You Get What You Pay For

A customer recently remarked, "I can get my ring sized cheaper elsewhere."

My prices are set on what it costs to run my shop and my standards are higher than others. For instance, I use high temperature solder to size rings because it is stronger and matches the color of the jewelry better. Easy flowing, lower temperature solder is much easier to use and less expensive because it contains less actual gold, not to mention faster, but it's not as strong and there might be a color mismatch that shows a slight seam. Did you ever have a ring that broke after sizing? This might have been the cause.


When your ring is brought in to a jeweler to be sized larger, we must cut the ring and add a piece of gold to make the ring physically larger. No, we can't just stretch it. I warm up the ring so I can see if it has been sized before, and if so, see if it has had gold added to it in the past. It's not uncommon for me to test a ring and find two or three pieces added for sizing. Now, if gold has been added in the past, I cut this material out and add one larger piece to size the ring larger. As a jeweler, I want as few solder joints as possible in a ring sizing and having one piece of gold rather that two or three is the best way to achieve this. Replacing this gold that's already there is expensive for me, but it's better for the ring and the consumer. It also assures me that the proper solder and techniques were used to size the ring. This process takes more time and gold but it's the best way to size your ring.


I am a Jewelers of America Certified Master Jeweler and my standards are high not only for myself but also the jewelry I work on. My prices are reasonable, but not cheap, and do you really want the cheapest person working on your wedding set?


So, you can see it's like your father always said, you get what you paid for.