The gold on the back of my engagement ring has grown very thin over the years. Worried that it may soon wear all the way through, I took it to a jewelry store in town that's known for excellent craftsmanship to see if they could add some gold. Their goldsmith looked at the ring and said that the gold on the prongs holding the diamond in place is also wearing thin. Ideally the mounting should be replaced, but they could also solder some gold to the prongs for a sort of temporary fix that should last a few years. To fix the back of the ring they would cut off the shank and affix a new gold backing to the ring. All this would cost about $365-$375. That would include adding a new mounting. Cost would be about $275 to simply add gold solder to the prongs while replacing the back of the ring.
The ring is a solitaire, with a traditional Tiffany-style setting.
An alternative would be to buy a new ring setting, which is really not what I want to do since I love this ring, DH picked it out for me so many years ago, and it bears all the sentiment of that.
But here's the clincher. They had in their sample box a ring setting that's nearly identical to my ring, it's my size, it would fit my stone, and since this style seems to have gone out of fashion, they offered it to me at just a bit over $200. My reservations include the fact that the white gold ring mount (the prongs, or crown or whatever it's called) don't look quite as substantial around the base as those of my current ring. And of course, it's not the ring DH bought me.
My questions:
What would you do?
Does anyone have an engagement ring in which the prongs have worn down due to age, and what did you do about it?
Has anyone ever replaced the back of their engagement ring when it thinned?
Anything else I should consider?
The ring is a solitaire, with a traditional Tiffany-style setting.
An alternative would be to buy a new ring setting, which is really not what I want to do since I love this ring, DH picked it out for me so many years ago, and it bears all the sentiment of that.
But here's the clincher. They had in their sample box a ring setting that's nearly identical to my ring, it's my size, it would fit my stone, and since this style seems to have gone out of fashion, they offered it to me at just a bit over $200. My reservations include the fact that the white gold ring mount (the prongs, or crown or whatever it's called) don't look quite as substantial around the base as those of my current ring. And of course, it's not the ring DH bought me.
My questions:
What would you do?
Does anyone have an engagement ring in which the prongs have worn down due to age, and what did you do about it?
Has anyone ever replaced the back of their engagement ring when it thinned?
Anything else I should consider?