Gold Wedding Rings

[bigben]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone knows of any good places to buy new gold wedding rings. Having searched around a bit, the margins above the intrinsic gold value for most rings seem extortionate (200-300%)! Any recommendations of where I could find some lower margin rings would be much appreciated!

Thanks

[Lyrinn]

https://www.glamira.co.uk/ I have found to be okay.

My advice, wait till they have one of their 10% sales on. Think you have to spend £500 as a minimum though, then you also get a necklace too.

Quite a few design choices to; easy to get lost!

As anyone else will say here, look around/shop around.

[Arganto]

Do they have to be new? May be worth seeking out rings that have a bit if history to them and avoid the jewellers tax. They're still going to carry a decent size premium over buying bullion as that's the nature of the beast but the idea of hunting out something old(er) sounds fun. Don't forget resizing rings is within any good jeweller's abilities.

It may be worth placing a 'wanted' ad here, some of the traders have jewellery pass through their hands, such as @ilovesilverireallydo.

I got burned by the new jewellery trade once, never again. I assume if you're looking for wedding bands you already went through the engagement phase. Gold can be extortionate but diamonds are a total piddle-take 👀

[Bigmarc]

7 hours ago, Lyrinn said:

https://www.glamira.co.uk/ I have found to be okay.

My advice, wait till they have one of their 10% sales on. Think you have to spend £500 as a minimum though, then you also get a necklace too.

Quite a few design choices to; easy to get lost!

As anyone else will say here, look around/shop around.

Cheers.

Clicked the link, now every advert on my phone is for engagement rings. If my missus see's it, it's going to cost me a fortune.

[Shep]

This might be slightly left field but just a suggestion!

For some reason there's a massive stigma with some people about second hand rings and to be honest I don't really understand it, the gold that goes into new rings has probably been reclaimed from other melted down bits of jewelry.  

A quick anecdote:

When I was getting married in 2019 I told my now wife that I wasn't going to buy a new ring and was going to get mine second hand (the inner stacker was talking) - she hated the idea. She came out with some nonsense about how its bad luck or whatever else and said that she wanted a new one. No problem I said! You only get married once I thought so I agreed to buy hers new and I bought it online from one of the mainstream dealers (her choice). Some of these dealers you will note use terms like "super heavy" & "extra heavy" to describe the weight of the rings rather than actual grams.

The look on her face when it arrived was priceless. This was the smallest most pathetic excuse of a ring you had ever seen, I remember I weighed it and it was 1.6g which worked out at an extortionate premium for the price paid - "extra heavy" indeed! Needless to say the ring got returned, we shopped around and also found her a nice weighty 18ct gold ring at a very reasonable premium over the actual gold value. They arrived nicely polished by the independent jeweler and you couldn't even tell they were secondhand. Also (touch wood) having second hand rings hasn't brought us any bad luck yet either.

Admittedly I appreciate this wont be for everyone but search the web and most independent jewelers have a section for preowned wedding rings. Worth a browse if nothing else.

Edited August 2, 2021 by Shep

[Foster88]

I often buy antique wedding bands, I have a few 22ct gold rings, all bought at auction and most were only 4-6% over spot.

I saw them as a bargain and to me, like @Shep said. Gold is gold.

I recently bought one, an antique 22ct band at auction for 2% under spot. I love the gold colour of these old 22ct rings, that nice ‘yellow’ gold.

Edited August 3, 2021 by Foster88

[Paul]

2 minutes ago, Foster88 said:

I often buy antique wedding bands, I have a few 22ct gold rings, all bought at auction and most were only 4-6% over spot.

I saw them as a bargain and to me, like @Shep said. Gold is gold.

I recently bought one, an antique 22ct band at auction for 2% under spot. I love the gold colour of these old 22ct rings, that nice ‘yellow’ gold.

I’m not married yet but I don’t think second hand rings would bother me.

Do you ever think what it cost these poor dudes in divorce or widowing?

 Had they not bought the cow when could have have kept getting the milk for free, they might be still alive lol

[Foster88]

15 hours ago, Paul said:

Do you ever think what it cost these poor dudes in divorce or widowing?

 Had they not bought the cow when could have have kept getting the milk for free, they might be still alive lol

I doubt it. The oldest one I’ve got is hallmarked 1876.

They’d need a bloody miracle and a lot of milk to still be alive today....

[TringSilver]

Betts Metals sell bands, I'm not sure on the pricing but may be cheaper than retail as I gather they sell some to be the base for individual jewellers to customise as it were.

You can also get "fair" mined gold etc from them.

[bigben]

Thanks for all the replies. I’ve been tempted by the second-hand rings but the missus seems to have similar thoughts to @Shep‘s unfortunately! Will keep hunting...

[Wampum]

I would try your local Auction house, you can see what they have over the next few Auctions, and if needs be your local jeweller should  be able to get it re-plated to look like new.

Most new rings are plated anyway.

If not you could go to somewhere like Cooksongold, they sell findings and supplies, however also sell wedding bands. (unsure if they are Hallmarked)

I have not used them, however know a few friends that have with no complaints.

      

    

[Foster88]

@bigben I suppose that’s understandadble if she’s uncomfortable with second hand rings.

One thing I always think is that a new gold ring will have most likely at one point been a coin, a gold filling or gold from electricals. To name just a few examples.

It’s always recycled.

[Arganto]

11 hours ago, Wampum said:

Most new rings are plated anyway.

I would feel most gypped buying a hallmarked gold ring to find it was plated...a 'proper' gold band should be just the gold and nowt else. A good jeweller will be able to polish it up like new if patina is not desired, unless it's had a very hard life in which case it likely wouldn't get picked to be worn as a wedding band.

Slightly off topic; my ol' man turned a two shilling coin into a ring once (he also created a sphere from one/two of them). It looks ace, plain on the outside but the main script visible running on the inside along the edge of the band. It'd be pretty to cool to have a gold coin turned into the same 😁

 

[SilverDrum]

What about using some of your gold to get a ring made? Surely parting with your stack shows the love 🤣 Either a ring maker or as @Liam84mentions...

 

[Wampum]

10 hours ago, Liam84 said:

I would feel most gypped buying a hallmarked gold ring to find it was plated...a 'proper' gold band should be just the gold and nowt else. A good jeweller will be able to polish it up like new if patina is not desired, unless it's had a very hard life in which case it likely wouldn't get picked to be worn as a wedding band.

Slightly off topic; my ol' man turned a two shilling coin into a ring once (he also created a sphere from one/two of them). It looks ace, plain on the outside but the main script visible running on the inside along the edge of the band. It'd be pretty to cool to have a gold coin turned into the same 😁

 

White gold can be plated with a layer of Rhodium.

Some firms use a layer over their 9ct and 18ct jewellery  as a cost effective way to finish it.

It's still all gold, just not as hand made.

 However having said that might not be the best idea to buy a hallmarked gold ring from the website  Alibaba.     

Edited August 5, 2021 by Wampum