Wedding band price guidelines

Wedding bands are priced p/gram. It is averaged out according to the manufacture costs. The charge is derived from my experiences buying platinum and making the pieces, through to after sales servicing. Currently the p/gram prices ranges around $125 p/gram, which (less GST) is about $42 over my purchase price. Please note, this is an approximate.

I tend not to make compromises or take short cuts and my prices reflect the best item I can produce even if there are cost effective ways to lower the price.

There is: waste, waste recovery, fabrication, shaping, finishing and polishing.

Waste - There are off cuts and filings, plus fine emery and polishing dust
Waste recovery - Off cuts and some clean filings can be reused after refining and melting. Fine dust must be refined professionally with approx' 20% recovery.
Fabrication - Metal will be rolled in mills to the desired shape. To avoid wasting metal measurements must be constantly checked throughout separate processes.
Shaping - Rings are shaped and fused, and can be later shaped with a hammer on the mandrill, and again the desired shape must be exact to avoid waste. The ring is filed and emery papered at various stages throughout. Larger Gents rings take as much as 10 x longer than thin wedding bands. Comfort shape rings involve a lot of preplanning and the process' add to the waste.
Finishing - On average a specific finish on a gents ring will take 3-4 hours to create. The additional costs is typically $200-$300
Polishing - I pride myself on providing a mirror finish both inside and out. The workload is as much as 4 x longer than just an 'average' polish (up to 3 hours), or about 6 x longer than gold. Smaller rings don't take as long.

Quality issues and cost, why?

I want my customer to have a ring that will outlast them, and be the most precious thing they own. I know that you chose platinum as the most exclusive metal and you intend to have your rings for the rest of your life.

That is why my rings tend to be heavy, comfort shaped, with machine perfect tolerances that show attention to detail from every angle. I believe these extra's are worth the money.

I include many qualities measures that go unnoticed. For example, the ring will be work hardened, after it has been fused (fusing anneals/softens the metal). The polishing process flattens and hardens the outer surface making it more resistant to scratches. The alloy I use is 950 platinum 50 ruthenium, which is the hardest alloy. It is second to iridium in being the most dense, and heavy. I fuss over the finishes under magnification by hand, again to give perfected machined tolerances.

After Sales - On rare occasions I charge a nominal fee to bring a worn ring back to new. Initial resizing and improvements are free.

Value - I believe I offer the best value for money. My prices are for the best quality, but my costs are generally much lower than average. That said, if your budget is tight, there are many ways to bring the cost down, most notably reducing the weight, or keeping the dimensions straight forward and simple. For this reason, it is better to give me a firm budget before I make a quote.

Quotes - in future there will be a nominal $150 retainer for making a quote. In cases where there are diamonds, engraving, and where I need to work out weights etc, I can spend hours on a single quote. I will not be able to to do this for people who are shopping around for prices or some basic jewellery education.

I hope I have given you enough information to make a reasonable guess for a ball park figure. Here are some more tangible guidelines to make it simpler.

- Average gents band @ 12 -14 grams, size P-R, 6mm x 1.6mm, plain semi-comfort, slight dome (the most common) $1500 - $1750, Inc. GST
- Average ladies tends to be $900 - $1100, Inc GST, matched to engagement ring.

Note from the author - I prefer a rough hewn ring straight from the mandrill, only rough filed, the fused line still showing as well some hammering dents. The only perfected area being the inside polish. Perhaps this goes along with the saying "mechanics cars are never in good working order" etc, or perhaps I hate to waste the metal necessary to get the best result on myself, but I think I like to look at the ring and see the workmanship in the raw, just as I like to see half finished sculptures more than the finished item. I don't think there is a market for this, but if this is you, the p/gram price above would be dramatically reduced.

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