Can you help me find a mass-produced ring?
October 14, 2016 11:14 AM Subscribe
About 15 years ago, I bought a mass-produced piece of fine jewelry, and about 10 years ago, I lost it. Is there any way to find a copy?
In 2000, my mother took me to a local jeweler and bought me a ring, which was yellow gold with an opal and some detailing on the band. The jeweler did not make or fix jewelry in their shop, not even ring sizing, and carried what I would consider to be a very standard mass-produced stock. The ring probably cost $250 at most. It didn't fit right and at some point in my later life, I lost the ring, which I now greatly regret.
I am pretty sure I could find a jeweler who could make me a copy based on my memories of it, but I keep coming back to the fact that the thing was mass-produced for cheap and there are probably a bunch of copies out there, if only I knew how to find them. Is this an impossible dream? I don't know the brand/manufacturer, and although I've done some online searching, 'gold opal ring' is so vague that it's not helping.
If I could get the brand or any more details from my mother, would it be possible to find that way? If magically my mother saved a detailed receipt or the jeweler (which is still open, but we have not been there in 10+ years) has that information, could I use that to find a copy? Am I just overestimating the likelihood that a copy might still exist out there somewhere?
If I can't find a copy of the original, I will probably try to get a reproduction made. I can't find any good pictures of the ring in my photo albums. Would a custom jeweler be willing to work with a sketch and a description to reproduce something like this? Would there be a copyright issue or anything like that with reproducing someone else's design? Would it be easier to just invent a time machine and warn my younger self to get my ring sized? :) Thanks for reading/assistance.
In 2000, my mother took me to a local jeweler and bought me a ring, which was yellow gold with an opal and some detailing on the band. The jeweler did not make or fix jewelry in their shop, not even ring sizing, and carried what I would consider to be a very standard mass-produced stock. The ring probably cost $250 at most. It didn't fit right and at some point in my later life, I lost the ring, which I now greatly regret.
I am pretty sure I could find a jeweler who could make me a copy based on my memories of it, but I keep coming back to the fact that the thing was mass-produced for cheap and there are probably a bunch of copies out there, if only I knew how to find them. Is this an impossible dream? I don't know the brand/manufacturer, and although I've done some online searching, 'gold opal ring' is so vague that it's not helping.
If I could get the brand or any more details from my mother, would it be possible to find that way? If magically my mother saved a detailed receipt or the jeweler (which is still open, but we have not been there in 10+ years) has that information, could I use that to find a copy? Am I just overestimating the likelihood that a copy might still exist out there somewhere?
If I can't find a copy of the original, I will probably try to get a reproduction made. I can't find any good pictures of the ring in my photo albums. Would a custom jeweler be willing to work with a sketch and a description to reproduce something like this? Would there be a copyright issue or anything like that with reproducing someone else's design? Would it be easier to just invent a time machine and warn my younger self to get my ring sized? :) Thanks for reading/assistance.
The jeweler is still around, so you should ask them. They may have a record of what you bought, or they may have catalogs or at least the name of the vendor they bought mass-produced rings from 15 years ago. Smaller businesses are more likely to keep this kind of information, and they may still be working with that vendor. Or someone on the Internet will be familiar with the vendor, or the industry terms you should search for.
A custom jeweler can almost certainly do it but it'll be more expensive than the ebay price of a comparable ring.
posted by blnkfrnk at 12:50 PM on October 14, 2016
A custom jeweler can almost certainly do it but it'll be more expensive than the ebay price of a comparable ring.
posted by blnkfrnk at 12:50 PM on October 14, 2016
Do you regret losing it because it was such an amazing ring, or because it was a gift from your mum? If the latter, it might be easier to ask her to come with you to pick out a new ring for yourself, make a day out of it, treat her to a meal or cocktails (because it's your turn to treat her) and create some new memories attached to the new ring.
Sorry if this is wide of the mark - I say this because I have a weird thing with ring-related sentiment... a few years ago I lost a much-loved ring, the most expensive piece of jewellery I've ever owned. I would have been devastated, except that the same day, I heard one of my colleagues had dropped dead in his 40s. He wasn't even a close friend, but the close conjunction of the two events made it completely impossible to feel sad about something so relatively minor as losing a ring. I bought a new, much cheaper ring, and it sometimes reminds me how lucky I am to be alive and kicking. Which is all to say - if it's the sentiment of the gift you want to replace rather than the exact style of ring - sentiment can be transferred or cast anew.
posted by penguin pie at 3:47 PM on October 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
Sorry if this is wide of the mark - I say this because I have a weird thing with ring-related sentiment... a few years ago I lost a much-loved ring, the most expensive piece of jewellery I've ever owned. I would have been devastated, except that the same day, I heard one of my colleagues had dropped dead in his 40s. He wasn't even a close friend, but the close conjunction of the two events made it completely impossible to feel sad about something so relatively minor as losing a ring. I bought a new, much cheaper ring, and it sometimes reminds me how lucky I am to be alive and kicking. Which is all to say - if it's the sentiment of the gift you want to replace rather than the exact style of ring - sentiment can be transferred or cast anew.
posted by penguin pie at 3:47 PM on October 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone for the answers. Yours hit a little close to home, penguin pie, which is why I took some time to respond to this. It is the sentiment that keeps this ring in my mind. My parents are aging and I'm looking back on my childhood and thinking about how unappreciative I was growing up. It's like I think that if i can find the thing and wear it again, it will show her how much I really cared about all of her gifts.
I may still try to find a decent copy of the ring, but in the meantime, will spend some more time with my mom. Thanks again for all the help.
posted by possibilityleft at 10:23 AM on November 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
I may still try to find a decent copy of the ring, but in the meantime, will spend some more time with my mom. Thanks again for all the help.
posted by possibilityleft at 10:23 AM on November 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
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I would also go to the store and try to find out if they mostly carry stock from just a few suppliers, and if they've been carrying from any of the same suppliers for over ten years. It's thin, but having a few specific manufacturers or trademarks to search more exhaustively might help.
posted by anonymisc at 11:40 AM on October 14, 2016