Classic Solutions and Quality Crowns
Information you can actually use...


Quality parts and sandard terms are a pretty good place to start I suppose, so remember that often times it makes tremendous sense to have the diamond's first home be a fine quality basic solitare. The ring is about style and personal taste, which are lousy to describe with either math or words at times. A quality affordable solution means a bit more to use towards the mounting, which is often best picked out on the spot. It's my hope that this compendium of standard parts and descriptive terms will help you to communicate with those in this industry... We use the finest die struck parts available, in both platinum and gold, for the finest possible results! Often times we can save our customers half the price, for the same effect, using quality standard parts.
Information you can actually use, imagine that :).
Basic Solitaires


Solitaires come in many flavors, but these are the basics... A die struck quality crown welded to a tapering shank for a durable and strong low cost mounting... I like to point out that the six prong does both a much better job of protecting the side of the stone from impact as well as to provide extra security for impacts which distort the prongs. If a four prong crown is "whacked" from the side hard enough to really distort the prongs it's much more likely the stone will be lost, given the same impact on a six prong crown of the same variety... A well set 4 prong is very nice, and some styles really need a four prong for a certian look, but in general I recommend a 6 prong over a 4 prong everytime...


Solitaires nicely accommodate fancy shapes as well, we use die struck parts for the safest and most attractive look of all. For lasting beauty and lasting value these basic solitaires are very hard to beat. They come in all metals, and with a wide variety of crowns. I advise folks the loose diamond which they've purchased can be presented in a nice solitaire for ballpark between $50-$250 (14Kt/Platinum). Then they can set about "together" picking the perfect style of ring they like the most... Solitaires can be combined with side rings, or guard rings, for an extremely striking effect, turning your basic solitaire into a bold fashion statement with ease and cost effectiveness too :) I prefer using v-cap style crowns for fancy shapes, they protect the points of fancy shape stones much better... ...and yer investment too!!! The good news too is that we can generally assemble and ship a high quality solitare, set by a union craftsperson, the same day too :) Prices will vary with size and shape, but this is a low cost/high quality solution to "what the heck do I put this in?"... Later you guys can pick out of many possibilities, at your leasure, the "perfect wedding set", and maybe enjoy that free cup of coffee all that much more :)

Crowns & Heads


Using quality die struck parts is the first step in building quality into the item, both for strength and beauty the die struck crowns are the best ones to use for either remounting or in a new manufacturing job... These two graphics illustrate the style used commonly for rounds in solitaires, using a die struck shank to complete the mounting... The shank is welded to the crown for a near bullet-proof ring. These are all a very substantial gauge metal too, not those flimsy light weight ones in the five and dimes...

Fancy Shapes in Solitaires too!

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Fancy shapes also work great in this style crown, and about the only stones which don't really do well in these are the very deep bellied stones which required more of a basket crown style, or at least an open base crown... ...remember that a crown can also be a starting place, from where a bench-person modifies the crown for a special effect... The effect might require using half the crown and having the other side of the stone tuck into a pre-cut rail or partial bezel... Using die struck parts is both wise and reliable... We can't afford to take chances with our customer's items, so we are a union shop, with 23 years experience, because our customer deserve our very best. "How about yours?"

Peg-Top Crowns for Semi-Mounts

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If you look closely you quickly see that most mountings in the cases yer gonna see are rings which were styled with a bar/strap into which a small hole has been drilled and a peg-top inserted into that hole and firmly soldered. The peg-top allows using a standard part to replace a damaged or defective standard part and return the item effectively to a like new condition. I'm showing both a Marquise and Pearshape peg-top here but these do come in most popular sizes and with minor modifications can be used to set most "well cut" stones... These are nice for many installations...

Basket Crowns for deeper stones

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When you have a deeper stone, like a deep bottomed Amethyst or Tourmaline you might well consider using a nice basket crown for the stone, offering both a secure setting as well as a beautiful look from the side as well. The multistage cross bars make these excellent crowns for expensive emeralds and other stones you want to protect. It's hard to beat a crown/setting which holds up well, is attractive and is easily modifiable to meet most of the needs of the benchworker. Using only high quality parts is a given... A basket does have a more rounded diameter base than some of the above pictured crowns, so when you want the rings to lay side by side think about the base of the crowns and how the rings "work" together...

Basket Crowns
for Colored Stone Pendants

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For mounting that nice sapphire, tourmaline or amethyst it's impossible to beat these for strength and stability... The multi-stage structure of the bottom of the crown makes the point (culet) of the stone is well up inside of the crown, and the gravity of the stone also allows this crown to offer you the added benefit that the stone hangs correctly... Gravity is either your friend or your worst nightmare, and all of you who read this who have a pendant assembled with the bail too far off center that the stone "flips" know exactly what I'm talking about... If the stone is deep you want a basket crown, and placement of the stone and bail are very important to consider.

4 & 6 prong open base
standard die-struck quality crowns

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For most remount work and small melee crown installed this is the style which is the industry standard. Strong and durable they offer a stable and secure home for any stone. These tend to be (as in most styles) made in both a low base as well as a high base flavor... You'll see this style crown used on most rings today, and they are the best choice for smaller stones made.. This be the crown for nice rows of melle down a channel, they are made well and we use again a nice gauge crown for a professional job...

Common Sense Information to help you! Imagine that!

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