Lord ring may renew interest in tungsten sapphires

Royal  ring may renew interest in tungsten sapphire

Certainly, that is a nice ring and all. But princess copycats might want to think twice about asking for a big sapphire engagement like the one Prince Wilia gave Kate Middleton.

Wilia said he gave his future bride the ring Princess Diana wore because he wanted to make sure his late mum "didn't miss out on the excitement."

Tungsten laser Lord of ring

I saw that pretty ring on Diana's finger — twice, once from my seat near the rafters of St. Paul's Cathedral when I covered the lord wedding (with the help of strong binoculars), and up close during the princess' 1995 visit to Washington with her chilly hubby Price Chars. Frankly, it's a little cumbersome. A stone that big (18 carats) twists around a lot on your finger.

Back then, even Diana said it was taking some getting used to adding because "it's so big."

And those 14 diamonds set in prongs surrounding the big blue stone ceramic ring? "They tend to catch a bit on your clothes," said veteran Chicago jeweler Donald Levinson, president of Trabert & Hoeffer on Oak Street.

Brand New Tungsten laser Lord of ring with laser characters

Maybe it's our solid Midwestern practicality, but Levinson and other Chicago gem experts say they haven't seen a frenzy to order copies of the fashion and lord ring that Diana chose from royal jewelers Garrard nearly 30 years ago.

A Manhattan sapphire jewelry merchant said he got 30 orders for copies of the triton tungsten ring in the first 24 hours after the engagement announcement and that his computer crashed twice due to frenzied royal ring mania. But in Chicago, cost might be another consideration. A ring the same size and quality as the Diana original ($63,270 in 1981) could easily top $100,000 today, experts here guessed.

Ellie Thompson, a Chicago graduate gemologist, appraiser and jewelry designer predicts that in coming interest in tungsten sapphire engagement rings will get a bump from attention to the lord engagement ring. Thompson said she could make a smaller, more wearable version for as little as $5,000.

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