Wife Thinking about Selling Wedding Ring

[Spiffster]

First off, no, we are not having marital issues . Quite happy going on 7 years actually.

That said, my wife is an RN and never wears her wedding ring (neither do I), so she asked me if I was comfortable with her selling her ring. She has another ring that she would wear for social occasions anyway. I have a cheap titanium ring that I also only wear for social occasions.

The way I see it is the ring is a liability since it has already lost a diamond even with her only wearing it on rare social occasions. The quality of the ring has to be pretty bad IMO as she has worn it maybe a dozen times and we have since bought a proxy ring that she now wears in place of this ring. The D-bags at Jarod's would not replace the diamond under warranty because she had not had it cleaned within the last 6 months. We had a jeweler repair the ring for $80, that included the small diamond that was lost. The main diamond is just over 1ct and thankfully hasnt been lost... yet.

My question is, what is the best method of selling the thing? The initial *investment* was around $5500.

[bjl584]

It might not be worth much on the aftermarket at this point.

Do you two need the money? If not, it might just be worth keeping.

But, if you insist on selling, then I definitely would stay away from those stores that will buy your unwanted gold and jewelry. You'll get pennies on the dollar.

You can try to sell it online or list in the local paper. The trouble is, you need to find just the right buyer since rings are sized.

A friend of mine sold an engagement ring after he and his fiancé broke up. It took him over a year to find a buyer who was both the right size and had the cash.

Good luck.

[Nutria]

A friend of mine sold an engagement ring after he and his fiancé broke up.

What does a male engagement ring look like?

It took him over a year to find a buyer who was both the right size and had the cash.

Well, the market for male engagement rings is 1/20th (probably less) the size of the female engagement ring market, so hers would probably sell faster.

[97guns]

Your money will be in the gold if there is any and the karat is high, in my experience diamonds value retain pennies on the dollar

[tripods68]

Pawn shop will give you probably 100-200 bucks. I'd its not worth it...keep for your future daughter instead....

[BuckyBadger]

What does a male engagement ring look like?



Well, the market for male engagement rings is 1/20th (probably less) the size of the female engagement ring market, so hers would probably sell faster.

I'm assuming the poster was referring to the ladies ring - that the lady is, by convention, expected to return to the man if the engagement is called off.

[Jluke]

There is a website you can check out...

IdonowIdont

Might be better holding onto...

[Fishindude77]

I'd hang onto them and put them away someplace secure.
I think you might regret this decision later in life.

[Spiffster]

The ring and band are gold. We dont need the money at all. My wife is probably cheaper than I am... and I am CHEAP. Obviously when I purchased the ring there was a short lapse in my better judgement... ;-)

The whole jewelry industry is complete **** IMO. They give you a certificate that says the diamond is worth this or that, but nobody would pay that much for it, except the sucker (me) thats buying it from said con-artist (Jarods).

Anyway, the suggestion to keep the ring for one of our two daughters is probably the best plan.

Anyone in the market for a ring should probably just go with a cubic zirconia fitted to a 14 karat gold ring and be done with it... better than getting ripped off like I did.

The price you pay for a ring should never be measured against, or represent your love for another person. The whole industry is predicated on this line of thinking... we would not miss the ring if we sold it, because we no longer buy into this fallacy... We were NOT thinking of getting rid of the wedding band, just the engagement ring.

[97guns]

I'm glad my girl doesn't like diamonds and her being asian knows the value of gold, totally different from american culture where diamonds are a girls best friend, it will be 24k bands for us

[FLA]

I'm divorced and have a daughter. I don't dire-ly need the money but money is tight since becoming disabled. I thought about selling the ring and putting the money towards college. Until I got several estimates that were about 1/3 what we paid for it in 1993. I thought it would at least appreciate a little and maybe be worth half after 23 yrs. Now I am back to the plan of giving it to my daughter. I wouldn't even have scored on the gold because I wore a size 4 so the ring is little, bummer.

[snafu]

Spiffster, I don't think you were ripped off by the jeweller if you got a what it says on the certificate like 18K gold band, 1C diamond, with details on cut, color and clarity. The diamond was likely worth it's price retail on the date of purchase.

What tripped you was a lack of knowledge about jewelry whose markup exceeds 1,000 %. You were sold by clever marketing initiated by De Beers in the 1930's [I think]. Used jewelry is nearly worthless, I've seen costume jewelry sell for insane prices and it's cut, colored glass and coated nickel. Rings can be resized, so if there are guys who want to make big points with their gals, they should be looking on line for used trinkets. She can't tell the difference if you can keep a secret.

The problem is to discern what is real and what is fake. We've all seen 'knock-off' watches that look like the real thing. In China the fake brand name merchandise can fool the experts. You need real knowledge to buy jewelry. Is it mined or man made? Pearls from shells or 'cultured' or plastic?

Too often the letter of appraisal is legit, just written about some other piece.

sorry...of the soapbox

[FLA]

you know what, I could care less about if I had a real diamond. I wish we had gone cubic zirconia because who would know? And had we saved that money.....meh, you can't re-write history. But if I ever marry again (duck, here come the pigs flying by), I will just want a plain band.

[Nutria]

I'm assuming the poster was referring to the ladies ring

It's 2016, not 1996.

that the lady is, by convention, expected to return to the man if the engagement is called off.

Really? He gave it to her, so giving it back is a matter of courtesy.

[BuckyBadger]

It's 2016, not 1996.

Yup, and like you said, male engagement rings aren't very common in 2016. Perhaps you've heard the expression about horses and zebras? I assumed horse. You apparently jumped to zebra.

Really? He gave it to her, so giving it back is a matter of courtesy.

Aren't we agreeing that the woman should give the ring back? You used the work courtesy and I used the word convention. Those are pretty similar words.