Stone vs Setting Budget Ratio

[lujews]

Not sure if i am posting this in correct category...

Thought this would be a good topic to discuss.
What is your preferred budget ratio when it comes to the ring? Do you spend more money on the stone or setting and why?

 

[movie zombie]

stone.
its the star of the whole project.

 

[lujews]

would be great to know the actual ratios.
I am working on m e-ring and initially i thought i would have 2/3 on stone and 1/3 on setting. Now my ratio is shifting towards the setting

 

[peacechick]

I think the ratio would depend on your preference. I am a setting kind of person. I like all my rings to be interesting. I love antique designs, and floral motifs, and all that jazz. Unfortunately, that means I don't generally care for solitaires or simple bezels, unless the gem is big and spectacular and deserves to be showcased alone. I really wish I did because then custom made rings would be more within reach

 

[SB621]

Totally depends on your preference. Also what type of piece it is. Many people on the CS forum have well at least a dozen CS pieces. Becasue they buy more colored stones then tend to spend less on settings- once again this is a generalization. However, some perfer to spend more of settings and have them by heirloom pieces to hand down- or perhaps they just have champagne taste. Regardless they tend to buy less CS's as their budgets go more towards settings. There is no science for a ratio. Also it will depend on the person, their salary, what they like to spend on luxury items for themselves, price of gold etc.

I do know that since gold has gone up in the last 3-4 years you see many less ppl setting stones and instead are either buying pre-loved settings or are doing silver instead. All of this factor into expensese. Once again you can't put a ratio on it.

 

[distracts]

I don't have a preferred ratio... I spend what I want to get the stone I want, and then I spend what I want to get the setting for it. I have some rings where the setting is more expensive than the stone, and some where the stone is more expensive than the setting. Just whatever works for the look I'm going for. My rule is to create a piece I will continue to wear and love. If I compromise on what I want and end up not liking it as much, then spending the money was kind of a waste, wasn't it? I look at the ring as a whole piece, rather than that one aspect or the other is the star.

For my engagement ring, the center stone was 1/4 of the cost. But it's a three-stone and each of the diamond sidestones was roughly the same price as the center stone, and then the setting was that price again.

 

[marymm]

I don't have a preferred ratio... I spend what I want to get the stone I want, and then I spend what I want to get the setting for it. I have some rings where the setting is more expensive than the stone, and some where the stone is more expensive than the setting. Just whatever works for the look I'm going for. My rule is to create a piece I will continue to wear and love. If I compromise on what I want and end up not liking it as much, then spending the money was kind of a waste, wasn't it? I look at the ring as a whole piece, rather than that one aspect or the other is the star.

This is my approach as well.

 

[JewelFreak]

Same as Distracts. The setting for the spinel in my avatar cost about the same as the stone. I have a tourmaline ring where I spent about 3X the cost of the stone on the setting, but I am mad about the tourm & wanted a ring that gave me smiles to wear. To me a piece of jewelry is art (or as close to it as I can afford). A gem I love enough to keep deserves to be shown as well as I can manage to do it.

It does depend on the price of gold, accent stones, etc., but if I can't afford to do it right, I wait. Doesn't mean breaking the bank, but if I had to look at a beautiful stone in a disappointing setting, I wouldn't wear it.

--- Laurie

 

[Kelli]

Someday, maybe for a big wedding anniversary or a 50th birthday or something, when I can afford to seriously splurge on an absolutely exquisite stone, I'll go the extra few miles on a dreamy setting. Right now with my laughable income, I'm happy to keep my settings cheap. I truly enjoy plain old solitaires anyway. It's the stone I look at most.

 

[FrekeChild]

My last project had a precision cut stone with a secondhand custom setting, and the stone was 1/5 the cost of the setting.

Here is a list (unless otherwise noted, settings were secondhand) stone/setting:

Large blue precision spinel: 1/1
Precision blue sapphire: 3/1
Precision tsavorite, custom setting: 1/2
peach (non-precision) spinel, custom setting: 1/10
Precision Namibian tourm, custom setting: 1/2
Precision White spinel: 1/7
Precision pink lavender spinel, custom setting: 1/2
Precision gray spinel: 2/1

I tend to buy less desired stones in funky colors from precision cutters, so it helps with my budget. I also have managed to get some great deals on designer/custom/awesome settings from the secondhand market and that helps too. Oh yeah, and these are all rings.

 

[chrono]

When I first joined Pricescope, the price of platinum is low and gold was even lower, so my stones cost more than the setting. Even though the price of gemstones have gone up, the price of metals has more than tripled since to the point where unless you are buying top quality gemstones of at least 5 carats and upwards, I don't see how it is possible for the stone to cost less than the setting.

