With so much choice available to us all, price comparison has become commonplace in the purchasing process of everything we buy. When it comes to purchasing jewellery like an engagement ring or wedding rings, there is a huge variation in prices on the market. However, price isn’t always a reliable reflection of quality, with even some of the highest-priced items falling short of quality. The market leaves customers confused and led into buying sub-standard quality items through their lack of insight into the true indicators of quality jewellery.
Making a bad buying decision could end up costing you dearly in trying to maintain something which wasn’t right in the first place, and ultimately put you in a position where you have to replace the sentimental jewellery which should have been treasured for a lifetime.
So, how can you conduct a more thorough comparison and truly know that you are getting good value?
In this blog, Head Jeweller and Custom & Co. Founder, Ben Wells, uncovers five important tips to ensure maximum quality for your money when buying jewellery.
As a rule of thumb, the higher the content of precious metal in your jewellery item, the higher the price tag. So don’t act too quickly if you see a gold wedding ring at what looks like “a steal” compared to all the rest.
Many items with lower price points are limited to being plated with a precious metal rather than structurally made from this precious metal type, with the main structure of the jewellery being a much more budget material.
Be sure to find out the make-up of the jewellery you are considering buying—what is its core structure made from? What may seem like good value may not be what you were expecting.
Does it matter if a ring is plated? Yes, when buying every-day worn jewellery like a wedding ring or engagement ring, durability and the ability to maintain the look of the jewellery are priority factors.
Plating budget metals with precious metals, such as gold-plated rings, lasts only a short period of time before wearing off, at which point the item requires re-plating. It quickly loses its look and becomes costly to maintain in order to enable it to be worn and cherished as sentimental jewellery should be.
The best way to check the metal content of an item is by the jewellery hallmark on it. A jewellery hallmark is your consumer protection. Undertaken by an independent UK assay office, the metal make-up of the jewellery will be tested and the assay office will mark the jewellery with the type and purity of the metal. For the best quality jewellery, buy platinum, white gold, yellow gold, or rose gold, palladium, or titanium. These metals offer both durability and longevity when made into a solid ring shank.
Once the metal-type is considered, many people overlook this next factor, completely oblivious to the long-term impact it has on their engagement or wedding ring.
Don’t be someone who falls into this trap. So many people don’t realise they have, until they are a number of years down the line, replacing what they thought would be a lifetime purchase worthy of the sentiment for which it was intended.
The metal weight of a ring is a crucial indicator of the quality; it speaks volumes about its durability and longevity for long-term wear. For example, not every platinum wedding ring is equal to its counterpart.
Cost-saving in jewellery production is high on the agenda for many profit-hungry companies found on the high street and online. They use the lack of insider knowledge of consumers to their distinct advantage to achieve this goal.
Jewellery production for such companies involves hollowed jewellery structures, such as a hollowed 18 carat white gold ring, to reduce the metal content and add healthy profits to their bottom line. This tactic makes their jewellery seem like an attractive price in comparison to other products of the same metal type. But the hollowed structures are far less able to endure wear and tear and the impact that jewellery worn daily is subject to. And when it comes to jewellery repair, a hollow structure will more often than not require complete replacement where a solid structure could have been easily repaired with less cost.
For this very reason, many companies won’t list the metal weight, so my advice would be to always ask for this information in your search. Otherwise, you really can’t determine whether you are comparing like-for-like products or how much value you are truly getting for your money.
Jewellery machinery and technology, like all industries in our modern world, have completely transformed what is possible and brought many benefits to the jewellery-making industry. Some jewellery technology advancements have become the right-hand man for the modern jewellery goldsmith, enabling them to enhance their capabilities, precision, quality, and speed in making and repairing jewellery compared to how it would have been undertaken mere decades ago.
However, in-line with my previous cautions, where there has been advancement in technology and machinery, this has been the cornerstone to enabling the production of poor quality, mass-production jewellery. Jewellery that is designed and built for cost-cutting and gaining a sale for the benefit of the retailer rather than providing quality and value for the long-term benefit of the customer.
When you are buying jewellery, think about how it has been made. Is there transparency in the buying process about the production of jewellery? Is there any information on the quality of the production, or do you suspect that this could be an engagement ring produced in mass-production with cost at the forefront, leaving you open to risk in the quality of what should be a ring making a forever promise.
For many years, the most popular choice of gemstone in engagement rings and wedding rings has been natural diamonds. But there are also increasing alternatives to the rare gemstone that offer more affordable price tags. Many customers wonder whether they stand up in terms of their quality.
Moissanite and Cubic Zirconia (CZ) are commonly used alternatives to natural diamonds.
