One of the main services we provide at Suncoast Gems is the jewelry repair service. I began my career in the jewelry industry as a partner in a custom design studio and trade shop where we specialized in jewelry repair and custom jewelry design. That aspect of my business spanned the first 18 years of my career.
One of the most common jewelry repairs that we perform for our clients is re-tipping and rebuilding of prongs on rings. In almost all of the rings that are gold, either yellow gold or white the heads or settings that hold the diamond are made of white gold. White gold is 10, 14 or 18 karat which is comprised of a portion of yellow gold and white metal alloys such as nickel and zinc to give the metal a whitish appearance. The three most common reasons that prongs fail is from normal day to day wear, damage caused by the wearer and prongs breaking because of the white gold becoming brittle due to exposure to chlorine and other chemicals.
The obvious danger to having the prong fail is the loss of the diamond. If a prong is worn thin we can simply build it up again by melting white gold solder on to the top of the diamond. If it is broken off below the girdle edge of the stone we have to rebuild the prong using gold wire and reforming and reattaching the new prong to the base of the existing broken prong.
It is important to check your prongs from time to time to make sure that your prongs are still in good enough shape to hold your diamond in place. As always we would encourage you to come in and have your prongs checked and your jewelry cleaned and we provide this service free of charge to our clients and friends. We hope to see you soon.
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