Tourmaline Disaster :(

[Keeliamira]

Please help with any and all Sage advice. I purchased a beautiful antique rose and yellow gold ring with a very large forest green tourmaline in it. The tourmaline had a scratch in the top of the stone and I took it to my jeweler to have it repaired and sized. The stone was a cab on top and faceted on the back and was just lovely.

When I went to my Jeweler's to check on whether my ring was done, he told me the ring had been damaged. Apparently, his apprentice was in the last few minutes of polishing the top of the stone once it had been recut and shaped when he accidentally allowed the ring to get too hot. The tourmaline flew out of the ring while it was on the polishing wheel and has gone into Oblivion. They have spent days looking for it and are unsure both where it is and if it's survived its trip without damage.

The stone is 22mm x 13mm x 10.5mm or so , approx. 22+ carats.

So... Two dilemmas:

Where should I look, or who should I ask about custom cutting a stone to fit the setting for me? I have already reached out to Dana at master cut gems.

My second dilemma is that I feel really bad about the apprentice's role in the destruction of my ring. While he is at fault for allowing the ring to get too Hot I know he doesn't make a whole lot of money and the responsibility for paying for the replacement stone is falling on him. What would you do?

 

[chrono]

I believe all shops carry insurance, so the apprentice shouldn't be paying out of pocket. The shop owner will most likely file a claim with his insurance company.

 

[Keeliamira]

Unfortunately, I got the idea that that wasn't necessarily the case. The apprentice tried to hand me a few hundred dollars out of his wallet towards the price of stone when I went in. It's a mom-and-pop shop that's been around for 40 years but it didn't seem like insurance was going to come into play here. I think the apprentice helps the master jeweler on a per piece basis in the shop and then also cuts, cabs, and makes his own jewelry that's for sale in the shop. I kind of get the idea that he's an independent contractor rather than a direct employee.

 

[ElizabethR]

That's awful. What a dilemma. I've so many questions.

Did you sign anything to say that if anything happened to the stone/ring the jeweler would not be at fault? Did you contract with the jeweler or the shop assistant?
Basically if you dealt with the mom or pop when you deposited your ring into their care, and weren't asked to sign a waiver, they are responsible. How much did you pay for the ring/stone? The stone, if it fell in the store, is still in the store. So what happens if somewhere down the road the stone is found if you agree to accept a few hundred dollars? You take the hit either way.

I'd show them the original reciept/valuation and asked to be reimbursed.

Hope it's found and returned,

 

[knightsb78]

That's terrible and I feel for both you and the apprentice. An employee really shouldn't be expected to compensate for a mistake in the workplace, especially when he is learning.

However, I don't know your contractual relationship with the store or what papers you signed but i'm guessing the store is likely legally liable. I'm an economist so i'll take this from a financial rather than moral perspective, I know you feel bad about the apprentice but if the employer is a bad one (for example putting business costs like damaging a stone onto their staff) you do no one any favors by effectively letting them off the hook. What I mean to imply is that if staff get stung financially they will eventually leave/move on which deprives the store of experience, qualified employees and will likely sully their reputation over a period of time. Whereas, if you bail them out and say don't worry about it, you are somewhat contributing to their practice and its very likely that the staff members will stay and the practice will continue. Obviously, this is from a financial not a moral or even caring point of view if you get my drift.

Personally, I would suggest to the jeweler that my contract was with him personally and that he should pay me the valuation in full and then sort things out with his staff as I have no contract or interest in accepting a payment directly from his apprentice. Damages are a cost of doing any business and i'm sure you wouldnt agree to bare some of their other operating costs...so why accept this one?

Just my 2 cents and i'm sorry that you have been placed in this horrible situation.

