Hi all,
I'm a noob to this so please be gentle
I inherited my grandmother's diamond and want to use this in my new ring. We're on a bit of a budget at the moment so I have been eyeing palladium rings, as I like the look of platinum and don't like the idea of frequent rhodium plating for a white gold so much. However, I have read here and elsewhere that if you buy palladium you should find a jeweler who is experienced working with palladium. Using google to try to find a local jeweler who works with palladium hasn't really yielded much. There are plenty of local jewelers but none go out of their way to say "Yes! We work with palladium a lot!" It just doesn't seem popular enough yet for it to be an advertising point.
So my first question is: does anyone have any recommendations for a jeweler who can work with palladium in the DFW metroplex or surrounding areas (I know this is a longshot).
My next question is a little more generic: how hard *is* it to work with palladium - since it is a platinum group metal I should think the properties are somewhat similar though clearly the density is much lower. If I can't find a palladium jeweler is it too risky to buy a palladium setting and take it to a platinum-friendly jeweler, should I stick with white gold instead?
Next question is about buying settings. I know from here and other research that buying a diamond from a 'mall store' is a big no-no, but luckily since I have my diamond already that's not really an issue. I have found several settings that I like online, but most of them come from the WR Cobb diamond configurator, which can be found on many websites including those from several mall stores. Since my diamond is a marquise there seem to be a lot fewer settings for this shape than others as it is unfortunately rather out of vogue at the moment, and for whatever reason my best options seem to come from here. I can find very little online in terms of research about the quality of the WR Cobb settings, they have a ton of them and they offer all of them in white gold, yellow gold, platinum and palladium. The stores that use this configurator generally allow you to order just the setting, I am assuming they're just passing the order straight through to WR Cobb anyway. I can't really tell the quality from the pictures, just the look & feel which I like. Does anyone know if these settings are of decent to good quality?
Now back to a more specific question: My diamond is 1 carat but cut a bit shallow so it actually appears quite a bit larger than it is. If I were to order a setting online, would I need to order the setting in the 1-1.5c size instead of the 0.5-1c. size to accommodate a larger head? Or should I just take my current ring into a jeweler and have them tell me what size to get? (I am trying to avoid extra markup on the setting if possible, since as I mentioned I'm on a bit of a budget, but I don't want to offend my potential jeweler by going to visit them to ask these kinds of questions, then going elsewhere for a setting, and then showing up to have them set it -- I would rather arrive with the setting already and 'play dumb'.)
Last generic question: what is a reasonable price to pay to have a diamond removed from an existing setting and set in a new one, assuming you did not buy the setting from that jeweler? Conversely, if I were to buy the setting from the same jeweler, should they charge me an extra price to do this or should it be included?
I am stressing way too much about all this. Thank you all for your kind attention
I'm a noob to this so please be gentle
I inherited my grandmother's diamond and want to use this in my new ring. We're on a bit of a budget at the moment so I have been eyeing palladium rings, as I like the look of platinum and don't like the idea of frequent rhodium plating for a white gold so much. However, I have read here and elsewhere that if you buy palladium you should find a jeweler who is experienced working with palladium. Using google to try to find a local jeweler who works with palladium hasn't really yielded much. There are plenty of local jewelers but none go out of their way to say "Yes! We work with palladium a lot!" It just doesn't seem popular enough yet for it to be an advertising point.
So my first question is: does anyone have any recommendations for a jeweler who can work with palladium in the DFW metroplex or surrounding areas (I know this is a longshot).
My next question is a little more generic: how hard *is* it to work with palladium - since it is a platinum group metal I should think the properties are somewhat similar though clearly the density is much lower. If I can't find a palladium jeweler is it too risky to buy a palladium setting and take it to a platinum-friendly jeweler, should I stick with white gold instead?
Next question is about buying settings. I know from here and other research that buying a diamond from a 'mall store' is a big no-no, but luckily since I have my diamond already that's not really an issue. I have found several settings that I like online, but most of them come from the WR Cobb diamond configurator, which can be found on many websites including those from several mall stores. Since my diamond is a marquise there seem to be a lot fewer settings for this shape than others as it is unfortunately rather out of vogue at the moment, and for whatever reason my best options seem to come from here. I can find very little online in terms of research about the quality of the WR Cobb settings, they have a ton of them and they offer all of them in white gold, yellow gold, platinum and palladium. The stores that use this configurator generally allow you to order just the setting, I am assuming they're just passing the order straight through to WR Cobb anyway. I can't really tell the quality from the pictures, just the look & feel which I like. Does anyone know if these settings are of decent to good quality?
Now back to a more specific question: My diamond is 1 carat but cut a bit shallow so it actually appears quite a bit larger than it is. If I were to order a setting online, would I need to order the setting in the 1-1.5c size instead of the 0.5-1c. size to accommodate a larger head? Or should I just take my current ring into a jeweler and have them tell me what size to get? (I am trying to avoid extra markup on the setting if possible, since as I mentioned I'm on a bit of a budget, but I don't want to offend my potential jeweler by going to visit them to ask these kinds of questions, then going elsewhere for a setting, and then showing up to have them set it -- I would rather arrive with the setting already and 'play dumb'.)
Last generic question: what is a reasonable price to pay to have a diamond removed from an existing setting and set in a new one, assuming you did not buy the setting from that jeweler? Conversely, if I were to buy the setting from the same jeweler, should they charge me an extra price to do this or should it be included?
I am stressing way too much about all this. Thank you all for your kind attention
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