On Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:23:13 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry
wrote:

I had no idea what I was getting into when I decided to do something
about that ring.
It's really not a small job, is it?

That depends. It will be at least a little tricky to find the proper stones
(the rose cuts in the right size). Once you've done that, or found someone with
a good source, whether the actual repair job of replacing the stones is complex
or not depends on why the stones fell out and what needs to be done. It may be
that the new stones will just fit in, and existing metal will be enough to
properly reset them securely. If this is the case, then the repair is not
complex for any decently competent jeweler. If, on the other hand, metal needs
to be built up and/or restored, then antiques can get quickly more difficult to
do properly. One common situation is to find that the diamonds are set in a
thin layer of white colored metal, rather than yellow gold. In modern jewelry,
this would be white gold, or platinum. Both are familiar to most jewelers,
especially white golds. But white gold alloys were not availabie in the late
1800s, and platinum was rarely used. So one finds these made with silver
alloys. And that gets rather more complex to repair well, especially if the
jeweler doing it is not experienced in rebuilding that type of setting.

So it might be fairly simple, or it might not. Can't tell without seeing it
really up close.

Peter