Low cost stones in high cost settings (POLL)

[Acinom]

Thanks Acinom! I think I'll ask my local jeweller to set my Gene Rhodolite but I'm planning on having the topaz set by Jeff Davies!

Ah, what a great idea. I've heard great things about his jewelry (from a stone vendor who had his own jewelry set by JD) but I have not seen his work. Does he have an online gallery?

 

[Siameseroo]

Thanks Acinom! I think I'll ask my local jeweller to set my Gene Rhodolite but I'm planning on having the topaz set by Jeff Davies!

Ah, what a great idea. I've heard great things about his jewelry (from a stone vendor who had his own jewelry set by JD) but I have not seen his work. Does he have an online gallery?

I don't think that he has an online gallery but here is a pic he posted on fb recently. Also another PSer posted a couple of her JD rings a few months ago - I can't remember who but here is one of her pics - the JD ring is the bottom left! I have a feeling one of the other ring may also be JD but I can't remember which!

He uses good quality settings in 18ct gold and can also custom make jewellery.

 

[Acinom]

The quality looks great and these settings are really beautiful!
So your stone is flying to Thailand!

 

[Siameseroo]

Haha yep by the time the stone is set and on my finger it would have flown from Thailand to Hong Kong to Australia to Thailand and back to Australia! What a jet setter!

 

[shulaibaoma]

ricezo, I look forward to seeing your new rings. The stones themselves are already very stunning.

 

[shulaibaoma]

Speaking of the cost of setting, I think it all depends I will have simple setting for large stones and halo setting with some design for the smaller stones.

 

[T L]

I recently went on a small setting buying spree from a jeweler who was retiring. The settings were all 18K with decent weight (3-5 grams) and diamond melee. At $200-$300 a piece with free sizing, it was hard to resist. My rationale was that I could sell what I decide not to use (actually, my bench jeweler has already offered).

Now, I just need to buy stones in calibrated sizes (Although I have a good bench jeweler who has made some things work for me at reasonable prices n the past).

You can also buy rings with stones already in them online. Usually there will be some cheap stone in there, like poor quality quartz or some synthetic, or highly treated gem, and you can switch out the stone. You don't always have to look for empty settings, although the jeweler may have to build up the prongs for you. The Chinese ebay sellers are really getting expensive these days. I can't believe one quoted me $255 for a silver mounting with no diamonds. It looked like a thin weight 2 gram ring too!! I told him he was too expensive. I just needed a certain non-calibrated size pear shaped head, and the cost of materials would be $2, if that.

I recently found a beautiful thick heavy silver setting online that had an ugly dyed piece of jade in it. I chucked out the jade and put another cabochon in it. If I had to make that setting from scratch, it would cost hundreds of dollars, but this ring was on clearance, and was a steal. If you have a good jeweler, they can sometimes work magic when it comes to setting a stone. I had a 25 carat gem that I needed set, so you can imagine how costly that would have been if I did it in gold! I let my jeweler keep the ugly jade piece in there as I wasn't going to use it.

 

[minousbijoux]

Haha yep by the time the stone is set and on my finger it would have flown from Thailand to Hong Kong to Australia to Thailand and back to Australia! What a jet setter!

I have said more than once that sometimes it feels that the stones get around and have more fun than we do!

 

[Arcadian]

I'm apart of this institution I freely admitted that I set a stone that cost me 5 dollars in 14K gold. I try to find a stone/setting ratio that fits my overall budget, so it can lean any way that it needs to.

 

[T L]

I'm apart of this institution I freely admitted that I set a stone that cost me 5 dollars in 14K gold. I try to find a stone/setting ratio that fits my overall budget, so it can lean any way that it needs to.

I've seen $20 stones in settings worth thousands and thousands of dollars. Hey whatever floats your boat!

 

[marymm]

In my own CS experience, I've found that, more than a few times, the (low) cost of a stone did not correlate to what I perceived to be its (above average) quality ... and, again, more than a few times, I've found the (higher) cost of a stone did not correlate to what I perceived to be its (average or below-average) quality.

