Engagement Ring

Poppy9

Jem8472 wrote: »

I know this is about all I seem to say on these sorts of threads but try and go for something more than a four claw setting.

I know the fashion seems to be to have four claw settings but if one claw breaks then there is a good chance you will lose the diamond.
My gfs engagment ring has 8 claws on it. There is no chance of losing that diamond!

Often times are lost when the claws are in tact. Usual cause is a flaw in the diamond which causes it to crack or chip when being worn as they are easily knocked. A well made 4 claw setting in platinum is superior to a mass produced 6 or 8 claw setting in 9/18 carat gold. The ability of the setter is important too. OH did a basic setting course and would set cheapish stones but for decent quality stones he would send the mount and stones away to his setter who only set stones for a living.

Jem8472

I would still go for more than four claws everytime.
My gfs ring lost a claw the other day but the diamond was perfectly fine. As its an older ring made 1980, the claws are starting to get a little worn. Its an 18k gold ring with platinum setting.

But I do think that the highstree shops do four claw settings just to make more money. But thats me being cynical :-)

Poppy9

If you want 100% security of diamond go for a rub over setting. The more claws the less diamond you see. Personally I would go for a well made 4 claws as it displays the diamond better.

If your gf claws are wearing you can get them re-done. Not a very expensive job but OH is asleep now so I can't ask him how much.

Jem8472

my uncle is a jewler so he does all the work we need done. :-)

MoneySavingStudent_2

Hi!
Congratulations! Me & My partner got engaged last week after being together for 3years !
We got our engagement ring from F.Hinds. We went on the website found the perfect ring and then went into our local store and asked for it. The lady was really nice and we brought the ring there and then and it got sent off for re-sizing. Got home and decided to show a picture of the ring to parents and went on the website only to find the ring had just been put in a sale !
Luckly we went back in a few days later and the lady just resold it us at the sale price and said '...every pound helps when your organising a wedding'!
What a lovely lady! plus when we go back to buy our wedding rings we get 10% off they start at great prices too

xx

tinkerbell84

MoneySavingStudent wrote: »

Hi!
Congratulations! Me & My partner got engaged last week after being together for 3years !
We got our engagement ring from F.Hinds. We went on the website found the perfect ring and then went into our local store and asked for it. The lady was really nice and we brought the ring there and then and it got sent off for re-sizing. Got home and decided to show a picture of the ring to parents and went on the website only to find the ring had just been put in a sale !
Luckly we went back in a few days later and the lady just resold it us at the sale price and said '...every pound helps when your organising a wedding'!
What a lovely lady! plus when we go back to buy our wedding rings we get 10% off they start at great prices too

xx

i'm a friend of the Hinds family

thanks on their behalf! and congratulations!!

stumpjumper

my best advise is to take your time, and do a little bit of reading, just to get your head round the basics - the 5Cs - Cut, Clarity, Colour, Carat, Comfort.

Out of those - Carat, Clarity and Colour effect the price.
Cut to me is the most important - weither you look to buy a Round, square/rectangle (princess, asscher. emerald) Pear, Oval, Cushion etc... what makes a diamond sparkle is its cut - what angle the facets are to reflect and refract the light within so it returns to your eye.

and my added C - Comfort - what are you comfortable spending (dont listen to any marketing hype of spend x times monthly salary) and what is she comfortable wearing - you might beable to afford a £10,000 1.5ct solitare ring but if she isnt comfortable wearing it everyday its a bit of waste of money.

very good tutorials can be found at the diamond consumer forum here: Pricescope
and at Good Old Gold
and some excellent video tutorials at Whiteflash

My very simple advise is when looking - avoid diamonds that have a clairty grading less than SI2 - such as SI3 (only from certain grading labs) I1, I2 and I3 - which are sometimes also called P1, P2 and P3 - these stones can have visible inclusions and durability issues (I stands for either Included or Imperfect depending on local custom, and P for Pique (pronounced PeeKay)

Colour - have a good look, but most people cant tell the difference between the top colour grade of D (colourless) from a G or H (near colourless) but remember a diamond reflects the light entering it - so putting your D graded diamond into a 18k Bezel set diamond (where the metal covers the entire edge of the diamond - then the diamond will look yellower as it reflects the yellow of the gold setting.

