O/T - Silver Diamond Rings

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  maybebaby2014

  Dec 30, 2009 4:20PM

  babyblue you should check with local jewelers a local one to us solitaire does them for ??120 and puts diamonds in for ??20 each this is in gold but i assume it will be cheaper to have it put into a silver band as silver is a cheaper metal.Rhodium plate shouldnt wear off your ring that easily though usually after years and its not expensive to re rhoduim plate having mine altered by 5 sizes and re rhodium plated for ??20
  good luck
  xx

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  EnglebertW_nkface

  Dec 30, 2009 4:36PM

  Right, I used to work in a jewellers so I can help with this I think! Firstly, it's tottaly normal for the rhodium to wear off that quickly if you wear your ring all the time, especially if it is 18ct gold. 18ct white gold goes yellow quicker than nine carat purely because there is more of the yellow gold in it in the first place, so you notice the colour coming through sooner than in 9ct gold, which is paler to start with. The 9ct ring I used to wear all the time was replated AT LEAST every 6 months, more if it was annoying me (it was subsequently reset in platinum). I don't know anywhere that would sell a decent looking solitare in silver, there just isn't much market for them because normally if people are paying for a nice diamond they want it set in a more expensive metal than silver. I think the best option would probably be to have your diamond reset, ??350 sounds like a lot to me to reset a solitaire in a silver mount. I would suggest trying some little working jewellers, the sort that take stuff in for repair, rather than the high street guys. Our mark up on repairs/alterations used to be 400%, so if you look around I think you should be able to get it done much cheaper if you can find someone that will do it themselves on site. The only other silver and diamond rings I know of are brands like Hot Diamonds, but they are more like costume jewellery with diamond chips in, so I'm not sure that's what you are looking for.
  xxx

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  MUMMYA

  Dec 30, 2009 4:52PM

  Bedhead can I just ask a question,
  
  I didn't realise you could get your ring reset, mine are 18 garet white gold how much would it cost to get them reset in platinum?
  
  Sorry to gatecrash xx

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  BabyBlue1980

  Dec 30, 2009 4:55PM

  Hi all, thanks for your replies.
  
  Bedhead, it is an 18ct and I have had my engagement ring recoated 8 times since I got it in 2004 at ??25 a go and my wedding ring done twice since 2008 and it's really getting to much hassle now and too expensive!
  
  I looked at palladium but couldn't see anything that looked like an engagement ring and am now wondering whether platinum would be better to be reset in but I'm not sure exactly what goes into platinum and whether the allergy would continue with that as well so thought silver would be my best option as I know I'm not allergic to that.
  
  Thanks for the advice on other jewellers, there is one in my town that I never thought to check and will try and get a price off of them next week as ??350 is definitely more than I'm willing to pay. Will also need to get my wedding ring redone as well as I have a few diamonds in that too but at ??350, I thought I'd better leave it.
  
  Also looked at Hot Diamonds, but they had nothing that looked like an engagement ring.
  
  Thanks so much for your help xx

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  EnglebertW_nkface

  Dec 30, 2009 5:00PM

  It depends hugely on what style ring they are, it's also 4 years since I gave up work so these prices probably won't be very accurate!! I think it cost me about ??200 to have my ring reset, but that was cost plus VAT price so the retail price would have been about ??800, that ring is worth about ??1500 now though so it's definitely cheaper than replacing the whole think. That was a 3 stone, so a solitaire would probably be slightly cheaper, a cluster slightly more. Like I said though, you can shave quite a lot of that by finding a good working jeweller who will only charge you cost plus his profit rather than full retail price. You do need to be a bit careful for platinum though as it is a much harder metal to work with than gold or silver, so you need someone with a little bit more experience and skill to do a good job.
  xx

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  EnglebertW_nkface

  Dec 30, 2009 5:08PM

  Cross posted
  If you can justify the cost then platinum is almost certainly the best option. Platinum itself is hypoallergenic, they use it in a lot of medical applications as it is pretty much unheard off for people to have any sort of reaction to it. The platinum they use for jewellery is also much purer than gold. 9ct gold is only 37.5% gold, 18ct is 75% gold, almost all the platinum used in this country for jewellery is 95% platinum so there are a lot less alloys in it for you to react to. I've nver personally met anyone who is allergic to platinum jewellery, but lots of people who have a problem with gold! (or rather the other metals that are put with the gold) Platinum isn't cheap because it's much, much rarer than gold, but it is the perfect metal for jewellery. It's really strong, and importantly it doesn't wear thin over time like gold does. You can't wear away platinum, if you scratch it the metal just moves sideways so when it's polished up it litteraly makes it as good as new.
  
  You can probably tell that I am a HUGE fan of platinum I wouldn't buy proper (not costume) jewellery made from anything else, not least because I'm a clumsy oaf and with platinum I don't have to worry about it breaking
  xx

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  BabyBlue1980

  Dec 30, 2009 5:21PM

  I think platinum is probably going to be the best option then as I know silver does scratch really easily and I always think it goes dull no matter how much you polish it up. Thanks so much bedhead, off armed with my rings next week xxx

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