Every ring looks good from three feet away. Up close is where the price difference starts to show.
So get closer. You don't need a jeweler's loupe: your phone's camera at 2x or 3x zoom (or macro mode, if your phone has one) shows you everything below. Here are four places where lower-priced rings often save money, and what the same spot looks like on Confetti, our $89 ring with five pear crystals swinging from a slim gold band.
Here's the cheat sheet. Each panel gets its own section below.
1. The edges: where thin plating gives up first
Gold plating wears where a ring works hardest: the edges of the band and the underside, where it rubs against your other fingers and everything you touch. GIA's lab has documented it on a plated pendant, with arrows pointing to where the gold had "rubbed off due to use".
How fast it goes depends on how much gold there was. Typical jewelry plating starts around half a micron, and very thin "flash" coatings go well below that. They're used, in the words of a World Gold Council technical paper, "where cost is more important than quality." The FTC thought "gold flashed" was confusing enough that in 2018 it stopped endorsing the term for anything under its 0.175-micron minimum for gold plate.
What to look for: zoom in on the band's edges and the inside of the shank. A dull, pinkish or grey patch where the color changes is the metal underneath showing through. On a brand-new ring you won't see wear yet, so look for a number instead. No thickness on the page usually means there isn't much to talk about.
On Confetti: 2.5 microns of 18K gold, comparable to vermeil-level thickness, over a silver barrier, with a clear seal on top.
2. The stones: glue or metal?
On lower-priced rings, stones are sometimes glued into a little cup. A jewelry repair shop puts it plainly: rhinestones are "often glued into their settings," and "the glue may weaken over time" (Quick Jewelry Repairs). Heat, sweat and time are all hard on adhesive.
What to look for: metal holding the stone. Prongs are the tiny claws that fold over a stone's edge; a bezel is a rim of metal wrapped around it. A stone sitting in a smooth cup with nothing gripping its edge is almost certainly glued.
On Confetti: each of the five pears sits in three prongs, and every stone is set by hand.
If you can see where the wire ends meet, so can your sweater.
3. The band: stamped or sized?
One of the least expensive ways to make a ring is to stamp out a flat strip of metal and bend it into a circle, sometimes leaving it open at the back so one ring squeezes onto any finger. Every squeeze bends it again.
What to look for: turn the ring over and look inside. A seam, a gap at the back, a thin flat profile or sharp edges all point to a stamped band. A cast band is poured into a mold of the finished ring, so it comes out solid, smooth inside and the same thickness all the way around.
On Confetti: a solid band, made in every size from 4 to 11. Almost every Oomiay design comes in that full run.
4. The dangles: find the gap
Anything that swings hangs from a loop. On a less expensive piece, that loop is often an open jump ring: a wire circle bent shut, with its two ends just touching. "An open jump ring under stress can widen and eventually release, dropping a charm," the same repair shop notes, which is why finished fine jewelry usually solders them closed.
What to look for: zoom in on the loop the charm hangs from. If you can see where the wire ends meet, so can your sweater.
On Confetti: each pear hangs from its own loop, linked to a second loop under the band, and there's no gap to find.
Where the other $69 goes
A $20 ring can be a perfectly good buy. For a trend you'll wear for one summer, a ring for a trip where you might lose it, or a look you're still testing, it makes sense. Most of us own one.
The difference is what the extra money pays for. A ring like Confetti costs many times more to make than a lightly plated ring: an original design from our team in Los Angeles, stones set by hand, 2.5 microns of 18K gold over a silver barrier with a protective seal, eight sizes kept in stock for nearly every design, quality checks before it ships and a two-year warranty after.
For the ring you'll wear every day, that's what's worth checking up close.
Buy the ring that still looks good from an inch away.
Confetti Ring
Champagne Ring
Birdie RingQuestions about ring quality
Is a $20 ring worth it?
It can be, for a trend, a trip or a look you're testing. For a ring you'll wear every day, look for a stated plating thickness, stones held by metal, real sizes and a warranty.
How can you tell if a ring is good quality?
Check four things up close: the edges for worn or thin plating, how the stones are held (prongs or bezels, not glue), whether the band is solid and sized, and whether dangles hang from closed loops. A stated plating thickness and a warranty are good signs too.
How do you know if a stone is glued in?
Look for metal holding it. Prongs fold over the stone's edge and a bezel wraps around it. A stone sitting in a smooth cup with nothing over its edge is usually glued.
What is flash plating?
Flash plating is a very thin layer of gold applied mainly for color. It's cheaper to make and wears through faster, which is why a plating thickness on the product page matters.
What is a jump ring?
A jump ring is the small wire loop that attaches a charm or dangle. Open jump rings can pull apart under stress, so better pieces close them.
Wink Ring
Spell Ring
Gold Double Hoop Dangle Earrings
Gold Star Bezel Tennis Necklace