"To Be Continued" Jewelry!

There are three very popular pieces of jewelry that can be added to for significant occasions, like birthdays, anniversaries, and the birth of a child:

• The Mother's Ring
  
• The Add-a-Pearl Necklace
  
• The Diamond Eternity Ring
  

THE MOTHER'S RING

This is a ring that holds all the birthstones of a mother's children. Some parents choose to include the mother's birthstone, and even the mother and father's birthstones. There are many styles that can hold up 16 stones. Sixteen children? Am I serious? Yes, but those rings hold both the children's, and the grandchildren's birthstones.

Mother's rings are enormously popular and are a great source of pride and joy for mothers. Today, there is also an entire line of what's called "family jewelry" that uses the same principle of adding birthstones for each child. Pendants and pins are popular types of family jewelry.

THE ADD-A-PEARL NECKLACE

This is a necklace that comes with a select number of pearls initially, either in a uniform size, or tapered, with a large pearl in the center. Loved ones and friends can then buy single pearls on a card for birthdays, Christmas, and so forth, and the new pearls are added to the necklace by restringing. I often sold a beginner's pearl necklace to grandparents upon the birth of a granddaughter, and then they would continually buy pearls to be added with the goal of the granddaughter having a full strand of pearls by her 18th or 21st birthday.

THE DIAMOND ETERNITY RING

Usually, the husband will buy this ring for his wife on their tenth anniversary, and it will have ten diamonds already set in it, one for each year. Then each year, he returns it to the jeweler, and adds a diamond, until the entire circle of the band is filled with diamonds.

What's really nice about these "to be continued" pieces of jewelry is that people always know that there's something they can buy as a gift that will be greatly appreciated, and will definitely not be returned!

How Are Your Prongs?

Prongs are thin pieces of gold, silver, or platinum that are shaped like a claw and have a notched-out top to hold a gemstone in place in your ring, pendant, or earrings.

Prongs are critical to the safety of the stone, whether it's a diamond, or a synthetic birthstone, and should be checked often by an experienced jeweler. One of the first signs that there's a problem is a loose stone.

When I would check prongs, I would actually grasp the stone's girdle with a serrated tweezers and try to turn it in its setting. If it moved, we knew for sure that the prongs needed tightening at the very least. Then we'd check for wear or breakage.

There are two ways prongs can go bad:

1. They wear out.
   
2. They get caught on something and break off.
   

The unit of 4 or 6 prongs is called a crown (or sometimes, a "head") and it can be replaced completely, or its individual prongs can be replaced.

There are a few ways of repairing prongs:

• Re-tipping.  The tip of the prong always wears out first. If the remainder of the prong is still thick, just the tip can be replaced. This is the least expensive prong repair.
  
• New prong:  This is replacing the entire prong with a new one.  If more than 2 prongs in a 4-prong crown, or more than 3 prongs in a 6-prong crown need replacing, it's more economical to replace the entire crown.
  
• New crown: This is just what it sounds like. The old crown is removed from the mounting and a new one is soldered in place, and then the stone is reset.
  

PRICES

• Retipping: Retipping can cost between $10 and $25 per tip.
  
• Prong: New prongs can cost between $20 and $50 each, depending on the length and thickness.
  
• New crown: A new crown can cost between $75 and $200, depending, again, on the size and number of prongs.
  

Also, remember that platinum repairs will always cost considerably more than 14K gold.

It's a good idea to stop in your friendly neighborhood jewelers every couple of months and ask them to check your prongs and to also give your jewelry a good cleaning.  If the stone's loose, it's better to catch it early, when it can simply be tightened, rather than later, when the stone may actually fall out and then you've got real problems.