Unsetting of stone

[Boom]

I have a ring I sent to a jeweler for consignment.

I asked him to unset the stone because I wanted to keep the setting. He agreed and told me that I had to bear the risk of something happening to the stone. No problem there.

Now I'm told the unsetting fee is about $100, is that reasonable? The setting is a simple MWM 4 prong cathedral setting with melee stones on the side, so I don't think it was an especially difficult job. I've read on PS that some jewelers charge less than that for setting a stone and it seems to me that unsetting one should be an easier process.

This is a pic of my ring.

 

[AndyRosse]

Hmmm, did you ask the jeweler to try to save your prongs in the best condition possible when he removes the stone? Maybe that is why he wants $100??

I personally have not heard of a jeweler charging for this, but then again, I surely haven''t heard of everything!

Let''s see what others say.

 

[MissAva]

I don’t know if I was sent a ring like that for consignment and then the owner decided to sell only the stone, I would be very disappointed, the setting itself is stunner and not one you just walk in and buy. It is likely that the setting would have made the sale of the stone easier and more profitable. Perhaps that 100 dollars is reasonable or maybe it is a way for him to try and cover his costs.

 

[widget]

I wonder if it would be worth sending to Mark Morell to remove the stone...I''d sure hate to mess up that mounting...

It''s gorgeous, by the way...

widget

 

[denverappraiser]

That''s extremely high. The liability question is important, mostly because of the possibility of concealed prior damage but other than that this a very easy job unless they are doing something else as well (like resetting a new stone in place of the old one). Go somewhere else to have it removed and reconsider if you want to do the consignment deal with these folks. Do you really want a long term business relationship with someone that treats their customers like this?

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ISA NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[Dee Jay]

I'm with Matatora on the setting being stunning!

I have a slightly off topic question: I keep reading about the risk of having a stone unset/reset. Is this a BIG risk? I just got an oval with an indented natural on the girdle so this makes me even more uneasy about the resetting. If I'm having irrational fears here will someone please let me know. And the flip side; if there is a huge likelihood of damange during unsetting/resetting would someone let me know that too. I can see from these threads that people have stones put in new settings all the time, but then there are these "potential damage" comments that keep popping up...

 

[Boom]

Date: 1/6/2006 10:58:08 AM
Author: Rascal49
Hmmm, did you ask the jeweler to try to save your prongs in the best condition possible when he removes the stone? Maybe that is why he wants $100??

I personally have not heard of a jeweler charging for this, but then again, I surely haven't heard of everything!

Let's see what others say.

Yes I did. The setting means a lot to me, and the price of a MWM setting has gone up a lot since I bought mine, so I'm hoping to save the setting for something else.

ETA:
The prongs have clamp marks on them but otherwise looks great. I've never had a stone unset, so I don't know if that is typical or not though.

 

[Boom]

Date: 1/6/2006 11:03:52 AM
Author: Matatora
I don’t know if I was sent a ring like that for consignment and then the owner decided to sell only the stone, I would be very disappointed, the setting itself is stunner and not one you just walk in and buy. It is likely that the setting would have made the sale of the stone easier and more profitable. Perhaps that 100 dollars is reasonable or maybe it is a way for him to try and cover his costs.

Well, the jeweler was valuing the setting very low. To him, it was NOT a branded setting, so he would not have been able to sell it for a good price anyway. The buyer of the stone has ordered a brand new setting from him, so he''s making money there too.

 

[mrssalvo]

i''d find someone else to unset it. when i had my stone removed by the insurance agent from my quest setting she did it in the parking lot right by her car and it took 30 seconds. she pulled back the prongs, popped out the stone, and handed me back the setting. Not worth $100 to me..

 

[Boom]

Thanks everyone for weighing in.

Date: 1/6/2006 11:16:27 AM
Author: denverappraiser
That''s extremely high. The liability question is important, mostly because of the possibility of concealed prior damage but other than that this a very easy job unless they are doing something else as well (like resetting a new stone in place of the old one). Go somewhere else to have it removed and reconsider if you want to do the consignment deal with these folks. Do you really want a long term business relationship with someone that treats their customers like this?

