Coast Ring w/ Special Order Diamond - Robbins Bros

[noliec]

I'm a newbie about to buy a ring and propose to my girlfriend, and was wondering if you could help. We've gone to Robbins Bros. and found this beautiful ring manufactured by Coast Diamond. When I went in later and had the ring priced with a marquise diamond, the pricing was very high compared to the quality and pricing on bluenile.

What I'm wondering is--if we have a ring that we really love, what are your experiences with buying the ring and diamond seperately? Is this a good idea? Will the company I buy the diamond from likely set the diamond in the ring purchased seperately, or should I buy the diamond first, then have the company I buy the ring from set it?

Also, do most designers have 'signature' rings provided to certain stores so that it would be difficult to get the same ring for cheaper elsewhere? Are there any good online distributors for Coast Diamond rings?

Any advise is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[KittenKat]

Just my personal view -

Do not buy your diamond from Robbins Bros. You'll get a much nicer diamond for the same money through a PScope vendor.

I have gone into Robbins Bros. in the past just to see what they are all about. Their prices are far too inflated for the quality.

You can do a search on them on this site and see others experiences as well.

 

[jenwill]

It seems from my searching, that most chain jewelers will not set a diamond in their setting unless both are purchased from them. You would need to check with the specific store, but this seems to run pretty true for most of them.

Also, if you do some researching on this site, you will find that most posters here have found that the quality of diamond for the price at chains is not a good ratio. I would search on the pricescope search engine for your diamond, there are many trusted vendors there, and many come in at even lower cost than blue nile. And if Blue nile is lower price than Robbins- for probably better quality, then I would definitely say to lok around at others too.

For the setting, search though the available settings that the on-line vendors have..you may find one that is similar to the one at Robbins Bros. I do not know about specific Coast Diamond dealers on the web, but many ring styles are so similar, you may find one that is less expensive and very close to the one that you saw.

Also, many of the diamond vendors here: Whiteflash, Wink, GOG, etc will help with designing a ring that is close to what you may have seen...maybe even with some modicifations that you would liek more.

 

[reena]

first thing to know is whether the company will even sell the setting you saw separately from the diamond. even if not though, id find it hard to imagine that you couldnt find a similar setting (sold separately) elsewhere.

can you tell us a little about what the setting looked like? or post a pic?

 

[noliec]

The ring is a very finely engraved 2-tone with two pear-shaped diamonds. We're looking to place a 0.6 - 0.7 carat marquise in the middle. I've attached the ring that we saw first, followed by a similar Coast Diamond ring that has similar side markings (shown so that you can see the kind of detail we're talking about).
<img src=http://www.nolie.net/images/coast1.jpg align=left

I agree with what this forum is saying about Robbins Bros. The price/quality ratio for them is way too high. The problem is that this type of ring will be very difficult to find from an online retailer.

 

[reena]

i think that your setting is very beautiful.

however, i'm almost certain that you could either find a similar mounting somewhere else or have a jeweler (be it an online vendor, or not) make it for you. that would enable you to purchase the stone online, or wherever you think you would get the best deal, and set it in your pre-made/custom made setting.

why wouldn't that work?

 

[noliec]

Thanks for the replies Reena, others. The settings I've seen at a lot of the top sites (bluenile for instance) seem to offer only very basic settings. I did not thing that another shop would be able to custom-build something similar since this ring has so much detail. If it's your opinion that this ring can be replicated or ordered cheaper elsewhere, then that's great news!

Another development: I spoke with Robbins Bros. again today. They said that they would set a diamond purchased elsewhere in this ring for $100 setting fee. If I purchase this ring from there, then they will still provide all the other services--polishing, resetting or tightening the setting if it ever gets loose, etc. The only thing is that they won't insure the diamond itself if it cracks or falls and gets lost. The price for this ring without the diamond is $3595. This sounds like a better option, even if the ring itself is expensive. What do you think?

 

[reena]

hi,

i guess my point is that you can buy a loose stone from an online vendor like BN or one of the pricescope vendors without having to set in one of "their" settings. (no online loose stone vendor that i am aware of requires you to buy one of their settings if you buy their stone.)

so, following on your new bit of info from robbins bros, you could buy a loose stone from an online vendor(thereby getting a better deal than if you bought through the store) and have robbins bros. set it in the setting you like for the small fee. alternately, you could buy the stone from an online vendor, have it shipped to you and then have it set in a setting that you buy separately from some other source (for ex, a semimount that you purchase online, or through another jewelry store, or whatever).

as far as whether you should go with the actual setting you saw or try to find something similar elsewhere/have something similar made--it's hard to say. you know she likes that setting, so if you're not going to be able to run a similar setting by her then maybe you should just go with that one. it's definitely not "cheap" as settings go, but it all depends--does the $3500 include the price of the sidestones? what are the specs on those? did you think the piece was well made?

 

[katrina_33]

Robbins Bros will sell the setting only, but none of their warranties that apply to whole rings will apply in this case. Which isn't a big deal considering you'll be getting such a better deal on the diamond!

 

[sweetice]

hi nolie,

my fiancee purchased my Coast diamond ring from robbins bros. the diamond came separately, since it's an heirloom old european cut diamond from his great-grandma. my ring has a similar style to what you've chosen--elaborate antique look with the works--basket-style setting, hand-engraving, milligraining, even a tiny 18k gold heart and a couple of gold "squigglies" as details...very appropriate setting for an old european cut diamond.

they took great care placing the diamond in the setting and i'm very happy with it. i must tell you that their warranty only covers diamonds purchased from their store (including diamonds in the setting)

if you're into the antique look, tacori and oro diamante have similar styles.

 

[noliec]

They pear-shaped side stones are approx. 1/4 carat each. The quality of the ring seems excellent.

 

[noliec]

Thanks by the way. You guys have been very helpful.

 

[reena]

okay, good--so it seems like the best route then is to find the perfect stone online, take it to robbins bros and have them set it in your setting!

 

[Diamondsbybree]

Is the mounting in platinum?

 

[sweetice]

coast rings come in weighty, lovely platinum (:

 

[WinkHPD]

Coast is a fine company and make a very high quality product. You will be very happy with the ring and in a few years the price paid will not be the part that you remember. Sometimes it is necessary to pay for what you want. You can definately save money on the stone with any of the vendors here and having the stone set by Robbins is well worth paying for so that they will honor their tightening and warrantee for the stones that they provide. You will spend a lot of the hundred that you save by haveing someone else set the stone in the insurance and shipping to get the ring to and from whoever sets it.

Wink

 

[yowahking]

I agree with part of Wink, Coast makes a fine ring, but check other Coast suppliers, as Robbins Bro will not drop price, many others will on the same ring. There is no need to overpay for the setting when most on this site are trying to get you a deal on the main diamond. Warranty and tightening are not worth $500. If a small diamond falls out, you could pay a jeweler $30 to put another one back in. Coast rings rarely have that problem anyway. This far from Christmas, I bet you can save 30% on your mounting at least. You could pay the best setter in town to set it and still save money. Just another angle to think about.