OK, so I’ve been married 25 years. The rings I wore when first married don’t fit any more, and to size them up would mean having the jeweler add gold–pretty pricey. And besides, my tastes have changed with age, and I’d like a set of rings that fit my tastes now.
But I don’t really care if the diamonds aren’t real. I don’t even really care if it’s actual gold or not. I don’t need or want him to spend a ton of money on rings I can’t even wear to work (I work around heavy machinery so no jewelry).
But I also don’t want to get an eBay special that looks like it was rejected by a factory in China for being too chintzy.
So, are there any nice, well-made fake rings out there? CZ instead of a diamond, gold-filled or a non-gold metal that really looks like gold? (I prefer white gold BTW).
I’d love it if anyone could steer me in the right direction here.
I don’t know what you’d consider nice, but if you search Amazon for cubic zirconia ring, you’ll find lots and lots of them for less than $50. Most of them are silver. Some are plated with platinum or rhodium.
Amazon has a pretty liberal return policy, so if you don’t like them, send them back. Maybe order a few different options and see what looks good.
There are CZs that look exactly like diamonds, only flawless, but much cheaper.
However, if you put one of these in a cheap setting, which is where a lot of them end up, you end up with a cheap looking ring.
If you get a quality setting, it will cost almost as much as if there was an actual diamond in there, but not quite as much. I have seen a very nice CZ set for around $750.
The thing is that in these good settings you can put a much bigger non-diamond stone; but if the stone is really big then, depending on a lot of things about you,* people will assume it’s a CZ and not a diamond. The bigger it is, the more people will assume that (again, depending on your personal elan). If you don’t care then go for it.
*Example: I have a friend who, anything she puts on, automatically looks classy, and I know why. There is no one personal characteristic I can tie it to. I’m not the only one who’s noticed.
Correct me if I’m wrong here (and maybe this is just a cultural thing), but isn’t it usually the engagement ring that has the diamond? Aren’t wedding rings usually just straight gold?
Also, while I unfortunately can’t give you the answer you’re looking for, I can tell you something else that might help: unless you specifically know what to look for, you’re probably not going to be able to tell a diamond from a CZ with just the naked eye. The one quick and easy trick to figure it out is to shine a blacklight on it. CZ (to varying degrees based on color) glows under a blacklight, diamond doesn’t. But you know what else glows under a blacklight? Cat pee. In the admittedly unlikely event that you’re called on this and someone takes out a blacklight to prove their point, all you need to do is claim that it’s a diamond, recently soaked in cat urine.
Whether they believe you or not, I can practically guarantee they’ll stop asking you questions.
Cubic zircona is not really considered to be a long term stone - most of the time they get cloudy after a few years. If you want something that looks very close to a real diamond and will hold up like a diamond, then I suggest looking at moissanite. It looks like diamond except a bit sparklier.
I am going to suggest something I even throw out for people buying “our one and only wedding rings”. If you can at all, check some local coin dealers. The place I used to work at got some lovely stuff basically just under melt and sold it not that far over melt. I got a lovely antique band for my wife to wear at reenactments for basically a hundred bucks; something thinner with fake stones would be even cheaper. And unlike eBay you can stand there and try it on to see how it looks and feels to you.
I wear a fake diamond engagement ring for the same reasons. I have a couple, depending on how flashy I want. They’re both gorgeous and extremely real looking, and I get complements on them frequently. I got them both at TJ Maxx. One was $25, the other, a splurge, was $100, but that one is real gold. I like the $25 better. I’ve had both for years, no cloudy.
Yes! We got our wedding rings (lovely plain gold bands) at a coin dealer shop, on the advice of a friend. We lucked onto a matching set, mine fit perfectly, his needed to be re-sized. We paid under $100 for the set (21 years ago).
(I never wanted a matching engagement-and-wedding ring set. I would have liked a family-heirloom grandma’s wedding ring kind of thing, but his parents were Holocaust survivors so no rings were passed down. He gave me a plastic spider ring as a joke engagement ring - our cat later stole it and lost it.)
Along the lines of what Honey said, HSN’s line of CZs are called Absolute, and they are really beautiful. I bought a necklace and bracelet to wear on my wedding day, and their sparkle rivaled my real diamond ring. I’ve since bought a couple more for myself and for gifts and I have been impressed each time. (although I do suggest checking reviews as it seems as if some settings are made with better quality than others)
Threads on tungsten carbide rings and titanium rings: [thread=699204]thread 1[/thread] [thread=702042]thread 2[/thread] plus older threads if you search.
My ring is tungsten carbide (What the bloody hells tungsten carbide drills?? ;)) with an inlay of woven carbon fiber. I love it. Much cheaper then even a plain gold band.
What about titanium? I think that’s supposed to be very durable, and not super expensive. I like the idea of getting one with a color anodized into the pattern: http://www.titaniumringsforever.com/womens-titanium-rings. I don’t know that you’d have much luck finding an “engagement” rink to match but I often leave my gemstone ring at home anyway.