help 18K gold

[juan]

Hello All,
What a cool forum you have here. You all seem informed and trust-worthy. I know that my topic is not about diamonds but I was wondering if you can help me. I have a diamond and am going to get the engagement ring setting made for her because she wants a very wide ring in a style that i have not been able to find. The jeweller is willing to melt down old jewellery to make the ring. So my question is about where I can buy 18K gold for a good price while having the confidence that it truly is 18K gold. Would ebay be an option?

clueless

 

[valeria101]

The jeweler should buy his materials, this is not your role... If he accepts old pieces for scrap, he will not just melt them down, but rather calculate the gold content and discount some of the cost of the new piece. Mixing alloys is not something most jewelers delight in.

Buying bullion!!! The central banks sometimes sell this - or whatever institution (the mint?) makes money and medals instead. At least the content of those pieces is crystal clear. Why bother, though?

 

[Griffin]

I agree. Reusing old jewelry is a disaster waiting to happen. Bad things occur when you do this, including porosity. Stay away from this!

Buying fresh casting grain just isn't that expensive. At most it is about $30-40 per ounce over the spot price of gold, and he will be using a lot less than an ounce. It isn't worth the trouble. Gold is gold no matter what form it takes, and it is a commodity, unlike diamonds. There is no "discount" gold. You will pay about the same either way.

 

[luvmysparklies]

Can you describe the style to us? Maybe we know somewhere you could try for the setting.

 

[juan]

Thanks for your advice. I will let the jeweller provide the gold. The reason I was considering providing him the gold is that I am living in south america and the jeweller said that the gold would be more expensive than in the US because of the vat and luxury tax. Quality is the priority though. Don't think that it would be smart skimp when the end product is worth thousands.
The ring that she wants is for the stone to be bezel set in platinum so that the bottom of the stone is covered, kind of like a basket. the stone is a round and one carat with a diameter of about 6.5. She wants the band to be three rounded (not squarish)rings of gold so that they look like stacking rings and for the rings to be about 3.5 mm each. The platinum on the bottom of the diamond is to be attached only to the two outter rings. This is so that that the middle one can be worn alone as the wedding band.
As I said what she wants is very different. The reason that she wants it like this is because she feels that wedding bands look off balance when worn with e-rings. Says that she always feels like there is something missing or out of place.
Well there you have it. If you know of anything similar to this please let me know because I am nervous about getting it made and then it is not what she wants and i haven't found any pictures that fit the description. She is complicated but i love her and want to make her happy.

So-in-love

 

[luvmysparklies]

Hey Juan,

I have seen the type of ring you are talking about. Why don't you e-mail this person for starters and describe to him you want (18K gold) and the rest of your specs. This guy makes his own stuff and has been in the biz for quite sometime.

Here is the link with a ring that is sort of like you are describing:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2689187651&category=43212

I just can't remember where else I saw this style just now. Hope this can help you.

I have read where others have had a positive experience with him.