How To Turn Bullion Into Jewelry?

Yes, this is very much an idea that can be done. What you need to do is search out a small independent jeweler that can do the entire process on their own. When I was engaged my future wife and I found such a person, we were able to design our own rings and she provided diamonds from her grandmothers rings. We paid only a small fraction of what we would have paid in a jewelry store and were able to get exactly what we wanted. I think we paid less than $300 for both of our rings. You will need to do some shopping around to find the right person but this can be done.

This will more likely cost you more than just selling the bullion and buying a ring. Many unscrupulous jewellers might tell you that they made you a ring out of your gold when they simply melted your gold and took the cost off a pre-existing item.

Often customers will bring bags of scrap gold and want them turned into something, but to sit at a bench and hand make something is always going to be more costly than to buy something mass produced. Obviously wedding rings have gold content which is costly, but with the wages of staff at the manufacturers and the retailer, rents rates, insurance and other expenses, not to forget the boss wants some profit, the actual cost of materials might only account for 20% of the cost of the item you buy.

Sure it is possible, but to hand make a ring there will be wastage and labour costs. A mass produced ring cuts that sort of thing to a minimum. Either way the jeweller still wants to earn a profit.

With wedding rings the superstition is that it is unlucky to buy secondhand (though they can be polished up so well you might never know) simply because its possible they came from a failed marriage. My advice would be don't get married, but that's another topic!

If you aren't the superstitious type then buying at auction might be an idea...if not maybe a friend in the jewellery trade who can get you one at cost as a private sale saving you some money.

If not I am told with a flat iron, hammer, drill, fret saw and file you can make a ring out of a gold coin by tapping the edge and turning it a few thousand times, then drilling out the centre... not a technique I have every tried but interesting enough.

I personally would make a ring from scratch myself, but the expense of the tools would be more than the profit earned by the jeweller...

My advice is suck it up, you only get married once (if you learn your lesson!) so take the girl into the jewellers and let her choose... bite the bullet on the cost and just get what you want.

Also talk of adding stuff to the mix to make the gold hard... 9ct is gold with silver and copper and is very hard wearing but not a deep gold colour. 18ct is the best colour in my opinion and the material of choice for all quality brands like Cartier etc but is quite soft. 22ct is popular with the Indians and Asian markets and is very orange in colour but quite crumbly and soft.

If you were using a Krugerand for example they already added something to harden the metal (which is why the coin weighs more than an ounce but only contains an ounce of gold) Some mixes of gold contain nickel (which causes an allergic reaction in some people) White gold is mixed only with silver but tends to be a bit flat and dull so is usually Rhodium plated. Rose gold is mixed only with copper to give a reddish colour. If the jeweller truly melts your coins to make your rings it is easy to stick a bit of silver and copper in the mix, not all jewellers have expensive rolling mills in their workshops though so most will just get the materials delivered to work from...

My ring is a combination of white and yellow gold and is of a simple design. I did this because I knew I would be working with my hands for a lifetime and would be rather rough on any ring I wore. This has proved true, I went with 10k gold knowing it would hold up and I have all of my fingers now because of it. I once had my hand get caught in a rather large hydraulic door that was closing, the ring stopped it and was only slightly bent. It saved my finger and my hand.

I say go for it. In the end it doesn't really matter how much gold you use because you will have the satisfaction of having a ring that is very much uniquely yours.

I have a hand-hammered 18 kt band from Old Newbury Crafters. They don't do rings anymore, and didn't use bullion to make them. The ring is similar to this

http://www.mwmgoldsmithing.com/Othe...-1/i-ctDgtSC

You'd have to contact MWM to see whether they'd work with your gold. But count on the cost of custom work being much higher than the bullion itself.

If anyone is interested in talking with a master jeweler about doing this pm me. I have a local guy here in socal that has been a custom jeweler for 35years. I give him scraps of gold and gems I find in storage units and he transforms them into works of art. Very reasonably priced too especially if you provide the materials. And somewhat quick although he has many loyal customers that keep him busy at times. Anyway just thought I'd through it out there to pm me if you'd like his name and number to talk. Has a storefront b&m. Of coarse all the stuff would need to be done through usps, email and phone but he's darn good at what he does.