What’s Trust Got to Do With It? A Jewelry Repair Tutorial

It is inevitable, at some point your ring or jewelry will need service.  You’ve heard the stories perpetuated by the media: stone switching, shoddy repairs, and outright loss when people leave their jewelry for repair.  Like most things with the media, reports are exaggerated.  BUT, there are a few things you can do to make sure you don’t get taken advantage of, and make sure you get your jewelry back in one piece.

Here’s what you should know:

1. Choose a reputable jeweler for the repair.  Ask around for a glowing recommendation from friends, family, and people you trust.  If you really don’t know a local jeweler, check out the American Gem Society websitefor a referral.  The AGS is a jewelry non-profit trade organization that was founded to promote high ethical standards among jewelers, and member jewelers have to subscribe to rigorous standards and be tested each year on their knowledge and service.  There are AGS Certified Jewelers in most markets in the US.
2. Insist that they use a Take-In Form, and get your own copy/receipt.  The actual form will vary from jeweler to jeweler, but all should have the same basic information: your contact info; a description of the item; a precise description of the work to be done; an estimate for the cost of the repair; and A REPLACEMENT VALUE FOR THE JEWELRY ITEM that you both agree on.  This information protects all parties.  
3. Get a good faith estimate on the repair work.  Writing “Fix” on the repair envelope does not count as a good repair description.  If your diamond fell out and you need your ring sized, then the description of the work should read something like “reset enclosed clear stone, re-tip 3 prongs, and size up to a size 6+”.  You should get some sort of estimate, even if it’s a ballpark figure, in writing on your receipt.  Or if it’s very elaborate, you can ask that they call you with an exact figure before they proceed with the work.  Most jewelers will do a free estimate, so if you decide not to go ahead, there should be no charge to you (there are exceptions to that, especially if they have to ship it somewhere to get the estimate). 
4. Get a complete description of your jewelry on the Take-In Form.  Don’t be offended if the jeweler uses terms like “1 green square cut center stone with 6 clear accent stones in yellow colored mounting stamped 18k”.  You may know that this is your Aunt Harriet’s heirloom Colombian Emerald ring, but the jeweler doesn’t probably have the time or lab equipment necessary at take-in to determine the exact mineral content of the gems you are leaving.  Experienced professional jewelers usually use general color terms to describe it (if they describe it as an Emerald, and it turns out to be glass, they don’t want to be liable for replacing the essentially worthless glass with a $10,000 emerald).  But the color, size, shape and number of gems should be noted along with metal stamps, engravings, and any other distinguishing marks.
5. Have the jeweler show you specific characteristics of your jewelry so that you can identify it when you get it back.  The jeweler can map out your diamond’s inclusions (or lack of) so that you can both check them when you get it back.  They can show you your sapphire next to one in their showcase to accurately describe the color.  The point is for you to BOTH scrutinize your jewelry so that you know what to look for when you get it back. 
6. Agree on a replacement value.  This is part of the take-in form and a good jeweler will want that filled in.  It limits their liability, too, in case there would be a loss.  Take in an appraisal if you have one, or a receipt.  Even if the value is out of date, it’s a good starting point for the discussion.  If you really have no idea, then they can show you items they have in stock most similar to your jewelry to figure out a value.  Make sure you agree and sign off on it.
7. Trust your gut.  Make sure you feel confortable with the store and salesperson before you walk out of the store.  If something doesn’t feel right, or the jeweler doesn’t follow the above points, take your jewelry and walk away.

I hope this information is useful and helps to put your mind at ease when you leave your precious jewelry for repair!

Comment if you have any other suggestions or horror stories–we can all learn from them!

Example of Jewelry Repair Take In Form

How Do I Sell My Jewelry?

I have been asked this question a number of times in my career, and it always makes my heart squeeze a little.  There are many different scenarios where people might need to sell jewelry.  Maybe the engagement or marriage didn’t work out, sometimes there are financial hardships, or maybe someone inherited Aunt Harriet’s ring and just won’t wear it. 