 

[arkieb1]

Ask them if it was broken and smashed or it smashed when it was dropped and if they are not admitting it to you, stones can crack and break into a zillion pieces when dropped or they can remain undamaged it all depends on how they are cut, the surface they were dropped onto, the inclusions in the stone, and sometimes it's just blind luck when one stone breaks and another does not. If the stone is still in the shop somewhere I wonder if you can ask if you can go in and look underneath everything, behind everything and if it went up in the air unlikely places like up on benches or on top of and between things - that is provided they didn't break it and are not admitting it.

If it cannot be found you should be asking for whatever you paid for it back again.

 

[Bron357]

How awful and upsetting for you. The gem will be there somewhere. I managed to find a 8mm x 6mm blue sapphire on a grass football playing field, like I'm talking HUGE area, when I was young, eagle eyed and desperate to find it. So in a shop or workshop area how far can it go? Id be looking them straight in the eye and saying the gem HAS to be within 15ft of where the guy was sitting so it can easily be found OR the gem was actually damaged or disintegrated while the work was being performed and you've decided to go with the "I can't find it story"- what is it? As for reimbursement, did you agree to an "all care taken but no responsibility accepted agreement"? But it to the owner this way, if he put his car in for a car repair and came to pick it up only to find the junior had left it outside with the keys in it and it was gone (voiding any insurance claim) or the junior had cleaned the car useing paint thinner instead of car polish would he go "oh, that's ok, I'll wear the loss, junior people make mistakes"? Hopefully this can be worked out satisfactorily for you.

 

[Keeliamira]

The shop and it's owner are very trustworthy. When I left the ring with them, the apprentice wasn't there and the owner said he thought his apprentice could cut and recab the top to get rid of the scratch, said he'd check with him and get back to me. The owner later called me with a very reasonable price. I have a really good relationship with the owner, but he's very small town / business on a handshake. He wrote me a receipt that included the price for the repair and a description of the ring and asked me to take a photo of the ring and the receipt for my records. I didn't sign anything. Perhaps that's naive of me but small town is small town when someone has a 40 year trustworthy track record.

They don't think the stone shattered. They said it popped off, hit the wall next to the polish machine, bounced around a bunch, and ended up landing somewhere in the vicinity. The area it happened in looks like a typical messy machine shop with boxes and all sorts of other things shoved in a pantry sized area with tons of shelves, open packages, open air ducts on the floor, you name it. They said they took that room apart inch by inch twice and found half-a-dozen other stones that they had lost but not that one and didn't see any shards of anything that looked like it could be my stone.

As a hobby, I buy and sell mostly fine antique jewelry on a couple of sites... Not as a business, but really just to fund my own jewelry buying habit. This ring was really inexpensive for what it was... I only paid $240 for it but would have priced it well over that once the repair was done. Preliminary low estimates to replace the stone start at $1000. The owner said they'd absolutely make it right and replace the stone. I just got the distinct feeling the financial responsibility was going to be shifted to the apprentice.

All else aside, my jeweler is also in the process of creating my zircon and diamond ring right now too and several of my items are on consignment there in advance of Valentine's Day because his fee is not any more than what I'm charged on my online sites to sell. It's all a bit tangled.

Thank you all so much for your insight thus far. You've given me a lot to consider. Any other insight will likewise be sincerely received and appreciated. I'm halfway considering scraping the idea of replacing the stone but getting estimates on the tourmaline and asking them to just write me a check that I can put towards my jewelry habit since I didn't buy the ring to keep it (just not my style). But then again, the value of the stone is still quite a bit below the resale value of the complete ring. I've attached a photo of it as a reference point. The stone is not quite so dark irl.

Who should I contact about custom cutting a replacement stone? The apprentice offered to cut one if we can find the rough but that's not a direction I'm interested in going in.

 

[chrono]

I am afraid that given the size of the stone, it is unlikely that you will find a similar replacement for less than $240.

 

[Keeliamira]

Oh goodness! I know I'm not going to find a replacement stone for anywhere near what I paid for the ring. I was just noting the price because someone suggested I request they pay me what I paid for it, which I'm not going to do.

 

[ElizabethR]

When the owner said he'd replace the stone did he mean with another, similar tourmaline? If he did, I'd probably let him do that.