So, for me, the cost of a setting is related much more to my perception of the quality of the colored gemstone and really has very little to do with what I may have paid for it. As it happens, the most expensive CS setting I paid for was for a gemstone I received as a gift.

Fortunately for my pocketbook, generally speaking, my own preference is for plain solitaires with perhaps some metal finish (hammered/satin/matte/oxidized) and I very seldom pop for diamond melee.

 

[colorluvr]

Thanks Acinom! I think I'll ask my local jeweller to set my Gene Rhodolite but I'm planning on having the topaz set by Jeff Davies!

Ah, what a great idea. I've heard great things about his jewelry (from a stone vendor who had his own jewelry set by JD) but I have not seen his work. Does he have an online gallery?

I don't think that he has an online gallery but here is a pic he posted on fb recently. Also another PSer posted a couple of her JD rings a few months ago - I can't remember who but here is one of her pics - the JD ring is the bottom left! I have a feeling one of the other ring may also be JD but I can't remember which!

He uses good quality settings in 18ct gold and can also custom make jewellery.

The hand with the four rings is mine, but only one of the rings is from Jeff Davies. I bought the stone from him and had him make the setting for me (blue zircon - lower left corner). The other rings (in clockwise order) are a preloved ring that I bought from a PSer, sapphire solitaire is recently re-set with head done by Hunt Country with a shank that I already had and the tanzanite is a custom ring from PrimaGemsUSA.

I do have a sphene pendant that I got from Jeff Davies that he set for me. Here is a photo of the pendant (Jeff's photo and then mine) and a better one of the zircon ring.

 

[athenaworth]

I learned the costly lesson early on that it doesn't matter what price the center stone is, if I don't like the setting, I won't wear it. Of the remaining colored stone rings I still own, all of them have much higher settings compared to the stones, and it's perfect because I wear them all of the time.

 

[Siameseroo]

Thanks Colorluvr! I'm glad that you chimed in. I really love your zircon ring, it was my inspiration for asking Jeff to set the topaz!

 

[LuckyKelleyK]

my ERD halo was about 2x the price of my sapphire- but I got a pretty great deal on my sapphire!

 

[ElleK]

I could go either way. I don't think that the cost of the stone or a setting really matters, since it's determined by a third party and doesn't really reflect how much you may value a stone or a setting. I've happily spent very small amounts on a stone and large amounts on a setting as well as spending very small amounts on a setting and large amounts on a stone. I figure that you have to be happy with the overall product and be ok with what you spent on the entire project.

 

[minousbijoux]

I learned the costly lesson early on that it doesn't matter what price the center stone is, if I don't like the setting, I won't wear it.

I couldn't agree more. Taking it one step further, I have to love the setting and the stone and the combination of the two.

 

[T L]

This is a two carat green diamond in a $100 10K rose gold setting. I get compliments on it all the time. The metal is hard at 10K, and there are 8 prongs holding it in. I really love it, and it makes the stone the star attraction. Sometimes a setting can be so over the top that it can take away from a stone too. Some people might gasp in horror that I would put a diamond in such a cheap setting, but I think it works. The stone was more than 10x the cost of the setting in this case.

 

[Acinom]

This is a two carat green diamond in a $100 10K rose gold setting. I get compliments on it all the time. The metal is hard at 10K, and there are 8 prongs holding it in. I really love it, and it makes the stone the star attraction. Sometimes a setting can be so over the top that it can take away from a stone too. Some people might gasp in horror that I would put a diamond in such a cheap setting, but I think it works. The stone was more than 10x the cost of the setting in this case.

I love this ring!!! What a beauty TL
Another example that shows that a setting does not have to be expensive to look 'rich'.

I second the view that a ring is about the complete package. At least for me it is!

 

[lilmosun]

TL - that is a killer setting.

I often use inexpensive settings to decide if a stone is something I will wear often. This especially happens when its a color that is off my "norm" - I'll set the stone in an inexpensive setting and wear it. I've actually fallen in love with a few stones that way. When I visit my bench jeweler, I will often go through his scrap metal jar to see what might be re-purposed.

