Resetting vs. Resize/Polish

[tpierpont]

I never gave my lovely wife an engagement ring.

Good friends of mine recently divorced and gave me a lovely blazing round solitaire (just under 1 carat) in a tiffany-style knife-edge six-prong platinum (90 PLAT 10 IRID) setting that I really like and is size 5. My wife is size 7. They also gave me the band.

1. Is it likely that the existing setting can be resized and made to look new, or is it a foregone conclusion that I need to buy new if I want my wife to enjoy the experience of owning something new?

2. If I''m to buy new, is the old setting worth much? The band? How am I to approach this so I get a fair deal and should it be with the same person I ask to do the resetting work?

In general, I''m way out of my comfort zone with jewlers probably because I''ve paid too much attention to horror stories (annecdotal & on TV). I guess I just assume jewlers have so much overhead they''re only interested in selling their stock at huge markup! Something I need to get over, I know. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. -Ted

 

[ccuheartnurse]

Nice gesture by your friends. Some would feel uncomfortable with a diamond coming from a divorce attributing bad vibes to the stone. I think its great you're in this position, many are not. What you should do is get rid of that knife edge setting & get a new one for your wife, perhaps shopping together for it. She may have a setting of her dreams in mind but just never said anything to you. I think the old setting is about $400 (roughly) new but not worth much old. She can always put in a coloured gemstone in the old setting if she wants to keep it.

Judy