Everything here is shown next to a rule, because photographs of rings lie about size.
A four millimetre band looks enormous on a phone and disappears on a hand. So the widths are printed, and the tray comes out on the counter before anybody talks about price.
Band widths, drawn true
The single most common regret is a band that is one millimetre off.
These bars are set in real millimetres, so on most screens they are close to life size. Hold your existing ring against the screen and you will get within half a millimetre, which is close enough to know which conversation you are having when you come in.
Thin enough to wear three of. Also the width that bends if you work with your hands, which is most people here.
Roughly two thirds of what leaves this counter. Sits flush against most engagement rings without a shadow gap.
What people picture when they say plain gold band. Heavy enough to hold an engraving inside it.
Reads as a statement rather than a wedding band. Warmer in summer than people expect, and it needs a half size larger to go over the knuckle.
At this width the ring stops being jewellery and becomes an object. Very hard to size later without losing the pattern.
Screens vary, so treat these as close rather than exact. The tray on the counter is exact, and looking at it costs nothing.
Most of what happens here is repair, so the repair prices are the ones printed.
Nothing on this list leaves the building. It is done at the bench in the back room, usually by the end of the week, and you get a written estimate before anything is touched with a torch.
| Work | From | Usually |
|---|---|---|
| Ring sized down, plain band | $55 | 2 days |
| Ring sized up, plain band, gold added | $78 | 2 days |
| Sizing a ring with stones all the way round | $165 | 1 week |
| Two prongs retipped | $65 | 3 days |
| A prong rebuilt from nothing | $95 | 3 days |
| Stones checked and tightened, whole piece | no charge | while you wait |
| Chain soldered, one break | $38 | 2 days |
| Clasp replaced, spring ring or lobster | $45 | 2 days |
| Pearls restrung, knotted between each | $3.50 per inch | 1 week |
| Watch battery and a new gasket | $14 | while you wait |
| Ultrasonic clean and polish, any piece | no charge | while you wait |
Two things we will tell you before we take the job. A ring worn thin under the finger cannot be sized, it has to be reshanked, and that is $190. And anything with an emerald, an opal or a tanzanite in it does not go in the ultrasonic, ever, whatever the last place did.
There is a bench in this building, and somebody sits at it.
A lot of shops on main streets this size take your ring across the counter, put it in an envelope and mail it to a trade shop in another state. It comes back in three weeks and nobody who touched it ever saw your hand.
Everything on the price list above is done here. If a job genuinely needs a laser welder or a casting house we will tell you that it is going out, tell you where, and tell you when it is coming back.
Engraving, and the difference between the two kinds.
By machine
A rotary or diamond drag cutter following a font. Even, fast, repeatable, and the right answer for a name inside a class ring, a date inside a band, or forty of anything.
$3.50 a character, minimum $25. Same day on most pieces.
By hand
A graver pushed through the metal, which cuts a bright facet that catches light where a machine cut just scratches. Script, monograms, and any curved or domed surface a machine cannot sit flat on.
From $85 for a three letter monogram. Allow a week, and it is quoted per piece.
If you want something made, this is the whole sequence.
Usually it starts with inherited gold somebody does not want to sell and does not want to wear. That is the best version of this job, and it is also the one that needs the most honesty early, so here is the order it happens in and where the money goes.
- You bring in the metal and the stones, and we weigh everything in front of youWritten down on the ticket, including karat, before anything leaves the counter. No charge, and no obligation to go further.
- We draw it, on paper, at sizeTwo or three options. This is the step that decides whether the piece is right, and it is worth a second visit rather than a phone call.
- A wax is carved or printed, and you put it on your hand$85, and it comes off the final price. Roughly one in five designs changes here, which is exactly what the wax is for.
- Cast, cleaned up and set at the benchThree to four weeks. Longer between October and Christmas, and we will say so rather than promise a date we will miss.
- Final weigh-in, and any gold left over goes home with youRefined value credited or returned as metal. It is your gold.
A one-off ring in fourteen karat with your own stones starts around $850 and most land between $1,200 and $2,400. If your number is lower than that, say so at the first visit and we will tell you honestly whether it can be done.
Bring it in. Looking at it is free, and so is the answer.
Including the answer that it is not worth repairing, which we give about once a week and which nobody has ever been unhappy to hear early rather than late.
Tuesday to Friday, 10 to 5. Saturday, 10 to 3. Closed Sunday and Monday.
(816) 555‑0163