In Reply to: If I were you posted by Tuberose on Friday, 2. March 2007 at 08:10 Bali Time:
Denise had a very special top quality opal set into a ring at Toka First and she was very happy with the workmanship, but noticed on the flight home that the opal appeared loosely set. After immigration in Melbourne she noticed the stone was missing. She made an insurance claim, but the money didnt make up for the very special opal.
After that experience, I think I am happy to use them again for not more expensive jewellery pieces, but will certainly inspect the claws etc. I am wondering if they used too soft gold to hold the stone/s in place.
I am happy with my last ring with 5 diamonds, 2 sapphires and 2 zircons, (which I supplied) but although I asked for the stones to be claw set, the claws are actually stamped on to the gold, not actual claws. The setting is very solid and the band thickness is terrific. I take over old gold pieces of jewellery to recycle and they use my gold.
Definitely use them for resizing and jewelery repairs and less valuable pieces.
Its just nice to have a change and if an old piece, eg bracelet, has worn thru, great idea to have a new piece made. Their labour costs for a ring to be made (using your metal and stones) are only about au$100 so you really cant expect the very best for so little.