 

[chrono]

When the owner said he'd replace the stone did he mean with another, similar tourmaline? If he did, I'd probably let him do that.

If he can do so with a similar tourmaline, I'd give it a shot.

 

[Barrett]

That is a shame to hear about your stone. I guess it's the risk you take dealing with gems.
Maybe you can get jewelry repairs, cleanings, etc. done for free now, as repayment for the stone, if they can't afford to replace it???
Sorry to hear about them having had that happen. When the poor guy pulls some hundreds out his pocket, then you know he feels guilty and apologetic.

 

[Keeliamira]

The owner is paying to replace the stone with a similar tourmaline. It may not end up being the exact same color, but that's OK by me. I frankly would prefer deep teal or indicolite to the forret green of the original stone. Dana (Mastercut Gems) is a prince among men... He is looking through his available rough this weekend to see what he has that could yeild a replacement stone.

The setting is both yellow and rose gold. Anyone know if it's possible to plate just the yellow areas so they appear white instead of yellow? Would that look funny? I'd much prefer to have it white if I keep it... Toying with the idea, hmmm.

 

[ElizabethR]

That's wonderful K.

 

[boerumbiddy]

In answer to your other question, I have had parts of a yellow-gold setting plated white. Doesn't look perfect, though, and will have to be replated eventually. Your ring looks lovely the way it is.

 

[pregcurious]

Indicolite tourmaline would look stunning in rose gold. The rose gold will bring out the blue more . Would you consider not plating the metal so it looks white?

 

[chroman]

Eug - It sucks to have to go through this drama!

Fortunatly, it sounds like you have a good relationship with this jeweler, and they're working to help get things sorted. I hope Dana finds something amazing for you! If he does, the jewelers shop will be filled with Dana's stones (with your zircon)

Its a lovely ring and stone and a dark brooding tourmaline looks like a great stone for it. If nothing turns up tourmaline wise, would a dark jade cab be a reasonable option to set in it?

 

[Keeliamira]

Postlogue time... So in looking for appropriate replacement rough I concluded a couple of things... (With Dana's sweet help).
First, I don't want anyone to spend a mint on a replacement stone for this ring because the setting prevents the stone from having ideal proportions depth-wise. Second, I wanted everyone to feel like they had come out of this having benefited.

In the end, my jeweler gave me credit for what I had in the ring towards the work he's doing on creating my zircon and diamond ring (which is way less than the rough they found would cost). The apprentice felt like I wasn't getting "enough" and was still beating himself up about the stone. We decided he'd find a nice piece of rough in some other color/stone to cab for the setting and we'd sell the finished piece at the shop and split the proceeds. All in all, I feel like we've all come out well and my relationship with them has been strengthened rather than impaired.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[indigoblue]

You sound like a class act. Way to go!

 

[Keeliamira]

Thanks Indigoblue! People are way more important than things... Even sparkly things.

 

[Tourmaline]

Wonderful resolution!

 

[elle_71125]

Could you be any better of a person? Seriously though, you handled this with grace and consideration towards everyone involved.
You should be proud!

 

[digdeep]

Wow! This read like a movie script..............and I REALLY like the ending!

 

[lexilex]

This whole thing smells fishy to me....they lost a 22ct stone?

22 ct is really big. It didn't vanish, it's there. I'm wondering if they don't want to keep it for some obscure reason....

Just my 2 cents...

 

[Keeliamira]

Awwww thanks, Elle (and Digdeep and Tourmaline ). I'm no but I do try to treat others the way I'd like them to treat me and give folks the benefit of the doubt.

Lexilex, I totally understand where you're coming from, but I really don't think they're hiding anything. Despite its size, this is not an heirloom stone, it had poor proportions, and some might consider it oversaturated. And it only fit this setting. There is no reason at all for them to want to keep this stone. I have a feeling it will turn up at some point.

 

[pregcurious]

So glad to hear it worked out!