Jewellery makers - Urgent Professional advice needed on ER

[2flawless]

Hello Everyone

I am new here and need some urgent advice.

Please can you tell me if this is a cast or handmade piece?

Is it possible to tell from the photos?

It had seemed to be made to the progress images below within a maximum of a day and a half. It also seemed to be already hallmarked - which I thought took a day or two to process.

I am unsure of the amount of time actually spent on the ring construction though. It was a guess based upon my follow up phone call and actual store visit being a day and a half.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

 

[new-beginning]

Re: Jewellery makers - Urgent Professional advice needed on

I am guessing cast

 

[denverappraiser]

Re: Jewellery makers - Urgent Professional advice needed on

At the very least it's assembled from two parts although those parts may have been cast.

Hallmarking takes a matter of minutes.

I'm curious why this is an 'urgent' problem and why the number of man hours involved so far in this unfinished piece matters.

 

[MollyMalone]

Re: Jewellery makers - Urgent Professional advice needed on

I think 2flawless is in the UK, where it's unlawful for the jewelers themselves to mark their wares; hallmarking is entrusted to an independent Assay Office. Quick overview here:
http://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/welcome-to-the-assay-office/hallmarking-services/all-about-hallmarking/

 

[2flawless]

Re: Jewellery makers - Urgent Professional advice needed on

Thank you.

Yes I am in the UK.

If this is the case I believe something doesn't sound quite right here. Hallmarking by the local office should have 5 stamps in London as the norm.

The time span of the construction and hallmarking doesn't sound right.

Ultimately I think I have been misled.

Do I have any cause for action here considering I have paid a deposit.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: Jewellery makers - Urgent Professional advice needed on

Handmade is very different from handforged. Cast pieces can be put together by hand and hand finished. I venture to say that very few solitaire settings in the world are completely handforged. Unless you have wording on your receipt that says 100% handforged, no cast pieces, I don't think you will have an argument on just the handmade issue. As far as the marks go, I know nothing about that part.

 

[marymm]

Re: Jewellery makers - Urgent Professional advice needed on

Is it possible the stamp could be the jeweler's mark rather than the assay/gold stamps?

 

[MollyMalone]

Re: Jewellery makers - Urgent Professional advice needed on

In the UK, it's the independent Assay Offices that are to apply all marks, including the maker's mark; see the summary I linked above.

 

[mrs-b]

Re: Jewellery makers - Urgent Professional advice needed on

2flawless, I'm of no help on this issue, but I just wanted to say - I think that's a lovely solitaire with beautiful proportions and lines.

Good luck!

 

[2flawless]

Re: Jewellery makers - Urgent Professional advice needed on

I had specifically requested for a fully hand made piece and was assured that each component would be hand made and not cast because of the implications mentioned by the retailer with regard to porosity and metal strength.

The retailer had also mentioned before I had commissioned it that the hallmarking would be lasered. I am obviously not an expert but the non uniform way that the 3 elements of the hallmarking are shown in person look visibly stamped. To that end, after questioning why it had been hallmarked already (in the unlikely time frame) I was told that it had been half hallmarked and would need to be brought back for full hallmarking. It was also so that the workshop know that they are using the right metal - being platinum and not white gold!!! Surely that's absurd!?

Having contacted the assay office it is either stamped fully or not at all, therefore 5 stamps and not 3.

I ought to mention that there were two rings in store, to the retailers admission one was definitely cast. What I wanted was almost a hybrid of the two but with the overall inspiration and proportions to that of a boutique brand design we viewed on screen.

I hope I have clarified the main points of the situation.

 

[MollyMalone]

Re: Jewellery makers - Urgent Professional advice needed on

I imagine it depends on the Assay Office, but the one I linked above will do the "compulsory" hallmark (what's mandated by the UK Hallmarking Act of 1973) on a rush basis in as little time as 1 hour -- and the compulsory hallmark is just 3 elements: maker's/sponsor's mark, the metal purity mark re parts per thousand, and the Assay Office's mark. The other 2 marks, although "standard", are not required by the Act:
http://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/welcome-to-the-assay-office/hallmarking-services/our-hallmarking-services/available-hallmarks-/

Still, it does seem implausible that (taking their explanation at face value) they weren't confident what metal they had used until they took the mostly finished ring, as I understand it, to the Assay Office. You can't intermingle platinum bench work with gold bench work.

 

[2flawless]

Re: Jewellery makers - Urgent Professional advice needed on

Can someone post images of a non cast ring for reference?