A vintage blue sapphire and diamond ring in 18t yellow gold
Resizing a vintage ring throws up its own challenges. This type of work should only be taken on by a jeweller who has experience working with older pieces. This is because the way jewellery is manufactured has changed over the years. It is important to be aware of the different techniques that could have been used when a piece was made. The materials we use have also developed over the years, and the alloys that we use to make gold stronger and more durable are different now.
What you often find with vintage rings is that they need to be sized down because they have been passed down. Fingers expand as we get older. If somebody has worn a ring for a lifetime, they likely had to have it made bigger at some point. This means that when it's passed down to somebody with smaller fingers, this process needs to be reversed. More often than not, this will mean cutting the ring open, removing metal and then resoldering it.
When you're sizing a ring down, it is essential to try and find the original join. Ideally, you would limit the amount of joins a ring has, so if you can locate the original join, you can start work there and avoid adding unnecessary joins to a piece. To find the original join, the jeweller will gently heat the ring. As the metal oxidises, the join will become visible, which is what has happened in the picture below.
