This is why I dont have stone set...

[RockHugger]

I took one of my tanzanites to have set in a ring for my mom for christmas, and we to pick it up from the jewlers today...

I get it and notice the tanzanites face is alll scratched up. Looks like someone took a metal nail file and swiped over it a few times. And on eof the edges of the trillian is nicked under maginification. Now, I KNOW if wasnt like that when I gave it to them...I would have never bought the tanzanite like that, and I know my stones to the T. His son (the jewler) has no idea how they got there (of course).

He is going to give it to his lapidary on sat to polish the scratches out and reset the stone. How the heck could thse scratches have happened? It was awful and litterally made me sick to my stomach (I still am).

But this is why I dont set stones...because I am afraid of them geting damaged...like this.

 

[T L]

Tropicgal,
I'm so sorry to hear your misfortune with the setting of the tanzanite. They're such soft stones that a lot of care must be taken with a setter that is familiar with setting such soft material, as well as wearing it. I hope it can be repaired.

 

[Snicklefritz]

Ugh...sounds awful! I feel for you. I had some poor stone setting work done that had me in tears. I still don''t look at this particular ring the way I used to. Hope it all works out.

 

[LD]

If your jeweller has made such a mess of it when setting, I most definitely wouldn''t be allowing them to do any more work to the Tanzanite. What a shame. That''s highly disappointing.

 

[jstarfireb]

I feel for you, Tropic! I just had 2 stones destroyed to do fracturing during the setting process, a tsavorite and an indicolite. In both cases, the very professional people I was working with replaced the stones at their cost, but it was still painful! I hope the re-polished tanzanite comes out good as new.

 

[RockHugger]

What the heck do jewlers do to these stones to break them? I mean yes some stones are soft but they arnt totally fragile. I have never had a problem with a stone breaking and I have been known to have slippery fingers. They must play street hocky with them before setting or something.

I feel for you, I would have cried if my stone broke.

 

[RockHugger]

Date: 12/2/2009 6:23:25 PM
Author: LovingDiamonds
If your jeweller has made such a mess of it when setting, I most definitely wouldn't be allowing them to do any more work to the Tanzanite. What a shame. That's highly disappointing.

I called him about an hour ago, I am actually going to pick it up tomarrow. He is giving me the rhodium plating and the setting for free. I told him I am afraid of it being removed from the setting, and being chipped or damaged even more being reset. A few scratches I can deal with...a huge chip or cracked stone would bring me to tears.

He set my diamond in the past, and did a good job. I will prolly go back to him for my harder stones like sapphires and diamonds but never again for tanzanites.

 

[Largosmom]

Oh dear, so sorry to hear that...Laura

 

[chictomato]

Date: 12/2/2009 4:44:01 PM
Author:Tropicgal10
I took one of my tanzanites to have set in a ring for my mom for christmas, and we to pick it up from the jewlers today...


I get it and notice the tanzanites face is alll scratched up. Looks like someone took a metal nail file and swiped over it a few times. And on eof the edges of the trillian is nicked under maginification. Now, I KNOW if wasnt like that when I gave it to them...I would have never bought the tanzanite like that, and I know my stones to the T. His son (the jewler) has no idea how they got there (of course).


He is going to give it to his lapidary on sat to polish the scratches out and reset the stone. How the heck could thse scratches have happened? It was awful and litterally made me sick to my stomach (I still am).


But this is why I dont set stones...because I am afraid of them geting damaged...like this.

HI there, I fully understand how you feel as my precision cut peridot was badly scratch too last month when I had it mounted. Your heart just sink when you saw it... But GOOD NEWS! Scratches during mounting are mostly surface, mine was repolish and it come back good as new or even brighter ( well, I feel so and I do not know why). Only thing is that it will bound to lose some weight. my drop from 1.68-1.6. But that isn''t really a concern to me as long as it looks perfect like before, and I believe it will!

 

[Michael_E]

Date: 12/2/2009 6:46:50 PM
Author: Tropicgal10
What the heck do jewelers do to these stones to break them? I mean yes some stones are soft but they arnt totally fragile.

