My Ring Broke! Help!

[AmberGretchen]

Hi folks - I need opinions from our knowledgeable pricescope community members on this. First, let me preface this by saying that this is for informational purposes only, and that the vendor from whom I got the ring that broke has so far been extremely apologetic and accommodating about the problem, and I have no reason to believe they will be otherwise as I move through resolving the problem. However, I am baffled as to how this problem occurred and would like to prevent future occurrences so I am seeing opinions.

I have had my engagement ring for a little over a year now, and the other day I was opening a door, felt a slight tug on my left hand as the ring caught slightly on the door, and then looked down to find my diamond on the floor and my setting empty. Upon close inspection, one of the prongs had been bent entirely out of place, shown in the images below (I''ve posted a picture of the ring when I first got it for comparison):

When my FI and I examined the setting more closely, we also noticed that it seemed bent out of shape entirely, almost squished into a flat oval-type shape, rather than the perfect round it had been when I first got it. Again, I''ve posted a before pictures and several after images for comparison, although this is harder to see in the pictures. I did take it to our local jeweler who is GIA-certified and has many years of experience and she confirmed what we had noticed about the setting and said that it was warped as well):

So my question is whether this has some reasonable explanation. I''m not particularly hard on my rings and they have sufferend no major trauma in the time I''ve had them that I am aware of, although I do clean them in my ultrasonic Sharper Image cleaner, which I know can sometimes be a problem for small pave or shared-prong set stones as I have, but in this case didn''t seem to be a problem for that, and I can''t see how it would have caused the other problems. There was, as I mentioned, a very slight catching of the ring on the door right before the diamond fell out, but it seems unlikely to have caused such a dramatic effect, and wouldn''t explain the warping of the ring shape at all. It seems to me, and my jeweler agreed, that this shouldn''t happen with a platinum setting, but I''d certainly welcome other opinions and thoughts. For now, the ring is on its way back to the jeweler who made the setting, and I spoke with them on the phone before sending it. They said if the damage is as I described they will re-make the ring, and I asked them to put on a 6-prong head instead of 4, to make it more secure, but I''d really like to find out what happened and if there''s anything I can do to prevent it from happening again.

 

[icekid]

yikes- I have no idea personally about what might have caused that other than is getting squished somehow, but thank god noticed right away and didn''t lose the stone!!

 

[MissAva]

Is the metal really so mailable that it can be bent so out of place? And why is it out of round?

 

[AmberGretchen]

IceKid - thanks for the sympathy, we had that thought too. Fortunately its all insured, so its not as scary as it would be otherwise, but still not fun...

Mat - that''s exactly my question. It just doesn''t seem like platinum should be that malleable, which is why its so puzzling. I''m really hoping some of our experts can chime in on this. Congrats on the new ring by the way - I forgot to post in your other thread, but it is truly breathtaking, and I''m so glad everything worked out for you for the best

 

[decodelighted]

Glad its gonna get fixed asap!

As to the bending...I have very strong hands and grip things tightly (bike handles, steering wheel etc). I know when I had a 14 kt gold ring in my Twenties I bent the heck out of that sucker & didn''t even wear it all the time. BTW it was thicker than your ring. But mine didn''t bend into an oval ... it bent a little toward the inner fingers, like a dip. I also have inherited a 18kt white gold ring where the shank had flattened to a KNIFE EDGE over time. Had to get the back built back up when I resized it to wear. Just a little info ... no clue w/yours & platinum.

 

[mrssalvo]

I remember a gal with a Michael B ring who posted she had bent it while working out or lifting weights or something. I think they can and do bend even with some daily activities like gripping the steering wheel to hard. i''m so glad they are going to take care of it for you.

 

[Lorelei]

What a shame

I am sure it can be fixed though

I bent the shank badly of a yellow gold ring a while back. I was cleaning out a stable and had the ring on the middle finger of my right hand and was using a metal pitchfork. Didn't realize until it was too late, the ring was bent entirely out of shape with the pressure of the fork. Thankfully it could be fixed, but it just shows how easily it can happen, especially with gold. I guess maybe you were just unlucky with the platinum, surprising but perhaps the force was just right on a thinner part of the ring to bend it. I am sure it will be back to it's normal stunning self soon!

