Where to find a decent price on a mens platinum band?

[J S Machine]

I've been married for a little while now and one of my goals was to one day own a platinum band. My wife's ring has a white gold shank with a platinum head. I settled for a cheap titanium band for me for the time being.

I have a few requirements. I'm looking for something at least 6mm wide, comfort fit, and I really like the milgrain look. Just a round ring without the milgrain would be fine too. I've looked all over, and I've seen prices from a couple hundred to $2k. I've seen more than that, but that seems to be the avg range. I really want one of these rings, but I don't have the money to put $1k on one. I was checking out ebay and some other places. Occasionally I see one pop up and go for a deal..like $2-300 and they are used. Used is fine, I don't mind that at all. Problem is, they are never a design I like and usually not my size. I wear about an 11 or 11.5. I know that some may be platinum plated and some are solid. I don't know how to tell the difference though.

I'm not a jeweler, but I am a tool and die maker. I work with metals all day long so I am familiar with care and properties. I've never messed with any platinum, but I bet I could. One thought I had was to buy something like one of the used pieces mentioned above, clean it up, polish it and maybe re-sell it for a profit. Do this enough times where I could turn the profit over to something I want.

Another thought was to maybe buy a damaged ring and try to repair it.

Just looking for some ideas. I really want one of these rings, and my wife and I really don't have the cash to put down on one. I figured maybe with some of my idea from above I may be able to obtain one in time.

Any hints or ideas would be appreciated

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Perhaps you could buy one of the least expensive bands (have it tested at a jeweler) and file the pattern out. Get a new file to avoid contamination (and then save the sweeping and send it to a refinery for some extra $) and then sand it all the way up to 1.200. Have a jeweler give it a final polish for a mirror finish or give it a satin texture with a 600 grit.

You can get some very cheap silver bands from Rio to get a feel of what it would be like and practice some before going for platinum.

 

[Michael_E]

I'm not a jeweler, but I am a tool and die maker. I work with metals all day long so I am familiar with care and properties. I've never messed with any platinum, but I bet I could.

You certainly could, but you'd be very surprised at the time and resources required to polish platinum. From your perspective, platinum would feel soft and sticky, kind of like the silly putty of the metal world. You have to go through a step like process in finishing it by using progressively finer abrasives until you've arrived an "almost polished" prepolish and then you can polish it.

One thought I had was to buy something like one of the used pieces mentioned above, clean it up, polish it and maybe re-sell it for a profit. Do this enough times where I could turn the profit over to something I want.

Maybe, the problem is that even as scrap, platinum still has significant value. That coupled with the size ring that you want would lead me to think that it would be difficult to find a used ring at a low enough cost to make this work well. Basically the ring you want would weigh about 16 grams or over 1/2 ounce. This makes the scrap value about $860 today. Anyone selling for significantly less than that either doesn't know where to sell it or is not selling platinum.

My concern comes when you're buying without being able to test for what you're getting or know enough about what you're doing to keep from getting fleeced. Before you jump into something with both feet, please take some time to develop a strategy of buying that limits your risk to a minimal amount. One idea may be to cruise the local pawn shops and see if they have something like what you're after or can find it, then leave them a standing offer of some amount over what they can get from a similar piece as scrap, (since their normal procedure is often to just scrap that stuff as soon as it arrives for a quick turn). They have the tools and experience to tell what they're buying as well as being in a fixed location, which keeps them honest when reselling.

 

[Anonymous]

I would keep stalking ebay. I just bought my FI's size 11.5 platinum and 18k yellow gold band for $500.00 on ebay last week. It was new (or at least looks like it) and it's EXACTLY the same ring that we were getting ready to plunk down $1250.00 after tax for. You just have to be patient and keep watching. If you're willing to buy something that's used, you'll get an even better deal. Good luck!