Help me up my jewelry buying game

The long story is... I had a friend who owned a jewelry store, then retired and did a jewelry kiosk in the mall for a while.  He was my hookup.  I trusted him.  He would give me his catalog, I could pick what I wanted, and he just said "add 10% to my cost."  I basically got top quality jewelry at half of retail.  Got an engagement ring, a Citizen watch, a Bulova watch, and my wedding band that way.

Unfortunately, he is totally retired and in a nursing home now, so I can't lean on him.

TL;DR, Looking for a necklace and earrings to surprise Hot for Teacher for an upcoming formal gala we're attending in a few weeks.  I hit some local jewelry stores and... yikes.  Sticker shock.  I hit Amazon, and double yikes.... thousands of really sketchy crap pieces, like a "real 1ct diamond pendant" for $159.96 from a company called Booya.  Right.  I think I'll pass.

There has to be something in between Amazon and Kay Jewelers, right?  Where do I look?

Facebook marketplace.  I bought an engagement ring for 1/4 the price. Not sure if you get the same discounts for items not related to divorce, but it's going to be cheaper than retail.  I met at a jeweler, and paid for an inspection. 

I didn't find anything close to what I'm looking for on FBM.  Lots of good cheap stuff, but I'm looking for either aquamarine or onyx.

lnlogauge said:

Facebook marketplace.  I bought an engagement ring for 1/4 the price.

Pawn shops as well.

Maybe a but too nautical for you but it's what I like about it... 

I'm not pretending this site is heirloom jewelery but I've bought some and it's nice. 

https://kieljamespatrick.com/

My wife has this ring and matching bracelet.  I don't see the bracelet offered on the current website 

Also this ring and complimenting bracelet

Quite a few years ago, a girlfriend who knew jewelry claimed that there were legit deals on good stuff at QVC. Not sure if that still holds true, but it might be worth investigating. 

Got any local independents? 

Don't know how they are currently but got my wife's wedding ring off of brilliant earth. They might be retail now but was much cheaper than any local stores 5 years ago.

What RevRico said.

I did a lot of the "jewelry thing" with the practice wife...

If you don't know your diamonds, you better KNOW your jeweler.  Look for a jeweler who has been in the community for many years.   20 or 30 or better.

OBTW, a lot of the big stars "rent" the gems for the red carpet.

I have purchased dozens of pieces from https://www.gemrockauctions.com/ 

I have bought maybe 10 different lots of loose cut sapphires, some cut zircons and citrines, some cabochon garnets, and a few finished pieces of jewelry from all over the world. I also got some opal for probably 1/10th of the value here in the US.

I think Blue Nile is still getting good reviews.  Their quality is pretty solid.  I got my wife's engagement diamond from them and I did alright.  One or two pieces since then and been happy with them.   Definitely not cheap, but fine jewelry never is.

For me jewelry is about the art and not necessarily the value of the stones. Because of that I prefer to buy jewelry from the artist at craft fairs, local galleries and artistian collectives or co-ops.  Sometimes small jewelry stores have actual jewelers at them as well.  My wife's engagement ring was made by a jeweler in Berre VT to my design.

APEowner said:

For me jewelry is about the art and not necessarily the value of the stones. Because of that I prefer to buy jewelry from the artist at craft fairs, local galleries and artistian collectives or co-ops.  Sometimes small jewelry stores have actual jewelers at them as well.  My wife's engagement ring was made by a jeweler in Berre VT to my design.

I agree with this, and from the sheer amount of people that frequent the wife's booth at craft fairs, I think we aren't alone.

My wife does wire wrapped jewelry with some special stones, but by that I mean rocks that she's collected for years. In fact, her non tumbled rocks are very popular.

Maybe this girl is into local artistry and one of a kind things?

In reply to John Welsh :

Veering off topic, but that Crossbones sweater from that link is pretty fantastic. Must've been a Halloween release because they only have XL size available.

This is my jeweler. He made my wife's engagement ring and set. I designed it. Prices are great because you're skipping the store. 

I'll be getting my wife a tennis bracelet soon. 

If anyone buys from him, tell him I sent you

RevRico said:

Got any local independents? 

One that I've found near me.  Significant language barrier makes it hard to understand what I'm getting, and most of his stuff is pawned, scavenged from Good Will, or found with a metal detector.  Very interesting store, and a super nice guy, just not really what I'm looking for.

