Wedding ring woes

Sakebomb

EDIT: you must say the title of this thread 3 times fast before replying

My fiancé picked out a ring she absolutely adored from an antique store, its just missing a stone.* She hates diamonds, loves sapphires, now I’m pulling my hair out trying to find one.* There’s just such a lack of consistent pricing information out there, it’s driving me crazy.
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I took the ring to a place called Gallerie Jewelers here in town to have it cleaned.* The gentleman there made me an offer for a 0.87 ct Fine, heat treated Sapphire from Ceylon for $800.
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But then last night I found something similar (as far as I can tell) for $87.00 on ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/0.87ct-Rich-Cornflower-Blue-Ceylon-Sapphire-Emerald-Cut_W0QQitemZ380133161305QQcmdZViewItem
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And then and even bigger difference in price ratio here
http://www.eceylonsapphire.com/featuredetails0307.aspx *0.56ct Ceylon for 84.99
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And here
http://www.eceylonsapphire.com/featuredetails0307.aspx *0.24ct Ceylon Round for 9.99
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Also found another in the same carat range for $360ish, but cant find the link…..
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Sorry about the poor formatting, I’m posting from my phone.*
I have a very very basic idea of what to be looking for as far as quality, clarity etc. If anyone can tell me some useful tips on what to look for to get a good stone without getting ripped off, I’d greatly appreciate it.
Thanks.
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Chanus

I thought real sapphires were pretty much impossible to find now. At least, I remember hearing something about that.

mystikspyral

Chanus wrote: »

I thought real sapphires were pretty much impossible to find now. At least, I remember hearing something about that.

They're almost impossible to find now but they are still available. The natural ones are super expensive but worth the money. The lab created ones are hideous.

ceres

I would never buy a gem off ebay, especially at those prices. Never. It could, by random chance, turn out okay and you get a nice, real stone that fits your setting and is of high quality, but again, I think that would be by random chance.

It's worth keeping in mind that the difference in size you're describing is not really that small, and also the fact that if you buy it from the guy at the store and you're not satisfied with your gem you have someone you can walk up to and yell at until he fixes it, unlike Random Sale #6473857564738 on eBay.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't shop around... definitely do so, because $800 is a lot of money. But buy something like that from someone you can look in the eye if you need to, and when the time comes to buy get all the paperwork you can on your stone, especially if you're going to pay that much for it.

My engagement ring cost $texas, but we got if from Zales so we have a stack of paperwork a mile high for it, and if the setting breaks they'll replace the diamond. When you spend a lot of money on a piece of jewelry, you want some accountability for it.

mystikspyral

I second this. You never really know what you're going to get off of ebay. If you're buying something as important as a ring for your lady don't buy from there.

You had the right idea initially. If you can, shop around at a few different jewelry stores in your town. Pick the one you feel is the most reputable, that way you can hand over your antique ring and check on the order status in person.

Ebay or some internet seller can rip you off with very little consequence. A store in your home town will have much more invested in buyer satisfaction and word of mouth.

addition: Also, much more invested in your little lady proudly flashing it around.

Figgy

ceres wrote: »

When you spend a lot of money on a piece of jewelry, you want some accountability for it.

This. If you buy at a big-ticket store, you're almost guaranteed to be over-paying at least somewhat, but you get better service in return.

I just purchased an engagement ring, and when I looked around after I found I could probably have found that same stone with a similar band for maybe $500 cheaper. Thing is, if anything ever went wrong I'd be more or less out of luck because the cheaper places were mostly online stores.

The place I went to has a pretty impressive warranty and everything on the ring. Hell, if the main stone ever falls out and is lost, they will god damn replace it!

saint2e

As an aside, I just bought an engagement ring not too long ago for my fiance, and had pink sapphires put in as sidestones into the ring, so I'm not sure how rare they are...

mystikspyral

saint2e wrote: »

As an aside, I just bought an engagement ring not too long ago for my fiance, and had pink sapphires put in as sidestones into the ring, so I'm not sure how rare they are...

Were the stones treated, heated, lab created, natural?

grungebox

My fiancee has a sapphire solitaire ring. We just went with a reputable wholesaler and had them find the gem. The price your jeweler quoted sounds about right. I would not trust eBay.

If she's willing to deal with lab-created sapphires (which are identical), the brand Chatham produces very nice sapphires. My fiancee loved them when the local jeweler showed them to us...but she preferred the "natural" Sri Lankan sapphire instead. My two cents.