My personal opinion is to buy a stone that has been graded by one of the labs, rather rely on what the often clueless shop assisstant has been told the diamond is. But, not to buy a stone based on its paper, but how it looks

Finally - dont be scared of looking for diamonds on the net - and consider shopping from the US based sites liked the 2 linked above, Whiteflash and Good Old Gold - they specialised in diamonds cut within a tight range of proportions for known good light return and their sites provide alot of information about the diamonds, and the diamonds are instock so they can talk to you about your stone with it infront of them - and i know Jon at GoG has sometimes done a video for customers when they are deciding between stones so they can see the diamonds under different lighting conditions.

If you do consider it - then its worth noting that importing stones set in a ring attact 2.5% import duty + 17.5% VAT - but can still give you a 30-50% saving over the UK highstreet

happinessfactory

Poppy and Stumpjumper, I've read a few of your great posts about diamonds now - thanks for taking the time to educate us.

OH and I are getting married this year and we had the idea of resetting diamonds from our grannies' rings into a new engagement ring and of re-melting their old gold jewellery into our new wedding rings. The diamonds are pretty special and better than anything we could afford to buy I think, so no-one's being shortchanged in this house;)

Just wondered if you could tell us if this is more or less cost effective than haggling over new, and b) could you possibly recommend someone in Hatton Garden to design and re-set? We've asked around a bit but haven't got anywhere yet.

TIA:D

stumpjumper

not Hatton Gardens... but a few of my friends have had excellent service from Matt at Equinox Jewellers

Equinox Jewellery Design Studio
100, High St, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire EN11 8HD
Tel: 01992 448544

I'd say its best to talk to someone like Matt (or other experianced jewellers) about your requirments - its not unusual to have diamonds reset in a new ring so i think it'd cetainly be possible to reuse the diamonds - and i guess it depends on the metal how easy it will be to make the wedding rings out of it.

Sounds a lovely idea tho

Poppy9

happinessfactory wrote: »

Poppy and Stumpjumper, I've read a few of your great posts about diamonds now - thanks for taking the time to educate us.

OH and I are getting married this year and we had the idea of resetting diamonds from our grannies' rings into a new engagement ring and of re-melting their old gold jewellery into our new wedding rings. The diamonds are pretty special and better than anything we could afford to buy I think, so no-one's being shortchanged in this house;)

Just wondered if you could tell us if this is more or less cost effective than haggling over new, and b) could you possibly recommend someone in Hatton Garden to design and re-set? We've asked around a bit but haven't got anywhere yet.

TIA:D

Remodelling rings was OH bread and butter.:) The diamonds in your grannies rings maybe 'old' as opposed new cut (head fuzzy at moment so can't remember the names - think it's princess/brilliant cut). The new cuts should show off the diamond better but many people prefer the "old" cut in the right setting.

You have a choice. You could have your grannie's ring remade. OH often had older ladies tearful when they saw their ring looking like the day they got engage. Usually involves replacing whole or part of shank if it's very thin. If possible he would try to retain the hallmark as it gave the date etc. The mount of the ring might be replaced or rebuilt, again depending on worn it was. A good clean and polish and the ring sparkles like new. There is a risk however that the old diamonds are being held in by dirt and maybe chipped or damaged which will only become apparent when they are taken out of the mount. A decent jeweller should be able to locate you replacement, matching diamonds if one should break or if you want a different design which requires extra stones.

Re melting down old jewellery to make wedding rings. Again possible, even mixing alloys but the new rings will have to be hallmarked and if you mix 21ct, 18ct and 9ct when it's assayed you might find it's marked as 9ct as it moves to the lowest content. Also the colour might not match the engagement ring as many old rings are a "rose" colour gold as they had a different alloy. This isn't usually the cheapest option if you just want bog standard bands as they are machine produced and you are paying for handmade. Also if it's very important to you that your old rings are re-used make sure that you are not palmed off with mass produced blanks. One way of checking is to ask to see them before they are sent away for assaying as if I remember rightly blanks are sold hallmarked.

There is little secondhand value in old jewellery so it will be more cost effective to re-use. If you have other stone jewellery that you wish to re-use consider having it made into something else like a pendant or a very easy and effective one for a ring is a bar brooch which is basically cuting the shank in the middle and stretching it out flat and adding a bar and safety chain. Sounds easier than it is as the setting of the stones has to be able to take the movement and it may need adjusting but OH did quite a few of them.

OH no longer trades as a goldsmith, he now pounds the beat but he spend almost 20 years handmaking, repairing and selling quality jewellery. He's working at the moment but I will ask him when he comes home to comment if I've missed anything.