Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with diamonds and jewelry

Could you tell me about how much these diamond earrings are worth? More inside...

picapica — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:32:49 -0800

Could you tell me about how much these diamond earrings are worth? More inside... I would like to find out about how much these diamond earrings are worth, but I don't need an exact amount. Can anyone help me with this?

Relevant information:
-2 diamond earrings, purchased for $600.00 in 1975
-14k white gold setting
-.96 point (This I don't quite understand. On the receipt it says ".96 Point", but on another tag it says "96 TW".)

Thank you!!

What's the best ring setting for a miner's cut diamond?

plinsky — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:20:42 -0800

I recently inherited a large diamond in a "miner's cut," which is somewhat square and has an old-fashioned look to it. I want to get it set into a ring, but am not sure what kind of setting would be best for this cut of diamond. Can anyone help?

Will acetone nail polish remover damage gold?

librarianamy — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:44:37 -0800

Removing nail polish from a diamond & white gold engagement ring? Asking for a friend - she was painting her nails with a dark red Sephora brand nail polish, and got some on her engagement ring. The ring is 14K white gold, and the polish is dried and on the part where the little diamonds and metal meet. She's already tried store bought jewelry cleaner and it's just made the rest of the ring sparkly. Googling brings up information on removing nail polish in general, and using clear polish to prevent tarnish on cheap jewelry. Would using regular acetone polish remover damage the metal? If it would cause damage, are there other in-house options?

Thanks!

Diamonds: What cut is more desirable?

jwfree — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:31:44 -0800

Which do you prefer, round or princess cut diamonds? Why? What are the pros/cons to each? My girlfriend's birthday is coming up and so I think it's about time to buy her diamond earrings (studs) for the first time. Size wise I was not thinking anything too crazy, around 0.15 in size.

I am a guy and I am partial to princess cut myself but I have heard that with smaller diamonds that are round will shine more. Since I plan on getting around the 0.15 in size, the more shine the better!

Ladies, any suggestions or tips?

Gentlemen, any words of wisdom?

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.

Jewelers and their ubiquitous calculator... why?

ab5000 — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:18:03 -0800

Why do jewelers always insist of giving prices read from a calculator screen and not from the price tag of the piece I'm looking at? Do they give different people different prices? Or is it a way of accounting for fluctuating prices of gold or gems from week to week?

Selling our grandmother's jewelry

killerinsideme — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 18:54:17 -0800

Please help my sister and me liberate ourselves (in a wise way) from a bitter, albeit shiny, inheritance Our grandmother died years ago and we've finally admitted to ourselves and each other that we will never want to wear any of her jewelry. The memories it brings up aren't pleasant and, in the intervening years, my sister has had to factor its value into her homeowner's insurance, which totally sucks.

I'm moving out of Brooklyn in the next couple weeks and she is coming to help me. We plan that she'll bring the jewelry and we'll sell it here in NY somewhere (a friend of hers did that and was happy with the result).

It's mostly 18-24k yellow gold bangles and necklaces. There are also a couple of cocktail rings. The only advice we've had so far is to remove the gems from the rings, sell the metal by itself, keep the stones and get them reset. As my sister says, "No one in our family is ever going to buy a diamond again, right?" Right. Might as well keep these, then?

So...

Do you have some advice in a general way about selling old jewelry, or specific recommendations about where to take it in New York City? I should warn you that we are not at all hardnosed people and we're not good at bargaining. In addition, this grandmother was our beloved mother's mother, our mother died well before her time (and before her own mother) 15 years ago AND their relationship was.... tense. As you've no doubt gathered by now, these objects are extremely emotionally loaded. Both of us are quite fragile when dealing with them and I'd like this to be as painless as possible. We want to rid ourselves of these things, but we also want to be smart. There's not a lot of precious metal floating around in our family.

What makes certain jewelry good?

mikeh — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 09:04:06 -0800

Jewelry design? Suppose, for the sake of conversation, I'd like to know about key designers and what makes for "good" jewelry. I recently was in a conversation where someone mentioned his girlfriend's love of jewelry from Tiffany and I kind of threw out the default complaint about jewelry being a waste of money and how the materials often involve exploiting forced child labor, etc. I realized that I actually know very little about the jewelry industry.

Outside of the rarity/quality of gems and precious metals, what is prized? I know that custom jewelry is often designed for those who can afford it, but are there big name designers of mass produced jewelry or are different stores just known for styles? I've seen a lot of seemingly generic jewelry and for such an expensive item I would imagine there's more to the story.

Note that I'm more interested in higher-priced items that include precious materials, although craftier designer items may apply too.

Capital jewelry

thewittyname — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 14:18:10 -0800

I'm looking for recommendations for a reputable jeweler in the Washington DC area. I'm going to be buying an engagement ring, and I have a pretty good idea of what I want and how much I want to pay for it. I've looked around on-line, but I want to visit some real stores as well. I'd prefer to stay away from mall chains like Kay Jewelrs and the such, but I have no experience with buying jewelry of any kind. I'm worried about getting scammed, can anyone help?

Any recommendations (especially for shops in Montgomery County, Maryland) would be greatly appreciated.

Need engagement ring advice for best quality / value combination.

PrinceValium — Fri, 26 Dec 2003 09:57:43 -0800

Need engagement ring advice. [more inside]