Yes, they are...at least the softer or more brittle stones. Tanzanite, opal, peridot, zircon, even the quartz stones are prone to chipping and those which have sharp edegs at the crown-girdle junction can be very difficult to set without dinging the edge. A cutter who has set stones will take care to place a small polished facet at that edge so that it is much less fragile. Still these stones can be scratched by just setting them upside down on a counter and sliding them a bit. It''s just part of the risk in working with these things that most people have no idea exists. I certainly wouldn''t get too worked up about it, since the damage is usually cosmetic and most jewelers will cover the cost of any re-polishing, (honestly, this happens a lot more than people realize and they never know, because the stone is fixed before they ever return to get it).

 

[TheDoctor]

Sorry about your predicament.
We won''t set tanzanites in rings, period. Not because we might chip or damage them, but because the wearer will murder them in short order.
They are so vulnerable...
Touching them with rough hands will scratch them.
Best advice is pendants or earrings only. Those parts of your body won''t produce the level of abuse that hands do.

 

[T L]

I have one tanzanite ring that I bought many years ago, before people knew what tanzanite was. As a soft stone, I thought I was being careful, but when I louped it, I found many micro chips. It''s a very non-durable stone. I don''t recommend it for rings except for very occassional wear.

 

[pierreone]

So sorry this happened. I''m having a stone set in a ring for my mom for Christmas too - a tsavorite - and I keep thinking about what might go wrong. I hope the ring turns out nice and that your mom loves it.

 

[RockHugger]

She LOVED the tanzanite, and really wanted a new one to replace her chipped one. So I gave her one. I told her she cant wear it to work though (how she chipped the other one). Hopefully this one lasts cause Im not giving her my other one!

I have dropped many tanzanites and stones. I guess I am a lucky gal cause I have never had a stone chip in my care, and trust me, I lope them for an hour after! And yes, my heart did drop.

 

[Gailey]

Date: 12/2/2009 7:57:33 PM
Author: TheDoctor
Sorry about your predicament.
We won''t set tanzanites in rings, period. Not because we might chip or damage them, but because the wearer will murder them in short order.
They are so vulnerable...
Touching them with rough hands will scratch them.
Best advice is pendants or earrings only. Those parts of your body won''t produce the level of abuse that hands do.

Ah, there speaks the direct voice of a Western Canadian. We don''t see you here often enough Doc

 

[jstarfireb]

Date: 12/2/2009 6:46:50 PM
Author: Tropicgal10
What the heck do jewlers do to these stones to break them? I mean yes some stones are soft but they arnt totally fragile. I have never had a problem with a stone breaking and I have been known to have slippery fingers. They must play street hocky with them before setting or something.

I feel for you, I would have cried if my stone broke.

The jewelers I was working with were very experienced with setting all different kinds of stones, but I think the common denominator for my 2 broken stones was the square shape; I learned the hard way that squares are more difficult to set. The person who set my indicolite was very experienced with round and oval stones, but she did not usually set square shapes. The person who set my tsavorite did have experience with princess cut stones, but the tsav was broken not during the initial setting but after I sent it back to have the prongs tightened (it was rattling around in the setting). Not sure if that makes a difference, but intuitively I think playing with it twice instead of just once would expose it to more risk.

 

[marcy]

How awful to hear they scratched and chipped your tanzanite. Hopefully it will come out fine with the re-polish and remount. I bought a PC tsavorite last May and they broke it right in half when they tried to mount it. I asked for my money back because I didn''t want them to have my $$ while they tried to find a replacement stone then risk having it damaged again.

 

[arjunajane]

Date: 12/2/2009 6:46:50 PM
Author: Tropicgal10
What the heck do jewlers do to these stones to break them? I mean yes some stones are soft but they arnt totally fragile. I have never had a problem with a stone breaking and I have been known to have slippery fingers. They must play street hocky with them before setting or something.

what do they do? Exert quite alot of pressure, work with metal tools , often work with high levels of heat and polishing wheels...
any number of things that can damage a softer stone (or even a harder one).

