Upgrading to a "better" CS ering - your thoughts?

[katharath]

So lately I've found that I keep daydreaming about a sapphire ering. A Ceylon blue sapphire, not perfect or anything (I could never afford a perfect Ceylon), but better than I've ever had so far. I've never spent more than $700 on any single gem so far.
I'm thinking that I'd really like to upgrade to a nicer ering, and I want a 6 mm ish round Ceylon blue. I'm imagining a range of $1000-1400 for a gem that would be about 6 mm. I say "about", bc I would go slightly smaller or slightly larger as the situation dictates.

I've been eyeing Dana's at MC and Gemfix's sapphires for ages...they both have some that I'd be happy to snap right up. To be able to get what I want though, I really think I'll need to bare bones my collection, and sell off a big chunk - rings that I've really loved and thought I'd never sell...(maybe some of my mahenge and tsav stack rings, or my open rings? My beloved merelani mint ering??? Ack!!). And I have loose gems that could go too...I could really pare that down as well.

I sell stuff quite often as my collection and tastes change, so it's not that big of a deal, but I've never before sold things that I still really liked SO much...and so much at once (at least that's the plan!

I guess I'm just wondering, for any of you who may have done this...was it worth it? I know that usually when I sell things, once they're gone, I'm ok with it, even if it's something I liked a lot. I guess I'm just hoping to hear that when I've got my new gorgeous ring, I won't miss my old ones too much...

I know I could just wait and save up, but I don't want to do that, lol. I feel like I have equity in my collection right now and I'd rather just get at that. Plus due to the fact that I have started to save up loose gems, I have "extras" of all of my favorite types of gems. I have a few tsavs, a few Mahenges, and two merelani mints...etc etc. That just makes it easier to sell knowing that I have backups should I need them.

Anyway I guess I could use any encouragement that anyone might care to give...I hope this post is ok here! It is about CS (I know I reference selling but I'm not putting anything for sale up in here). If it's not ok I'm sure someone will let me know, lol. Thanks for reading!!

Kathryn

 

[corundum_conundrum]

What is your current e-ring? Or do you just wear a variety of stones?

 

[katharath]

I mostly just wear a lot of gems, but I do have one that I technically consider to be my ering.

When I got married (almost 14 yrs ago) I started out with your generic diamond mall ring. Five years in, I quit wearing it in favor of a diamond anniversary band. A couple of years after that I quit wearing rings completely (still have my wedding rings and anniversary band though).

A few years back I realized that the main reason I no longer wore any rings was bc I don't actually like diamonds, lol. Also I realized that most of the commercial style CS rings were not MY style. I switched to CS, discovered etsy, PS, etc etc - figured out what my favorites are (garnets, spinel, sapphire) and these are all that I wear now. I've gone through quite a few rings since I started intensely collecting, but I currently own about a dozen that I wear regularly. Some are just solid gold no gems. All of the CS rings have smaller gems but nice quality and cut.

The one I consider my favorite ering is a merelani mint, 6 mm round, Portuguese cut, bezel set very simply in 14k YG.

The more I think about it, the more hesitant I am to sell that ring. The mint is really beautiful (it's in my avatar). But, I still want another "nicer" ring (sapphire!) so I'm really leaning more towards downsizing the rest of my collection, I guess - my stacking rings, which I have about 6 or so that have pretty little gems.

I own a few small sapphires already (I have a loose trillion Ceylon, .96 cts, very pretty blue color; a small loose pair of Ceylon rounds, 4.2 mm, that I'm planning for studs). But I really want a round one that hits the one ct mark. I've looked a lot and I know I can find what I want for under $1500; I prefer a lighter cornflower blue rather than the darker deeper blues. Dana at MC had a couple that I really liked for around $1000-1500 just recently during the sale.

I guess I'm really contemplating a change in style, and wondering if I should quit wearing so many stackers to fund a sapphire...I know that's not a question anyone can answer for me but myself. I appreciate anyone who reads these musings and actually takes the time to respond with something, lol!

 

[katharath]

I will post some pics shortly so there's at least some eye candy in here...

 

[katharath]

Here's some pics of my all metal rings; then pics of my CS rings. I do have a few more, but these are the ones I wear and really enjoy the most.

Almost all of these have been shown on PS before so just reposting but there may be a couple of gems I haven't shown that will be below.

 

[katharath]

pics

 

[katharath]

all spinels...

 

[katharath]

sapphire trio and then garnets

 

[katharath]

Ok..I really have to get going and get stuff done today!!!

I added the pics just for anyone reading this to have stuff to look at...if anyone has any thoughts about my ramblings I'd be happy to chat

 

[Kelli]

pics

Oh man. If you do decide to sell I might have to be interested in one or possibly more of these. I have been admiring those stackers of yours since you first posted them and the blue is wonderful too!

