just picked up our rings! Yippee! They are white gold bands with a Celtic knot design all the way around. I think they are very pretty the way they are, but the design doesn't stand out, you have to look kind of close. The picture in the catalog shows the ring with the background filled in with black and the design stands out nicely. The jeweler gave us the option of having the rings "antiqued" which looks nice but I'm afraid to make this decision. I guess what I'm doing here is just fishing for people's opinions on the look of gold rings that have had this done to them. I've never paid much attention to fine jewelry - I just get "street fair" jewelry. Has anyone else out there had this done to any rings? I know that gold doesn't tarnish so will it look weird to have it darkened?

A: Well, I (unfortunately) went the other way with a piece of antique jewelery. My mother gave me a ring that had been made from an antique stick pin that belonged to her...when she took it to the jeweler, she told him to make it into a ring, but to * leave* the detailing (the black stuff in the cracks). She liked that, that's what made it look *old*. Well, the jeweler took it upon himself to shine that ring up nice and new for her..... :-( She was livid, but was told that there was nothing they could do..once the black stuff is gone, it's gone. So I have a "shiny new looking" antique ring. Based on your post, maybe I can take it and have the "old" put back in? Well, let me see if I can help here. My husband's ring is notwork also, but in yellow gold. Our jeweler carved the patern such that there is a plain section to allow wear and resizing without mucking with the patern. He also thought that the patern without the antiquing was too quiet and wanted the design to stand out. We went ahead and had it antiqued, and he loves it. The only thing you should know is that it will wear off, and have to be redone. Antiqueing is simply a special paint that affixes to the metal, it can be undone if you don't like it and it will only come off with wear not with soap or water and such. If you prefer the look it is a very low risk procedure and I would say . . . go for it. I've got the black stuff on my college ring, and as others have said, it wears off. When I was looking at Celtic rings in the beginning of our search for wedding bands, my main request was going to be that they NOT be antiqued because A) I didn't want to deal with the black coming off in bits, and B) for me a wedding band should look mostly gold from a distance, and the black interrupts that gold and makes the overall appearance very dark. We ended up deciding on a non-Celtic design.

Antique Gold Rings

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