Is buying a "Used" engagement ring bad luck?

[moomie14]

I am in the process of buying a "used" engagement ring. Long term goal is to reset the Old European Cut stone. Will wear ring as is for awhile until that's possible. Was curious if people had thoughts on this? Is that bad juju? Or just my luck finding a beautiful old stone and pouring new love in to it?

 

[AprilBaby]

I agree with taking an old stone and pouring new love into it! I don't believe in bad luck. Life is what you make it!

 

[dawnxcui]

i feel like if at least the setting is new, it shouldn't make a difference.

 

[ecf8503]

There are some lovely older stones (and settings!) out there. I wear my great grandmother's ring, and I don't believe in "bad juju". If you find one that sings to you, go for it!

 

[kenny]

Luck isn't real.
Luck is a human invention that fills a need some people have.
Many people pretend, aka 'believe', that luck answers questions that are actually unanswerable.

Good and bad stuff just happens.

Of course there's no law against 'believing' stuff for which there is no evidence, billions do.
Personally, I want to believe as many true things as possible and as few false things as possible.
But hey, people vary.

Oh, and there is NO guarantee a new diamond is new.
Nobody throws away a diamond after a divorce or death.
Some are squirreled away in safe deposit boxes.
Some end up on an heir's finger.
Some are sold and reenter the retail chain, perhaps after a repolish and new lab report.

Even if a diamond is fresh from the mine I wouldn't exactly call something billions of years old 'new'.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I agree with taking an old stone and pouring new love into it! I don't believe in bad luck. Life is what you make it!

+1

 

[maccers]

I believe in intentions - so if a ring has a bad history associated with it, my good intentions will turn it around.

 

[Sunstorm]

I used to always buy antique jewelry and love it very much, there is a great sentimental value to it. That said I have heard from some people questions like "what if it has been worn by... fill in the type of person you would dread to have owned this piece". There have also been stones in history that supposedly brought bad luck. It depends on how supersticious we are but the stone and jewelry can also bring you good luck right? Maybe your gut lead you to choose this piece as it will bring you good luck. I still love antique, vintage and any beautiful preowned jewelry and have no problem with it.

OTOH, ever since I started sourcing my own stones and designing my own pieces and participating in the handforging process, in a way there is nothing that compares to these pieces, they are like my children (ok a bit exaggerated). I guess to me jewelry is more personal than anything else, hence I never like to model and wear jewelry that will belong to others. I find that too weird but picking out a preowned piece is cool.

I also have a very interesting or odd story. I once received an antique piece as a gift from someone special in my life at the time. I hold this piece very dear but it keeps breaking as it is very old. Sometimes it goes to restoration and for months I wait for it to come back. I think it has happened to me twice now that on the day I get it back and put it on, the person that gave it to me contacts me. It is more than odd as the first time when it happened it had over a year I last heard from the person. It could be coincidence of course but it is just another thing that tells me jewelry is a connection to memories, occasions, people, etc. more than anything else material is to me.

Wow and what cool responses, I like it that we can pour good luck into things that meant bad luck before. I also agree with Kenny maybe there is no bad luck but there supposed to be other dimensions we cannot comprehend so maybe certain things are not luck but that is just what we call it. And how true that no diamond is new, I guess then we could start saying things like oh this and that mine could bring me bad luck...) Nice thread.

 

[kenny]

Probably some of the molecules you just breathed in were in Hitler's lungs.
There's no guarantee the gold you are wearing does not contain some gold from Holocaust victims.

But what can you do?
Not wear gold?
Not breath?

History happened, but life goes on.

 

[Calliecake]

I think you are very lucky to find a beautiful diamond. My engagement ring was purchased second hand. The jeweler who sold the ring knew the woman who owned the ring well. Her daughter sold the ring when the mother passed away because she wasn't a jewelry lover.
I'd like to think the woman would be happy her ring is with someone who loves it as much as she dId.

Wear your new ring in happiness and health.

 

[momhappy]

Meh. It's a piece of metal, diamonds, etc. It has no association to anything and it most certainly doesn't have the ability to retain anything (like luck or lack there of). Good grief, with all the things that we recycle these days, we reuse all kinds of things (many of which we may not even realize). I'm all about recycling used jewelry and that includes engagement/wedding rings.