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ISA NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

Unfortunately it''s a done deal. I did not think to ask about the unsetting fee and assumed it would be lower. The jeweler is quite nice but I don''t know if I''d do business with him again. He sent my setting back in a little bag that he put in a small box. Well, it apparently got flattened and was returned to him by USPS to check for damage (It was fine). My problem is, when I sent him my ring to unset and consign, I put it in the ring box it came in and added extra protection but he did not bother to send my setting back with the same care.

 

[denverappraiser]

Dee Jay,

In most cases the risk is pretty low. Pointy stones like princess and pears are a problem area and it’s usually damage that was already there but that is concealed by the mounting. Certain setting styles are also much more risky to take apart than others. As a jeweler, this sort of work looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen and I just cringed at the comment above about some insurance agent doing it in the parking lot. It’s true that this is usually very easy and only takes a few minutes but the first 90% of that time should be devoted to carefully inspecting the piece under serious magnification to make sure there are no surprises later. Even then you can miss things. As soon as a jeweler takes a tool to a piece, he’s married to it for life and any damage, be it past present or future somehow becomes his fault. Even if they have ironclad disclaimers about it they will lose you as a customer and probably all your friends too. Huge caution is entirely appropriate. There’s a lot of potential downside and very little for them to gain. Doing it with your toenail clippers in the parking lot is dumb dumb dumb, even if it does usually work out just fine.

It’s also worth noting that with a lot of designs, although not this one, the prudent solution involves being pretty destructive to the mounting. Saws are involved. Undoing channels or pave, for example, can be problematic and the least risk to the stone often results in total destruction to the mounting.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ISA NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 1/6/2006 12:37:26 PM
Author: denverappraiser

Dee Jay,

Doing it with your toenail clippers in the parking lot is dumb dumb dumb, even if it does usually work out just fine.



Neil Beaty

GG(GIA) ISA NAJA

Professional Appraisals in Denver

just wanted to clarify what happened. the stone was being turned over to the insurance company and i was getting a check. the stone was chipped and the jeweler that works for them removed it to give to them or buy herself. I don''t know if it''s dumb or not but i got my check, they got the damaged stone. If i were keeping/selling a stone i would not have met in a parking lot to have it unset and only taken it to a qualified jeweler. my point was, $100 for something that was able to be done fairly easily wasn''t worth it..

 

[denverappraiser]

Date: 1/6/2006 1:00:26 PM
Author: mrssalvo


just wanted to clarify what happened. the stone was being turned over to the insurance company and i was getting a check. the stone was chipped and the jeweler that works for them removed it to give to them or buy herself. I don't know if it's dumb or not but i got my check, they got the damaged stone. If i were keeping/selling a stone i would not have met in a parking lot to have it unset and only taken it to a qualified jeweler. my point was, $100 for something that was able to be done fairly easily wasn't worth it..

I wasn't trying to pick on you, and it wasn't you I was calling dumb, it's the jeweler. If everyone was already aware of the damage it's far less of an issue. This kind of thing is remarkably common. There really are people out there who do it with toenail clippers and then wonder why the stone was chipped! Pawnshops are notorious for doing this sort of thing because they don't want to part with even a single dollar to pay someone who know what they're doing. $100 is quite a bit but neither should you expect it to be free although, in the case of a consignment, I would expect this to be factored into their portion of the sales amount.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ISA NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[Dee Jay]

Neil -

Thank you so much for the reply. I (coincidentally) just 30 minutes ago took a sapphire over to a stone cutter on Wabash to have some nicks taken care of. He sent me to my own jeweler to have the stone taken out of the setting before he would even touch it, and also had a conversation with me about the unsetting/resetting as well as the cutting itself all being done at my risk. I guess the result of everyone trying to be good business people and reasonably covering their own behinds resulted in me being scared witless about a process that happens without incident every day.

I was rather looking forward to using those nail clippers in the parking lot though!