 

[Kaleigh]

I''m so sorry AmberGretchen that stinks. But glad it can be fixed. I want to know how that happened too??

 

[AndyRosse]

Oh I''m so sorry, but I''m glad it will be fixed soon!

As for bending, yeah, if you grip things too tighly, often it can misshape the ring. Even platinum rings. I have a plain thin platinum band that I often wear during rough activities, like horseback riding, etc. And it is actually a bit out of shape too.

 

[AmantdeChat]

Sorry about your ring.

I know how you feel because almost the same exact thing happened to me. Here''s the link to the original problem and here''s how it was fixed

Glad the jeweler is being so accommadating!

Mine was too and I have not had a lick of trouble with it since.

Good luck!

 

[Mara]

sorry to hear about the problem AG...but great that you noticed it right away and that nothing happened to the stone!

platinum is definitely malleable...it can bend or break...our jeweler told us a few stories when we were shopping on how people gripping things too tightly and the rings bent or stones/melee popped out etc that is also why we wanted more metal on my rings than stones necessarily...i could imagine that if you are kind of hard on your hands (i totally am) that maybe over time the metal slowly weakens or similar and then maybe it just reaches a breaking point. or there could have been some porosity in the piece to begin with which is not totally uncommon, causing a bit of weakening and then maybe stress over time on the area etc. there are times when i grip my iron chair in the kitchen and move myself forward, with myself in the chair to get closer to the island, and then go OH CRAP because i know how much force i am exerting on my hand with the rings on it AND me in the chair, and i would not be shocked if one day i do that and something happens. i hope it''s not the case of course but who knows!

anyway, it''s great that the vendor will fix it, so hopefully it will all be as new as soon as possible!!

 

[Sundial]

That is awful about your beautiful ring AmberGretchen! I hope that the problem is resolved to your satisfaction and soon.

 

[moon river]

Hope your ring gets well soon.

 

[valeria101]

Sorry to hear this, Amber

... but glad it wasn't your finger at stake instead w/o a ring to take the brunt of action

Is it OK?

Not sure if anything can be done to prevent such damage. It was an unlikely event, right? Insurance, and/or a basket setting might help. But honestly, better have the style of ring you love insured than the other way.

Date: 4/20/2006 3:12:16 PM
Author: Matatora

Is the metal really so mailable that it can be bent so out of place?

Sure... only not that many torture their rings willingly to experiemnt

That's why the older 'basket' settings have that bar between the prongs. These settings forgot about it... and who wants the prongs so thick that they wouldn't bend even such extreme circumstances.




And why is it out of round?

the ring has been through allot... The finger would have broken, most likely

IMO... as usual.

 

[FireGoddess]

When I had my original 0.73 ct rb stone, I had it in a simple 6 prong platinum solitaire setting. One day I looked down and saw that 1 of the prongs had severely been bent and moved quite far, and another more slightly. Had I had a 4 prong setting, the diamond would have been gone. Thankfully with the 6 prongs the diamond was still happy and sitting there, but I was completely freaked out. I had no recollection of doing anything that could have done that much damage to the prongs, but there it was in front of me. It definitely happens...and that''s why I''m definitely a 6 prong girl.

That''s also what insurance is for, but for me it''s that extra security measure.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Thanks all - those were some very helpful links, AmantdeChat. I am not sure that the vendor will be totally replacing the ring yet, but they did say that if they agreed with us on the damage then they would re-make it, so I''ll be waiting to hear. The ring should arrive tomorrow, so I''m going to call them on Monday and I''m going to see what they say - I''ll definitely keep y''all posted. I don''t really see how they could deny it, given the obvious damage, but we''ll see. In the meantime thanks for all the support - it sucks being without my ring, I really miss it

but I''m hoping it will come back to me even better