Ruined my ring - what can I do? (UK)
Hi all, I would really appreciate some thoughts or advice on what my next steps should be please. Sorry it’s long.
Engagement ring search, bought one from eBay on a whim, fell in love with it (pics 1-3). 18ct yellow gold knife edge band, four prong set solitaire, supposedly natural 0.7ct round brilliant cut diamond, H SI1, no certification but I didn’t care because the stone was stunning and it was a steal. I was particularly in love with the colour of the gold - bright, rich, buttery yellow. I did not understand how important this was until it was too late.
It was too big, so I took it to a highly regarded independent local jeweller. He was very knowledgeable and lovely. We spoke about resizing and remodelling the band to thicken it a bit and smooth out into rounded/D shape - this is what I thought I had wanted as knife edges had never really appealed. He asked if I wanted to use the original gold, I said yes and mentioned how much I loved the colour, but at this point I still didn’t realise how unusual it was, for the UK anyway. He said he’d have to add extra 18ct to achieve the shape I wanted, but that I wouldn’t really notice a colour difference. All sounded good, we went ahead. Paid more than the ring itself cost.
When I went to pick the ring up, my heart sank straight into my boots. It was pale yellow gold. Jeweller assured me he had used my gold as agreed, said that was just the colour 18ct is now, that I’d get used to it. I took it home bereft and cried for the rest of the day. I had finally found a ring that I loved for an amazing price, for some stupid reason decided to mess round with it, and managed to ruin it.
We had now spent most of the budget on the ring and remodel. My partner and I went back to the jeweller the next day, thinking we’d have to sell it and start over. To the jeweller’s credit he was very kind and understanding, said he just wanted me to be happy and keep hold of my stone, and offered to remodel the ring a second time with a bespoke gold mix. He said he’d been around long enough to know how they used to do it, and that it needed more red in there, which sounded plausible. We discussed it at length, I sent him lots of pics and a video for reference, and felt confident he knew what I wanted. He asked for a nominal fee of £200 purely for his bench guy’s time. We agreed.
I picked it up last week and it is now pale rosy gold (pic 3). Still nothing like the OG, the difference is huge in real life. It’s a pretty ring but it just doesn’t feel like mine anymore, it makes me sad to look it and I can’t bring myself to wear it. I also now feel like I threw away the OG ring’s character by changing the band style. I accept that my lovely ring is now gone.
To be clear I don’t blame the jeweller in all of this, I believe he really wanted to make me happy, and I clearly didn't know what I was doing. But the fact is that I’m left with a ring I really don’t like and no more money. I feel like our best option is to sell it, recoup as much cash as possible and start over. I’m terrified to go back and say I’m not happy again, but they did say they would be willing to sell it for me when we discussed options previously. I feel like we’d get more this way than selling privately? I’m also convinced the stone is slightly on an angle (pic 4) and I don’t want to be held responsible for that?
Should I start by getting the stone appraised so I know what we’re working with? If the stone details are correct, what’s my resale value looking like?
I doubt I’d find a ring the right colour/style/stone size in budget in the wild again, so I’m thinking about a custom from a different jeweller. I’ve seen big old vintage 18ct rings in a similar bright yellow colour, could I buy one of those to use for a band? Would 5-6g be enough? I’m a size K/5.5 and my current ring weighs around 3.6g with stone for reference.
I’d be sad to lose my stone, but I’m not against a lab diamond at all, so long as it had the same sparkle & lit up my soul in the same way.
So yes, current hypothetical plan is to sell, buy gold & a loose stone, and get a new jeweller to make me something inspired by my beautiful OG e-ring. What do we think of this plan?
Thanks so much for reading.