My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from this.

[MyDiamondSparkles]

I went to the jeweler to pick up a few rings I had resized, one of which was a rose cut diamond and colored stone bezel set band. I was told this would be an easy up-size, but apparently it was not. I don't know what the jeweler means when he says my ring went "blah" (the he makes a shaking motion with both hands)? He says the ring was stamped 14k and it tests to be only 10K, which caused the problem.

The rose cut colored stones are now pale (as opposed to a nice shade of the color they are supposed to be), and worse, he ordered replacement stones which are of a different cut and they look ridiculous. I'm not sure if the ring can be put back the way it was originally and the jeweler says he has no insurance to cover this loss. I need to phone my home owners policy and see what their coverage is.

The only good out of all of this is that, thankfully, the ring has no sentimental value and I hope to learn from my mistakes as not to repeat them in the future.

I know that the PS community can teach me what I need to learn from this, so here are my questions:

1. I assumed the ring would be covered by the jeweler's insurance, and truthfully, I'm not even sure what industry standard is on loss coverage such as this?

2. Is it standard practice for a jeweler to test for gold karat content before resizing? Or does the industry assume what is stamped on the ring is correct?

3. What exactly happens when trying to put 14k gold with 10k gold?

4. This ring was purchased from a vendor whom I consider to be reputable, so both the jeweler and I assumed it was 14k the way it was stamped. Should I be testing all of my purchased gold pieces for gold content, or is it safe to assume that most pieces are stamped with the actual gold content?

5. Is there a variable in 14k gold standards, such as, as long as it's over 10K then it is stamped 14k? Or what would be the reason that a 14k ring is testing as 10k?

Thanks everyone!

 

[chrono]

Re: My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from thi

What was the original sizes of the rings and the size you wanted to go up to? If the size is fractional, it should be easy enough. If the size difference is larger, prong setting is more forgivable than bezel setting. Most benches are cautious about resizing more than 1 size up/down, depending on the complexity of the ring. I have no idea what your jeweller meant by "blah" and I think it is important to ask him exactly what he meant.

I think it is against the law (in the US, at least) to stamp a 10K ring as 14K. I also don't know why a coloured stone will become paler after nothing more than being resized. Are the stones still in their setting or they are now loose? Bezel setting deepens the colour so being unset could make them look paler. If they are still bezel set, then I am stumped.

What do the rings look like now? As far as I know, all jewellers have insurance but their insurance might not cover everything (depends on the individual policies). I've had some jewellers who will replace damaged stones but most make me sign or at least acknowledge that any damages incurred will be my responsibility.

 

[MyDiamondSparkles]

Re: My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from thi

What was the original sizes of the rings and the size you wanted to go up to? If the size is fractional, it should be easy enough. If the size difference is larger, prong setting is more forgivable than bezel setting. Most benches are cautious about resizing more than 1 size up/down, depending on the complexity of the ring. I have no idea what your jeweller meant by "blah" and I think it is important to ask him exactly what he meant.

I think it is against the law (in the US, at least) to stamp a 10K ring as 14K. I also don't know why a coloured stone will become paler after nothing more than being resized. Are the stones still in their setting or they are now loose? Bezel setting deepens the colour so being unset could make them look paler. If they are still bezel set, then I am stumped.

What do the rings look like now? As far as I know, all jewellers have insurance but their insurance might not cover everything (depends on the individual policies). I've had some jewellers who will replace damaged stones but most make me sign or at least acknowledge that any damages incurred will be my responsibility.

Thank you Chrono.

The jeweler scraped the ring across the black stone twice, then put some kind of solution on it. The 10k solution leaves the scrape intact. The 14k solution makes the scrape disappear. The jeweler told me this indicates the gold is 10k, even though he indicated it is stamped 14k. I'm not an expert in such things, so I am taking his word on the karat of the gold. What this means as far as why the ring was ruined when resizing, I have no idea.

The jeweler (without asking me) ordered replacement colored stones that are not rose cuts. I have no idea what the actual cut of these new stones are, but to be quite frank, they look look like a woman's breast in shape. He said one of them into the bezel and honestly, it's just awful looking because they don't match the shape of the rose cut diamonds and protrude from the bezel, in a rather odd-looking way.

