Stone? Check. But how do I price the setting accurately?

[fogyreef]

Now that I have all the information necessary on pricing the stone, how do I price the ring?

Her heart is set on a set with top and side channels, two baguette side stones and two stones flanking the center stone. We''''re still shopping for the center stone, but the $4200 price for the ring alone has me jittery.

I know the B&M price is a come on, but how do I judge the value of settings and the included stones before I purchase?

Can we take the setting off site for evaluation?

 

[musey]

The problem with pricing settings is that there is a LOT of wiggle room for the vendor--they have more of a right to put a premium on their pieces by virtue of "artistry." The price of diamonds isn''t really subjective, but setting prices are.

For example, you can get the solitaire setting below on the left for $500 from Blue Nile, or the one on the right from Leon Mege for about $1500. That''s a big price difference for likely NOT a big difference in materials--however, there is a big difference in the design quality and artistry of the ring, some people notice/care, some don''t.

Anyway, moral of the story is that we need more information! Is there a brand/designer attached to the setting you''re looking at? Quality of the diamonds? Total carat weight? Etc.

 

[fogyreef]

It''s a Scott Kay, similar to this design, but with baguettes and a triple set on either side of the center stone:

http://www.scottkay.com/bridal/products.aspx?categoryid=92&productId=1556&page=1&view=1

.41 for the ring.

Being new to all this, we can go all out on the center stone, but how do I know I''m not buying brown setting stones?

Say the $4200 "price" is the standard asking price for this Scott Kay and there is little question of the quality of the included stones. Any guess what the markup is for an independent mall B&M?

 

[musey]

Scott Kay is a pretty high-end line. $4200 doesn''t sound out of line for that brand and ctw. I''m pretty sure that this is the same ring, but with higher carat weight, and it''s selling for $5140.

As for being sure you''re not buying brown setting stones... I''m not quite sure what you mean by that. Do you mean the stones in your setting being literally brown in color? The jeweler should provide you ahead of time with the spec. range of the sidestones. If they misrepresent it to you (tell you the stones will be white in color, and then they are not) then you should be able to expect a refund. I highly doubt that would happen with a Scott Kay dealer, though...

Anyway, the Scott Kay website has links to other B&Ms that carry their line. If you don''t feel comfortable with the store you''ve been at already (it sounds like you''re suspicious of them trying to rip you off?), you could try another of their authorized dealers.

 

[mrssalvo]

Pearlmans carries scott kay and lists their prices so you can compare there. Also check www.solomonbrothers.com. they carry the line too. Both vendors seem to be very competitive with designer pricing so you''ll get a good ballpark figure to compare with.

 

[oldminer]

You can find mountings which are all metal, without diamonds, for a couple hundred bucks and up. It all depends on the amount of metal, the fineness (purity-karat) of the metal, whether it is platinum, palladium or gold. The price also must be adjusted for the workmanship factor and one must consider the very high cost to the creation of a Brand name product, too.

MWM has become a Brand by virtue of quality, not by mass production and advertising. Many, or most, other Brands are well made, in varying degrees of quality, but substantial money has been spent to advertise and market them. This has to be recouped and the consumer does pay for it. You can shop the price, but finding a large discount on a branded item may prove more difficult than finding a non-branded item of similar design. What you don''t know, is if the quality is up to par.

Once diamonds come into the picture, you have to search for what these small diamonds would cost alone and then figure out how much they''d add to a purely metal mounting. There are setting costs to put the stones into the ring that can run from a few dollars into the hundreds. You can''t forget the added cost to put diamonds into a ring because setting work is costly labor when it is done in the USA. Mountings made overseas, in bulk, where the small diamonds are cast in place, cost much less to produce. These are not custom settings, but can look pretty good. It depends on your taste and sense of design,

A $4,200 mounting cost is a lot to spend on the sizzle. I personally would prefer the main course, the center diamond, to be larger or better than spend so much on mounting. To each their own, I suppose. I have found that simplicity of design leads to more long term satisfaction than a busy design. We see people all the time who are losing tiny diamonds from their daily wear rings and they are not at all happy about the added maintenance costs. Simple designs don''t come in and out of fashion so rapidly, either. Purity of design has a deep effect on human preception. More may be good initially, but it is not necessarily better on something that will be used daily and over many years.

 

[Paul Cannon]

hi there
im new here
i think i can give you a bit of advice
hand made work in platinum can get up there in those sort of price ranges
i wouldnt pay that for anything that wasnt hand fabricated in plat
depends on the weight though.
basically a retailer in NZ and Aus chargers anywhere from 100$to 200$ per hour
for labour on a handmade ring
i can make a 3 stone wire back by hand in platinum in about 7 to 13 hours so labour cost retail could be between 700 to 2k
a plat 3 stone could weigh in excess of 10 grams so thats probably going to be around 2 K retail

so for a handfabricated(cold forged by hand) platinum mount of reasonable complexity could easily be worth that
an honest manufacturer would be approximately 1/3 cheaper

something simple like the solitaire pictured above i could make by hand and set in a couple of hours

a casting or a mount hand fabricated in 18ct gold would be worth far less
for example i would make a hand fabricated 3 stone ring in 18ct for around 1600$nz

its okay to pay for label/name brand
but make sure its hand fabricated if you are paying premium prices
some of the label stuff can be very poor quality or mass produced
like low end tiffanys etc

 

[Paul Cannon]

oh i just saw the link
is would seem to me that the ring is way over priced
its not platinum and appears to me a mass produced casting
the only labour is in the cleanup and setting

i guess the diamonds are worth a bit depending on there quality
if they are commercial white id give the mount around 2600 (wild guess cuz i dont know the carat)
but the ring alone maybe around 600$ would be fair