Badly damaged wedding set

[Sabrina_Fair]

I noticed that my wedding set has been horribly damaged recently. The girdle is visibly chipped along two upper kite facets and DH thinks he can see what looks like four parallel scratches made by my wedding band.

It's one of the worst days ever. I put them in my back pocket (together) before washing my hands and forgot about them all day. My heart nearly broke when I saw them again. The inside of the platinum wedding band is all pitted but the stone in the engagement ring is the one that really has my stomach in a knot. I can barely breathe while looking at it.

I think and hope the pitting in the ring can be polished. But could the diamond be fixed without completely spoiling the symmetry? It used to have excellent polish and symmetry. Could it really be fixed? Somehow....?

I know it's terrible to put diamonds together where they can scratch each other. I really am absent-minded sometimes. But I do hope there's something that can be done and I haven't ruined my wedding bands in one awful afternoon. One of my biggest regrets. Sigh.

 

[sonnyjane]

Do you have insurance? Can you post pictures? Based on how it looks, one of the experts can probably guide you on how to best proceed.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Please tell us that you have insurance. sna77 recently had to replace his wife's diamond because it was damaged by the diamond wedding band hitting against it and it was covered by insurance.

I am terribly sorry. I am sure the platinum can probably be polished but the diamond may need to be replaced. If the chips are small, maybe they can be polished out.

 

[JaneSmith]

You poor thing! I am so sorry this happened.
There was a thread about fixing a chipped diamond that may help.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/fixing-a-chipped-diamond-before-and-after-pictures.167918/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/fixing-a-chipped-diamond-before-and-after-pictures.167918/[/URL]
I hope your insurance company can help you. Hugs!

 

[denverappraiser]

Depending on the nature of the problem, damage to the metal can often be repaired easier than you think. Ask a pro before you leap to conclusions. The same is actually true of the diamond as well. The 'scratches' may very well just be dirt for example. Get more information first, it may not be as bad as you think.

As mentioned above, this sounds like an insurable loss if you've got coverage.

 

[DiamondBrokersofFlorida]

Hopefully if you have insurance it can be replaced. Sometimes a small chip can be repaired, if the cutter is good, without much lossage of weight but it depends on how extensive the damage is.

 

[Christina...]

I have a diamond that has a big horizontal scratch across the table, and my jeweler told us that it would be a simple job to have it polished out and I wouldn't lose much weight at all. It isn't a ring that I wear often so we haven't done it, but hopefully yours will be an easy fix as well. I can't imagine how horrified you must have been when you realized what had happened. I'm so sorry. I hope that your stone is covered by insurance and that it can be replaced easily enough if polishing isn't an option. Can you post pics?

 

[Sabrina_Fair]

I think I have a simple Canon digital camera. Can you get such high resolution photos with it? I'm not sure it would pick up the magnification I need.

Unfortunately, no insurance unless it's covered by my homeowner's policy (which may just be theft and loss). I asked about it when it was purchased, but insurance here isn't quite the same as the US. It had to be insured seperately, submitted to their offices, and insured for what they regarded it to be worth, not what was actually paid. They were adamant on that fact. The cost was quite high as well and I figured within a decade or so, I would have paid the same cost over again! Well, a decade came a few years earlier than expected...

The vendor that sold the band has offered to re-polish the rings at no additional cost. I'm just waiting to hear from the vendor of the stone (and crossing my fingers).

Thanks, JaneSmith, for posting that link to the chipped diamond. It's nowhere near as bad as that, but I fret that because it's on the girdle, weight will have to come off the entire circumference, then a little more off the top, a little more off the pavillion facets, .... I can run my fingernail along the girdle and feel the jagged edges. If I tilt it to the light, I can see where it's pitted along the bottom.

DH has much better eyes, so when he said he saw 4-5 scratches on the surface of one facet, I just about needed a paper bag to help with breathing! (Actually, until this is fixed, the bag is probably a good idea.) I don't see what he's seeing, so I'm hoping he's looking at the same girdle facet I am.

I saved an old conversation with the vendor from years ago. He said after two decades in the business, no stone was cut to tighter tolerances than mine and that it was one of the best. I'd hate to spoil all that.