This scenario exposes a dirty little secret of the jewelry industry–there is no secondary market to speak of.  The jewelers who work so hard to sell you something in happy times aren’t really set up to help you if things don’t work out.  This makes a difficult situation even harder. 

The first thing you should know is that YOU WILL NOT GET BACK WHAT YOU PAID FOR YOUR JEWELRY.  There are a number of reasons for this.  If you sell it to someone in the industry, they can buy it wholesale and are in the business to make a profit.  Jewelers can carry large in-house inventories on memorandum, where they only pay the dealer for it if they sell it.  If they do buy something, they can get 30, 60, 90 day terms to pay for it.  Or they can make a cash purchase for a percentage off the wholesale price.  To buy it from an individual, they have to pay you outright, take a fair amount of risk that the item is what they think it is (mountings can hide a lot of flaws), and hope they can turn it in the future.  If you sell it yourself to an individual, you need to make the price compelling enough for someone to pay you cash instead of financing it through a jeweler.  Keep in mind, too, that you may need to unmount diamonds and gemstones and put them into simple settings that appeal to most people.

In general, there is a direct relationship between the amount of time you are willing to wait and the amount of money you will net for the jewelry.  The faster you want to liquidate, the less you will get for the item.  I have compiled a list of possible options and the impact this makes on how much you will get.  I have listed the following options in the approximate order of least amount of time and effort on the seller’s part to more time/effort, but possibly greater return:

$ Pawn Shop/Jewelry Liquidator:  In general, this is the option of last resort.  You will get–maybe–10 to 20 cents on the dollar for what you originally paid if the item has more value in the labor, such as a cluster ring with a lot of gold.  You may net more if the item has a solitaire diamond at least 1/3 to 1/2 carat.  The pawn shop or liquidator is going to turn it very quickly for a little more than they paid for it (way below market value), which is why the price is so low.  But it’s very fast–in the case of a pawn shop you will walk out with cash/check in hand.  In the case of an on-line liquidator, such as Thingswebuy.com, you contact them on-line, they Fed Ex you a box/package, and they will let you know as soon as they receive it what their offer is.  A company that I have heard of that might be good for more important jewelry items is Circa, they have offices in several major US cities.  Not sure how much they sell, but there is also an entertaining little site called exboyfriendjewelry.com to check out.  Note: I have not personally vetted this or any other on-line liquidator/buyer, so I cannot fully endorse.  Do your homework and proceed with caution.

$$  Consign through a physical jeweler:  This could be through the jeweler you originally purchased it from, or another store in the community.  There should be a written agreement about how long they will have it in the case, the price they will try and get for it, the amount you will net from the sale, and the appraised value if anything should happen to it while in their possession.  This option can take an extremely long time: how motivated is the jeweler to sell your item, versus their own inventory that represents a major capital investment?  But the amount that you net might be closer to what you paid for it, especially if you bought it from that jeweler and they are compassionate about the situation.   

$$$  Sell it yourself:  This option probably makes some people’s palms sweaty.  It is not for the faint of heart, but this is the way you can get closer to your purchase price. 

