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Girls; which brand of jewellery would you be most excited to receive as a gift?

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Original post by Ziggy Sawdust
Thanks for the suggestions, much appreciated.



I'd say my maximum budget is about £350-£400, but I don't want to go over the top and make her feel awkward or anything.



May I ask why?

Ah ok so you're fine budget wise. And silver is much more a younger person type of jewelery I personally don't wear gold nor do I know anyone who does it's usually silver or white gold we all seem to go for. I'm not actually sure why I think our generation likes it more. :holmes:
Original post by lyrical_lie
Ah ok so you're fine budget wise. And silver is much more a younger person type of jewelery I personally don't wear gold nor do I know anyone who does it's usually silver or white gold we all seem to go for. I'm not actually sure why I think our generation likes it more. :holmes:


Oh right. My sister doesn't like yellow gold, in her case it's because she says she associates it with chavs. :giggle: Anyway, noted. Thanks again for your advice.
I work in a jewellers myself, and here's the funny thing.... it all depends how stupid the girl is mixed with their class....

Chavy girl like Pandora, it's basically overpriced trash.

Tiffany is what a lot of working/lower middle class people just presume is a good standard. Still overpriced trash... a 9ct "silver" ring can cost around £170-£200 here.... seeing silver currently cost's roguhly 40-43p a gram and the average ring is between 1 and 6 grams.

Links of London is the only common sense(ish) group, good quality and expensive. Overpriced, but if you gonna do it, do it here.

Cartier, great quality, but so damn expensive! For those with more money than sense.

In all honesty try and stick away from the branded stuff, you can get 'identical' stuff for a fraction of the price. For example we buy one of our rings from a supplier who sells the exact same ring to John Lewis.... hardly a massive jewellery brand but servers as a perfect example. The ring is identical in every single way and is produced by the same person. We would have charged £2,500 while they charged between £8,000-£9000.

About 70-90% of the cost will be the brand, which usually means in reality all you'll get extra is a fancy bag.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by lyrical_lie
Ah ok so you're fine budget wise. And silver is much more a younger person type of jewelery I personally don't wear gold nor do I know anyone who does it's usually silver or white gold we all seem to go for. I'm not actually sure why I think our generation likes it more. :holmes:


Quite simply yellow gold is out of fashion unless your a chav/gypsy or over the age of 25-30. Simply put when our generation started buying jewellery Gold Prices were at their height so we got silver, but silver tarnishes. We got used to the colour over the time and as the gold price had dropped, white gold is now in fashion as it is better and more exclusive alternative to silver.

"To OP" Be careful with white gold and silver though. If you get silver, when it's not being worn keep in in a plastic bag, it reduces tarnishing. With white gold if she like to play with her rings or it rubs a lot it will eventually go yellow and you will need to get it re-rhodiumed.
Original post by Ziggy Sawdust
I'd say my maximum budget is about £350-£400, but I don't want to go over the top and make her feel awkward or anything.

*someone saying silver rather than gold?*

May I ask why?


If your wanting to spend that much don't buy silver, I personally would not recommend buying a gold ring over £60, silver bracelet over £80 or silver chain over £90-£100. If you do your getting quite royally ripped off.

People buy silver for the colour at that price go white gold. Either way find out what her preference is then decide on the colour whether it's yellow, white or rose (pink) gold. You can even have mixtures.
Original post by DanB1991
I work in a jewellers myself, and here's the funny thing.... it all depends how stupid the girl is mixed with their class....

Chavy girl like Pandora, it's basically overpriced trash.

Tiffany is what a lot of working/lower middle class people just presume is a good standard. Still overpriced trash... a pct "silver" ring can cost around £170-£200 here.... seeing silver currently cost's roguhly 40-43p a gram and the average ring is between 1 and 6 grams.

Links of London is the only common sense(ish) group, good quality and expensive. Overpriced, but if you gonna do it, do it here.

Cartier, great quality, but so damn expensive! For those with more money than sense.

