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Cheap NYC diamond district settings? Should I be concerned?

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deggles

Rough_Rock
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Jan 11, 2005
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Hello,

I made a trip down to the diamond district in NYC over the weekend. I was VERY surprised at how cheap the platinum settings were. I was getting quoted approximately $500 for the same Tiffany six-prong replica that goes for $1,000 at several e-vendors. How can it be half as expensive in the diamond district? Should I be concerned that I''m not really getting 95% platinum?

Please give me a few opinions, otherwise, I''ll go ahead and get the $500 setting in NYC.

Thanks in advance,
 

pqcollectibles

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Feb 22, 2003
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3,441
My guess is you are looking at mass produced mounts. There''s some commentary about the subject in this current thread:

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/is-custom-jewelry-a-better-idea.25103/

I know with lower priced gold mounts, you can get into hollow jewelry, but if I remember correctly, I don''t think that''s the case with plat.

Personnally, I thought all plat would be stamped. All of mine is. Even pieces I''ve bought from local jewelers. It will say 90% or 95%. The alloy metal is a mystery on pieces I''ve bought "off the rack" so to speak. Other pieces I have are from Vendors who specified the alloy so I do know what the mix is for those.
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valeria101

Super_Ideal_Rock
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It may be the same thing or now... price also depends on what markup each shop attached to each product - if these guys are selling your the diamond, perhaps they shifter the $500 or so difference off.

This is no saying the setting is as detailed, durable or nicely finished as any other (Tiffany''s or not). If it looks good and it is not overly thin or light, why not.
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Perhaps a hand made setting will never get discounted quite so much because the maker needs to actualy make a living. Otherwise it is hard to tell where the price comes from. An upgrade is also such an option, and then... the jeweler''s cost to obtain the setting would have been minimal - just nice they can pass it on.

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trying to see the full half of the glass, of course.
 

deggles

Rough_Rock
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Jan 11, 2005
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Just to give a little bit more background, I have already purchased a 1.11ct round ACA stone from Whiteflash. I''m looking for a good Tiffany replica for the setting.

The best I had found on the internet was the SUPERBcert replica for $975. I found replicas that looked just as good in the diamond district for $500 (they would set and polish for this price). The ones I found in the diamond district seemed to be pretty solid, they weren''t flimsy.

I just wanted to make sure that I was in fact finding a good deal and not actually getting ripped off because of some diamond district ploy that is known to industry insiders. What I''m taking away is that SUPERBcert probably has more costs that go into making the Tiffany replica and that''s the only reason it''s more expensive. If this is the case, I''ll go ahead and get the mass produced setting down in NYC.

Thanks again,
 

solange

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Feb 20, 2004
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871
Whiteflash has three Tiffany mountings. The cheapest one is about $350. They also have the knife edged one similar to Superbcert for in the vicinity of $1000. There are different qualities and some platinum is more durable because it is not porous. Also the finishing is finer on the more expensive setting. I bought my ring and the better Tiffany six prong setting from Whiteflash and I am very pleased with it.

The cheaper versions are not the same. You might want to consider sending your stone back to Whiteflash for setting since you bought the stone from them
 

codex57

Brilliant_Rock
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Dec 18, 2004
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1,492
The platinum solitaire I bought was $300. Yes, it's mass produced. They can get that cheap. The polishing is up to the workman. My jeweler does their own manufacturing and I personally watched as one of teh jewelers polished teh setting. He took a LONG time and was pretty darn meticulous about it.
 

deggles

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 11, 2005
Messages
47
Thanks for the input! I think I''m probably gonna go ahead and get the mass produced version and really make sure they do a good job polishing it.

He took a LONG time and was pretty darn meticulous about it.

Codex57, when you say they spent a LONG time polishing it, what does that mean? 5 mins, 15 mins, 30 mins?

Thanks,
 

codex57

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Dec 18, 2004
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1,492
We have our own jewelery district in LA. I imagine it's similar to NY's. You get all sorts of jewelry here from cheap mass produced stuff to fairly high end.

I've bought the real cheap crap here in addition to the e-ring I bought. The cheap setting got about 5 minutes worth of polishing. My e-ring took 30 minutes. He went into almost every nook and cranny the ring had. Since it was a simple solitaire, it didn't have much. Used a whole bunch of different cloth thingies to polish. The cheap setting used a tiny fraction of tools and only took like 5 minutes. And that was for a setting with more different facets/surface areas to polish.

The diffference in care was dramatic. My e-ring had two people working on my ring. One guy to set the stone, another to polish. Both took 30 minutes each. When he set the stone, that guy set it so that the prongs were exactly in between the arrows. Didn't take long to check where the arrows were and stuff, but the point is that some places take that extra few moments to check and do it right.
 

deggles

Rough_Rock
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Jan 11, 2005
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47
Thanks codex57, this should help out a lot when I make my purchase.
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diamondsbylauren

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Oct 18, 2003
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1,128
Hi everyone,
Here's some things that I've found.
*quality of the casting: Many times you a trained eye can spot differences in quality right off the bat- such as a Lucida style where the underwires look cruddy- and this can NOT be fixed thru polishing. In addition, there are serious potential defects that may appear as the ring is being worked on. POROSITY ( sp?) - there are tiny bubbles in some cast metal that ony are visible once you start polishing
*Quality of polishing- if someone bought a $300 platinuim cast ring, then had a polisher spend a lot of time on it, you could be left with a very thin ring- the polisher can ruin a ring by spending too much time polishing off too much- this is more likely with a inexpensive cast
* Quality of setting- besides simply breaking a stone, a poor setter can screw up the entire ring. Catchy prongs, stone not set straight etc...
If one wants to find cheap labor to set your diamond, there's plenty available on 47th Street,
If you don't mind experimenting with your diamond, pay $10 to set the stone. Personally, I prefer to pay top dollar for the most experienced people to set MY diamonds. This is by no means common on"retail" 47th street where many sellers just want to be able to sell cheap.


Since you bought a great stone from a great company, I'll bet you don't want a "cheap" job on the setting.

If Superbcert offers a ring for $1000, I feel extremely sure they make sure all the details are correct. To repeat- there are big differences beteen setters, and castings. You get what you pay for
 

denverappraiser

Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Jul 21, 2004
Messages
9,051
One of the things that’s always sort of amazed me about the jewelry business is how much certain people are inclined to undervalue the skills of a good setter. Almost every customer I know of would be happy to spend an extra $50-$100 on the setting labor to get a better job if they're given this option. Surprisingly few dealers seem to be willing to do the same.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ISA NAJA
Independent Appraisals in Denver
 

RockDoc

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Aug 15, 2000
Messages
2,509
There is a lot of excuse setters... These are the ones that when you have a trained eye, and know that the job should look like, you swear whoever set the stone, lost both their hands and set the stone using there feet.

There are a lot of excuse setters. There are very few dedicated craftsman that really do the job right.

Mark Morrell spends 2-3 hours setting a stone and finishing the ring. His work is very fine. He''s got some great photos on his site. mwmjewelry.com

Whiteflash, DIrt Cheap, GOG in NY and Superb Certalso in NY all have tiffany style rings that are also fine quality and I believe that carefully are checked and they are set correctly. Nice Ice probably has a comparable ring and their work is good too.


I wholeheartedly agree with what Neil wrote above.

Rockdoc
 
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