In Hatton Garden, I would strongly recommend A R Ullman. They do antique jewelry, which is very competitively priced and most importantly unique. I bought a platinum/diamond ring from there for far, far less than I would've paid anywhere else - and hugely more so than the high street. And if you want a laugh, take a look at Berganza - rings for 5 figures in the window there There are also several places that will do everything custom.
Haha Berganza is ace, and they do actually sell things that don't require a second mortgage. If you do go in there, have a word with a girl called Susannah. She's really helpful.
We got ours from a company where they actually brought the samples to our house and had a huge range - we found them at a wedding fair and also had friends that had used them (Bliss Rings if you're interested but you probably aren't as they only visit in Kent afaik). I've got a titanium ring and really like it - I hadn't considered them until I saw it and felt it but am pleased I went for that instead of a white gold or platinum one (I wanted a silver coloured one and not gold). I'd suggest trying a wedding fair if you're struggling for companies to try.
By D, do you mean D, or do you mean easy/comfort-fit/half-court? D has the curve to the outside and a flat face against your finger, t'other [whatever you choose to call it] has the curve on the inside. and a flat face to the outside. Try walking into your local jeweller and asking them - I don't mean an H Samuals, or whatever, but a real gold/silver [platinum] smith. You'd be surprised how reasonable small businesses can be. I did a his and hers wedding bands in Palladium recently and he particularly was delighted, as both rings cost them less from me than just hers would have from a Glasgow high street jeweller they'd been looking at. With regards the re-polishing if you go for platinum, buy yourself a tungsten burnisher [high speed rotary variants available] a stick of dialux green, and some shammy leather. Polish it yourself in no time at all, the burnisher and dialux should last you a lifetime. Cheaper than constantly re-plating. A lot of white golds do discolour - gold being naturally, well, gold coloured - forcing it into a different colour can be less than 100% effective, I've seen 9ct (which should be the easiest) gold a deep grey with a distinct brown hue before now. If you do go for a white gold, insist on a high Pd alloy, they generally offer the best colour and most consistency. Silver is the whitest of the precious metals, but it's the least precious and the fastest to tarnish so requires much more polishing if you want to keep it shiny. I like the deep grey tone of Palladium 500 (i.e. 50% palladium) everything doesn't have to be bright and shiny. Have you considered a textured ring, either matt, or patterned? Turned with groves or channels? Bi-colour [or even tri-colour] C F Dau does some gorgeous rings? jrs77, there's a device a bit like a tin-opener, a section slips between the ring and the finger, and you turn the turner to cut through the ring with a mini-circular-saw. They cost about £20-60 depending on the brand and type of blade, every ER should have one - don't know if they do though.
Wondered when the resident jeweller would rock up. I can't remember where we got ours but went for platinum. (Mrs GMC's skin is...particular). I have a 7mm D (thanks asura) and the dulling isn't that bad, I've only had it cleaned a couple times (in-laws deal in antiques so have bits and bobs for such things). I kinda like the fact it doesn't shine like I got married yesterday. Agree with the jewellery quarter advice, but also check out antique jewellery dealers near you and dont be afraid to ask for an independent appraisal before spending if you're not absolutely sure you know what you're buying. Mrs GMC's engagement and eternity rings are platinum/diamond antiques and were absolute bargains.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I was looking at the D-shape or half court thinking it would be more comfortable but have read that the full court is the most comfortable. I like that platinum actually has value and is it's natural color, as opposed to white gold. I was looking at silver but it is very soft. I will look into platinum 500. I want to keep it simple and classic so I probably won't look at texture or multi color rings. I will see if I can find any wedding fairs that will happen soon and look into the Birmingham market.
When I bought mine I could try on the different shapes, and what I thought to be most comfortable on forehand wasn't on my finger. So be sure to try the shape on. A large outfit should have all shapes and sizes in steel for this purpose
After talking with my fiance we have decided that what the ring is made if is not that important (as we are both grad students) and will use the money for other things, like our honey moon. This leaves me with the choice of: silver, titanium, colbalt and chrome. These have different weighhts, color and hardness. She says that she only cares that it is plain and more white in color. Now I'm looking at white tungsten and Cobalt crome. Today we went into a shop and have our sizes and seem to like 3mm for her and 6mm for me. I have found some sites that sell these rings. Does anyone know of any shops that would have a gold selection of wedding bands in these metals?
I made mine out of some old Titanium from an F22 Raptor . I would go with Nexxo's offer much better having something tailored to yourselves.
It's how it's done. Though for smaller businesses, it's either buy pre-turned blanks from large company's with the machinery, or solder up an over-sized shape from wire and turn it true on a lathe.
I was thinking about silver for a while as it is a precious metal. I figured if I'm not going with white gold or platinum I will go with something much harder like cobalt chrome or white tungsten as most other metals are of a similar price. Thanks for the offer though.
Fun fact: All manufacturing processes have lounge jazz playing during production. It must be an absolute beeeach, trying to reclaim the swarf from that process.
can anyone recommend where to order cobalt chrome or white tungsten. Since i'm looking for a simple band I don't mind ordering online.
I was going to suggest my band, we play weddings if you're local, but then I read the post xD. Good luck with the wedding though !
My wife does it hard-core: coils silver wire/bar and silver solders it into a ring. Lots of hand-polishing follows.
