FAO Pandora II and other UK based Gem Lovers!

[SapphireLover]

First off, apologies for the numerous threads on this board! Second of all, apologies for the 6 million questions that are about to follow.

I am based in Manchester and am developing an addiction to this board and am thinking about treating myself to a small stone to be set in a pendant. I have been eyeing up a lot of the rec''d sellers discussed on this board.

I was wondering who you have used and what they were like to deal with? How have returns been? I have heard you can not get insurance to send loose gems back if they aren''t right.

Also, who do you use to set them? Do you use USA based vendors like Whiteflash or local ones? How does it work with import duties? Do you get the gems sent straight to you from the vendor or do you have the vendor send them straight to the jeweller for you?

Do you have people in the UK that you can recommend for simple silver and white gold settings?

Finally, are Stuller settings available in the UK? Who does them? They seem to be a reasonably priced alternative to custom made settings, however that might not translate once they are over here!

Thank you in advance for the help!

 

[Porridge]

Good questions, I wanna know too! Am in Ireland.

 

[mus]

I am French.

I have already ordered a custom made pendant from Whiteflash.
Duties tax were quite expensive. In France, it is about 20 %.

To set my gemstones on that pendant, I went to a local jeweller.
To set 11 diamonds and 1 apatite, it cost me about 30 €.

 

[SapphireLover]

I know that UK import duties are about 20% at the moment

Did u just buy the plain setting from whiteflash and then take it to a local jeweller for them to set your stones in? Did this work out cheaper than getting the jeweller to make you the setting?

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 5/11/2009 8:32:14 AM
Author:SapphireLover
First off, apologies for the numerous threads on this board! Second of all, apologies for the 6 million questions that are about to follow.

I am based in Manchester and am developing an addiction to this board and am thinking about treating myself to a small stone to be set in a pendant. I have been eyeing up a lot of the rec'd sellers discussed on this board.

I was wondering who you have used and what they were like to deal with? How have returns been? I have heard you can not get insurance to send loose gems back if they aren't right.

Also, who do you use to set them? Do you use USA based vendors like Whiteflash or local ones? How does it work with import duties? Do you get the gems sent straight to you from the vendor or do you have the vendor send them straight to the jeweller for you?

Do you have people in the UK that you can recommend for simple silver and white gold settings?

Finally, are Stuller settings available in the UK? Who does them? They seem to be a reasonably priced alternative to custom made settings, however that might not translate once they are over here!

Thank you in advance for the help!

So far, I've always used Wink Jones (www.winkjones.com )in the USA for settings and for some of my stones. Wink did my e-ring and w-band and also my wedding presents from DH (a sphene pendant and earrings - settings from Stuller, stones sourced for me at Tucson and recut by Richard Homer). He also set my brother's e-ring and did a custom setting and sourced the stone for another friend's e-ring.

Also Rick at Art Cut Gems (www.artcutgems.com )for stones - all have been amazing, and Rick is great to work with.

I rarely set anything of my own, so I haven't done a setting with Rick, but I have seen ones he's done for other people and I wouldn't hesitate to use him for them in the future.

I have never returned anything - if you spend plenty of time deciding exactly what you want in advance and communicating with the vendor, you can do a lot via extra photos, video links, using GemeWizard to check exact colour etc then you won't necessarily have to. I tend to save up and spend a fair amount on what I buy, so I don't ever feel bad about asking questions. If I was buying something for $60 I wouldn't ask a vendor to spend the time taking extra pics etc like I would with a $500+ stone.

Returns are a PITA, expensive and I really wouldn't want to do it with anything expensive due to insurance issues. Also, if you do a custom piece, returns are not normally possible.

I have my stones set in the USA because I can't get them insured over here and I want to be covered in case they break. Once they are set, I can get insurance and then having work done is less of a worry.

I don't see why a UK jeweller couldn't order from Stuller or Adwar etc I'm afraid I don't know anyone who does silver settings in the UK. For gold/platinum work I have used Richard Ogden and I'm planning on doing something with Diamond Geezer (such an unfortunate name...

) in Birmingham in the near future, but that will be a custom plat. piece. I will be buying the stone in the USA and will almost certainly have it set in a cheapy setting so that it can be insured for the UK reset.

The only reason for trying out a UK jeweller is that the current exchange rate doesn't give me the savings that it did in the last 2 years.

I did look in the past and so many seem to do very 'handmade' looking settings (which I HATE) at extortionate prices and you pay considerably more for fine work. I got quotes for my w-band which needed to be custom made to fit round my e-ring and I wanted the diamonds to be set in the same way - ie graduated in size and from 8 o'clock to 4 o'clock - and the quotes were on average double what it cost me to do in the USA and that was with average quality melee. In the end Wink made the band using the original CAD of the e-ring rather than having the ring there in person (not easy) and set with premium melee - it was a perfect fit and the customer service was fantastic.

