Engagement rings

[LosingGrip]

A thread I never believed I would be starting!

I'm going to be proposing to my partner this year. Sadly I'm not a company director and money is a bit tight at the moment so a bit short on funds.

Can anyone recommend somewhere to get a decent ring that won't break the bank? Second hand would be fine.

I'm looking at spending no more than £500 but ideally less!

[Skyedriver]

Have you thought of a "go fund me" page on Facebook?

[akirk]

one of the best options for buying lovely jewellery secondhand at a reasonable price is auction - go look on www.the-salesroom.com (which aggregates auctions around the country) - you will find lovely rings for a few hundred pounds, and then you have some spare money to adjust the size if you need to...

any high-street shop sees it as an opportunity to apply wedding tax and charge you a fortune...

[Radec]

Try one of the many South Asian jewellers in Leicester or Birmingham, they should be able to whip you up something decent to suit any budget and can be haggled down most of the time.

Failing that, Argos or those QVC type shopping channels always have stuff going cheap.

You get what you pay for in this stuff.

[NDA]

There's ecain63 on here who makes jewellery - he did a job for me a few years ago. I am not sure if he's still doing it, but worth searching and sending a PM?

[Hard-Drive]

NDA said:

There's ecain63 on here who makes jewellery - he did a job for me a few years ago. I am not sure if he's still doing it, but worth searching and sending a PM?

He did my now wife's engagement ring too on a PH recommendation. Great guy to deal with, and having had her ring valued independently for insurance purposes, he is very keenly priced too.

[ShredderXLE]

You could always make some spares too in case you lose one

[Silvanus]

ShredderXLE said:

You could always make some spares too in case you lose one

My wifes engagement and wedding ring are both made of copper

[sherman]

Most of the larger jewellery shops will let you set up finance. I paid for my wife's engagement ring of over several years. I put down a £50 deposit and paid £50 a month for 3 years. It worked out for me financially and she got the ring she wanted.

[Vasco]

Just 'living in sin' is always much cheaper.....

[Skyedriver]

ShredderXLE said:

You could always make some spares too in case you lose one

Particularly useful if her name is Olive?

[gotoPzero]

I would defo drop Eddie an email and see if he has anything in.
Top chap and made a ring for us a while ago that didnt break the bank.

[Defcon5]

Wasn’t it only a few months ago you split up with the last one and moved back in with your parents?

You don’t mess about if so

[LosingGrip]

Defcon5 said:

Wasn’t it only a few months ago you split up with the last one and moved back in with your parents?

You don’t mess about if so

Haha! I've been with my partner for a year and a bit now.

[Mont Blanc]

akirk said:

one of the best options for buying lovely jewellery secondhand at a reasonable price is auction - go look on www.the-salesroom.com (which aggregates auctions around the country) - you will find lovely rings for a few hundred pounds, and then you have some spare money to adjust the size if you need to...

any high-street shop sees it as an opportunity to apply wedding tax and charge you a fortune...

I would second this idea. Brand new, or high street diamonds/jewellery is a massive rip off. Auctions get you a bit closer to the true value of the item.

I bought my wife's engagement ring from a jewellery sale at Bonhams. It is a Cartier multi-diamond ring, and I paid about £4200 for it including fees, and if you were to go out and buy it from Carter it is a £20k+ ring. It was mint in the original Cartier box.

If you go into a high street jeweller and hand over £500, you will be walking out with something pretty measly, through no fault of your own. If you go down the trade/auction route, you could obtain a £2000 ring for your £500, or better.

Edited by Mont Blanc on Monday 29th January 15:40

[Cotty]

I always liked black diamonds

[Mr Magooagain]

What about a second hand wedding ring? Pm me!

[bristolbaron]

sherman said:

Most of the larger jewellery shops will let you set up finance. I paid for my wife's engagement ring of over several years. I put down a £50 deposit and paid £50 a month for 3 years. It worked out for me financially and she got the ring she wanted.

Much cheaper to not use a high street place and pay with a 0% credit card. High street prices are insane.

[sherman]

bristolbaron said:

sherman said:

Most of the larger jewellery shops will let you set up finance. I paid for my wife's engagement ring of over several years. I put down a £50 deposit and paid £50 a month for 3 years. It worked out for me financially and she got the ring she wanted.

Much cheaper to not use a high street place and pay with a 0% credit card. High street prices are insane.

Difficult when the ring was more than your cards credit limit.

[Cats_pyjamas]

100% go second hand/auction. I bought a new engagement ring, could have got very similar for less than half of what I paid. Don't get caught out by additional auction fees.

Get an idea of the setting/stone you want, and maybe ring size if you can! I was pretty lucky and totally fluked the ring size and it fitted perfectly.

I learnt from buying new so my wedding ring is second hand, cost £160. Hers was remanufactured from an old ring her mum gave her, and was bespoke to fit around the engagement ring.

Choosing stones is a bit of a minefield, my Mrs wanted an opal. However research told me 1 they are bad luck for engagement rings, 2 they aren't particularly hardy and absorb water...not ideal for a teacher.

So I bought her a vintage opal necklace for the wedding day.

Good luck!!