Since high school we have been big fans of estate jewelry and love to bid on pieces at auction from time to time. Moria and I have purchased so many pieces that we would never be able to make for less…beautiful colored stones, moveable crazy charms and incredible chains. We often will find pieces in auctions and remake them into new pieces that will highlight the stones or use the incredible old diamonds. Some of my favorites have been from stick pins that are ignored by most people. I recently met Lucy Grogan of Grogan’s Auction House located right here in Boston’s beautiful & historic Beacon Hill. Lucy even opened her safe (AHHHH!!) so I could see and drool over what was coming up in her holiday sale. There is so much to know about estate jewelry and Lucy is so knowledgeable….she’s also frequently featured on Antique Roadshow (one of my favorite shows ever).
Our client got in touch with us after successfully bidding and purchasing an incredible sapphire ring from Grogan’s that she had her eye on for quite some time. She was in love with it’s large sapphire cabochon center stone and wanted to have a new engagement ring made with it. The cabochon is such a perfect color and so incredibly clear…a very nice auction find! The beautiful sapphire was hidden in a mediocre setting.
The client lived pretty far away from us, but we were able to do the entire project remotely. She sent us the ring along with a diamond pin that belonged to her grandmother. She wanted to be able to incorporate the stones from the treasured pin in with her new ring.
The center stone was pretty large, so we wanted to be sure that it would fit comfortably and sit low given the fact that she wanted to wear it every day. She wanted the design to be unique and interesting, but have a classic feel. We decided to use the stones from her grandmother’s pin to create a halo around the sapphire, and added some baguette stones to give it a little bit of an art deco look.
If you are interested in doing your own Rework | Redesign project with us, feel free to give us a call at 617.292.0079 or email us at info@dev.mflynnjewelry.com. P.S. Grogan’s next jewelry auction is June 3rd!
