Cost of diamond repair?

June 17, 2013 2:24 PM

YANMJ(eweler), but maybe you've had to have a similar ring repair made? If so, how much did it run you? Looking for ballpark figures.

I inherited a diamond cocktail ring very similar to this one (sorry, no picture of the original, as it is 250 miles away with my parents).

The ring belonged to my grandmother. I am sure it was purchased at a JCPenney or somewhere similar. Real, but not top of the line. I am mostly interested in repairing it for sentimental reasons. And because it's pretty.

One of the prongs for the tiniest diamonds is broken off, and the diamond itself is missing. If I had to guess, the missing guy is 1/14th of a carat. Very small. Anyone have any idea what the cost of replacing the diamond and repairing the (14k gold) prong might run me?

(Yes, I will eventually take it to a jeweler to have an estimate, but my husband is asking for birthday gift ideas and this is what I will ask for if it is cheap enough. If it's out of our birthday-gift price range, it will have to wait, thus getting the ring and taking it to a jeweler can wait!)

I've never had jewelry repaired, so I'm clueless. Thanks!!!

posted by peacrow to Shopping (3 answers total)

Best answer: I had my grandmother's ring fixed - it was bent out of shape and a small diamond was missing - and it came to about $160. My ring was falling apart and I had a choice between getting the setting repaired (all the prongs fixed and the bottom half of the band replaced) for $350 or getting a brand new setting for $650. All of this was 14K white gold.
posted by artychoke at 2:35 PM on June 17, 2013

Best answer: artychoke's estimate sounds about right. I would say $25-50 for the diamond (small diamonds like this are known as melee if that helps you get estimates) and $100 for labor. However, given the age of the piece they may recommend tightening and/or repairing all the prongs, and that would cost more but is not a bad idea to prevent more stones falling out.
posted by payoto at 2:54 PM on June 17, 2013

Just got my wedding ring repaired, I had lost one small diamond and the prongs around my big diamond needed replaced so they just replaced the whole head for the big diamond. White gold, cost me a total of 390.00 to have work done.

Also, they will give you an estimate of the cost before fixing it.
posted by just asking at 7:13 PM on June 17, 2013