Sorry, I have no advice on whether or not to sell. I will say that if you're super apprehensive about it, you probably shouldn't- at least not with something that won't be easy to replace.

Good luck in your decision and search!

 

[FrekeChild]

I have done something similar. I found something I loved, one of a kind, and I started selling off things I loved to fund it's purchase. Then it sold. Sigh.

Starting from the 2ct purple spinel necklace and up. Plus some items that I sold to friends who had dibs, so were never listed.
**edited by moderator. No personal for sale listings in threads outside Preloved please**

Then we bought a house, and I used a lot of my jewelry money for all of the hidden costs along the way. So with what I had left, I bought a used Brian Gavin Diamonds setting, and the setting for my asscher from my local jeweler.

I had actually sold the asscher when I did my purge, but my friend offered it back to me when she couldn't figure out how to set it. I jumped at the chance to get it back!

I don't know if that's helpful at all...

 

[katharath]

pics

Oh man. If you do decide to sell I might have to be interested in one or possibly more of these. I have been admiring those stackers of yours since you first posted them and the blue is wonderful too!

Sorry, I have no advice on whether or not to sell. I will say that if you're super apprehensive about it, you probably shouldn't- at least not with something that won't be easy to replace.

Good luck in your decision and search!

Thanks Kelli

I keep going back and forth...if I sell I will let you know though, lol. I will post about it in preloved for sure.

Did you mean the blue sapphire 5 stone ring? The center stone is the best in there, it gets some really pretty sparkle, although the middle two stones on either side are darker than I'd like. Overall it's a pretty ring and wasn't too expensive either, for solid 14k RG and Ceylon sapphires. But if I do decide to go for an upgrade I would almost certainly sell that ring, since it's sapphires, and I'd be looking for one single larger sapphire.

Anyway... thank you for the kind words!!

 

[katharath]

I have done something similar. I found something I loved, one of a kind, and I started selling off things I loved to fund it's purchase. Then it sold. Sigh.

Starting from the 2ct purple spinel necklace and up. Plus some items that I sold to friends who had dibs, so were never listed.
**edited by moderator. No personal for sale listings in threads outside Preloved please**

Then we bought a house, and I used a lot of my jewelry money for all of the hidden costs along the way. So with what I had left, I bought a used Brian Gavin Diamonds setting, and the setting for my asscher from my local jeweler.

I had actually sold the asscher when I did my purge, but my friend offered it back to me when she couldn't figure out how to set it. I jumped at the chance to get it back!

I don't know if that's helpful at all...

Freke, it is very helpful, thanks for posting. I was hoping to hear from people who've done it. You make a really excellent point in that I shouldn't get my heart set on anything until I've got the money in hand and can buy right then. I think it's so sad to hear your story about not getting what you wanted AFTER you started selling your collection...glad to hear that you got your asscher back though. Your jewelry is GORGEOUS, thanks for posting pics too!

I've done similar things to help fund house expenses with my hobbies in the past. Back when I was into rare books, etc - I sold a few thousand $$$ worth of items to help fund our house purchase. It was hard at the time, but then my hobbies shifted anyway so I was fine with it, and it was completely worth it to buy our home, of course.

I appreciate your thoughts, thanks for sharing!

 

[pregcurious]

I totally get it. I am tempted to buy every stone I see that I like, but I usually stop myself. I usually don't wear much jewelry, so I have to limit my shopping to things I really love. Plus, setting stones is expensive and difficult to figure out.

 

[chrono]

My purchasing slowed down over time as I started to aim for better quality. There's little point in having 10x mediocre ones; I'd rather get a single top gem. The thing is that one very rarely recoup their buying cost when selling secondhand. Most take a slight loss unless the gem price went up significantly (purchased sapphire before the huge price hike is an example). Paring your collection because you don't wear them anymore is one thing, selling stuff you like to raise funds for more bling is another thing. Since you have time on your side, I would only sell things I don't want or wear often, then save up until I have sufficient funds. I would enjoy wearing the jewellery I love in the meantime.

 

[katharath]

I don't want to rush into anything so I haven't listed anything new for sale yet...I have a few pieces listed already that I don't mind selling, so we'll see how things go. I have to admit I can't stop thinking about buying a new sapphire though. I'll sleep on it again and take a look through my collection tomorrow to see what I can part with and what I can't. Thank you all for the advice/thoughts

 

[katharath]

So I'm going ahead with selling some things...it's going to be hard not to price too emotionally though, lol!! But I think this is the way I want to go. I'm not going to offer anything that I just can't live without, either. We shall see how it goes