Deep down, I know it's just money, there will always be another stone, and all the other things I keep repeating to myself in my head, but on the other hand, it's the stone I walked down the aisle with, got married in, and had several happy years of marriage with. I'm going to stop before I work myself into a tizzy!

I may try for some photos tonight, but I don't know if they'll turn out.

 

[ame]

man I feel for you! I don't know where you live to understand the insurance rules there, but hopefully it's not as bad as you're thinking. I know what you mean about not possibly having the rings you were married with...I didn't have the wedding band I was married with within days of the wedding because it had to be remade. And just a couple years ago, it didn't even matter because the whole set got stolen. I don't typically attach sentiment to stuff like this though but it still sucked. Considering how ridiculously well I care for them...it was careless and stupid.

I really hope the vendor can help get a recut that loses very little weight.

 

[Sabrina_Fair]

I think the cost of our homeowner's insurance would cover a repair/recut (minus the deductible). Of course, we'd be penalized by a corresponding jump in our rates, so I don't think I'd even claim it unless a full replacement was needed. My stone might look bad to me, but it's not that bad in the grand scheme of things.

The rings definitely aren't as important as health, having food and shelter, etc., but yes, this does immensely suck!!

To top off a perfect week, the vendor's on vacation so I can't even ask until next week. (Where's my paper bag?!?)

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Ooops, nevermind. I missed one of your posts regarding insurance.

Any of us would be very upset. I hope you'll be able to get your vendor to look at it soon!

 

[ame]

Pretty sure I know who you're speaking of, and I think they're still open, just not the one you need to speak to, correct?

 

[Sabrina_Fair]

Pretty sure I know who you're speaking of, and I think they're still open, just not the one you need to speak to, correct?

I think you know who I mean. Yes, they were open, but they said there's only one man who can really address it. Elvis had left the building.

 

[ame]

Pretty sure I know who you're speaking of, and I think they're still open, just not the one you need to speak to, correct?

I think you know who I mean. Yes, they were open, but they said there's only one man who can really address it. Elvis had left the building.

Elvis is sunning himself I really hope that it can be easily fixed without any loss.

 

[Sabrina_Fair]

Elvis is sunning himself I really hope that it can be easily fixed without any loss.

Thanks Ame, you really keep my spirits up! I tried finding a gemmologist in my city (of half a million) and would you believe there isn't one!? I guess I'll have to wait for the expert opinion. Elvis is making my nerves rather frazzled.

If only it could be fixed without any loss! I had a look under some better lighting and it looks like the little chips along the girdle are the worst damage.

In polishing, do they take the entire stone out and repolish it all over? Or if only restricted to two or four facets, would it just be a spot repolish?

 

[ame]

There's no real way to tell. Elvis needs to see it and have a cutter look at it to make that decision. But it will be removed from the setting probably for inspection and obviously for recutting. Have you shipped it back to them yet? I would do that so that it's there waiting when he returns.

 

[Sabrina_Fair]

Have you shipped it back to them yet? I would do that so that it's there waiting when he returns.

If I was American, I probably would. Since I know I there will be border issues, I'd like some more info on the process.

 

[ame]

Make sure you work with them. They might be able to provide you with the details to ship them back and provide shipping labels.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Elvis

 

[ame]

Elvis

The accent could inhibit his impersonation, frankly.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Elvis

The accent could inhibit his impersonation, frankly.

Plus he looks more like Indiana Jones today!

 

[ame]

Elvis

The accent could inhibit his impersonation, frankly.

Plus he looks more like Indiana Jones today!

 

[Sabrina_Fair]

Some good news! Elvis said the damage wasn't bad and that only two facets were affected. He's optimistic that they can be repolished with no loss in carat weight by even one point!



I'm slightly concerned about that nasty pitting on the basket of the ring now and hope it can be polished out easily. I'm really over the moon about the stone though!

The vendor sounded a bit surprised when I said I could see that two facets were damaged with the unaided eye. My eyes are decades old and though I have an astigmatism, I wasn't wearing glasses at the time. My worry was if that was what I could see, how much more damage is there that I can't see! I'm going to put that on my list of the 95% of worries that never come true. Phew!

 

[Sabrina_Fair]

The other fantastic thing about it is that the cost is low enough that I wouldn't call insurance on this fix.