Platinum Engagement Ring ?
Q.My fiancee (soon-to-be) and I are planning on using the diamond from his mother's wedding ring (she passed away when he was six years old) in my engagement ring. I'm really touched by what we're doing--the ring will become an important heirloom. We live in DC now, but will be getting married in, and moving to, Chicago. Does anyone know anything about buying a setting, or getting a setting made for a ring? I really would like platinum . . . We're just not sure how to go about getting this done, and we've no idea what it will cost.
A.We also used an heirloom diamond. It was Robert's great-grandmother's, passed on to Robert's mother and it meant a lot to me that she suggested we use it since she knows how I love antique jewelry. I, too, wanted it to be set in plantinum and specifically an antique style setting. I started by looking in the phonebook under regular jewelers who listed that they sold "estate" and "antique" jewelry. We looked at many of these places who had some nice settings. Most however were not platinum, but white gold. One jeweler we tried sold some estate pieces but also dealt with a company called "Whitehouse" who makes platinum (and gold) settings from the same casts that they were using 100+ years ago. The jeweler had a catalog from Whitehouse. We chose my setting from them. It's from the Edwardian period, around 1910. It's very beautiful! The jeweler will be making the wedding band to go with it. Rings are priced according to the amount of metal in them, and the amount of work put into them. I know, elementary, but it does need restating for the following reason: my platinum band was in the high $300s, because I have a tiny ring finger and I didn't want a bulky band (it's flattish, but not completely). Joe's 18k band, on the other hand, cost over $100 more, because he has a larger ring size, and he chose a band with milgrain edging. I *did* try on a platinum band that was about $900 (I saw the price *after* I decided not to get it-- good thing!), but it was a lot heavier and bulkier, so I didn't buy it. Platinum is very durable, so I don't think it matters if you get a thick or a thin band, as long as you like it. And there's always white gold, which is less expensive but looks very nice. I honestly can't tell you why I chose plat.; I was just drawn to it. And it's not as if we have lots of $$! We just choose to spend it differently than other couples might. My ring is a mixture of gold and platinum. I wear a size 9 and the quote I got was almost $500. The rings that are only platinum that I found were about $600 - 800. Most store I went to only had the rings in catalogs, but not in stock. When we went looking for settings for the engagement ring, the cost difference was about $800 between white gold and platinum ($2500). My matching platinum band (very plain) cost about $360, 3mm wide in DC area. My platinum wedding band, size 5.5, 3mm wide cost $500 CDN. Jeff's platinum band, size 8 (I think) 4mm wide cost $700 CDN. If I recall correctly, comparable bands in white gold would have cost less than $100 each. When we were shopping around we found a huge variation in price depending on the store.
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