Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

Difficulties in pricing a ring

A

Antoinette

Rough_Rock
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Messages
4
My partner has asked me to look at engagement rings and pick out something I like the look of, and send it to him along with a price. I searched around and finally settled on the Tiffany Soleste, which is way out of my price range. I asked for specific prices and they said £9.5k ($14.9k) for an 0.73ct F VS1 ring (a FI yellow diamond centre in approx. the same size was a couple of hundred pounds extra).

Having seen some very similar styles online (including a few beautiful "inspired by" styles on this very forum), I approached a local jeweller for a quote on a similar ring. I showed him the Tiffany website, told him their prices and asked if he could make a similar style for less. His initial quote was £7.5k ($11.7k) for an 0.7ct ring (compared to the Tiffany price of £9.5k ($14.9k) for 0.73ct). I said if I was only saving a couple of thousand then I'd prefer to go with the real Tiffany ring, and he quickly dropped his quote to "slightly under £7k ($11k)" for 0.7ct.

I still think his quote of £7k ($11k) for an 0.7ct ring is very high, and I'm wondering whether he hasn't simply taken the Tiffany price and knocked off 20% instead of giving me an actual quote for the ring based on his costs. But what do I know? I certainly have no idea how much the materials for such a ring would cost, nor what it's reasonable for him to charge for his labour.

So I'm asking for the expertise of the Pricescope forum, please and thankyou: How much should I expect to pay for an 0.7ct "inspired by Soleste" ring, set in platinum with a double halo and a pave band? How much for materials and how much in total including the jeweller's labour? I'd love something like this: https://www.pricescope.com/blog/jewel-week-tiffany-inspired-yellow-diamond-ring ... how much should I expect to pay for a similarly beautiful piece?
 
A quick guess.....I'd say it was an inflated price. You will probably spend between 3-4k for the diamond, and I would expect about the same for the setting.....so I would guess that his quote is high. I'm only guessing though. I would check with a couple more jewlers, and there are wonderful PS vendors that do custom work so I would include them as well and then compare prices.
 
Antoinette,

I bought my ring yesterday from Blue Nile so I am now giving my 2cent worth on Pricescope while I wait its arrival.

Forget about Tiffanys, De beers and other stores I almost bought a 0,25c H colour VVS2 because I didn`t want to buy online.

Go to Blue Nile (ask for 10% off the setting) or Whiteflash (ask for 14% off the setting and 2% off for being a pricescope member).

Buy a diamond that score more than 0.5 and less than 2 on the cut advisor:
https://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca/

You can up to H colour and VS2, it wont be worth getting something better because you won`t be able to tell the diference. Get a excelent cut diamond to get more sparkle.

I got a 0.62 with these specs yesterday from Blue Nile for 1852USD plus the setting came to 2750USD.
My Setting: http://www.bluenile.com/diamond-engagement-ring-14k-white-gold_21489?click_id=896600462

If your keen on the Tiffany Setting, just buy the diamond at blue nile and have it set at Tiffanys.

Good luck
 
That does seem very expensive. Diamonds in the UK do cost more, but that's quite a lot higher. How much of that price is the stone and how much of it is the setting?
 
I have no idea how he divided up that price into the cost of the stone, other materials and labour. He just gave me a total quote of £7k for a 0.7ct platinum ring similar to the yellow Tiffany Soleste. Methinks he just knocked 20% off the Tiffany price and told me that was his quote!

I was expecting more like 50% off tbh, so now I'm wondering if that's realistic or whether his £7k quote is closer to what I should expect to pay. Was hoping that someone on Pricescope might have the expertise to suggest a realistic price for such a ring.

An an example, here's a ring that's available on the UK high street: http://www.ernestjones.co.uk/webstore/d/9263632/platinum+1+carat+princess+cut+diamond+solitaire+ring/

It's a platinum 1ct ring which costs £5k. My diamond would be 2/3 of that size but would have additional pave diamonds on the band... so I'd expect that an 0.7ct pave ring should be around the same price, or possibly slightly cheaper? Or am I crazy?
 
Is your heart set on something hand forged or would you be just as happy if you could find a stock setting very close to the soleste? As I said earlier I haven't gone custom yet, but am serious considering for an upcoming upgrade, I do know that others have paid $2k for a simple solitaire setting. If you were to go with a stock piece you could save considerably.

I'm sure that PSers with more experience will offer their input shortly, in the meantime I'll hunt down a similar setting for you.
 
I'd consider a stock setting, but really want a platinum double halo. All of the stock settings I've seen only have a single halo.

