Engagement Rings From The Past
Vintage is often a term that is used when describing fashions from the past that aren’t quiet at the level of being considered antiques but are still classics. Vintage engagement rings can be from any time period considered to be more modern than ancient, typically from the early 1900’s to the retro period of even into the 1970’s.
Most of the engagement rings from these time periods had very distinctive qualities that uniquely categorize the rings as being vintage. Typically the rings included both yellow and white gold combinations on the bands, however platinum was and is also used in creating some very unique settings and bands.
In a great number of these engagement rings the band tends to be very narrow at the back of the ring, then widens and expands to present a moderately large front surface area. It is common for the band to be yellow gold and the mountings for the diamonds to be in white gold, providing additional light reflection around the diamonds.
Rather than completely all small diamonds or one large diamond, vintage rings tend to use more medium to smaller sized diamonds to create the sparkle and shine. Other precious and semi-precious stones are common in settings for these types of engagement rings.
A popular cut in vintage engagement rings as well as in antique diamond rings is the cushion cut. Cushion cut engagement rings have a beautiful, soft internal sparkle and fire and are ideal to stand alone on a simple band. The cut also works well with interlocking and curved wedding band and engagement ring sets.
Originally known as candlelight diamonds, cushion cut diamonds were in highest demand at the turn of the century. The softer facets really reflected light from candles, hence the common name for the cut. Almost all cushion cut diamonds are an oval to soft rectangular shape but there is lots of variation.
Cushion cut diamonds and the reproductions of the vintage style of engagement rings tend to use the same open facet styles. This means that the diamonds stay true to their historic cut, softly and romantically reflecting gentle light. To add more focus on these types of diamonds small pave diamonds are often set close to the larger central diamond.
Looking through estate sales or selecting jewelers that offer replicas of vintage engagement rings may provide you with some options you hadn’t previously considered. The detail in these rings really makes them unique and different from modern engagement rings.