I believe the original size of the ring was a 6.25 and was resized to a 7.5. The amethyst stones, when set into their bezel, were a lovely medium-ish purple color. They are still in their bezel setting and now they appear so light I had a hard time seeing any purple at all, they are so light they almost have no color. Again, I'm not an expert but I am wondering if the heat from the resize caused the stones to loose their color?

 

[chrono]

Re: My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from thi

Ah, your jeweller did an acid test, which I would trust as accurate. Sounds like he only did this after the ring was "ruined". I take it you have seen the ring? How does it look to you? Sounds like he ordered sugarloaf cabochons? Pictures will be incredibly helpful at this point, if you have any. I'm groping in the dark based on your descriptions. Is the coloured stone ring an eternity ring? Resizing shouldn't affect the stones up at the top. Depending on the temperature, heated amethyst can either become citrine or the colour will be lightened.

 

[MyDiamondSparkles]

Re: My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from thi

Ah, your jeweller did an acid test, which I would trust as accurate. Sounds like he only did this after the ring was "ruined". I take it you have seen the ring? How does it look to you? Sounds like he ordered sugarloaf cabochons? Pictures will be incredibly helpful at this point, if you have any. I'm groping in the dark based on your descriptions. Is the coloured stone ring an eternity ring? Resizing shouldn't affect the stones up at the top. Depending on the temperature, heated amethyst can either become citrine or the colour will be lightened.

Correct, the jeweler did the acid test after the ring was ruined. I guess he trusted the 14k stamp to be accurate. I did ask another jeweler that I use if they do an acid test to determine the karat of the gold prior to resizing and they indicated they do not, they always trust the stamp.

At the moment I have no pics.

Yes, I've seen the ring and it is pretty much destroyed due to the color of the amethysts as well as the odd shape of the new ones he purchased. I think it can be fixed, but only if he uses rose cut amethysts and I've contacted a source for those, hoping they may be able to find suitable replacements.

The ring is a 5 stone with 3- 3-4mm rose cut amethyst and 2- 3-4mm rose cut diamonds. It was such a lovely ring and I feel awful now that it is wrecked. Gah!

 

[shimmer]

Re: My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from thi

I went to the jeweler to pick up a few rings I had resized, one of which was a rose cut diamond and colored stone bezel set band. I was told this would be an easy up-size, but apparently it was not. I don't know what the jeweler means when he says my ring went "blah" (the he makes a shaking motion with both hands)? He says the ring was stamped 14k and it tests to be only 10K, which caused the problem.

The rose cut colored stones are now pale (as opposed to a nice shade of the color they are supposed to be), and worse, he ordered replacement stones which are of a different cut and they look ridiculous. I'm not sure if the ring can be put back the way it was originally and the jeweler says he has no insurance to cover this loss. I need to phone my home owners policy and see what their coverage is.

The only good out of all of this is that, thankfully, the ring has no sentimental value and I hope to learn from my mistakes as not to repeat them in the future.

I know that the PS community can teach me what I need to learn from this, so here are my questions:

1. I assumed the ring would be covered by the jeweler's insurance, and truthfully, I'm not even sure what industry standard is on loss coverage such as this? The jeweller should have insurance, but likely it would just be a replacement type coverage, which it sounds like he tried to do (albeit not successfully)

2. Is it standard practice for a jeweler to test for gold karat content before resizing? Or does the industry assume what is stamped on the ring is correct? No, it is illegal to stamp metals with incorrect content so it is perfectly reasonable to assume that it is correct without testing first

3. What exactly happens when trying to put 14k gold with 10k gold? Just a guess, different melting points so he likely thought it was supposed to lower/higher than it was and that caused the gold to flow too much??

4. This ring was purchased from a vendor whom I consider to be reputable, so both the jeweler and I assumed it was 14k the way it was stamped. Should I be testing all of my purchased gold pieces for gold content, or is it safe to assume that most pieces are stamped with the actual gold content? I think it is safe to assume the stamps are correct

5. Is there a variable in 14k gold standards, such as, as long as it's over 10K then it is stamped 14k? Or what would be the reason that a 14k ring is testing as 10k? There is an extremely small variance, I don't have my books here but I would assume it would have to be within a percent or two, rather than >10% difference between 10/14K

Thanks everyone!