 

[junebug17]

If it is I'm in big trouble lol! I've worn several vintage rings over the years as erings and now have a diamond that's 70+ years old and have never given any thought to bad luck. Once it's on my finger it's mine and I consider it a fresh start!

 

[Gypsy]

No. It's not. I have a used wedding band. No bad luck.

Just give it a nice salt water bath, take it to a good jeweler to have it polished (if it hasn't been polished already), and have them check the stones. And you are good to go.

 

[motownmama]

NO worries, in my book!!!!
After I lost my wedding band and my husband got me a new one I was going to have my minister bless it, since our rings were blessed at our wedding. I never ended up doing it though. Not exactly the same, but I guess you could ask to have it blessed< if that's relevant to you at all.

 

[HopeDream]

Does the ring contain the Hope Diamond? (just kidding).

I often prefer used jewellery. Usually it's a better price than new, and also often is a more unique design.
If the piece used to belong to a jewellery lover, then they'd be happy I'm wearing it and appreciate it. If the piece wasn't really worn, then I think it's much happier to be loved and worn by me.

As a chemical substance, diamond is highly inert (un-reactive) because of its strong covalent bonds, so I imagine diamonds are pretty immune to bad luck too.

 

[Sunstorm]

Well, I once named a blue kitten Hope. Things got very bad. So while I may only be superstitious about names and not jewelry, I do not think I will be wearing the Hope diamond any time soon.

Vintage and antique jewelry have soul, they are like beautiful, mature ladies with perhaps a few wrinkles but that only makes them more special, often more gorgeous than perfect, young, Barbie doll like girls.

I think many of us in this community own preowned pieces and many of us dream about the perfect vintage diamond. Those old cuts sure have something special. BTW, my ering was also preowned and even kept in its original setting.

 

[Polished]

In the case of an engagement ring coming from a marriage that didn't work out I would see that as having been part of the previous owner's fortune in life which has nothing to do with mine. I rather enjoy the concept of giving a ring a second chance. However some people prefer mind clean, which might mean a new ring, clarity and color of diamond over more than is needed to be beautiful. I think this is perfectly fair enough too.

 

[lambskin]

I would take the risk with the Hope Diamond.

 

[sturgeon123456]

Probably some of the molecules you just breathed in were in Hitler's lungs.
There's no guarantee the gold you are wearing does not contain some gold from Holocaust victims.

But what can you do?
Not wear gold?
Not breath?

History happened, but life goes on.

Honestly you are making a lot of sense.......both of your posts were profound and logical, but no one noticed......

 

[mwilliamanderson]

I also have a very interesting or odd story. I once received an antique piece as a gift from someone special in my life at the time. I hold this piece very dear but it keeps breaking as it is very old. Sometimes it goes to restoration and for months I wait for it to come back. I think it has happened to me twice now that on the day I get it back and put it on, the person that gave it to me contacts me. It is more than odd as the first time when it happened it had over a year I last heard from the person. It could be coincidence of course but it is just another thing that tells me jewelry is a connection to memories, occasions, people, etc. more than anything else material is to me.

Jewelry in particular holds energy and information about the wearer for years after they have died. Anyone who owns a cherished piece from a loved one can attest to that. I've seen people "read" jewelry, sealed in a paper bag so it couldn't be seen, with great accuracy, picking up details such as the gender of the owner, information about personality, cause of death etc.. It's called psychometry and psychics commonly work with police on investigations of missing people doing just that. (not just in the movies )

I don't believe in bad luck though. Somebody else mentioned intention. I believe you can use your intention to find a pre-loved ring that's beautiful AND that vibrates with love and other good memories.

Good luck finding the perfect ring for you!

 

[kenny]

Probably some of the molecules you just breathed in were in Hitler's lungs.
There's no guarantee the gold you are wearing does not contain some gold from Holocaust victims.

But what can you do?
Not wear gold?
Not breath?

History happened, but life goes on.

Honestly you are making a lot of sense.......both of your posts were profound and logical, but no one noticed......

You noticed.

PS has never been a very reason-friendly place.
PS is more of a fluffy just-follow-your-heart kinda place where the tone and feeling of a post is a zillion times more important than the substance.
I'm a substance guy.

 

[sturgeon123456]

Probably some of the molecules you just breathed in were in Hitler's lungs.
There's no guarantee the gold you are wearing does not contain some gold from Holocaust victims.