For me, the entire package matters, stone and design so I do not like to make sacrifices in either department. That said, I refuse to pay more than a certain dollar amount for metal and diamonds and rather wait for metal pricing to come down. I have plenty of other jewellery to keep me happy in the meantime.

There are so many variables at stake here:
Small stones = less expensive. Large stones = more expensive.
Untreated sapphires cost more than sphene = certain gem types cost more and some are very inexpensive.
Custom costs more than stock ready to go settings.
Preloved are less expensive than new.
Ornate and something with lots of diamonds cost more than a solitaire.

In short, there is no ratio but merely preference. Even so, sometimes preference takes a back seat to what current pricing is, which can skew the answer in any direction at any given moment in time.

 

[Kismet]

Like Distracts I don't worry about the stone to setting price ratio but instead think about what I want the finished piece to look like.

Maybe I just buy el cheapo stones but I only have two pieces where the stone cost more than the setting: my demantoid Leon ring and my triangle chrysoberyl pendant. For all my other pieces, the settings cost a fair bit more than what I paid for the stones.

 

[lujews]

wow.
I did not realize how common it is to pay more for the setting. I aso did not realize how expansive the settings are especially custom!!!

 

[chrono]

To clarify, I don't skimp on the stone either. If necessary, I get the best stone I can afford and put it in a simpler temporary setting first or leave it unset, and save up in the meantime for the dream setting.

 

[partgypsy]

I'm glad I'm not the only one spending more on the setting than the center stone!

Original engagement ring with emerald stone in 14K setting the setting cost 62% of center stone price
anniversary diamond ring setting cost 1.3 x center stone
demantoid pendant necklace setting 1.2 x center stone
current project (emerald ring) setting will be 1.25 the stone (that was least expensive quote; other quotes were 1.8, 2x or close to 3x stone price).

The stones I buy are high in quality but on the smaller size. Other than the diamond did not have a separate grading report (which if done also bumps up the price).

 

[alice87]

It seems like we are comparing a lot of things here.
For anniversary ring, or ER the cost of setting may be a lot, if somebody like all the bling around the stone.
For me, I love big stones in simple settings. And I wear silver more than gold. Although I probably have more gold rings than silver one.
What I did, I just perused the gold that I had and remade some of the jewelry.
If I see I don't wear a piece, I do my assessment and either sell it, or make something new out of it.
I would probably like to have some of the fantastic designer settings, but I have other priorities as a grad student.
When I think about my education cost, this is where the diamonds, Chanel and other dreams went.
I just recently (6 months) set several rings:
pink spinel - the setting was custom made, 1/7 (stone versus setting) - gold
kunzite - 1/2 - silver
citrine - 1/1 - silver
pink rose cut sapphire, which I like, but the cut is far from ideal 1/4.5. silver with gold

 

[jstarfireb]

For an engagement ring, I think the stone should be the focal point and wouldn't buy a setting that cost as much as or more than the stone. Mine was about 3:1 (stone:setting) for an ideal-cut diamond in a custom platinum setting.

For colored stone rings, I have a really hard time allowing myself to spend a lot more on the setting than the stone. As a general rule, I *try* to keep the setting cheaper than the stone, although I don't often hit that mark. I think almost all of my ratios are 1:2ish and below, though. I keep setting costs down by setting almost every stone I own in silver (or two-tone with the majority of the piece in silver). I get almost all of my settings on Etsy, Ebay, or the second-hand market, so that helps keep the cost down as well. Still, since I tend not to spend a lot on my stones, the settings often end up costing more than I'd like in relation to the stone cost.

Some other examples (you can see they're all over the place)...
-benitoite in custom silver/gold ring - 2:1
-spinel in Stuller continuum silver filigree setting - 2:1
-prasiolite asscher in JKT custom bezel setting - 1:2
-small tsavorite in JKT key pendant - 1:1
-tsavorite in custom silver/gold ring - 1:1
-cat's eye alexandrite in simple silver bezel stacker - 3:1
-white zircon in "do it yourself" snap-tite pendant - 15:1
-aquamarine in cheap ebay silver solitaire - 10:1
-Tanga rhodolite in rose gold halo - 1:2
-0.5ct diamond in white gold bezel necklace - 8:1
-cheap lavender tanzanite in custom Patrick Irla hydrangea ring - 1:5 (the big outlier - I really loved that setting!)

 

[marcy]

I like the center stone to be the focal point of my rings.

My Ering is about 22:1 (it's a solitaire)
I would say most of my RHR are 2:1