In all honesty try and stick away from the branded stuff, you can get 'identical' stuff for a fraction of the price. For example we buy one of our rings from a supplier who sells the exact same ring to John Lewis.... hardly a massive jewellery brand but servers as a perfect example. The ring is identical in every single way and is produced by the same person. We would have charged £2,500 while they charged between £8,000-£9000.

About 70-90% of the cost will be the brand, which usually means in reality all you'll get extra is a fancy bag.


Judging by the poll, the girls of TSR can't have much common sense then :teehee:

But in seriousness, thank you very much for your post. I wasn't expecting to get advice from somebody with an insight in the jewellery industry, so you input is a nice (and very useful) surprise. The only problem I'd consider is the possibility that some people (I'm not necessarily saying my girlfriend would) might think that because a piece of jewellery is unbranded it might indicate that it's cheap and/or of poor quality. I know that this is silly, but peoples' perceptions often are.
To be honest, I'd rather have something that he knew I'd love from, say, Etsy that cost like £20 than something from Tiffany's that was expensive and he'd only bought for the brand name.

If you can pick something you know she'd like from the big jewellery stores though, I'd go for Pandora (for the bracelets, and then it can be a gift that other people can add to for birthdays and stuff) or Tiffany's. They're obvious 'fancy' brands to most people.
Argos stuff is top notch. Really affordable. No woman who wants Cartier and stuff is worthwhile or useful for anything.
Original post by Ziggy Sawdust
Judging by the poll, the girls of TSR can't have much common sense then :teehee:

But in seriousness, thank you very much for your post. I wasn't expecting to get advice from somebody with an insight in the jewellery industry, so you input is a nice (and very useful) surprise. The only problem I'd consider is the possibility that some people (I'm not necessarily saying my girlfriend would) might think that because a piece of jewellery is unbranded it might indicate that it's cheap and/or of poor quality. I know that this is silly, but peoples' perceptions often are.


Most people our age have no idea about jewellery tbh and only look at the brands.

Either way keep away from branded silver.... it loses around 98% of it's value the moment you buy it.... thats no joke, seeing I saw a 1.2g that was selling for £120 quid.... and any jeweller who buys jewellery would buy it back off you for 24p. Your only option would be to sell it privately and it would be too tarnished after 2 years to get much interest from a private buyer.

I know it's pessimistic to talk about selling stuff like that, but realistically people like to upgrade their jewellery every 5-10 years and the most common way is to sell their old + out of fashion stuff. Hell if the gold price goes up, seeing it's low at the moment, it could even go up (finger crossed for a middle eastern war). Also when buying gold it also doubles as an investment, but as soon as you go branded you loose that aspect seeing you pay around 2x-3x for simply a branded bag, never mind a brand on the actual piece of jewellery.

You best bet would be white gold, that way she can tell people it's gold etc, looks nicer and you can rhomdium it for 15-30 quid every year or three to get its shine back if it dulls (which you cannot really do with silver). If you do go for a brand Link of London is a good bet, if you can't quite afford it it's understandable to go with Tiffany.
Original post by DanB1991
Either way keep away from branded silver.... it loses around 98% of it's value the moment you buy it.... thats no joke, seeing I saw a 1.2g that was selling for £120 quid.... and any jeweller who buys jewellery would buy it back off you for 24p. Your only option would be to sell it privately and it would be too tarnished after 2 years to get much interest from a private buyer.


Wow, that is pretty shocking. I knew that jewellery is usually sold at a huge mark up, but I didn't quite how huge.

Original post by DanB1991
I know it's pessimistic to talk about selling stuff like that, but realistically people like to upgrade their jewellery every 5-10 years and the most common way is to sell their old + out of fashion stuff. Hell if the gold price goes up, seeing it's low at the moment, it could even go up (finger crossed for a middle eastern war). Also when buying gold it also doubles as an investment, but as soon as you go branded you loose that aspect seeing you pay around 2x-3x for simply a branded bag, never mind a brand on the actual piece of jewellery.

