Diamond and ? rings. What would you want? Help me choose?

[mrscumberbatch]

I need to replace a ring, I have a sapphire and diamond target ring that is now too fragile to wear. Short of replacing absolutely everything about it, it's unavoidable.

So I'm going to hide it in a drawer and look at it wistfully. But it means I need a new ring.

I like having diamonds to add a bit of sparkle but like having another stone in there as well. I'm into antique settings and uber modern contemporary out there typey things too.

What would you have/choose?

mrsc he does make it all himself, well he and his dad. He's forever trying to get me to upgrade my engagement ring to something less boring and with a better diamond. He's not very sentimental! I thought it was lovely when he made this (but in yellow gold because Orlaith means golden) for me when we had our DD. He said I could pass it onto her when she's 18 - cue lots of hormonal blabbing from me. Then a few weeks later I spotted another one lying on the side when I was at work, checked the website and there it bloody was. Cheeky bastard!

I'm also certainly not the backbone of his business. I just turn up randomly, do a spot of book keeping, see what I can find that I can hint about, clean my rings, make him make everyone tea (he never does it usually), play with the dog and go home at 3!

As opals go I think this is lovely although might be a bit more modern than you'd fancy. I'm sure you could design something similar incorporating a few diamonds too.

Thank you everyone, I have just indulged in a lovely bit of jewellery porn thanks to you all!

Thanks for the excuse to lust over some stunning rings...

I just think this one from Ruby Gray's is amazing!

Sometimes Art Deco pieces somehow manage to look vintage and current at the same time. If you know what I mean?

I find the diamond snobbery thing odd too, whilst I like them I always think they are a "filler" I like rubies, emeralds ,pearls and opals, for every day I like turquoise and amber which is more casual, so I'm probably cheap to keep happy.

Pretty that Art deco ring is very unusual.

I have always fancied dabbling at the auctions but haven't the slightest idea, fine with furniture though but I can't fill the house to bursting, jewellery seems the obvious way forward as an investment. I might even be able to sneak it past DPs radar!

Thank you for the info on heat treating. Going to do some more reading, got the bit about hue and tone but clarity......oh dear.

so ring people, if i had a budget of £300, could I get a ring with three sapphires with either two or five diamonds (depending on how they were arranged), and if I were to buy something from ebay, how likely is it I'll be ripped off?

sorry, meant to say, thanks for all the lovely rings linked (way out of my budget though), and I'm looking for vintage rather than new, like the art deco style, maybe victorian too.

I've bought a diamond ring on ebay which worked out very well - the person had an insurance valuation document for it which gave me some confidence. There are a lot of adverts which are simulated, lab created stones and they don't always make it entirely obvious so you have to be careful, and I veered towards UK only although I did buy my eternity ring (new) from a US eBay jeweler.

is this the kind of style you mean (but with a different number of stones?

or something with a twist in it like this.

But at those kind of prices, what's the catch? Also looking at that one again, I'm never going to be able to get it resized to fit my modern fat fingers am I?

From what I've seen, rings don't as a whole seem to sell that well on eBay. And the ones that do well are either very unusual, or white gold/platinum solitaires. Yellow gold also doesn't tend to sell as well.

Do you know what size you need?

i think this is very pretty

Prettythings- that's what I love about ArtDeco too! Utterly timeless!

JustSpiro- I'm all for modern, but if it's going to modern it has to be REALLY out there!

Mini- if you go into an auction with a definite budget- and a fair idea about what metal prices are and the difference between stones then you have a fair chance of finding something great. Winning it is another thing entirely!

Ishallwearmidnight- Absolutely doable with your budget. I have bought jewellery on ebay before but did a lot of research on them- looking through other and previous sales as well. Also the ring with the twist in it at £32-bargain. Wonder what it will eventually go for. The twist one can be resized fairly easily, the one that statistically linked can't so you'd have to be sure you were buying your size.