1. The first possible audience is someone you know who might be interested: friends, family, colleagues, etc.
2. I do not recommend a newspaper ad.  It is expensive, no one reads ads anymore, and it could attract the crazees. 
3. Craigslist.  This is a totally viable option, but probably only if you live somewhere there is an active local site.  Craigslist is easy, it’s free, and it’s local.  If you have paperwork, such as a diamond lab grading report or an appraisal, list as many details from it as you can.  Try to take a good photo, it’s easy to upload.  Price it well–you need to make it enticing to buy it from you versus a jeweler (jewelers offer less risk, return policies, financing, etc.).  If you paid $5,000, price it at $3500 or 4000–it will be a good deal for the buyer and that’s a pretty good price to get back out of it.  If you really want to sell it and be done with it, 1/2 of the price you paid (NOT a fictitious appraisal value) is very compelling.  If you find someone who is interested in seeing it, my recommendation would be to meet at a bank.  It’s a public place, security is all around, you can show the item to the potential buyer (hey, you could even pull it from the safety deposit boxes there if the bank has them, further reducing your security risk), and if the interested party decides to buy it, you can verify their certified check funds before they leave with the jewelry.
4. eBay:  This option is trickier (and worthy of its own blog).  Going through the listing process if you’ve never sold on eBay before is not trivial.  There are listing and selling fees that can add up.  You are also competing against semi-professional dealers with slick offerings.  But you can get your item in front of a large potential audience who is actively looking for jewelry.  There are 2 options for eBay, auctions and Buy It Now.  Auctions are still their bread and butter.  They recommend starting the bidding low with no reserve, but if you really can’t go below a certain price, you can set a reserve price (for instance, you paid $5000 for a solitaire diamond ring, you want to get at least $2500 for it, so you can start the auction at $1000 but set a reserve of $2500).  Definitely go for a longer auction, 7-10 days.  You can also set a Buy It Now price that represents a fair value.  There is a TON of fraud on eBay, so what I recommend is using an escrow service to hold the funds until the buyer has a chance to view the jewelry.  

$$$$ Trade It In:  If you can trade in your jewelry, you will probably get the most value possible for very little exertion on your part.  For instance, if you bought an engagement ring for $5000 and things didn’t work out, maybe you want a Rolex for yourself.  Or perhaps you could hold onto it until you decide to get engaged again, and trade it for a larger, finer diamond.  You might even get the full amount the jewelry is worth if the item you’re trading for is for more money.  Even if you didn’t buy the original item there, if it’s a salable piece, a jeweler has more incentive to do this than the consignment route.  Again, you’re taking some loss in that you are not getting full value back in hand, but that is the reality of the situation. 

Jewelry DOES have lasting value, it can always be reduced to its precious materials and the value measured out.  The unique thing about jewelry is that the emotional significance behind it is harder to calculate.  Only you know what your jewelry is really worth. 

Have you ever had to sell a piece of jewelry?  What was your experience?  Please comment and share your story!

Virtual Purchase: 3-Stone Diamond Ring

What:  For this Virtual Purchase, I am focusing on a ring with 3 round diamonds: a center diamond that is larger, with proportionally smaller round diamonds on the sides, in white gold or platinum in several total weights (adding all the carat weights of the stones together, abbreviated as TW):  1/2 ct TW, 1 ct TW, and 2 ct TW.  I didn’t look at total carat weights less than 1/2 carat–spread across 3 stones, the individual carat weights are just too small, you are better off putting your whole budget into one diamond.

A little background on the design and significance:  3-stone rings have actually been around for a long time, they just didn’t have a name and specific jewelry category until De Beers decided to brand them a few years ago.  Some other jewelry items that people didn’t know they needed before De Beers told them they did are engagement rings (the 1948 campaign “A Diamond Is Forever” that lauched the modern-day concept of a diamond engagement ring), right-hand rings, “Journey” jewelry, anniversary bands.  I do think the 3-stone ring is beautiful and enduring.  The 3 stones represent your past, present, and future.  With this symbolism, a 3-stone could be presented as an engagement ring, or for a significant anniversary. 

Classic 3-Stone Round Diamond Ring from Costco.com

Where:  I looked for 3-stone rings anywhere I could find them at major retailers online:  Blue Nile, Costco.com, Amazon.com, Diamond.com, plus some others in the table below.  I had kind of a hard time finding very many already mounted options in my target quality range of G-H color, SI1-SI2 clarity, especially in 1/2 ct TW.