You best bet would be white gold, that way she can tell people it's gold etc, looks nicer and you can rhomdium it for 15-30 quid every year or three to get its shine back if it dulls (which you cannot really do with silver). If you do go for a brand Link of London is a good bet, if you can't quite afford it it's understandable to go with Tiffany.


I can't say that I had really considered the investment potential, I was mostly just thinking about how thrilled my girlfriend would be to receive whatever I end up getting for her. I know it's stupid, but I can't help but think she'd be secretly happier with a branded piece of jewellery than a non-branded one. :rolleyes: I will however definitely take your advice about avoiding silver as well as Pandora, and going with white gold instead. May I ask if you would recommend any other brands besides Links of London that are at least good quality and not too overpriced?
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Ziggy Sawdust
It's my Girlfriend's birthday in three weeks time and she's subtely hinted (at least I think she has :colondollar:) that she'd like jewellery. I'm not sure what to get however, so in order to start forming some ideas about what she'd like most I'd appreciate it if you could vote in my poll indicating what jewellery brand you would most like to receive from your boyfriend. Thank you.


Monica Vinader do some amazing bracelets :smile: :smile:
Original post by Ziggy Sawdust
It's my Girlfriend's birthday in three weeks time and she's subtely hinted (at least I think she has :colondollar:) that she'd like jewellery. I'm not sure what to get however, so in order to start forming some ideas about what she'd like most I'd appreciate it if you could vote in my poll indicating what jewellery brand you would most like to receive from your boyfriend. Thank you.


Tiffanys or Pandora seem the most brand-y...I say that as I'm not a big jewelery person and they are the only two I've heard of.
Original post by Ziggy Sawdust
I can't say that I had really considered the investment potential, I was mostly just thinking about how thrilled my girlfriend would be to receive whatever I end up getting for her. I know it's stupid, but I can't help but think she'd be secretly happier with a branded piece of jewellery than a non-branded one. :rolleyes: I will however definitely take your advice about avoiding silver as well as Pandora, and going with white gold instead. May I ask if you would recommend any other brands besides Links of London that are at least good quality and not too overpriced?


That's perfectly fine, some women are like that, even as a jeweller we come across that all the time and have to cater to such people. It's comparable to people buying a plain white T-shirts for £30 from a branded shop even if it has no logo lol!

Tbh we buy from a lot of dealer's, so not many we could recommend to you that I know their other buyers off the top of my head. We usually tell customers Links (of london) are a good bet. Chanel & Gucci are okay, but then again you'll want second hand stuff especially with Gucci to fit in your price range. Yves Saint Laurent is a good brand as well, and you might be able to find first hand stuff in your price range.

Also don't worry about buying second hand either, as long as it looks good (and not engraved) it doesn't really matter. Though with white gold don't buy it if it looks too worn.

*edit* as someone said Monica Vinader make good quality jewellery, it's not my style (not that I wear women's jewellery), but it's another brand you should look at.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 33
Original post by TheWorldEndsWithMe
To be honest, I'd rather have something that he knew I'd love from, say, Etsy that cost like £20 than something from Tiffany's that was expensive and he'd only bought for the brand name.

I agree. Tbh if someone was willing to spend that much money on me, I'd rather they bought something functional instead of jewellery, but that's just me.
I would prefer small boutiques for jewellery.

Though I wouldn't say no to a Cartier or Garrard
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(edited 9 years ago)
Tiffany for sure, I'd love to unwrap one of those eggshell blue boxes.

But I've never received jewellery (or any present for that matter) from a boyfriend so I'd be happy with anything haha!
I'm sure your girlfriend will be happy with whatever you buy her. I have a few expensive jewellery pieces that were gifted to me. While I may not have picked them out for myself, they all hold great sentimental value.

Personally, I feel as though real gold is more durable than designer jewellery which usually needs a little more care when handling it. I think that yellow gold is more suited to darker skin tones while white gold complements fairer skin tones.

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