What were the coloured stones sold as? Did you tell the jeweller what they were?

ETA: missed that they were amethysts!

 

[chrono]

Re: My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from thi

I'm sorry that the ring doesn't look as nice as it did. It would be good to see if your source can also match the amethyst colour.

 

[MyDiamondSparkles]

Re: My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from thi

I went to the jeweler to pick up a few rings I had resized, one of which was a rose cut diamond and colored stone bezel set band. I was told this would be an easy up-size, but apparently it was not. I don't know what the jeweler means when he says my ring went "blah" (the he makes a shaking motion with both hands)? He says the ring was stamped 14k and it tests to be only 10K, which caused the problem.

The rose cut colored stones are now pale (as opposed to a nice shade of the color they are supposed to be), and worse, he ordered replacement stones which are of a different cut and they look ridiculous. I'm not sure if the ring can be put back the way it was originally and the jeweler says he has no insurance to cover this loss. I need to phone my home owners policy and see what their coverage is.

The only good out of all of this is that, thankfully, the ring has no sentimental value and I hope to learn from my mistakes as not to repeat them in the future.

I know that the PS community can teach me what I need to learn from this, so here are my questions:

1. I assumed the ring would be covered by the jeweler's insurance, and truthfully, I'm not even sure what industry standard is on loss coverage such as this? The jeweller should have insurance, but likely it would just be a replacement type coverage, which it sounds like he tried to do (albeit not successfully)

2. Is it standard practice for a jeweler to test for gold karat content before resizing? Or does the industry assume what is stamped on the ring is correct? No, it is illegal to stamp metals with incorrect content so it is perfectly reasonable to assume that it is correct without testing first

3. What exactly happens when trying to put 14k gold with 10k gold? Just a guess, different melting points so he likely thought it was supposed to lower/higher than it was and that caused the gold to flow too much??

4. This ring was purchased from a vendor whom I consider to be reputable, so both the jeweler and I assumed it was 14k the way it was stamped. Should I be testing all of my purchased gold pieces for gold content, or is it safe to assume that most pieces are stamped with the actual gold content? I think it is safe to assume the stamps are correct

5. Is there a variable in 14k gold standards, such as, as long as it's over 10K then it is stamped 14k? Or what would be the reason that a 14k ring is testing as 10k? There is an extremely small variance, I don't have my books here but I would assume it would have to be within a percent or two, rather than >10% difference between 10/14K

Thanks everyone!

What were the coloured stones sold as? Did you tell the jeweller what they were?

ETA: missed that they were amethysts!

Thank you for your reply. The colored stones were sold as amethyst. I told the jeweler that they were rose cut diamonds and rose cut amethysts.

And I think you might be spot on with the gold flowed to much--I was going to say the jeweler made a flowing kind of a movement went he said the ring went blah and moved his hands in a back and forth motion. I should have stopped him right then and there and said, I'm not sure I understand, what exactly happened? I guess I was too stunned to say much of anything.

 

[Karl_K]

Re: My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from thi

14k gold is soldered with a lower ct gold that melts at a lower temperature.
It is over(or the same as) the 10k melting point so using it on 10k caused the 10k gold to flow aka melt.
That is what he meant and the hand motion fits that.
Most jewelers will assume the stamp is correct.
The acid test is fairly accurate if done right using the right solution.

Too much heat can cause amethyst to change color.

He is right his insurance will not likely cover it
Where and when was it purchased?
The original seller technically committed fraud and ftc violations assuming it is in the US.

edited for correcting melting temp.

 

[WinkHPD]

Re: My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from thi

The law changed back around 1980 that requires gold to actually be the karat stamped into the ring. if the ring has solder, it is allowed to be 1/10th of a karat off. In the old days, you were allowed a full 1/2 karat variance if the jewelry had any soldering joints. Thus all of the 14kt gold on the market was actually 13.5 karat because when a chain maker was making millions of ounces of gold chain, being able to legally "cheat" their clients out of 1/2 kt was BIG money.

