bar set wedding band and resizing

[ilikesparkles]

Hi all. I found a good deal on a bar set wedding band. It is .50 carrats with extremely good quality stones--VVS and G color--and a pretty darn good price. The stones go about 1/3 around the band. The problem is, it is a size 6 and I wear a 4.5. They said they think they can size it down, but are not 100% sure.... weird. They said they would give us our money back if they can not size it properly. What''s the deal? Is resizing it this much too big of a risk?

 

[newenglandgemlab]

Hi,
One and a half sizes smaller may not be a problem but you are bringing the whole circumference in and the stones may need tightening and the bars may need to be burnished. Seems they are willing to give it a go and stand behind it so there should not be a problem. They need to remove about 4.3mm at the base of the shank to make it work. They are right in giving you a heads up....Go for it! Cindy

 

[Jim Summa]

I agree with Cindy

 

[LGK]

Yeah it's not that weird for a jeweler/bench to say "maybe" on sizing a ring that's not a plain solitaire. Sometimes they aren't able to tell if it's workable until they try. I had an antique setting I needed sized down two sizes that seemed an OK candidate for sizing down. But a whole bunch of melee popped out as soon as the bench guy tried to make it smaller. So, they put the stones back in, and sized it back to the original size, and declared it non-sizable after all. It just is how some non-solitaire settings are. (Just make sure the bench worker or jeweler who does the work is a good one- not all are created equal!) Good luck!

ETA: if you have a good bench you're working through, if the worst does happen and the stones loosen or fall out, they *should* be able to restore it just fine- my ring was an incredibly delicate anique with itty-bitty-teeny-tiny melee and engraving and piercing to complicate the whole thing, and I cannot tell at all where he had to reset the stones. A more modern bar set piece of jewelry shouldn't show any signs of being worked on IMO.