At New Gild Jewelers, we welcome our women clients and really appreciate the questions and challenges they bring us. We’d like to take this opportunity to give them a shout-out, and to answer a few of the questions we often receive from women.
A common query we receive is about the wedding ring and/or engagement ring from a union when that union has ended. Women will bring their custom engagement and / or wedding rings to us, and indicate that they don’t know what to do with them–should they sell them? Sometimes, they indicate that the fear some bad energy from the rings, given that the union ended. They also sometimes cite animosity for their former partners as a reason to unload the jewelry.
I always encourage women to take a bit of time to reflect before selling either an engagement or wedding ring. Many jewelers are happy to buy these items, because “street buys” are very profitable for the jeweler. Here at New Gild Jewelers, we don’t believe in taking advantage of our clients when they may be feeling vulnerable already.
Diamonds are literally billions of years old in the earth’s geological history–they were here for the evolution of the first dinosaur, and still here 165 million years later when those giant creatures became extinct. To diamonds, the trials and tribulations of our lives are nothing compared to what they’ve co-existed alongside and survived. As such, we do not think of diamonds as tainted by their time with us and our families.
Rather than make a quick buy, we encourage women to hang on to these pieces of custom jewelry made with valuable materials, witnesses to history great and small. The saying, “time heals all wounds,” is applicable here because after a period of time, the negativity we feel about the fate of our past relationship will fade–yet, nothing sparkles like a diamond and that sparkle never fades.
What are we saving it for? There are a number of options. My favorite is to use the materials to make a piece of custom jewelry for the client that celebrates the “new her,” an identity that has been forged, in part, by her experiences. Including the gold and/or diamonds and gemstones from pieces of personal jewelry isn’t just practical, it’s symbolic. I’ve had clients bring their friends to the store to joyfully pick up their new “divorce ring” and use the piece to signify a new chapter in their lives as well as their identity as an individual.
If there are children, they may appreciate the gesture of using the materials to make a keepsake for them, as they are the living manifestations of the union. Alternatively, the children may want to use the diamond(s) to create a custom wedding ring or engagement ring in their adulthood.
Another concern we hear often from women is that they’ve arrived at mid-life to find their jewelry boxes filled with small things, good things, but things they don’t wear or like any longer. They feel guilty buying something new when they already have “all this.” New Gild Jewelers can help with this, too.
We sort your pieces of jewelry and plan a project that will use as much of your metal and stones as possible, and also fit your lifestyle and aesthetic today. We work to create something that brings your past forward into the future with you in one piece that you’ll love and go-to. What could be sparklier?
Are you looking to redesign or replace an engagement ring, wedding ring or other piece of custom jewelry? We here at New Gild Jewelers can help! Visit our custom jewelry studio in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN.
