Where to shop for a men's engraved pendant necklace?

July 7, 2019 11:45 AM

I'd like to give a gift of a custom engraved pendant necklace to a special guy, but not sure if I should start by looking at local jewelers or finding an online vendor.

I'm picturing a gold chain with a simple engraved pendant — the engraving would be a 34-character phrase, including spaces. I'm planning to spend in the $2-3k range for this piece to celebrate our engagement. I know the recipient would like a chain necklace, has worn these in the past, and prefers traditional gold material.

I'm hoping for guidance to start my shopping for this piece, and wondering:

- Are there any specific online shops I should look at? Googling so far has brought me mostly Etsy results (a little lower budget/lower quality than I'm aiming for, but would love a recommendation for a specific vendor if you have one) or big box stores like Kay or Nordstroms.

- Am I better off looking for local jewelers (I'm in the DC area, if anyone has recs there)? Any specific questions I should be asking?

- Are there other specific considerations to keep in mind for this purchase (type of chain, pendant material or size to fit the full phrase, options for font / engraving style, etc.)?

I don't have much (any!) experience in shopping for fine jewelry, so thanks in advance for your answers and advice!

posted by pants to Shopping (4 answers total)

Best answer: What I would try to do is first buy a chain you like. Pick the type of link and the gold content you think your guy would prefer. Then start looking around at local jewellers and take the chain with you. The reason I suggest this is that you want the pendant to match the colour of the chain. Some golds are paler, some are brighter, some are more yellow and some are more brassy. Partly that depends on the karat but it also depends on the combination of metals, and the way the gold is treated (Is it textured? Is it diamond cut? Etc.)

Then when you're talking to the jeweller, you should specify that you want a pendant that matches the colour of the chain. This would be much harder to do via online shopping, unless you want to send the chain the the person at the other end of the computer.

I know a lot of people will probably say that matching the gold colour isn't really necessary, but if this is a gift that your fiancé will be wearing for the rest of his life (or at least on significant occasions) I'd think you'd want it to look like one complete unit.

As for the chain itself, since you're buying for a man, I think the suggestion is to typically look for something in the 22"-24" inch range, but again that's something that should be tailored to the recipient's personality. Would he prefer to wear it higher up the neck or lower on the chest?
posted by sardonyx at 1:59 PM on July 7, 2019

Conversely, if you want to buy pendant first (and not have one made from scratch), try to match the colour of the chain to the colour of the pendant. Either way, make sure you see the two pieces together and make sure they work as a whole.
posted by sardonyx at 2:03 PM on July 7, 2019

Here's a place you might start looking. (Sorry, it has been decades since I last bought a piece of fine handmade jewellery in D.C. so I can't suggest anything from personal experience.)
posted by sardonyx at 2:11 PM on July 7, 2019

I don’t know what style you are looking for, but you can set Etsy filters up to search within a price range. And it does bring up options that are in your price range.
posted by MountainDaisy at 4:36 PM on July 7, 2019