Ask me about Jewelry

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Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

I have a sterling band I'd like to have engraved. Is that something my local jeweler will do or is that too small of a job?

# ¿ Jul 27, 2010 22:58

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 17:47

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

I have an old ring (late Victorian/Edwardian) that I inherited. It's nothing fancy and I've been thinking about separating the stone and the setting. The stone is a star ruby and I'd like to have it put in a thicker, less delicate setting suitable for everyday wear. I'd then place a garnet or maybe topaz in the original setting. Is this going to be really difficult or expensive? Am I ruining an irreplacable piece of history?

# ¿ Apr 21, 2011 18:20

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

JohnnyRnR posted:

Nope, not at all. These kind of jobs are very common.

A lot of times we'll buy a piece solely for the stones so we can recut them. Then we put different gems in the old ring and it's a winner all the way around.

The only thing I would be very cautious about changing are old pieces signed by a designer. Oftentimes those pieces are worth significantly more than their components.

Nope, just a worn 18 karat mark. Glad to know my plan is solid. It just seems better than letting it sit unworn in a drawer for the next few decades.

# ¿ Apr 23, 2011 05:00

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

JohnnyRnR posted:

Thank you very much. It's very kind of you to say.

Here's a picture of the pendant. Custom designed work like this takes us 3-4 weeks from start to finish. And like Coca Koala said it's much higher quality than the mass produced pieces you'll find at a mass market seller.

That's beautiful. Are the stones just different colors or quartz?

# ¿ Aug 5, 2011 18:17

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

I would like to have my wedding band stretched ~1/2 size so I can wear it again. However, there is an engraved message on the inside. Would stretching affect the engraving much?

Fake edit: I forgot to mention the band is white gold.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2013 03:00

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

I recently broke a sterling silver ring. It's too thin to repair, so I've been thinking about having a replica made of a more durable metal. It's a small Russian Orthodox prayer ring, about 3 mm in height I would guess, with a design similar to this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/RUSSIAN-ORT...=item485696e8fe
The ring has great sentimental value to me and is something I would want replicated not only exactly, but also in a metal that could withstand daily wear for years to come. What kind of metals should I be looking for and what kind of price range should I expect to pay?

# ¿ Jul 22, 2013 11:49

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

You have the best eye for color, Johnny. Someday, after I win the lottery, I'm going to go on a shopping spree at your site.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2014 05:32

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

Is there a good way to distinguish real lapis from fake lapis? Also, is lead a concern in cheap silver-looking jewelry? I'm stuck in "can't afford the really nice stuff, but I worry the cheap, fake stuff will poison my kid" limbo and I don't know enough to know whether the stuff in the middle uses lower-grade stones or is just crap extra marked-up.

I have champagne taste and a beer budget.

# ¿ Nov 22, 2014 06:59

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

Zratha posted:

Unlike most gems, Lapis Lazuli is actually a rock, meaning that it is composed of several minerals. It is blue and has white (calcite) or gold (pyrite) inclusions. It is completely opaque.

There are a lot of imitations. Some tips:

The most common confusion is with Sodalite, which has a more greyish-blue colour than lapis. It has no pyrite inclusions, often has white or brown veins, can be more translucent, and tends to have a more even texture than lapis' rough rock look. It is also waaay less expensive.
If the blue colour is really even across the stone, and the white areas look more like light blue it is probably dyed, but this is a really common and acceptable treatment.
If the white spots are actually grey and not white, and you have no pyrite inclusions, you are probably looking at dyed howlite or magnesite.
If the stone looks translucent rather than completely opaque, you are probably looking at dyed jasper.
Gilson lapis (man made) will be quite a bit lighter in your hand, and if it has pyrite in it, it will look too perfectly distributed.
There is also reconstituted Lapis, which is when they grind a bunch of it into a powder, and then stick it back together. It would feel heavier in the hand, the colour very uniform, and have a glassy shine.

I don't know if that is useful to you, but hopefully it can be! I can only speak to the gem stuff though, a jeweller will have to answer the lead question.

