How to Tell Quality Jewelry from Cheap Imitations Chapter 4

Channels

Channels should be even, with straight lines and nice crisp corners. There should be no waviness to the line of the channel. The stones should be close to one another, but not actually touching girdle to girdle unless they are square or rectangular cut. Round diamonds that are actually touching are a recipe for chipping at the contact points. They should look to the eye as if they are very close to one another or even like they are touching, but they should not actually be touching. A big problem when one stone is jammed slightly overlapping another is this requires tilting one or both stones and is very likely to result in chipping of one or both stones with wear.


Good channel work







In the above pictures notice the straight sharp edges of the channel, the slight gap between the round cut diamonds and the absence of a gap between the princess cut diamonds.

If you look closely you can also see the sharp square corners at the bottom of the channel in the ring with the princess cut diamonds.

In the pictures on the next page you will see some rings that were NOT as nicely done.







Poor Channel Work:











And the UGLY!

The following ring was incredibly poorly done. This ring ended up being completely remade by a different craftsman. This ring is a perfect example of all the “little” things that can go wrong with a good design. It is important to ask a jeweler about their system of quality control. This ring was actually delivered to a customer. It came from a source indifferent about quality control both from the bench that made it and the jeweler who sold it to the client who brought it in to us for appraisal.



Next is one of the worst rings I have ever seen. We had a bench that wanted to do some work for us, so they sent us this piece. Needless to say, they never did any work for us.

It does not pertain to channel setting, but it is a “Perfect Storm” of monumental screw-ups that are worthy of being seen just for the “knowledge” that this “stuff” is out there.



Just to aid your recognition. The problems of this ring start with the entire shank being wavy and not straight; the bead set diamonds are not set evenly; the center stone is set crookedly from the top and at a tilt from the side; they used a round head for the square stone, letting the head be visible from the top; and it has the ever present porosity and poor finish that is often seen on lower quality rings.