Comments for Very Old Diamond Brooch with No Holes Behind the Diamonds

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Georgian piece?
by: Anonymous

It sounds like i got one just like yours, can you email me a picture of it and i'll do the same for the one i have. I'm at judyroblingAThotmailDOTcom An appraiser looked at mine and said it was an early to mid Georgian period piece. Thanks, and lets figure these things out!

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antique brooch
by: Jean Papin

Sounds like you have a fabulous Georgian period brooch with foiled rose cut diamonds! I hope you haven't immersed it in liquid, because the foil can deteriorate and tarnish if liquid gets beneath the stones. If you have cleaned it, make sure you dried it thoroughly. Opening the settings on the back side is not recommended for these antique pieces, as it decreases their antique value. The open back for diamonds setting was introduced in the late 18th century, but closed back settings were used for diamonds into the early 19th century.

Jean Papin
JEAN PAPIN JEWELRY

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Open and Closed Settings
by: Yvonne

Hi - sounds like a great antique treasure you discovered! The diamonds, from your description, appear to be antique diamonds.

Your question about open and closed settings, antique diamonds and timelines, here goes:

The closed setting is a positive signal that the diamonds are indeed antique diamonds as your diamond testing equipment indicated. Open settings, also called open-bottom collets (you can see the diamond from the back) was introduced in the 18th century. By 1919, with the invention of the "Ideal Cut", (by a young mathematician, Marcel Tolkowsky, who wrote a Masters thesis on the proportions for round brilliant cut diamonds) the Closed Diamond Settings had almost disappeared from view.

The reason why the open setting replaced closed settings is obvious, the facets of the pavilion (of clear stones in particular, especially diamonds ) are exposed to light as opposed to a closed setting and produce more "brilliance" However even Tolkowsky acknowledged a trade off between maximum brilliance and maximum fire (which many antique diamonds have more of) that results from varying combinations of crown and pavilion angles.

We would love to see a photo if possible. You can upload in a separate submission.

best regards
Yvonne Hammouda-Eyre
ANTIQUE JEWELRY INVESTOR

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