For some time after that it was common to see gold stamped as 14 KP or 18 KP with the P standing for Plum, meaning that the item was in full compliance with the new regulations. So many people thought it stood for plated that it has fallen out of fashion. (Sadly, this often included jewelers and even a few of the more moronic of appraisers who more than once identified an item of mine as 14kt plated when it was in fact Plumb. Sigh.)

Several years ago we started receiving pieces for repair from a jeweler in Singapore who was popular with some of the ladies on another forum. Every time we took a torch to it to size or what ever the rings would self destruct as the jeweler in Singapore was using a very low karat solder. After spending a couple hundred dollars a few times to rebuild the (expletive deleted) things we simply refused to accept any more items from her unless our clients signed a hold harmless agreement. Normally on being presented with such an agreement they sent the rings back to Singapore to be worked on. Thankfully, she has since apparently corrected the issue as the last few of her pieces that we worked on survived the work being done.

Financially it is not feasible for your jeweler to pay for insurance to cover damage to a ring that they are making repairs to. The cost would make a simple sizing have to sell for well over $100 which would price the bench out of the market. While not technically liable for the damage to our client's poorly made rings, I never saw the cost/benefit to telling them, "Too bad, have a nice day."

In my opinion, sometimes being a little out of pocket is the price you pay for being in business.

Wink

notes:

1. A bench that is busy may size well over 100 rings per day, they do not have time to test every ring to assure that it is properly stamped.

2. Under karating is rampant in the jewelry markets that compete on price. It is very common for raids to be held in the jewelry marts in places like LA and NY and the amount of under karated jewelry is astonishing. When people buy based only on price they are the unwitting, but rightful pray to the crooks who under karat.

3. You assumed the vendor you bought it from to be ethical, and chances are very good that he sold you that piece in good faith as he was assuming his vendors were ethical too. Sadly, he is liable for the thieving behavior of his vendors, since as a professional he is expected to be able to test and determine that what he is selling is indeed as marked. This is an area where many of us are in fact liable, as we will do a spot check from time to time, but there is no way we have the time or money to do destructive tests on our jewelry.

 

[MyDiamondSparkles]

Re: My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from thi

Thanks everyone! The ring was made by a trusted PS vendor a few years ago. If the ring turns out to be 10k I am sure this vendor will be shocked and utterly dismayed. That being said, I would prefer not to disclose the name of that vendor. The purpose of my post is to educate myself when considering an upsize of a ring. I have a new, much more valuable ring, to be resized and I am bound and determined to learn from this experience so as not to repeat it. From now on I will always request an acid test.

As for the amethyst and diamond ring: The jeweler who was to resize it is a one man operation, being the benchperson himself. I assumed he knew what he was doing, and perhaps he did, and the gold karat stamp made a mess of things. If I want it repaired I may need to ship the ring back to the vendor who originally sold it. As much as I like the ring I'm unsure I want to throw more money at it or just call it quits and lesson learned.

 

[SB621]

Re: My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from thi

Thanks everyone! The ring was made by a trusted PS vendor a few years ago. If the ring turns out to be 10k I am sure this vendor will be shocked and utterly dismayed. That being said, I would prefer not to disclose the name of that vendor. The purpose of my post is to educate myself when considering an upsize of a ring. I have a new, much more valuable ring, to be resized and I am bound and determined to learn from this experience so as not to repeat it. From now on I will always request an acid test.

As for the amethyst and diamond ring: The jeweler who was to resize it is a one man operation, being the benchperson himself. I assumed he knew what he was doing, and perhaps he did, and the gold karat stamp made a mess of things. If I want it repaired I may need to ship the ring back to the vendor who originally sold it. As much as I like the ring I'm unsure I want to throw more money at it or just call it quits and lesson learned.

MDS I would email the orginal vendor and tell them what happened and ask to see if there is anything they can do. If they are a great PS vendor I think they will give you options. Or at least I hope they will.

 

[Karl_K]

Re: My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from thi

I agree contact the original vendor and see what they say.

 

[Karl_K]

Re: My ring is destroyed and I'm hoping I can learn from thi

re: who to use on a resize?
The original vendor should always be the number one option.