Order Class Ring?

Q: Should i just go to a jewellery store and ask them to make up a ring with my school name and major? my school charges 200 bucks for silver ring. the silver content is worth about a dollar as silver is about 12 buck an ounze.

A:If they're that junky, why do you want one? And if you want more, then perhaps it's worth checking with local jewelers to see what's available. But even so, I suspect you may not be able to save all that much money on even a simple ring, and chances are, even so, it may be more costly at a local jewelers. Even with just the school name, no personalization, the rings still likely represent a custom order for the company, and even without a lot of personalization, my other comments on the manufacturing quality typical of school rings still apply. If the school supplied rings also include the usual lifetime warranties and all that stuff that such things used to include, it may be worth the money. Usually, the prices offered by the schools are not more costly than similar items from a jewelery store, and often enough, are actually discounted. This varies by company, and by how much the school is making. But consider: If you sit down with a good CAD program, and do all the designing yourself so you end up with a properly designed file ready to send to a rapid prototyping machine or CAD mill to make a wax model, just having the model machined from your file will cost you between 50 and a hundred dollars, maybe more. That doesn't include any of the value of the design time (considerable), or the cost of the software you'd need to do the designing. And then you still just have a wax model, ready to cast, which would need finishing, any stones set, etc, etc... Cheap to do if you're going to make a few hundred of them or more, all identical. But not so cheap if you're making a couple dozen or less, each of which has to be cast in the correct size (remember, I mentioned class rings are usually not sized after they're made, but are usually made to size, in order to avoid damage to the complex design work on the sides and top) Now you'd be needing multiple models and molds, and so it goes And another thought. If the price of these things currently is a problem, then wait. Jewelry is a luxury item. It's not gonna kill you not to have the ring, and this one doesn't sound all that special in any case. If you're budget doesn't currently allow this, then wait till it does. You can always get the ring later, either through an independent supplier (another manufacturer) or from the official school supplier. I have a 100 oz bar of silver. It is huge. I use it as a door stop. about 5000 people graduate each year from this school. I realize that retailers mark things up but this seems like a shameless rip-off. this is 20 yrs after graduation. for someone like me to graduate from university accounting, i darn well should proclaim it to the world. i should get a huge custom made ring that says accounting on it.

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