Here are the results of my research in table format and my picks for best quality/value/style highlighted, with more specific notes down below (if you need a 4 C’s diamond quality refresher, click here).  You can click on the retailer name to go directly to the ring featured:

1/2 carat TW 3-Stone Diamond Ring:
Company:	Mounting Metal:	Min Color:	Min Clarity:	Cut:	Price:	Price after discount:	Comments:
Jewelrycentral.com	14kt w and y	H-I	I1	Not spec	$    595.00		Best value for H/I1 quality, I1 clarity not great
Ice.com	14kt w and y	G	I1	Not spec	$    795.00		I1 clarity not great, there are better quality options
Classicjewelry.com	14kt w and y	H	SI2	Not spec	$ 1,014.00	$    861.90	My pick for H/SI2 quality. Good value with 15% off
Amazon.com	14kt w and y	H	SI2	Very Good	$    999.00	$    699.00	Was $699, best quality, but now not on sale
Blue Nile	18kt w	I	SI2	Not Spec	$ 1,200.00		Beautiful ring, price not great even with 18kt mtg
Diamond.com	14kt w and y	H	I1	Not Spec	$    795.00		Not competitive on price, especially for I1

 

1 ct TW 3-Stone Diamond Ring:
Company:	Mounting Metal:	Min Color:	Min Clarity:	Cut:	Price:	Price after discount:	Comments:
Jewelrycentral.com	18kt w	H-I	SI2	Not spec	$ 2,200.00		Nice design, best everyday price
Mondera	Platinum	G-H	VS1-VS2	Not spec	$ 3,500.00		Nice style, higher quality
Blue Nile	18kt w	H	SI2	Not spec	$ 2,450.00		Beautiful ring, good reviews on site
Amazon.com	14kt w and y	H	SI2	Very Good	$ 2,999.00	$ 1,609.99	Was 30% off of $2299, terrible price w/o sale
Diamond.com	14kt w and y	H	I1	Not Spec	$ 1,995.00		Lowest price option, but I1 lower quality
Costco.com	14kt w	I	VS2	Very Good	$ 2,499.00		Absolutely beautiful mounting, great value
Classicjewelry.com	14kt w and y	H	SI2	Not spec	$ 2,547.00	$ 2,164.95	My pick for H/SI2 quality, good value with 15% off

 

2 ct TW 3-Stone Diamond Ring:
Company:	Mounting Metal:	Min Color:	Min Clarity:	Cut:	Price:	Price after discount:	Comments:
Diamond.com	14kt w and y	H	I1	Not Spec	$ 5,495.00		Low price but it’s lower I1 clarity and 14kt
Costco.com	Platinum	I	VS2	VG	$ 7,499.00		Absolutely gorgeous, great value for quality
Costco.com	Platinum	I	VS2	VG	$ 8,499.99	$ 7,999.99	Good sale offer, fancy vintage-style setting

 

My favorite 1 ct TW 3-Stone Ring from Costco.com

Jewelrycentral.com:  This company comes up high in google search results, so I checked them out.  Prong basket settings for their 3-stone rings.  Not crazy about I1, better quality is out there for good value.  No specifics on the break-down of carat weight.

Ice.com:  Not totally sure about this site, I would have to order something from them to be able to completely endorse.  Ok value on a G/I1 clarity. 

Classicjewelry.com:  New site discovery for me, they say they are a NYC manufacturer in business for 25 years.  They have the usual 30 day return policy and a customer service 877#. They also have live chat and list their address on the site, which is a pretty good sign (some no-name sites you can barely find an “about us”). Can enter email for coupon code for 15% off anything over $500 http://www.classicjewelry.com/diamonds/jewelry/coupon.php . 

Amazon.com:  Sigh.  Amazon jewelry buyers, please read this and listen up: your price messaging is terrible.  This item was 30% off of $999 for Valentine’s Day, but not marked anywhere obvious on the detail page, I had to go through entire check-out to get final price.  The sale prices for the 1/2 ct and 1 ct TW rings were amazing, but the regular prices are NOT competitive, and that is usually where Amazon wins (price).  I like this style, with the square-edge clean band and stylish baskets.  Site navigation for this category is pretty good: from Jewelry category page, 3-stone left nav category takes you to page where the rings are grouped by mounting type/diamond quality and you can choose your carat total weight. 

