1930s & 1940s Engagement Rings

Transitional is our name for the years between Art Deco and Retro, when the Depression and then the war made jewelers clever. Smaller diamonds were set to look bigger, in illusion heads, clusters and buckle-style settings, and two-tone white and yellow gold took over as platinum was set aside for the war effort.

Not to be confused with the transitional cut diamond—though it's no coincidence. That cut, the bridge between the Old European and the modern round brilliant, was popular in these same years.