(Actually, most of my settings are relatively inexpensive unless they came with the stone. My theory being I'd rather spend on the stone than the setting - for me, the best stones stand on their own. However, since so many of the rings I drool over on PS have nicer settings perhaps I should revise my thinking given I'm not as savvy as mochiko, TL and others).

 

[Acinom]

My Victor Canera cushion Emilya with Electric Blue Topaz is on my finger!
Dk168 reminded me that my ring belongs in this thread
Very affordable precision cut blue Topaz by Doug Menadue in a haute couture platinum setting by Victor Canera.
I love the result and super happy I have chosen this setting for Doug's beautiful Topaz.

More pics in my SMTB thread: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/victor-canera-goes-electric-and-blue.222147/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/victor-canera-goes-electric-and-blue.222147/[/URL]

 

[chrono]

I have to love both the stone and setting, which is why it takes an agonizingly long time for me to decide on the right design for the stone. I also noticed that the resale value of any setting is a fraction of the original price regardless of the bench and brand, so I keep the cost of the setting vs stone in mind at all times when deciding on how much to spend on the setting.

 

[OTL]

I've done both. To me it depends on whether I love the stone or just like the stone. Also I'll picture how long I will wear this ring. Very often? Or just a couple times for fun? For many years? Or I'll probably get bored in a year.

 

[lovedogs]

I've done both as well, and think it just depends on the stone and setting (plus how often I think I'll wear it). Also everything is relative (example, my setting by AK was a bit over 5x as much as my sunstone iolite, but my iolite was only $150 or so). So although the AK setting was *relatively* inexpensive as far as handmade unique settings go, it was still much more pricey than the stone itself. Just my 2 cents

 

[Niel]

Well I just dropped a fair amount on a setting for my topaz. It's my own fault for loving gold and having such a unique shape

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

So many great responses on this thread. I love TL's diamond in it's 10k gold setting. It looks beautiful. Then I see Acimon's blue topaz in it's amazing designer diamond setting and I am equally in love. I think we have some very savvy colored stone lovers on this forum who have a knack for picking the right setting (regardless of cost) for the right stone. Personally- I just go by how much I love the stone, and how much expendable income I have at the moment since I don't put my stones or settings on credit.

 

[arkieb1]

I do this all the time, think to myself I am nuts and then do it all over again..... I have a "thing" for high end settings as much as the stones themselves, so much so I have ripped stones out of high end settings and set different things in them a number of times until I was happy. I think when you have a slightly OCD personality like I do, I need to have decent stones and decent settings or, like some of the others PSers, I won't wear the item....

Our dollar being really blah at the moment has slowed my projects, but I still have a number of things that really need setting On the flip side of that it's difficult to justify spending thousands on a setting for a stone that only cost a few dollars unless I love the stone.

 

[Cozystitches]

I'm so glad you posted this! I have been looking for gems and have found several that are reasonable (for me) but then the settings I like are 2x or more than the stone! I'm still looking at various ring combos, but it's good to know that others put stones into settings that are higher priced.

 

[diamondringlover]

I set my only colored stone in a Daniel M. silver setting, with a 14K rose gold head (see avatar), its a pink tourmaline cut by Barry I love the stone, however I find I don't wear it hardly ever and I think it's the setting holds me back...I am thinking of a reset, a simple one of maybe 10K or 14K white gold...I love all the rings in this thread..I would love to do a halo on the stone..but that is not cost effective for me right now.

 

[LtypeI]

TL, I have that setting as well! Gotta love Hugo Kohl, his pieces are so gorgeous.

Re: setting v/s stone cost, a consideration for me is whether I consider the stone to be a "forever" stone. If it's soft, likely to get scratched etc over time, I might not put as much money into the setting. Whereas if the stone is durable, I'll invest more in the setting.

That being said, I'm currently working on having a very pale pink spinel recut (it was a terribly cut elongated cushion, looks like we'll end up at just over 7mm to get it to look great) and set. The stone was pretty inexpensive, and recutting isn't too terribly costly either, but the setting I fell in love with is gold with diamond melee and will end up costing more than the stone. But the spinel's color is kind of unusual and I really love it (especially once the recut gets some more sparkle out of it), so it's worth it to me.