Blue Nile:  Beautiful ring, probably worth buying if you want the 18kt mounting, but I think their prices should come down a bit in this economy (if they want to survive).  Great site navigation as usual, 3-stone rings have their own category in left nav.  Could build your own from their loose diamond collection if you want.  Carat TWs from .25 ct TW to 3.63 ct TW.  No break-down of carat weights of center vs. sides, which surprised me from this company.

Diamond.com:  Arrgghh!  This is a jewelry-specific site, but navigating is terrible: no 3-stone category and the refinements are not useful (how about refining by carat TW, maybe?).  I had to wade through pages of totally random rings to find the 3-stones.  Also, I don’t like that they don’t offer qualities higher than I1 for mounted rings: at I1 clarity you can see the inclusions, and unless your budget is really tight, SI2 is a better bet. 

Costco.com:  Really lovely mountings, different from the rest of the offerings here.  For someone who wants classic, but with a little twist.  For the higher clarity and relatively large center at .40, I think the 1 carat TW version is an excellent value.

Mondera.com:  I had to look really hard on site to find 3-stones.  Nice style and quality, but could only find a 1 ct TW option.  Not as extensive a selection as I thought this jewelry-specific site would have.

Cellini Asscher Cut Diamond Ring

Santa, I think you forgot this…

Regards,

platinumgirl

PS: I have been VERY good this year

Updated 4/9/2009:  Considering how much traffic this page gets (a LOT), I thought I should get some more information about these rings. 

I spoke to Danielle at the Cellini store in the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria in NYC (Cellini also has a store at 509 Madison Ave).  She said that the images of the rings are representative of what they can do with a diamond from their inventory or your own diamond.  OK, maybe not just ANY stone, the mountings work best with the shapes shown, a square Emerald cut or Oval.  Also, the center stone should be at least 3 carats, in order for the mounting to be proportionate.  It might just be too much metal with a stone smaller than 3 carats (see my post about Asscher cut diamonds here, there are some nice pave settings for diamonds smaller than 3 carats).  The retail for the setting is around $9500 in platinum.  A 3 carat Asscher or Oval shape around G color, VS2 clarity (my choice for best quality combination) will run around $35,000.  Cellini would be happy to help you find the right diamond, of course.  For what it’s worth, Danielle said that as beautiful as the photo is, the rings are really much prettier in person, she recommends trying one on if you’re ever in NYC.  

If you like this style, but you’re interested in a different shape of center diamond, you can check out their Spring 2008 catalog, there is another version on the cover of this catalog that could work for a Cushion or other shape center.  Click here to download.

Here’s a link to Cellini’s website, or call the very lovely Danielle at 212-751-9824.

Wouldn’t it be great to shop at the Jewelry (Un)Store?

If someone I know needed jewelry, here is where I wish I could send them:

It’s a nice store, in a good location.  Not fancy–just comfortable and accessible.  A (non)salesperson greets you in a low-key way and allows you to look around unaccosted.  There are cases of jewelry displayed with TAGS VISIBLE, so you can see prices and details without having to ask for it.  There are easy-to-use computer kiosks where you can see additional items that aren’t physically displayed.  If you want to take a look at something and ask some questions, there are comfortable places to sit and talk with a (non)salesperson.  Maybe they offer you something to drink. 

The (non)salesperson is knowledgeable and friendly, without trying to stick something down your throat.  They tell you what their margins are, and shows you their items versus similar items online, so you know you are getting a good price.  They are absolutely no-pressure in their approach: they know they have great jewelry at great prices, and trust that if you are given honest, transparent information, you will make a great choice.

I wish I could say that a store like this exists.  If it does, I haven’t found it yet.  The Jewelry Industry in particular seems to cling to the old model of making purchasing information as opaque as possible, and they force you to interact with someone. 

Maybe in my spare time, I will open a store like this.