If the truth be told, I really want the Tiffany ring but can't afford it, so instead I want the closest replica I can (legally) get.
 
Antoinette|1329418591|3127474 said:
I'd consider a stock setting, but really want a platinum double halo. All of the stock settings I've seen only have a single halo.

If the truth be told, I really want the Tiffany ring but can't afford it, so instead I want the closest replica I can (legally) get.
Click to expand...


Copyright laws leave A LOT to interpretation. As I understand the law, only 20% of the ring would need to be changed and it would have to be hand forged not cast. 20% isn't much, change your prongs and use single cut pave instead of full cut for example. There is probably something that you would want to change about the soleste anyway. I haven't seen many rings that I wouldn't change at least a little bit if I had the oppurtunity. You may want use slightly larger or smaller melee in the halo or you may want to add a surprise diamond inside of the shank....little things that make the ring your own...

What shape is your center going to be? Will it be a classic RB or will you go with a fancy yellow? :naughty:



EDIT: I hadn't finished my first cup of coffee when I posted this morning, having re read it, I think that it's likely you will pay 5k for a custom setting. I think that we could find you a very nice .75ct RB (if that's what your looking for) for $3000-$3500. So, I'd guess a ballpark figure would be roughly 8k maybe less...
 
I think you could do it for less money. I asked why the split because it helps to figure out the price. We can potentially find you less expensive diamond, but if the setting is custom made and you like this person's work and want to work with someone locally, then I'm not sure we can help with the price of that.
 
If you want to do custom, then also contact Steven Kirsch, Victor Canera, or Maytal Hannah for quotes . But if you are interested in a stock setting, here is one (you'd have to get the platinum price):

http://www.gabrielengaged.com/style/ER6792W83JJ
 
fcoucelo|1329406826|3127368 said:
Antoinette,

I bought my ring yesterday from Blue Nile so I am now giving my 2cent worth on Pricescope while I wait its arrival.

Forget about Tiffanys, De beers and other stores I almost bought a 0,25c H colour VVS2 because I didn`t want to buy online.

Go to Blue Nile (ask for 10% off the setting) or Whiteflash (ask for 14% off the setting and 2% off for being a pricescope member).

Buy a diamond that score more than 0.5 and less than 2 on the cut advisor:
https://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca/

You can up to H colour and VS2, it wont be worth getting something better because you won`t be able to tell the diference. Get a excelent cut diamond to get more sparkle.

I got a 0.62 with these specs yesterday from Blue Nile for 1852USD plus the setting came to 2750USD.
My Setting: http://www.bluenile.com/diamond-engagement-ring-14k-white-gold_21489?click_id=896600462

If your keen on the Tiffany Setting, just buy the diamond at blue nile and have it set at Tiffanys.

Good luck
Click to expand...
Tiffany does not set outside diamonds.
 
It would be hand cast, maybe with a slightly longer split shank to differentiate it from the Soleste, and possibly one or more surprise diamonds. I was going to leave the decision about whether to get a yellow or white stone to my SO; the price difference doesn't seem to be huge either way. At present he's only asked for a ballpark price, so I'm trying to figure out whether I can even get a Soleste-type ring within the maximum £5k ($8k) budget or whether I'll have to choose something simpler.

Addy|1329421552|3127518 said:
We can potentially find you less expensive diamond, but if the setting is custom made and you like this person's work and want to work with someone locally, then I'm not sure we can help with the price of that.
Click to expand...
I don't particularly like this person's work - haven't even seen his work except in photos. I only contacted him because he's the only custom jeweller in my nearest town, and ideally I'd want to see the stone and a wax mould of the ring before parting with any cash. But another custom jeweller would be good enough, if I could find one within a hundred miles or so. My question was whether the quote I received was standard (i.e. any jeweller would charge that much), or whether it was overpriced and therefore worth seeking a cheaper jeweller. It sounds like the quote was overpriced by about £2k ($3k).

Diamonds by Lauren made the Soleste-inspired ring I admired at the beginning of this thread. I'd love to find out a ballpark price for a beautiful ring like that - will look up the person in question and inquire :)


*** Erm, how do you message someone on this site?? I don't seem to have the option to send anyone a message!
 
start a new thread and call it 'PAGING.....(insert name), and if that particular person is around they will get back to you.


I really like the gabriel that DS posted. That would fall nicely within your budget. Diamonds by Lauren is really great. Rockdiamond is on here quite often as well. If you really like the ispiration ring, I would send them an email and get started with a quote. Getting some comparisons will really be the only way to know if your local jewlers price is high.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top