Custom ring help? (pictures attached)

[bahamastone]

Hi! Very new here. I recently got engaged (lurked on PS a lot to find the perfect diamond) and I'm looking at getting a reciprocal ring for my fiance. We decided on recreating a ring he already knows and loves. We're looking at 14k white gold (or another white metal, depending on cost).

We were at a mall jeweler who told us 1200 for 14k yellow gold would be a good price but I was fairly suspicious of them. Could you let me know if that was reasonable or a good place to start looking otherwise? Jewelers we can contact online are preferred since we move around often.

Thanks!

 

[VRBeauty]

You might want to take your ring to several different jewelers and ask them to provide you not just a cost estimate, but also a breakdown of the costs. A lot of the cost in this particular design is going to be the cost of the cold, and that is going to depend largely on how much the finished ring weighs. So ask them how much they will charge for design and labor, and how much they estimate the materials will cost. If you have any gold jewelry that you are willing to trade to defray the costs of this ring, bring it with you and see which jewelers will except that and if so how much credit they will give you for those jewelry pieces. Also ask what the basis will be for their gold charge – i.e., or some average price, or will they be adding surcharge or markup? All of these are perfectly legitimate ways of pricing the gold, by the way. The goal is just to find out what method they are using so that you will have no surprises when the piece is finished. Finally, you should be aware that some jewelers may not want to copy another piece of jewelry exactly, either because it poses technical constraints or because they do not want to copy another designer's work exactly due to ethical or copyright concerns. So ask them if they expect the finished piece to differ from your example and if so, how. You might end up with A ring that captures the important elements of your current ring, but that you like even more!

Good luck!

 

[bahamastone]

Thank you for your help! I hadn't considered those things. I'll definitely talk to a few jewelers.