Thanks, this is just what I was looking for. Also, I'm glad to see all the lapis love. It's a really pretty stone and one of the few I think looks good in a rough state.

Tunicate, I'll keep an eye out for the lapis.

# ¿ Nov 22, 2014 20:36

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

Tunicate posted:

Hey, a goon just bought a lapis from me. Was that you?

No, I've been too sick to do anything. Sorry.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2014 00:15

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

That's a pretty big ring, the center stone alone is 2 carats. Not a knock if that's what she wants, but I'd have her try on a similar-sized ring to be sure. The oval cut isn't a big deal, that's fairly standard. I'm pretty sure most sapphires on the market have been heat-treated, so you should assume it has been as well. Color is a matter of personal preference. Again, if she likes it, that's the important thing. I'm curious to hear about clarity, I've never heard about it in dark sapphires.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2015 17:20

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

Claes Oldenburger posted:

Thanks!

Yeah no worries, no harm in giving the people what they want! Paraibas are an extremely rare type of tourmaline and with that comes the price, it's pretty standard for them to be around $10,000/ct+ which brings that stone alone to somewhere around $24,000CAD and the ring being around $26,500CAD. It's the second priciest stone I've ever worked with, second only to a 5.02ct diamond that came across my bench a few weeks ago. It's a solitaire and hilariously large, when I can post pictures I will!

It's things like this and Johnny's custom work that make me so sad that not only can I not currently afford the ring, but under no circumstances will I ever be. It's hard having champagne tastes on a water budget.

# ¿ May 3, 2016 15:49

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

megathrust posted:

Claes is awesome! My ring holder necklace that he made just arrived and it's perfect! I can put any of my rings on it without even having to take off the necklace which is a big plus. I highly recommend people getting custom pieces made by him.

http://i.imgur.com/nKs2HLJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/L9KbOcT.jpg

First, your ring is really, really pretty. Second, how does the necklace work? I'm curious how the ring goes on and off without the necklace doing the same.

# ¿ May 13, 2016 22:45

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

My grandfather has been going on and on about a tabletop "spectrometer" that determines the purity of gold and silver. Does anyone here have any idea what he's talking about? He sold jewelry for years, but he's retired now and Fox News has made him crazy. (He hoards gold and silver scrap, jewelry, silverware, etc. Last year, he brought five pounds of silver on a trip as his "emergency fund.")

# ¿ Jun 20, 2016 16:20

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

Tunicate posted:

With so little information to go on, and since it's not gonna be a real spectrometer, maybe a touchstone? Or a scam?

Huh. He said it was faster and more accurate than fire or acid for assay, but that's all I got to go on. Googling around, maybe he got confused and thought there were tabletop ICPs or AAs? I'm just glad to know I was confused for a reason. Also, how do you get rid of gold and silver scrap? He's got an entire room of his house filled with it.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2016 04:46

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

Scarodactyl posted:

From my searching, it looks like there is a desktop and even a handheld XRF unit for assessing metal purity. No doubt it is very, very expensive.

I bet that was it. He said they were very expensive--that's why he brought it up, he wanted to know if my husband (analytical chemist) could get him a deal on one.

Claes Oldeburger posted:

Faster than fire maybe but more accurate? I don't know much about gold refining but you would think everyone would be doing it if it was faster and more accurate than what everyone else uses.

You can send it to a refinery! Lots of the time you can get paid out a percentage of the total or have it returned in stamped bars.

You have no idea now how tempted I am to send it all to you with instructions for an Egyptian-style coffin.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2016 16:31

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 17:47

Brennanite: Feb 14, 2009

What's a good ballpark for a pair of sapphire stud earrings, 1/2 carat total weight? I'm seeing anything from $30 to $500 online. I assume the stuff at the extreme lower end is junk, but about what price am I going to start seeing standard-level craftsmanship?

# ¿ Nov 28, 2016 18:34

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Ask me about Jewelry