buy a marcasite ring to use as setting for gem?

[heron]

Hi,
I am new to the forum. I was thinking about buying a 5mm round gemstone, but when I looked at stuller and adwar I didn''t see a setting I liked enough to actually buy. However I have seen a few marcasite rings in silver and also some black hills gold rings in silver with 5mm round czs/amethysts etc set in them (also some celtic type rings) that I do like. I was not able to find marcasite settings or silver black hills gold settings. Could I buy a marcasite silver ring or black hills gold silver ring or a celtic silver ring with a 5mm round not-so-nice-stone and have a jeweler remove the stone and set it with a nice gemstone that I buy for it? (I have read that the marcasites are glued on, not sure if the cz/amethysts etc are also glued on. I have seen prong and bezel. I have no idea about the quality of these rings because they are super-cheap but I do like them so cheap is good.

Thank you!

 

[MonkeyPie]

It depends on how the stone is set, and what quality the setting is. If it''s bezel set, then probably not - your stone would have to be literally identical to the original in size, which is why most bezels are custom made. And if the quality in the metal/durability of the setting is lacking, you really don''t want to put an expensive stone in there.

What setting are you looking at? If you have a picture we can help you decide!

 

[heron]

Here is one:
http://auntiestreasures.com/amethyst-marcasite-ring-p-14486.html?zenid=85b2db45192bce2f0c8adc7c35c2aff3

http://www.jewelryweb.com/jewelry/sterling-silver-5mm-round-amethyst-marcasite-border-ring-ws223131.htm

Here is another:

http://www.antiquereflections.com/detail.asp?id=3396

(I couldn''t make the html work on the last two for some reason.)

 

[heron]

Here is one that is promising but doesn''t say the mm size. It looks like a piece of purple plastic in there, not a stone:
http://www.silverminegifts.com/amethyst-and-marcasite-flower-ring-sterling-silver-p-1868.html