Green/inexpensive jewelry alternatives

[mrgorth]

So I'm about to be engaged and my future fiance says that she is simple and would be happy with a $10 ring from Target. While this lack of consumerism is great, I'm worried about quality. I guess pawn shops are an option but I don't want to buy a ring with bad mojo attached to it. I see some options out there like brilliantearth and greenkarat but they seem pretty pricey. Are there no inexpensive options?

Thanks.

[politicat]

1. How about Etsy?

Find something hand-made and/or recycled?

Or try an antique jewelry shop -- that's recycled, too.

DH bought my engagement ring at a SF&F convention, and it's very evocative -- it's a garnet and a citrine on an oval setting, and the artist named it "Binary System". Since for us, marriage is a lot like being part of a binary system (we have our own orbits, but we have a common center of gravity), it works. I think the ring was in the $50 range.

We got our wedding rings at an antique jeweler's; mine is from engraved (probably an engagement ring given on 8 August, 1887) and is a large cabochon garnet set in rose gold. His is a white gold band from the 1920s. Total cost - $370.

It doesn't matter so much how much you spend, as how much thought you put into it, and what it says to the two of you.

[Coyote_Bandit]

2. How about

making your own knotted wire rings? Or having them made?

http://www.golden-knots.com/index.html

[supernova]

3. Try estate sales and auctions

Many people sell family jewelry after grandma's/grandpa's death. Sad, but true.

Look for anything made from the 1920s on back. You can get fabulous historic cuts and good quality stones with settings that are rare today such as white and rose gold or even platinum for a fraction of their insurance/historical value. But you have to know what you are looking at.

I've seen rings that in the store brand new today would be in the 2K range and up go for $500 or there abouts.

It's also green and eco friendly because you are recycling an existing item. :-)

Congrats.

[mrgorth]

4. Thanks all.

I went to see the jeweler I got my ex's diamond from. He had a very simple white gold band with a 1/5K diamond in it for $300. It just kept calling to me so I went with that. She seems very happy with it. :)

[lib_wit_it]

5. Don't go too cheap. The diamond fell out of my ring a few years back and I've had a series of 15

to 20 dollar stand-ins that have left a black or green residue on my finger and/or looked like crap after less than a year because the plating wore off.

(I haven't got my little diamond--which I fortunately found in my bed sheets--reset because my grandmother, who passed on one of her old stones to me, because along with it she passed on a mistrust of jewelers which was born out by an awful incident I experienced personally.)


The vintage/antique, suggested up-thread, is a good way to go.

Best wishes!