Retipping a ring cost?

anderson8

My husband has just picked up my engagement ring from a local jeweller, it had been retipped( and rhodium plated, though he didn't ask for this)
It's a white gold ring with four claws.
It cost £60 to have this done, I was shocked.
Is this an average price for work like this?

LEJC

its also sometimes called replating...yep it usually costs upwards of about £45 or so...ive not had one done for a few years and thats how much it was last time.

was your ring in need of it?...and if so how long have you had it?

There are ways to hopefully prolong the replating ...avoiding too many chemical cleaners whilst wearing the ring etc...hand cream is sometimes one that seems to accelerate the discolouration process sometimes.
Although having said that Ive got several white gold rings that are really old and ive never had any problems with and one ring which no matter how careful I am with it usually needs replating every few years.

bitemebankers

Unfortunately this is the downside with white gold - it will need re-plating every few years to maintain it's shiny appearance. If you want to avoid this in future palladium is a better bet, or platinum if your budget will stretch.

Claree__x

Not sure if the "retipping" has pushed the price up but I got my engagement ring replated for about £30 a couple of months ago. Shop I bought it from wanted about £45 I think but independant jewellers tend to do it cheaper.

kandfs_mam

That's actually quite cheap for re-tipping. I bashed my engagement ring and needed the main stone reset and the 8 claws retipped (9ct gold)and it cost me over £300. I was gutted and rarely wear it now for fear of damaging it.

redfragglebiker

I had ring my mother gave me retipped recently as well as a small stone replaced ans that cost around £100.

anderson8

Thanks for te replies. I guess that's just how much it costs

Kynthia

Sorry for being thick but is retipping different from redipping? I've had my ring redipped for much less than that and I get it done every year at an independent jewellers. However I assume retipping is something to do with repairing the claws that hold the stone which I would imagine is more expensive. Did you have both done and was the redipping complementary due to having the repair?

redfragglebiker

Kynthia - Retipping is as you suspect a repair to the claws as if the tips of the claws wear down it can cause stones to come loose. Redipping I would imagine recolours the ring. I think this is usally required with white gold and also gold plated items

Slinky

I can't imagine that you'd be able to retip a white gold ring successfully without replating it as the new bits probably wouldn't be the same colour as the part worn existing plated parts.

One of the reasons I prefer yellow gold to white.