But what can you do?
Not wear gold?
Not breath?

History happened, but life goes on.

Honestly you are making a lot of sense.......both of your posts were profound and logical, but no one noticed......

You noticed.

PS has never been a very reason-friendly place.
PS is more of a just-follow-your-heart kinda place where the tone of a post is a zillion times more important than anything you actually say.

Well i definitely noticed, and agree with your line of thinking. Profound truisms....me like

 

[Polished]

but no one noticed......

Rather a presumptious claim.There's another thread going at moment with comments about how much Kenny is valued around here. Not commenting and not noticing are two very different things.

 

[KaeKae]

Oh, no. A "used" ring has history. It has possibly seen a time in the past that the new owner did not. That's cool, don't you think?

I have my mom's diamond, now reset into a necklace. She had worn that stone in her ering, when she was engaged and married. When Kennedy was shot and when man landed on the moon. She had it when my brother and I were born. It IS sad that mom died young, and only wore it for about 15 years herself, but I have been wearing it for 20+ years and it will one day be worn by one or more of her granddaughters (all happy family history in the making)

 

[kenny]

but no one noticed......

Rather a presumptious claim.There's another thread going at moment with comments about how much Kenny is valued around here. Not commenting and not noticing are two very different things.

Oh goodness, stop.
I really hate all this attention.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Nahhh...just get rid of all the cooties...

 

[makemepretty]

It's great luck to buy a used ring because you get a better deal so you are already starting off with better luck than the person who paid full price

I know for a fact that some of the "new" diamonds being sold aren't so new. With trade-in programs, buy back and upgrades, that new diamond might have already been on someone else's finger, you just don't know it. I purchased a diamond from Whiteflash once, then returned it with their buy back program, they then marked it up and put it as one of their "picks" for excellent cut so the next person who bought it, paid more than me and bought a used diamond ;0)

 

[arkieb1]

Different cultures and indeed superstitious people believe part of the energy of the previous wearer comes with a piece of used jewellery. I love Antique jewellery because it has a rich history and a past and I am one of those people many would label a weirdo that can sense energy in things, I have a bracelet from a deceased estate in the US (I bought it from her grandson) and I can sense what the woman who had it made in around 1910 was like, it made her happy to wear it - it makes me happy to wear it. Like all things in life what you have is what you choose to make of it.

People who believe in crystal healing in all types of stones (diamonds and all gemstones) would say if you have any negative energy from the piece clear it or recharge the energy in the item. They do this by putting it in a container with mineral or spring water or as pure water as you can find and then putting it under a full moon either outside or on a windowsill in full moonlight. Others (different cultures and people into crystal healing) bury their pieces in the ground during a full moon to "cleanse their energy" they do this with crystals and gemstones used for crystal healing as well.

Apart from all of that (regardless of what you believe) I am a bargain hunter - so I love hunting preloved bargains!!!

 

[denverappraiser]

Diamonds are rocks. They’re a few billion years old. That makes the difference between ‘new’ and ‘used’ a mostly academic question. Freshly mined and/or recently cut is certainly a issue for some people but I don’t see a great problem with a stone mined years, decades or even a century ago. The only qualifier I would have has to do with the possibility of damage. If it’s been a while since the lab has seen it and it’s been doing time on someone’s finger, it’s worthwhile to get it checked out for condition. Things might have changed since the lab saw it and diamonds are easier to damage than most people think. In some cases the lab rules have changed as well. Both GIA and AGS have made major changes in what and how they report things in the last decade.

 

[Evert P Botha]

Superstitions Aside

The air we breathe, the water we drink...the things we consume...everything that surrounds us- theses basic elements have been around since time began- whatever you may attribute that trigger to.

If you're superstitious- then you should probably steer clear from someone else's misfortune- or upgrade. Not all diamonds in circulation are what would be considered "newly" mined, cut and polished. It is estimated that somewhere between 5 and 10% of diamonds in circulation have been or are being re-cut, repaired and/or re-polished.

If you can find a well-cut diamond in a setting that appeals to you (or your betrothed-to-be), then why not? If you have any doubts, then perhaps explore some of the vendors on the platform's selection. How many family heirlooms (rings) have been passed on from generation to generation, some re-imaging, some restored- and dare I say, some nothing new.