Much like precious metals, gemstones have differing levels of hardness, a factor determining the quality and suitability for a long-wearing piece of jewellery. Cubic zirconia is relatively low on the Mohns scale (the scale measuring a gem stone’s hardness) in comparison to diamond, which is the highest on the scale. This leaves the CZ susceptible to scratching, something that will naturally happen with everyday wear. The scratched surface causes an ugly cloudy look over time, which means replacement will be required.
Moissanite is the hardest of the diamond alternatives, rating only slightly less favourably than diamond and therefore providing a high level of scratch resistance. The synthetically made gemstone is man-made to imitate a diamond look and, to an untrained eye, will likely be mistaken for a diamond, making for a good dupe. However, whilst a natural diamond dances with a white glow in the light, there is a more rainbow-coloured light refraction from a Moissanite stone, which can be a give-away to the more gem stone savvy.
The affordability of this stone-type certainly provides a strong draw for those wanting the sustainability benefits of a diamond alternative or who are particularly budget-conscious in their purchase.
Where natural diamonds are concerned, there is a quality-grading system in place which, on the surface, appears to provide the you with much more transparency in the quality of what you will get for your money. In fact, this was the very reason behind the introduction of the international grading system formed by the GIA (Gemological Institute of America). And where there is a reputable, independent certification of the diamond quality, which is certainly the case, this confidence comes at a cost.
Diamonds don’t have to be certified, and where there is certification, you will find that not all certifications are of equal reputation or reliability.
Some will assume that because a jewellery retailer lists the grading features of a diamond, this grade is a foregone conclusion and that there is certification in place to support this quality. This is not true, so whether the diamond quality listed is supported by a certification or not is your first point to explore.
Buying an uncertified diamond isn’t always a no-go. It can save a lot of money when it comes to purchasing a diamond and will depend on how important the guarantee of quality is to you.
You do need to be comfortable with the fact that there is no supporting documentation of the grading of the diamond, which means you might not be able to get insurance for the item, and it will not necessarily hold its value if there comes a time you want to sell the jewellery item.
If you think that these things are unlikely to be a matter for you to concern yourself with and that uncertified stones could be for you, I would only ever recommend buying an uncertified stone if you can view it in person. Viewing before you purchase will ensure that you can satisfy yourself that you like the look of the diamond. The quality grade of the diamond without a reputable certification is not something to be relied on.
When it comes to diamond certification, you will also find that there is great variation in the reputation and reliability of the certification given. Some jewellery retailers have introduced their own certification systems to bring the costs down. However, this doesn’t provide an independent assessment of quality and doesn’t have the same authority with insurers, often leaving the customer in no better position than if they had bought an un-certificated diamond.
Purchasing a GIA certified diamond, which is the most reputable of the certification centre’s, will increase the cost, but having this reputable authentication of the quality is the best guarantee that you are purchasing what you think you are.
Does a designer jewellery brand name ensure you get good quality items? From the Tiffany diamond-setting style to Cartier’s statement designs, there are a range of well-known jewellery brand names associated with providing luxury jewellery and coming with far higher price tags than others. This could reasonably lead consumers to assume that the quality of the jewellery is a given.
But does a brand name always mean high quality? No, the high price you are often paying is for the constant development of “of-the-moment” designs, luxurious advertising campaigns, and shopping experiences designed to elevate the brand name and portray a sense of luxury. my experience of decades of time spent repairing and working on the jewellery of many of the popular jewellery brands has taught me that long-term quality is certainly not guaranteed by a luxury brand.
Beware of putting money into a “trendy design”. These designs will often go out of fashion. A rare limited-edition design piece may rise in price over time. However, most trendy designs will just go out of date with the introduction of the next trend.
To ensure the jewellery you buy is worth the money you are paying, buy jewellery from a jeweller who prices items based on the material cost of the item, just as we do at Custom & Co. As our prices are based on the raw material costs and skill (labour) required to make the individual item, our customers can be sure that everything they spend goes into the quality of the jewellery rather than designing the latest fashion trends.
The quality of frequently-worn jewellery will be the difference between a sentimental item being around in years to come. A treasure passed through the generations, or finding yourself shopping for a replacement in a few short years.
In this blog, I have guided you through the crucial aspects in determining the quality of jewellery; firstly, having full clarity on the metal make-up, and more commonly overlooked, discovering the metal weight (something so many live to regret not knowing).
We have explored diamond certification and now understand that not every diamond certification can give the buyer the quality guarantee they assume they are getting, leaving them paying more to retailers but receiving no value in return.
The high-priced jewellery offered by well-known brands is frequently a go-to for those looking for assurance of quality jewellery, but expensive design does not always equate to quality jewellery.
Finding a reputable jeweller who is transparent in their production and pricing of jewellery items is ultimately the most reliable way to gain the best value for money.
Book an appointment with our trusted jewellery experts to receive a quote, which we promise to be based on the materials of your special jewellery piece, and view the Custom & Co. jewellery goldsmiths producing quality jewellery in-store today. www.customandco.com/contact-us/
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