Please tell me why.

Mazza said:

Oh what a shame, LATI. Such a nice idea for a legacy but it does sound the most awful faff.

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I'm going on holiday and will see if there is something which is out of the ordinary but it's not something I would like to dive into given the value (been known to buy on holiday in a rush and lived to regret it)

Loving jewellery, I thought just hunting something out would be a real pleasure but unfortunately not!

Have you looked in Jewellers that sell pre owned?

loveallthingsitalian said:

I was left a small legacy and wanted to buy a really good quality piece of gold, preferably a bangle rather than just flutter it away.

Well....a heck of a lot easier said than done. I have travelled far and wide with no success so far.

Number 1, jewellers just don't hold a stock of gold items to show you
Number 2 anything they do stock is so boring - terrified to be anything but ultra safe
Number 3 - the prices for the lightest of items is eye watering (my budget is respectable so I'm not being unrealistic)
One jeweller is supposed to be getting me one from his supplier but 3 weeks and not a sausage. ( my purchase would probably be more than he would take in on a good day)

One jeweller will make me something but it's a bit of a gamble. She will also use very heavyweight old jewellery to make into a single bangle but the price on top of the scrap gold value is a fair bit.

TBH I've nearly gone off the idea it has been such a faff.


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I had a lot of scrap gold that I took to my jeweller to have made into a plain gold bangle. He told me that sending it to a jewellery designer would bump up the price, did I have something in silver or a base metal that they could take a cast of. As it happened I did. So off went my scrap, my old silver bangle that I'd picked up in another jeweller's that did pre-owned, and a few weeks later I had my shiny new, solid gold bangle.

It's perfect for me as I don't take it off, so no dinks. My silver bangle also came back nicely polished, too. It cost me about £80 at the time - labour only. I didn't mind as I now have something I wear all the time and really love. Oh, and the jeweller inscribed the inside for me, too, which would have cost about £25. Bargain.

Go for it. Or look hard for something pre-owned that you'll love.

Does anyone remember eek set in platinum? I bought a beautiful marquise centre with two round side stones for £125 in 1999. Quite a lot for eek, but it was fantastic quality, weighty and solid.

Few months later I gave it to my jeweller friend who flipped it and checked the hallmark - no DQ mark back then - saw the hallmark and offered me £500. He was very taken aback when I grinned and told him the stones were CZ and has always checked the stones as well as the hallmarks since.

Those were the days.

I would imagine the idea is to have something that bridges the gap between the less expensive plated jewellery and the real deal. To find diamonds of the quality Diamonique simulates would be the deciding factor that would put a piece out of most ordinary people's reach, so it's the gemstone that's the tipping point. Unless you are royalty or someone like Tova who gets given diamonds by the likes of Princess Grace of Monaco you're not going to have gold AND diamonds of that size and quality.

Thankfully Tova has designed a range of pieces so that you can simulate the look whilst swelling her coffers so that she can buy even more of the real deal and also fund her gravity-and-logic-defying face. Thanks, Tova!

Personally I don't have a huge problem with QVC setting Diamonique into gold. It's virtually the same as a diamond on the mohs scale and it can look nice. If people want a bit of bling and it makes them happy, so be it! I don't think it looks particuarly realistic but like anything I guess it depends on how it's worn. I am sure the real gold pieces look infinitely better than the plated items. I spend a lot of time watching TJC and so many of their so-called "overlay" pieces look like something you'd get out of a Christmas cracker! They do have their "Iliana" range which is set into 14ct if I@m not mistaken and it does look very nice.

I bought a moisanite ring set in gold after all the hype on IW, but I didn't actually buy it from them, but direct from the makers on a special offer.

When the exchange rate was better I used to buy jewellery from an American jeweller who hand makes everything herself and works mainly in gold and gemstones. It was usually a once per year purchase when she had her Summer sale and I built up a small collection of some really lovely pieces. Nowadays the exchange rate is poor and along with the cost of Fedex international delivery even her sale prices seem high but oh by golly her stuff is truly stunning and every stone is sourced by her and every design is her own and a one off.
Here`s her current sale, there`s 8 pages so when you get to page 5 just click the forward arrow. Nice to just browse and drool.
http://www.colorsymphony.com/summer-clearance

The pieces I have do not have the DQ on the band. I think QVC had to start doing that as unless the jeweller got his loop out and really inspected they did not realize it wasn't diamond. Back in those days diamonique was really the best quality CZ around.

On Ebay there used to be loads of people making jewellery and even on request. Real 9ct gold and silver at excellent prices, I have quite a few pairs of earrings in 9ct white gold and some yellow, with real gems. I also bought from the US as well at great prices. Now none have diamonds as I said love coloured stones. So Morganite,Kyanite,aquamarine etc. Even at the weekend I got people asking where I got a pair of amethyst twist drop 9ct gold earrings? On Ebay over 10 years ago and they cost less than £30 back then. Then the gold prices rocketed and they all left Ebay and started their online business with prices in the £80 up for the same earrings. Though I did buy a number of GemsTV gold rings on Ebay as people where selling when the crash hit at brilliant prices. Great gold weights with good size diamonds for pink sapphires and rubies. All had their cards showing gold weight and where the stones came from when mined.

I wore one of my 14ct diamonique rings a few months back and a friend was raving about it. She was comparing it to her own real diamond engagement ring, she had never seen diamonique in real life before. I remember the days when they used to say the silver diamonique has the look of white gold. No, strangely silver is brighter and more shiny white gold has a very slight hint of grey in the metal.

love mine in the gold in paticular. the tacori range was nice as well if you liked silver