Antihero said:

APEowner said:

For me jewelry is about the art and not necessarily the value of the stones. Because of that I prefer to buy jewelry from the artist at craft fairs, local galleries and artistian collectives or co-ops.  Sometimes small jewelry stores have actual jewelers at them as well.  My wife's engagement ring was made by a jeweler in Berre VT to my design.

I agree with this, and from the sheer amount of people that frequent the wife's booth at craft fairs, I think we aren't alone.

 

My wife does wire wrapped jewelry with some special stones, but by that I mean rocks that she's collected for years. In fact, her non tumbled rocks are very popular.

 

Maybe this girl is into local artistry and one of a kind things?

Hot for Teacher is not the prestige type.  She's very practical, and she would appreciate a good deal more than she would appreciate a pedigreed stone.  Put it this way... she makes 5 times my salary, but drives a used Prius and lives in a small condo.  She's actually not much of a jewelry gal.  She has a few sets of earrings and a couple meaningful necklaces.  This would be for decoration when she dresses formally, not for an investment or clout.  Lab-grown, faux, whatever is fine, as long as it isn't pot metal and plastic.  Local artistry and bespoke stuff is right up her alley.

I'm looking for the Miata of jewelry, not the Ferarri.

Thanks for all the suggestions.  Rabbit hole time.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

This would be for decoration when she dresses formally, not for an investment or clout.  Lab-grown, faux, whatever is fine, as long as it isn't pot metal and plastic.  Local artistry and bespoke stuff is right up her alley.

I'm looking for the Miata of jewelry, not the Ferarri.

So, this kinda spoke to something I saw recently.

Have you looked at what people are doing with Fordite?  Fordite, if you don't know, is the overspray from painting cars.  Goes through the ovens and gets baked as hard as a rock.  Cut it, shape it, polish it, and it shows the various layers of paint.

Different eras have different color combos.  60s might have Dodge's crazy color combos, 70s might be very brown, etc.

A very car-guy gift.

Lots of places doing work with it, but Urban Relic Design comes up a lot.  Or you can buy a chunk of your own and do your own work with it. 

I have purchased some pretty nice pieces from Sam's Club. It won't be one of a kind but their quality has been top notch. 

Silver or gold?  I'm lucky enough to have a mate that prefers silver.  =~ )  

Have you poked around Native American sites?    Can't help if you need it for Christmas, but sniff around local artisans.  Trish likes Jean Duffy.  Fair priced one of a kind stuff.  She also had Tommy Conch make her great grand aunt's Cameo into a braceley, but he's not cheap.

Toyman! said:

I have purchased some pretty nice pieces from Sam's Club. It won't be one of a kind but their quality has been top notch. 

I was gonna suggest Costco for the same reason.

Blue Nile is still good. 

i used to send people to whiteflash pricing is really good and GIA certs on everything and a lot of Canadian diamonds for people who want that. They found a Canadian AGS 000 stone for my wife's engagement ring that I could not find a equal for anywhere else without a 40-50% upcharge. 

914Driver said:

Silver or gold?  I'm lucky enough to have a mate that prefers silver.  =~ )  

Haven't decided yet.  She prefers silver, but the specific outfit she's wearing is a red dress with black accessories.  I think either would work, but gold would really pop.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Antihero said:

APEowner said:

For me jewelry is about the art and not necessarily the value of the stones. Because of that I prefer to buy jewelry from the artist at craft fairs, local galleries and artistian collectives or co-ops.  Sometimes small jewelry stores have actual jewelers at them as well.  My wife's engagement ring was made by a jeweler in Berre VT to my design.

I agree with this, and from the sheer amount of people that frequent the wife's booth at craft fairs, I think we aren't alone.

 

My wife does wire wrapped jewelry with some special stones, but by that I mean rocks that she's collected for years. In fact, her non tumbled rocks are very popular.

 

Maybe this girl is into local artistry and one of a kind things?

Hot for Teacher is not the prestige type.  She's very practical, and she would appreciate a good deal more than she would appreciate a pedigreed stone.  Put it this way... she makes 5 times my salary, but drives a used Prius and lives in a small condo.  She's actually not much of a jewelry gal.  She has a few sets of earrings and a couple meaningful necklaces.  This would be for decoration when she dresses formally, not for an investment or clout.  Lab-grown, faux, whatever is fine, as long as it isn't pot metal and plastic.  Local artistry and bespoke stuff is right up her alley.

I'm looking for the Miata of jewelry, not the Ferarri.

I recommend you look at Etsy then, there are tens of thousands of options more than likely