Setting any stone is always a risk, but for something like tanzanite or zircon etc, I would only ever go to someone with a tried and true record/proven experience of setting these stones correctly and without damage.

sorry to hear about your stone, glad they are making retributions.

 

[chrono]

Tropic,
I’m sorry to hear of the damage. That said, it isn’t unexpected. Tanzanites are soft so they are more apt to get fine scratches during the setting process, which is why I only bring my softer stones to my preferred bench person even if he charges more. My other tougher and more durable stones like spinels can go to just about anyone as long as they know it cannot be subjected to high temperatures like a sapphire. Can the scratches be buffed out without being removed? I don’t know the answer to that because I think the usual procedure is to have the gemstone removed. If it isn’t too bad (not eye visible), I’d probably leave it as it is.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Sorry to hear, that''s always disappointing. I agree with Chrono that if it''s not too bad, I might just leave it, who knows how much more damage it might accrue if you reset it. Does this jeweler have a lot of experience with tanzanite?

I definitely confirmed with the jeweler that she had experience and was comfortable working with such a soft stone before I sent my tanzanite to be set. I generally take the procaution with any gemstone that may not be common enough for jewelers to have worked with much.

 

[lelser]

Date: 12/2/2009 7:57:33 PM
Author: TheDoctor
Sorry about your predicament.

We won''t set tanzanites in rings, period. Not because we might chip or damage them, but because the wearer will murder them in short order.

They are so vulnerable...

Touching them with rough hands will scratch them.

Best advice is pendants or earrings only. Those parts of your body won''t produce the level of abuse that hands do.

Now THAT''s a jeweller I like

There is one local jeweller here in the Vancouver area who may be fine with diamonds, but butchers colour. There are excellent setters around, but he didn''t want to pay them and hammered in the coloured stones like diamonds. I will no longer knowingly sell stones to his customers, because the stone gets damaged and he blames the stone or the cutter.

Accidents can happen to anyone - I''ve had a few heartbreaking moments at the machine, for sure. Saying "No, I won''t do that" when you know it''s an accident waiting to happen takes guts and it absolutely the right answer.

Cheers,

Lisa

 

[T L]

Date: 12/2/2009 8:41:02 PM
Author: Tropicgal10
She LOVED the tanzanite, and really wanted a new one to replace her chipped one. So I gave her one. I told her she cant wear it to work though (how she chipped the other one). Hopefully this one lasts cause Im not giving her my other one!

I have dropped many tanzanites and stones. I guess I am a lucky gal cause I have never had a stone chip in my care, and trust me, I lope them for an hour after! And yes, my heart did drop.

You are such a sweet daughter, but if your mon chipped the last one, tanzanite is probably not the stone for her. If they don't chip, they seem to abrade away over time. Even wiping them with a cloth can scratch them because they are softer than silica, and silica is a common material that can be found along with dust particles (glass is made of silica). She would probably do better with a stone that is 8 or above on the hardness scale, spinel, sapphire, or diamond. I get so upset when I see the different shopping channels and jewelry stores selling tanzanite rings and bracelets because they will get ruined if you wear them frequently and/or are not exceptionately careful. I know some people that have tanzanite rings, but they are aware of the risks and are very very careful. It's a shame, because it is such a lovely violet/blue stone.

Quartz is around a 7 on the Moh's scale, but it is much more durable than tanzanite, and some Zambian amethyst can have a lot of blue in them, and look somewhat like tanzanite in certain lighting. That might also be an option for your mom, as well as an affordable alternative I would only buy one from a reputable dealer that specializes in amethyst though, like Gary dutton at the diamondexpert.com.

ETA: My jeweler is familiar with setting tanzanites and softer stones. He even set a soft demantoid for me. He charges an extra premium for setting soft stones because it requires additional tools and more care. If someone is going to set a tanzanite and charges very little to do so, it might be a red flag.

 

[Stone Hunter]

So sorry this happened to you. But I''m glad it all worked out. Wonderful of you to get your Mom a new ring!!

Any photos of it??