Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with diamond and jewelry

What is the hierarchy of high-end jewelry brands in New York?

L'homme armé — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:22:39 -0800

What are the most impressive/exclusive quality diamond jewelry brands with a retail presence in Manhattan? I am looking for those that are known to the reasonably knowledgeable New Yorker but not necessarily as well-known outside. I worry that Tiffany is too over-exposed and perhaps not the best value for the money.

More specifically, I am looking to buy for someone in the upper half of her 30's who has lived in New York for about 15 years and has a classy, timeless sense of style but is brand-conscious. Thus the name on the box must be recognizable.

A few alternatives come to mind: H. Stern, Cartier, De Beers, Harry Winston, Piaget, Van Cleef but I don't have any idea how they rank on quality, value, or brand recognition. Can you provide some insights?

Engagement Ethics Optimization: Estate Jewelry / MYOR

lalochezia — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 10:41:11 -0800

Buying an engagement ring. Advice wanted on a) Estate Jewelry: recommendations on how to buy & not get ripped off. b) Make-your-own-ring workshops: how to get a good used diamond. c) recommendations for both of the above in the LA / SoCal area. My sweetie wants a diamond ring for her engagement. I want to give her one. I would like to avoid Tifffany, Big Box stores and even (gasp) Blue Nile. I'd either like to make my own ring or buy her an unusual used one.

I'd like to either

i) Buy her Estate Jewelry: it's more unique, doesn't contribute significantly to the demand for new diamonds, and considering the value of diamonds drops precipitously after being used, should provide a good deal.

How do I get a good deal? How do I avoid being ripped off? Does anyone have any good recommendations from PERSONAL experience in Southern California with used/estate jewelry?

Alternatively

ii) There are workshops (in SF and NYC) where you can craft your own engagement ring with your own hands: they provide eco-gold and tuition and you provide the stone.
Does anyone know whether there is a similar person/organization who runs a workshop like this in SoCal? (google fails me on this count)? How would I go about buying a used diamond for this process?

I have seen the many questions on AskMe before, but none address the points above. Please: no all diamonds are evil spiels. No non-diamond gems. No new natural diamonds. If anyone can show me white synthetic diamonds that are indistinguishable from the natural stuff, go right ahead. I know her ring size and I know her taste: we've looked at rings together & have pictures of ones she likes.

I've made my peace with buying some compressed carbon. I just want to perform an optimization on the nature of the transaction to maximize my ethics within the framework of buying a Rock.

Where to get an old ring?

greta simone — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 15:57:02 -0800

Where can I find estate/antique jewelry in the Triangle area? My friend is coming into town (Chapel Hill) to seek my help in picking out an engagement ring for his girlfriend. I have been put in charge of finding places to take him. He wants to look at vintage/estate/antique rings and my google-fu isn't too stong on this one, nor is my yellow-pages-fu, or my craigslist-fu. I would prefer actual stores and not online stores or online listings.
Also, seeing as how I hate driving, I would like for these places to at least try and be limited to Chapel Hill/Carrboro, Pittsboro (which we are definitely going to hit up--I'm thinking with all the antique stores down there this would be a good idea, right?), Hillsborough, and the lower end of Durham (I get lost in north Durham).
Also I hate driving to Raleigh. But if there is somewhere in Raleigh that we absolutley have to go to because there is a huge selection with reasonable pricing, then by all means, let me know.
Also keep in mind that this is going to be about a $4,000 kind of buy not a $100,000 kind of buy, so don't send me to an auction house or something.
Thanks in advance for the help-

Selling jewelry in LA: Ebay?

sirion — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 20:24:23 -0800

My girlfriend would like to sell a silver heart necklace with a small (~0.10 ct) diamond. It was purchased ~6 years ago for ~$400 on clearance somewhere. That's about all the information we have about it. Questions: What's the best way of going about selling such a thing? Ebay? Does it need to be appraised? How much does that typically cost? We're in Los Angeles.

Selling an engagement ring.

Irontom — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 10:28:21 -0800

Any Advice on the best way to sell a ring and not get ripped off? A friend of mine has an engagement ring he would like to sell (the relationship died some time ago, before he popped the question). It was originally worth $2,500 and he would like to maximize his return. Clearly, a pawn shop is not the way to go, but neither of us know what other options there are.

LA Jewelers for Resizing

rio — Sun, 18 Jul 2004 11:02:25 -0800

Jewelry Question: I would like to get my engagement ring cleaned and resized smaller. I'm worried about this because I've heard stories of jewelers taking the ring from you to the "back" to do the work, but then exchanging the diamonds for lower quality stones. Also, it doesn't need a major resize...it's just large enough to annoy me (keeps turning around on my finger, for example), but it won't fall off by itself. There are SO many listings for jewelers -- I feel like its like finding a good mechanic -- difficult, and better if you can get a recommendation. Can anyone recommend a jeweler (in the Los Angeles area) that they trust and had a good experience/history with? Is it a bad idea to resize a platinum ring with diamonds in it to a slightly smaller size? [Oh--and I don't want to go back to where the ring was purchased.]