Re: importing - I pay 15% VAT plus Fedex fees for loose stones and if it's a set piece then add a few % for duty on top of that. It's all pretty simple as long as you track the parcel and call them when it gets to Stansted - they NEVER seem to call me and you can have packages sitting there for days/weeks otherwise. You can pay over the phone with a credit card or else they will send you a bill a few weeks later (doesn't seem to be any rational reason to which they choose to do) So far I have never had any problems with Customs.

For this reason the stones need to come to you first as you are responsible for paying the fees and then you would take them to your jeweller.

Sorry to probably not have the answers that you are after... I guess it probably comes down to how much you are planning to spend on a stone - that kind of decides the situation regarding taking the hit on the cost of returns if you don't like it, how much you stand to lose if the stone gets broken during setting etc. For something inexpensive I would just keep the stone and put it in my 'educational' rock box if I didn't care for it, and if it got broken in setting then I haven't lost much...

ETA: I will not work with a jeweller who doesn't understand coloured stones and how they need to be treated. Wink and I spent a lot of time discussing how to set the sphene as they are incredibly soft and fragile, and even when I had the work at Ogdens done on my e-ring, I spent a lot of time talking to their gemmologist and the bench about handling my tsavorite.

So many jewellers really know bugger all and will steam clean gemstones or put things in ultrasonic that shouldn't go near one. You also want someone doing the setting who knows about hardness and cleavage planes and how certain stones react to heat etc to minimise any potential risks.

I am incredibly anal about these things, so if you are more laid back, feel free to ignore!

 

[LD]

Hi Sapphirelover and welcome!

I''m in Manchester too!

My experience is very different from Pandora''s in that I buy loose gemstones and then set them into settings I''ve either bought ready made or had made by a number of different sellers.

As Pandora has said, buying from the US, because of the awful exchange rate at the moment, means there are less bargains now than several years ago. Also, the import taxes can really add up to the cost and more often than not, you can source from elsewhere cheaper. Packages coming from China or the US are particularly scrutinised and EVERYTHING sent by FedEx is a nightmare!

I''ve only ever had one gemstone damaged in the setting process - and I''ve had over 300 pieces made (maybe more). That was however a blue diamond and I could have done without that! In my experience, the breaking or damaging of gemstones (if you use experienced benchmen) is really a low risk. It does exist however.

I know your question will be ........ "so where do I buy a gemstone from?" but in all honesty it depends what you''re looking for and your budget. As for settings, I personally wouldn''t buy one from the US vendors that are favoured on here - only because of the import duties etc and I have made very good contacts in the UK so can normally have settings made for less and without compromising quality. If you search on my name, I''m sure you''ll see references to a few people I use but I don''t want to be seen to be pushing specific vendors!!

Hope you enjoyed the (cold) sunshine today!

 

[SapphireLover]

LovingDiamonds- seeing as though you are in Manchester you MUST recommed sellers to me!

My budget is low, I wanted to get a small stone (think spending $100- which seems dooable with Peter Torraca and a couple of others) and have it set into a pendant. For the money I was paying I was thinking of maybe chatting to the jewellers in the Craft and Design Centre in the Northern Quarter about setting it, and having it done in stirling silver, seeing as though its my first play.

As for stones, I love tourmalines, garnets, amethysts. I love purples, vibrant pinks and blue and bluey-green stones.

 

[LD]

Date: 5/12/2009 3:18:25 AM
Author: SapphireLover
LovingDiamonds- seeing as though you are in Manchester you MUST recommed sellers to me!

My budget is low, I wanted to get a small stone (think spending $100- which seems dooable with Peter Torraca and a couple of others) and have it set into a pendant. For the money I was paying I was thinking of maybe chatting to the jewellers in the Craft and Design Centre in the Northern Quarter about setting it, and having it done in stirling silver, seeing as though its my first play.

As for stones, I love tourmalines, garnets, amethysts. I love purples, vibrant pinks and blue and bluey-green stones.

Some of the crafts people are good - other's aren't and will insist of doing things "their way"! If you're thinking of the Sterling Silver route then I'd be tempted to contact Sally on the Etsy website. Her shop is called Heartofwaterjewels and there are references all over this forum. However, you may not want to go this route because she's in Thailand and you may want to sit down and discuss ideas with somebody. If you have a firm idea about designs etc., and can send her photos of what you want then she would be excellent. If you don't have a firm idea and just lots of ideas and need somebody to interpret your ideas then it might be best to actually sit down and talk to someone. Search on this forum for Sally and you'll see examples of her work.

For your first piece you might be better looking at an amethyst - you can pick these up very cheaply, even on Ebay. Just make sure you get one with a lovely deep colour but it shouldn't be too light or dark. If your budget is for the Amethyst and not the Amethyst and setting, I would be tempted to contact John at www.gemrite.com or Gene at www.precisiongems.com They send gems to the UK fairly regularly.