Help - Problem with H Stern Diamond Ring

[Lima Bean74]

Hi! I''m new and I''m not sure if this is the correct forum thread to post in but I''d be grateful if anyone could help.

We purchased a white gold alloy diamond ring from H Stern 5months ago. The white gold had a matt finish and they advised they could convert to a polished finish and they did producing a lovely shiny sparkly ring, but then the problems set in....

First the gold quickly started to yellow, then a diamond fell out - it is a double band with 32 small diamonds in the band and one large diamond in the centre, then the gold started to show tiny perfectly circular holes that were best viewed with a magnifier.

In the end they agreed to replace the piece with a new ring which I went to collect today. I notice this ring also has the tiny holes in the gold and I was told that all gold has this problem (though none of my current jewellery does) and she explained that when they set the gold there are tiny bubbles that pop and leave these holes. To be fair that is exactly what the holes look like but I wonder if this IS normal and if anyone else has noticed this? I worry whether it shows a weakness in the gold and am not sure whether to accept the ring.

Sorry I can''t attach a photo, but I hope someone can understand my ramblings and help

Thank you

 

[WinkHPD]

Date: 8/3/2009 8:17:27 PM
Author:Lima Bean74
Hi! I''m new and I''m not sure if this is the correct forum thread to post in but I''d be grateful if anyone could help.

We purchased a white gold alloy diamond ring from H Stern 5months ago. The white gold had a matt finish and they advised they could convert to a polished finish and they did producing a lovely shiny sparkly ring, but then the problems set in....

First the gold quickly started to yellow, then a diamond fell out - it is a double band with 32 small diamonds in the band and one large diamond in the centre, then the gold started to show tiny perfectly circular holes that were best viewed with a magnifier.

In the end they agreed to replace the piece with a new ring which I went to collect today. I notice this ring also has the tiny holes in the gold and I was told that all gold has this problem (though none of my current jewellery does) and she explained that when they set the gold there are tiny bubbles that pop and leave these holes. To be fair that is exactly what the holes look like but I wonder if this IS normal and if anyone else has noticed this? I worry whether it shows a weakness in the gold and am not sure whether to accept the ring.

Sorry I can''t attach a photo, but I hope someone can understand my ramblings and help

Thank you

It is called porosity and it is created in a variety of ways. Your gold can be cast too hot so that it is actually boiling when cast which really makes a mess of things. You can have a lot of problems also when using old gold if at least 50% of the gold in the cast is not new. (This is one reason why so many of us will not use your old gold, but rather give you credit for it and have it sent to a refiner to be refined and alloyed again so that it is new when we finally use it. Or we may actually just sell it to the refiner, depending on our needs.)

It is a constant problem and if it is so obvious that you are seeing it with the eye and you are seeing a lot of it rather than an isolated bubble here or there, then you need to do exactly what you are doing and complain! When your gold is worked properly, there should be very few, if any, porosity holes.

I am not a bench man or a metalurgist, perhaps one of them can explain it better than I have. I just know it is not something that all gold has, at least not in large numbers.

Wink

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Personally, I get the feeling that H Stern''s quality control has been slipping lately. I won''t even mention the buyer for coloured stones (honestly, I wouldn''t buy most of their coloured stones, except some very high end pieces with conventional stones such as sapphires and rubies). They do have good design, though. Their star pendant is gorgeous (the darker alloy and cognac diamonds - yum!).

Porosity is not normal. The salesperson is pretty well informed to identify the problem but her explanation that it is normal and acceptable is way off.

As for the yellow, I believe that H Stern doesn''t always rhodium plate their white gold. I know my ring was never rhodium plated, and this was one of the reasons I got it.

 

[litebrite]

They should definitely settle this. I have a really cheap channel set half eternity diamond ring that is smooth and polished, and none of my gold has that problem.

I am kinda surprised because before I know more about jewelry and before I was heavily into pricescope, I really admired the H Stern stuff but thought it incredibly marked up but chalked it up to fine worksmanship. Guess I was wrong.

Let us know how it goes and good luck resolving the issue!

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

If you feel you need some support you might consider finding an appraiser near by - the ones listed under resources in the upprer right tool bar are known to be good.