Filigree Engagement Rings – A Top Choice for Exquisite Ladies

We live in a world and age where more and more women want to wear something unique, something that sets them apart and is a distinct extension of their personality. An increasing number of couples are turning to the vintage look of filigree engagement rings in order to be unique.

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Filigree rings are becoming increasingly popular all around the world, as they feature a beauty and delicacy that is hard to match with other engagement ring styles. The unique combination of femininity, exquisite beauty and deep nuances is perfect for many brides that are willing to try something new, something that features an amazing vintage aspect. Due to their ornamental, delicate and romantic motifs, filigree engagement rings have spiked in popularity in the last decade.

What is Filigree?

Filigree is a complex metalworking technique that involves working threads of precious metal into elaborate designs and patterns. Some of the most common motifs of a filigree ring include scrolls, vines, flowers, hearts and flourishes. When master jewelers design and create filigree, they use metals like yellow, white or rose gold, or platinum to create astounding designs.

Please note that filigree is different than engraving. While engraving involves carving away or sculpting a metal or piece of jewelry for an astounding decorative effect, filigree involves creating and shaping metal wire embellishments into a design.

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A Short History of Filigree

Back in the year 3000 BC, filigree was an ancient form of art employed by the Egyptians, Greeks and Etruscans. The word “filigree” comes from Latin and means thread seed or wire seed. Its name represents the exact features of this technique. In the jewelry industry, filigree became widely used in the early 20th century, and was extremely popular in the Edwardian era, mainly in France and England. In 1900, during the Edwardian rule, filigree rings were created of platinum and featured intricate scroll and vine-like designs.

Benefits of Filigree Engagement Rings

There are several reasons to choose a filigree engagement ring over more traditional types of rings. Here are some of the most important:

– Romantic and Old-Fashioned

– Unique and Distinct

– Personalization and Customization

Types of Filigree Engagement Rings

Antique Filigree Rings: these rings, even though they have a vintage aspect, are exquisitely beautiful and shine with glamour. The rings in this collection are handcrafted by master jewelers, offering a distinctive and romantic link to the 20th century. Choose an antique styled filigree ring to be continuously inspired by its timeless beauty. Some beautiful antique rings are Seville, Vera, Classic Filigree and Oval Aurora.

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Modern Vintage Style Filigree Rings: this collection includes beautiful rings that feature both the old and the new embedded into the same piece of jewelry. Rings like Bonita, Haley Allison, Meghan Renee, or Louise are some of the most adorable modern filigree rings that can help you combine vintage with modern.
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Custom Filigree Engagement Rings:  Custom filigree engagement rings are growing in popularity, as more and more couples prefer to be totally unique and wear something they have designed together.

The Bottom Line

If you love the look of filigree, do not hesitate to create your custom filigree engagement ring or choose one from our Filigree Engagement Rings. Be unique and show others that you have amazing tastes.

Hand Engraved Engagement Ring Designs

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Knox Hand Engraved Ring Designs

Hand engraving on jewelry and other metal objects is a very specialized art form in and of itself and when skillfully placed on an already high quality ring, can make for an absolutely unique and heirloom quality piece of jewelry.

The actual engraving is done with an extremely sharp tool called a graver. The graver is used to carefully carve a pattern or design into the metal, leaving no room for error. The artisan that does the hand engraving will have various sizes, shapes, and angles of gravers that they use for different effects/designs. The cutting into the metal with the graver is often (but not always) facilitated by small hand held pneumatic devices that are essentially small pneumatic hammers.

What is Cast in Place engraving or CAD-CAM engraving?

It is important to differentiate between actual hand engraving and the much more commonly found cast in place engraving or CAD-CAM engraving in which a design or pattern is placed in the wax or prototype of the item being cast to give the look or effect of hand engraving.

Here are a few examples of cast in place engraving or CAD-CAM engraving.

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Example #1 of cast in place ‘engraving’

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Example #2 of cast in place ‘engraving’

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Example #3 of cast in place ‘engraving’

Is it possible to tell the difference between hand engraving and cast in place engraving?

The quick answer is no, a novice may not always be able to tell the difference.

While even a novice may be able to tell the difference between extreme examples from both methods, (the example photos used here are classic examples of the representative methods) please note that there will be many examples from both methods that may be virtually indistinguishable from each other when looking at merely photos, especially to a novice.

That said, the predominant indication of cast in place/faux engraving will be a ‘smoothed out’ or ‘polished down’ look to the detailing in the pattern as opposed to a much sharper or crisper pattern in hand engraved designs.

Here are a few examples of actual hand engraved engagement rings. Notice the sharpness and crispness of the detailing in the patterns.

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Example #1 of a hand engraved engagement ring design

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Example #2 of a hand engraved engagement ring design

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Example #3 of a hand engraved engagement ring design

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Example #4 of a hand engraved engagement ring design

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Example #5 of a hand engraved engagement ring design

Unique Engagement Ring Styles – Filigree

Filigree Engagement Rings

What exactly is filigree?

Filigree is fine and delicate ornamental work done in platinum or gold wire.

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Filigree can be located on the shank or crown portion of the ring. It can be used as a main, accent, or complementary design element. By definition, filigree is wire work done by hand.While it’s very common to see mass produced pieces with cast in place filigree, only true hand wrought wire can be considered as such. Hand curled filigree is an extremely skilled and tedious task as the wire used is often under half of a millimeter or the thickness of 3-4 pieces of paper. It takes a steady hand in welding wire to a ring and is often done under a 10X microscope to ensure proper contact and alignment.

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The design pictured above uses filigree to hold several very light blue ceylon sapphires.

Click here to see our selection of filigree engagement rings.

Can a diamond become discolored from well water?

I see and hear of this occasionally, it even happened to me once when we cleaned a 1.00 ct F color Princess cut with the last few rusty bursts of dirty steam from an aging steam cleaner.

The F color diamond suddenly looked like a J/K color with no obvious dirt or minerals showing on the diamond.

My theory is that the iron (rust) has an affinity for the diamond and sticks to the surface and/or in the hollowed out area of the prongs that are designed to protect the corner of the princess cut diamond. With even a trace of dirt or minerals contacting the princess cut diamond, the diamond will look noticeably tinted.

Here is what I do to remedy this problem, I use alternating baths in a pickle solution (heated acid bath) and heated ultrasonic along with a steam cleaner to help steam out any particles etc. This process takes patience, as it takes much more time and repeated cycles of the process than an ordinary cleaning.

As a home solution, you could maybe try some more soaking in vinegar or even a CLR (calcium,lime rust) type cleaner as long as it does not have any chlorine in it (bad for gold)