Have you ever seen someone cry when you told them their ring was past saving?

Jewelry Discussion
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Wow. Just had a horrible experience last night. I was at a friends house and she asked me for advice on cleaning a ring. A sterling silver and amethyst ring her mom had given her.
It seems that she had followed my advice a couple of times to clean it herself and was having no luck. She had gotten something under some smaller wire rosettes that just was not coming out.

So instead of asking me to clean and polish it, which I would have been happy to do, she followed the advice of another friend who told her to put it in a pan with water and hydrogen peroxide and boil it.
So she did. for half of an hour.

As soon as I touched it I knew it was going to be a bad conversation. It was light brown and looked like like a bad case of plaque psoriasis all over the metal. All I could say is that the ring was past saving and at best I said she could remount the gem.
She was crying over what she had done.

When she gets over it, I may have her husband steal it so I can make a duplicate ring for her this Christmas.

Yeah. this is the sucky part of being a jeweler conveying bad news like that.

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Hi Gerald
Was that person a jeweller? I’m also sick that she listened to someone else before going to YOU. Why do these people do such idiotic things? You are an absolute (maven) professional jeweller in our community. Hope that shock wears off, so terrible to read stories like this.
A very sad Gerry :disappointed_relieved::ring::gem:

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It looks to me as if the solder in the joint in the bezel has been totally eaten away.
Sad.
(So much free advice out there is not even worth that price, when it comes to jewelry care)
If I did not see that seam erosion, I might have suggested trying to refinish the surface using a brass brush and water, and then polishing with buffs, but the damage is beyond that remedy, or any others I might have tried.

Working for over a decade in Schenectady, NY, in a jewelry store right up the hill from the huge GE facilities there, I had many experiences with jewelry that some GE engineer or worker had “fixed” for their wife, rather than “waste money at a jeweler”.

Some things I can save, some, all I can do is try to find some way to be diplomatic and gentle, as I suggest it be “retired”, and suggest that they might want to try talking to a jeweler first, if there is a ext time…

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Not just the solder at the seam. The top of the ring was barely attached to the shank. I suspect that I could pull it apart with my fingers without any real effort. =(