Old Engagment ring
 

My fiance(sp) left me two days ago and since I bought the ring i got to keep it. What do I do with a 3/4 carrat pear shaped ring with a white gold band. I am only 21 and really really need the money to go through school but don't want to get robbed blind at Pawn shop. I orginally spend 1515 on the ring and am wondering what I should do with it... or if anyone wants to buy it..(will sell to a tfp member for a really really low price 800) but I am not sure what places even buy diamonds or how much to expect for it? The ring is a little over 5 months old

Dude, I almost don't want to say it, but if you get desperate you might turn to ebay and set a high reserve. Props to you for not considering saving it for the next girl... Sorry about the fiancee.

Try going to a local jewlery store and see what they can do for you. I hope things work out for you.

Have it appraised at a local private jewler. Not the ones at malls. The ones that require you to be buzzed in the front door. Open the phone book and try to find dealers you've heard highly of in your town. Take it to at least two and pay them the small apprasal fee. Use that as a basis for your reserve if you go the route of ebay. These dealers will also provide you with papers about the diamond clarity and value for a small fee. You can also enquire at these reputable dealers who's currently buying rings in your area. Their recomendation of buyers is going to be well above what a pawn shop would give you.
Think of it this way. You give $10.00 each to two dealers and end up educated enough not to be ripped off.

arch13 is right, got to a private jewler... my wife has just inherited her mother's engagement ring (mine was a mini-me version of that) and we're probably going to sell ours and she'll wear that one. And the jeweler has expressed interrest in that ring and another one we have. Then we go on a kick ass Vegas trip. The good thing is that I know how much I paid for the engagement ring, and they already apprasised the other ring... so we should be doing pretty good.

The same thing happened to me - except I almost had to cut the ring from her finger (but that's another story).

I put the ring in a safe deposit box, knowing that a diamond ring is never going to depreciate in value.
Three years later, when I met my future wife - I went to a jewelry store, and just told them I wanted to upgrade.
Better stone; better band - and, since the original was already paid off - it only cost me $800.

younamehere: that Sir, is a stroke of genius.

I salute you, and now know i shall be leaving my old engagements rings exactly where they are for the duration.

(Though the temptation to be maudlin over them is pretty strong)

tisonlyi:
Not to pry, but... how many "old engagement rings" are you sitting on?

What are the rules then just out of interest?

I thought that the girl always kept the ring as it was a gift.

Do they just sometimes give it back because they feel bad or is it obligatory?

As far as I'm concerned, it depends on a combination of the nature of the breakup and the time of engagement.

In my case, she slept with my best friend (yeah - right!) a week after we got engaged - I hadn't even made the first payment yet.

I told her I was taking the ring back - with or without her finger still in it.

If I broke a rule there, TFB.

The giving of an engagement ring is a contract for marriage. If the marriage is not carried out the contract is broken and the ring must be given back (went through this last year -- it sucks).

As for my advice -- if you can swing it I would do what yournamehere suggested and throw that thing in a very safe place. You'll get through this time and will met someone new and then be able to upgrade.

If you do need the money I would also go to a private jewerly shop. Make sure to bring with you the certification papers that came with your ring. But be prepared to loss some of the money you initially invested. Case in point -- I spend $10,000 on a ring and only got $7,500 for it. Not sure if the breakup or that hurt more. Good luck to ya....

Troit

Keep the stone, get rid of the setting.

If you want to sell the stone, you should be able to do so without losing too much money.

If you can't get a good price for it, keep it and when you meet someone else, you can have it reset in a new ring.

That way you won't be losing much money, but you won't be giving an 'old' engagement ring---most girls would stomp your head in if you proposed to them with the same ring.

Well the way I see it if you are a girl and the guy who gave you the ring is the one breaking off the engagement the GIRL keeps the ring.

Especially if the girl is not at all at fault and the guy is a cheating asshole.

*insert bitterness here*

I've always heard that the "dumpee" gets the ring, unless the person doing the dumping has a legitimate reason for said dumping.

Exactly what i'd say. The unless it's a completely ornate setting, the stone carries 85-90% of a rings value. While the ring carries the symbolism of the relationship, the stone is really just a stone (until you get into the big honkers - then a stone is a BMW). Save the stone and you'll be much better off in the future when you find someone who is actually worthy of wearing it.

Good luck to ya!

To me, the stone IS the ring. That's not to say that the setting is unimportant
I can only speak for myself, but I would never have considered giving my wife the same stone that I already "loaned" to someone else.

I took all the jewlery back from a cheating ex and took it back to the jewelry store and upgraded for some bling of my own!