Old Mine Cut Diamond Earring

Once a part of a diamond riviere necklace the original settings for these earrings, along with many additional stones, encircled the neck of a Victorian Era woman.  The necklace suffered the fate of many grand jewels from earlier times. However, the original 150 year-old silver and gold colette settings have been preserved and converted into earrings with 18k gold posts. Approximately 1.90 carats in total carat weight for the pair of earrings. Each stone has a character of its own, in an asymmetrical shape that reflects the natural shape of the diamond crystal before faceting.

Old mine cut diamonds were cut for gas and candle light and omit a darker romantic sparkle. While the precision faceting of modern stone’s main objective is to refract as much white light as possible.  A 19th century diamond was cut to preserve as much weight as possible and often follow the same shape as the rough diamond crystal as it was pulled from the ground.