I inherited my Mother’s gorgeous wedding set. Actually, it was for her 25th wedding anniversary. She was married with just a gold band. I went with my Dad to pick it out. It’s a tradition brilliant cut solitaire about 1.25 carat, and 5 diamonds on a single band. I’d like to have it set to a more updated piece that I can wear on my right hand. At first I wasn’t going to change it. I have her hands and when I put it on, it’s like looking at her. But I can’t wear 2 wedding sets, so I decided I wanted to wear it a lot, it needs to be changed.
Has anyone ever had a custom ring made and how much did that cost?
One of MIL’s pieces went to S. It was a diamond ring; we didn’t know the history of it. He worked with a jewelry designer and came up with a beautiful and unique setting as an engagement ring for his now-wife, using the stone from that ring. It’s absolutely perfect. He actually did it all remotely, even though this was pre-pandemic, and it worked out really well. (A little nerve wracking when things were being shipped, though!) The same designer created wedding bands for them, so DIL’s fits perfectly with the engagement ring.
My engagement ring is a stone from my H’s grandma; he designed a custom setting. I can’t remember the cost (it’s been more than 38 years), but I recall that it was reasonable. Material makes a difference … platinum will be more expensive than gold, and gold will be more expensive than silver. If you go to an independent jeweler, they may have setting ideas, and there may even be settings they can order from a catalog. I worked at an art school with students who created jewelry - just like anything handmade, it can get very expensive.
I took my engagement ring and wedding band and made it into one ring–sort of like a thick anniversary band. So, I supplied all of the diamonds. I worked with the jeweler to create a white gold setting. He charged me for his design time (the computer program (CAD) used to create the image and specs for the mold), and obviously for the materials/creation of the gold band from the mold and for the setting the stones in the band. I think the cost was somewhere between $1000 and $1500. I thought the price was a little high, but did not shop around because I was nervous about going with a jeweler I was not familiar with due to the value of my diamonds. I may have been able to find a jeweler to do it for less, but this particular jeweler had a great reputation and had been in business for a very long time.
What was really nice was that he was able to 3D print a sample mold of the ring (in a resin type of material–without the stones in it obviously) so that I could try it on to make sure I liked the design prior to committing to the final design.
I had a very specific idea of the design that I wanted and my jeweler was able to recreate it perfectly with his CAD computer program such that I was able to see a color picture of the what the finished product would look like prior to making my final decision.
Being a very paranoid person and knowing that my center stone was a very valuable diamond, I only gave my jeweler the side stones to hold on to (he needed to measure them in order to make the mold). He took detailed measurements of my center stone, but gave it back to me to hold on to until the ring was ready. Then on the day the ring was ready and the side stones were set, I brought my center stone to him and he had his setter set the stone while I waited. I did not feel comfortable leaving my center stone with him for the time it took us to design and create the ring. Yes, I know that was excessive, but I am glad that I did it that way because the process took a lot longer than it was supposed to and I would have been uncomfortable with the stone being out of my sight for that long.
That being said, I was very happy with the finished product and I love my new ring!
When we got married, H bought me a gold band, which was all we could afford. H surprised me on our 30th anniversary and asked a jeweler to design a diamond wedding ring and band. I met with the jeweler to talk about what I wanted, and later we spent a day in the diamond district in NYC and selected picked diamonds. for the ring. It was a fun day, but I have to say I was glad I had someone with me who knew what she was doing. The ring turned out great. Ten years later, I still get tons of compliments on it, especially from women who are into jewelry. I think the designer made a huge difference in how the ring turned out.
Yes. I have a jeweler in NYC diamond district and she does all my custom work. Several of my friends also use her after price comparisons with their own jewelers. They can design or copy from photos and everything can be done remotely. I also have her do repairs as well. It’s very difficult to find a jeweler that can be trusted but I trust her because she is a relative of my cousin on her mom’s side.
$1000-1500 sounds like the right range to me. I’m in the beginning stages of getting a new ring but with new stones. Right now we’re trying to decide on the center stone. The jeweler has already made one wax mold in the style I like and we’ve been able to press stones into place well enough to get an idea of how it will all come together.
Totally agree with this. Very subtle details in the setting can make a big difference in how the ring looks. My jeweler has already noted things about the side stone prongs that need to be changed on the next mold. We could also see that the entire ring appeared a little wide for my finger so that will be altered as well.
Thank you @PurplePlum , that helps a lot!! It’s actually slightly bigger than my wedding finger, but when my fingers get swollen, it fits perfect. I’ve even thought just to keep as it is for those times. Plus, it’s white gold vs. my yellow gold and I thought it might be nice to have something different. Not sure how hubby feels about that though.,haha. Probably doesn’t care.
So S just got back to me, he says last year he paid around $2k for the ring, it was a platinum seeing and they added 2 small diamonds in addition to the one from MIL’s ring. Good luck!
I looked into redoing my wedding set and was told that the cost was going to depend on the complexity of the design and if they need to add any more materials to the new ring. Based on what I wanted, the estimate was also in the neighborhood of 2K. I ended up leaving it as is. Seemed like potentially a lot of money and my set is just fine ; )
That said, my mom had this huge ring that she got on her honeymoon in Asia that she never wore but was 18 k and had a ton of semi precious stones in it. She took the ring to Italy when she went back to visit family. Left it at a jeweler the first day of the trip with basically no parameters other than to make it into two rings. She picked them up on the last day and they are GORGEOUS!!! She paid peanuts. If I recall, for sure less than $250 (this was about 7 years ago which was also her last trip abroad) and they also did a bunch of repair work for her on some bracelets and earrings for that price. The ring is probably the most complimented piece of jewelry I own.
So, maybe wait and hold off, and combine with a trip to Italy ; ).