I’m going to bet that no-one stuck two actual diamonds into a sterling silver ring from Thailand, but I could be wrong. I doubt I’m wrong.
That presumed, what are they likely to be? They’re both round highlight brilliant cut, pretty damn tall, and one is maybe 1/4 of an inch across, and the other is 2/3rds the size of the first one. They are both at least as tall as they are wide, if not slightly taller.
The design is interesting, but the craftsmanship isn’t that awesome.
Plastic? Quartz? CZ?
Only markings on the ring are NF 925 THAILAND.
Also, if I paid $5 for it, who got ripped off, me or the seller?
If they are set in sterling, probably not plastic. And if made in Thailand, particularly in a more artisan style, probably not CZ. My first guess would be rock crystal (clear quartz). Today I’m wearing a large (1/4 inch x 3/4 inch) faceted rock crystal pendant, set in sterling with an artisan design. Could also be white topaz, which is often cut in large rounds.
In any case, $5 would be an incredibly good price for a sterling rock crystal or white topaz ring.
I don’t have a pinterest or tumblr to post to, sadly.
Here’s a few reference pics tho:
The silver band of the ring itself is fairly chunky and splits into two “bands” in the front and on the side very much like this.
However, because there are stones on the bands, the bands in the front are narrower, more like this. (But only two of them.)
There are two stones, offset from each other, and varying in size. They’re round and pointed in different directions like the larger two stones on this(and these are very close to the right size)
But, they’re very distinctly each set on a different one of the two front bands like this(although these two are very small and set too close together.)
Make sense?
To me, those images make it even more likely that the stones are rock crystal. The large, round stones are often set that way.
oooh, found a fun website.
This company lets you play around with creating a ring.
If it IS Rock Crystal, then thisdesign is pretty close. The stones are a smidge on the small side, and I think I’ve got a bit more metal in my band (hard to tell with the shape) but it’s close.
If it’s quartz, then thisone is as close as I can get. They only have smoky quartz as an option.
$161 or $137, either way, it isn’t too shabby for a $5 impulse buy.
Rock crystal is just another name for clear quartz. I do think you probably have a rock crystal ring, and at a great bargain.
I never knew that! Ignorance fought - thanks for the info!
Moved Cafe Society --> IMHO.
$5 for a sterling silver ring with any kind of nice stones in it sounds like a super deal to me, anyway. 
I have a somewhat-related anecdote; when my husband and I were first dating (we had only been going out for a couple of months), we went to a party where there was a contest to pick the real diamond out from the fakes. I couldn’t tell which were real or which were fakes; my husband could, and he eventually ended up winning the diamond which is now in my engagement ring. It’s a running joke with us that I can’t tell diamonds from fakes, so he can buy me all fake diamonds now.
(I do actually really like cubic zirconias; all the sparkle of diamonds without the pricetag or the worries about losing them or the social problems with “blood diamonds”).
If it’s cubic zirconia it should have lots of rainbow flashes. If it flashes different colors like a diamond it is probably CZ. Rock crystal/clear quartz is pretty but doesn’t usually have a lot of sparkle. White topaz is usually sparkly but it’s just white, you don’t get the rainbow effect. If they are unusually tall compared to their width they probably are not diamonds because diamonds need to be cut with a specific proportion to get the most brilliance.
Worked with a fellow who finally asked his longtime girlfriend to marry him. She couldn’t wait to show me the huge rock on her engagement ring. I complimented her on it and congratulated her on her pending nuptuals, ending it before I said, “…to that cheapskate who got you a CZ engagement ring.” If it were a diamond it would be a step up from a drill bit, and it would not have that cut. And even then he couldn’t afford it. As CZs go it was okay, but not the best I’ve seen–they can be gorgeous and should be enjoyed for what they are. She enjoyed it so I kept my yap shut.
The marriage didn’t last as long as the pre-engagement had. I blame that rock.
Well, they aren’t rainbow sparkly at all - very flat white, so I’m guessing that CZ is out.
I’m thinking of bringing it by a jewelry store and asking them to identify and appraise it for me - do they usually charge a fee for that? I’ve never needed that service before.
It’s a service so, yeah, they charge. The last appraisal I had was $45.
I was at the mall anyway, and so I asked at one of those mall places that had a “we buy jewelry” sign out front.
The guy was really nice, looked at it, and said that if he bought it, he wouldn’t pay me more than about $25 for it, but if I sold it on my own over Craigslist or e-bay, I could probably get between that and $60 for it if I took good pictures and aimed higher to start with.
He said he’d never seen a ring design and setting like it, and that it was an interesting/attractive one. He also confirmed that it was most likely rock crystal, citing a few minute blemishes in the smaller stone, and the non-rainbow sparkles under the lamp. Maybe he was shitting me, but I can’t see much profit in him to say I could get more if I sold it myself than selling it to him.
I’m fairly happy I picked it up! It really was just a spur-of-the-moment thing.
ETA - the charge for official “appraisal” was $85, and they send it off to an offsite gemologist, and you get an official insurance paper for it and all the info they could dig up. Obviously for something like this that is totally unnecessary and way too expensive.