Statistically, I dont find that rings do well on ebay unless they are by certain designers or are easily recognisable as being of a certain era/style. Your average diamond solitaire isn't going to get a lot of traffic.
It's a fairly nice wee ring you've linked to. I reckon the stone will be teeeeny though. It's also a modern cast (hence the price!)

I must admit I'm really surprised at some of the goodies on eBay. I could spend hours filtering the links on this thread.

MrsBC, can I pick your brains re spinels? Do they have much value these days? I have a full eternity ring (white & yellow gold, not sure of carat think maybe 14 given age and colour) set with white ones. Valued at £100 about 20 years ago but you never seem to see them anywhere these days. Not sure whether it's worth holding onto or trying to sell it.

Do you know I have never actually seen white spinels? Lol. Fairly uncommon these days, or in any case I think people assume that they are something else.

They do have a value, similar to any other stone it'll depend on colour, hue, cut etc There are some varieties that are prized more than others. You'd really need to show it to somebody in person to get an appraisal for them.

The metal in your ring will have increased significantly in value though. I suggest that you either take it for an informal valuation or get the scales out to get a guide idea of how many grams of gold you have. (Currently at about £26 a gram for £18karat FYI.)

I really hope the buyer of this looked closely at the photos.

Why? (I know nothing about jewellery but want to now!)

That is an obscene amount of money for something that looks quite pedestrian and all you have is a picture.

I like this though www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stunning-Art-Deco-Emerald-Diamond-14ct-gold-ring-/130756069699?_trksid=p4340.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26m from the same seller. Brighton is right on my doorstep, I suppose I could always pay them a visit if it was dodgy

It has a whacking great inclusion judging by the photos - there is a huge blue/black spot visible in 3 of the photos, so I don't think it's the camera. The description mentions "Minor natural inclusions"

The emerald one is lovely!

Thanks MrsBC.

I will probably hang on to it anyway as it is one of two rings my aunt gave me (it's her eternity ring from her first marriage).

It's far too small for me although I wear the other one. I'm sure my DD will appreciate it in a few years time .

statisticall you mean the relatively big black perfect circle? I had assumed that was a reflection or something, certainly not "minor"!

I didn't notice it but I have just looked again, you are right Statistically, the spot shows up in all the photos. Is that good or bad?

Bloody difficult to say but I think that the black spot is due to either a camera or a reflection of something in the background. (If they'd used a lightbox it wouldnt happen- they're only £20 FFS!)

I could be wrong though.

I like the emerald one there's either a lot of dirt on the back of the stones or there's some really gritty inclusions. (Most noticeable on the 3rd stone to the right.) You can see the little black marks in the other photos too.

I do like the colour of the stones though and the diamonds have a bit of sparkle to them. Don't think I'd be putting a bit in over £200 though- that would definitely be stretching it out.

it is in the same position on the stone, (but it moves place in terms of where it is in the overall composition) so I don't think it can be a reflection or a mark on the lens - i suspect our resident jeweler will know better but it sure as hell didn't look minor to me!

Assuming it is an inclusion it massively reduces the value of the stone - have a look here for info.

X-posted! Maybe it is just a mark - i thought that at first but then I noticed it is also visible on the photo of the person wearing it which looked like quite a different angle/lighting.

Although major lazy listing if it isn't, surely you would retake those photos

I reckon it's the lens but the photographer is taking the pictures from different angles. The spots aren't actually in the same place.....

This is my Sherlock moment lol.

If you look at the first picture, the baguette diamond on the right shoulder is a bit wonky. It's slightly too wide for the setting. (So has probably been replaced at some point.)
if you look at the second picture. The wonky baguette is still on the right hand side, but the spot has moved to the top left of the diamond.
Then in the fourth picture, the wonky baguette is still on the right but the spot is back on the lower right.

My deduction is that the cameraman took the second picture from a higher vantagepoint and angle in order to get the stone to hit the light at the angle he was holding it. The other two were taken with him leaning in towards the ring at a closer range.