Diamond Rings

Even as jewelry trends have come and gone, antique diamond rings are a classic fashion piece.

While solitaire diamond rings are enduringly popular as an engagement ring style, a vintage diamond ring in general — whether it’s a diamond cocktail ring, a diamond three-stone ring or other iteration — makes a fantastic addition to any outfit with a variety of shapes and settings to explore. Statistics show that diamonds are the most common gemstones for engagement rings, preferred by 87 percent of people. And old diamonds have become a gem of choice for millennials — for many jewelry lovers, designs set with diamonds that were cut by hand decades ago are rapidly gaining in popularity. 

Thousands of gem cutters worked in the city to process the diamonds that streamed in after the 1867 discovery of the Kimberley Mine, in South Africa. The way they hand cut and shaped the stones was distinctly different from what modern lapidaries do. 

“The best old diamonds have high crowns [the top section of the stone] that release a spectrum of colors,” says Guy Burton, bespoke director at the esteemed vintage jeweler Hancocks, in London. “Some really nice Late Victorian gems are chunky, and there were really beautiful Asscher cuts done during the 1930s that display amazing angles a gem cutter would not work in today.” Late Victorian-era diamond rings are considered antique, while an Asscher cut is a step cut that was popularized during the Art Deco era. Other popular Art Deco step cuts include the emerald cut and the baguette cut. (While there are many different gemstone cuts, the main categories of cuts are brilliant, step and mixed.)

The Gemological Institute of America developed the 4Cs grading system to classify diamonds: clarity, color, cut and carat weight. Not all diamonds are created equal. 

The value of the diamond depends on the clarity (flawless diamonds are very rare but a diamond's value decreases if there are many blemishes or inclusions), color (the less color the higher the grade, cut (how the diamond’s facets catch the light, certain cuts of diamonds show off the stone better than others) and carat weight (the bigger, the better).

Shop an extraordinary collection of antique and vintage diamond rings on 1stDibs. And explore our buying guides for a close look at antique engagement rings, Art Deco engagement rings and vintage engagement rings.