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SHOULD YOU RE-GIFT AN ENGAGEMENT RING?

NEW GIRLFRIEND GETS THE OLD GIRLFRIENDS ENGAGEMENT RING?

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Should you Re-Gift an Engagement Ring?

What a loaded question:

Re-gift an engagement ring?

GASP!

My first reaction is why would you ask?

But the truth is, it happens all the time.

Should you give your new girlfriend (fiancee) your ex-girlfriend’s engagement ring?

It almost sounds taboo

But it is expensive…

I understand why it happens. Engagement rings are not cheap. And if a guy has a previous engagement ring from a previous engagement, then why waste it? Right? A diamond is a diamond. And he did pick it out…. So….

To a guy, it seems like a no-brainer.

Guys don’t get emotionally attached or bound to a ring like a woman does. If you have a beautiful engagement ring, why not use it?

Why go out and buy another one?

But to a woman, it’s a whole different story.

That engagement ring was not meant for her.

It was some other girl’s ring. It carries old memories with it. Someone else’s love, pain, tears and joy. Not to mention a lot of bad karma and bad luck. It’s not good. No way, no how.

So of course the guys are always thinking “Why tell her?

A lot of men may decide to keep it a secret. “She’ll never find out.” What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her… RIGHT?

But let me tell you, this rarely happens.

If she needs to take her rings to the jewelry store to get it cleaned and inspected, chances are, they’ll need to see her paperwork.

Especially if the ring needs work done, like sizing or tightening the prongs. She may need the extended service plan on the ring (you do have one of those don’t you?)

She may need to have the diamond warranty or appraisal. You never know. And here’s where it gets tricky…

She’ll see that you bought that engagement ring years before you met her.

Ouch!

Try explaining that.

(Did she even know you were previously engaged?)

And it may not even be the paperwork that gets you, it may be the jewelry salesperson. They may recognize the ring. They may question it (This ring was all the rage 5 years ago…) It could raise a lot of questions, eyebrows, and maybe even a frying pan.

Plus that engagement ring is probably worn down, scratched, and sized already (and in most cases, there’s no original box either.)

Granted you can always take the ring to the jeweler and have them polish it up again and resize it to fit your new girlfriend… But the prongs and the shank may still show signs of wear and tear. They may not look perfectly new anymore.

Your Aunt has loose lips:

And then you also have your friends and family to attend to (they already know the situation).

People in your life know the engagement ring was your ex-girlfriend’s ring. They’ll know you re-gifted it. A lot will frown on this, not approve, and may even bring it up. It’s just not a great situation for anyone to be in. The whole thing is just uncomfortable.

The only good side to all of this is it saves the man money. And that’s it.

Sadly, no matter how much that ring originally cost, re-gifting it will just make one look cheap and tacky.

If it was up to me, I’d say:

Don’t give it to her.

Don’t regift.

You don’t want to look at that ring for the rest of your life and be constantly reminded of your ex. She’s an ex for a reason.

Let her go (cue the Frozen song…)

And if your new girlfriend ever finds out somehow, she won’t want to wear it. In fact, she may even break off the engagement.

Another one down the drain.

It’s just not worth the risk. Bad karma has a way of coming back full swing.

Learn from your mistakes.

Do this instead:

Take the ring back to the jeweler you bought it from. Explain the situation. See if they’d be interested in doing an even exchange or a mild-upgrade (usually full upgrades are double the price).

Hopefully they’ll be happy to work with you and find a reasonable solution. Maybe you’ll get lucky and get something a little bit nicer, a little bit bigger, and a little bit better?

By doing that, you’ll get rid of the ex for good, start the new engagement off on the right foot and in the right frame of mind.

I’m sure you can use some of that.

Good luck with both of your upgrades:

Your new ring and your new girlfriend.

Cheers! :)




Recommended Jewelry Supplies:

Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner Jewelry Steam Cleaner Complete Jewelry Cleaner Kit Diamond Dazzle Stick
Gold Silver Jewelry Polishing Cloths Jewelry Making Supplies Kit Gold Acid Test Kit Watch Tool Repair Kit
Ring Adjusters EMT Emergency Ring Cutter 10x Jewelers Loupe Jewelers Microscope

Recommended Jewelry Supplies:

Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner Jewelry Steam Cleaner
Complete Jewelry Cleaner Kit Diamond Dazzle Stick
Gold Silver Jewelry Polishing Cloths Jewelry Making Supplies Kit
Gold Acid Test Kit Watch Tool Repair Kit
Ring Adjusters EMT Emergency Ring Cutter
10x Jewelers Loupe Jewelers Microscope

3 Comments on SHOULD YOU RE-GIFT AN ENGAGEMENT RING?

  1. In so many cases these days, the ring seems primarily to leave with the young lady to whom it had been given in the first place. Unless of course it was the woman’s idea to undo the relationship by her own deeds, misdeeds, misgivings, misdoings, or whatever you want to call it. Let’s just say it was her idea, and so the ring gets returned to the giver. At least that seems to be the consensus among those consulted for their legal viewpoint of such a situation.

    Apparently that’s more rare than when the young man decides it’s his idea, through thought, word, or (mis)deed, and so the ring leaves with her when she does. Sort of as a bit of compensation for her emotional damage, I suppose. At least, that’s what I’ve been told, and what I have read. In any case, it seems to be a more common ending than the first one. The ring, the young man, and the young woman all part company, except the ring and the young woman remain together, at least temporarily, until she decides which route to take regarding its disposal.

    (I’ve never experienced it myself, having only been engaged once – formally, with a ring – and married once – rather informally, but also with a ring! Still married to the same wonderful man, after almost 43 years!)

    In the latter case – the imaginary one, anyway – once the ring has gone on its way with the ex-fianceé, probably to be sold on ebay, Craig’s List, or to a local pawn or second-hand jewelry shop, the young man will have to invest in another ring **anyway** when he meets his next true love and proposes marriage, won’t he? It’s not like he even still has an old ring to “re-gift” to anyone else, right?

    Personally, IMHO, with the idea that many people seem to believe in regarding “bad karma” that comes along with the relics of broken relationships, be it engagement rings or wedding bands, like you said, it would be highly unlikely that another young woman would find such a second-hand item at all desirable, when she finds out it’s history. And she WILL find out, I promise you. We ALWAYS find out! And once that happens, it’s highly likely that she will immediately begin to wonder exactly what ELSE is being hidden from her, or at least attempted to be. The trust issue is the most important one in any relationship, and it’s also the easiest and quickest to destroy in a flash. Getting that back again is somewhat akin to putting toothpaste back into the tube once it’s been exposed to the light of day. It can be done, but it’s extremely difficult, quite time consuming, and even if you think you’ve managed to do it, the “toothpaste” and the “tube” are BOTH never quite the same again. It’s inevitably better to just not risk it in the first place!

    • I so believe in karma, and I don’t need any more bad. I totally agree that she will find out, and then, you’ve dug yourself a hole you can’t escape from. Not even worth it. Sell it, trade it, don’t ever reuse it. :) -Richard

  2. re-gifting is only okay when you’re a man giving the girl you want to marry your grandmothers or great grandmothers ring. It’s still re-gifting I suppose, but it can be classy. Sometimes the band is updated while the stone is refurbished, kind of a mix I suppose. Anyway, that’s what I’ll be doing when I propose, my grandmothers diamond is nice and probably more than I could afford!

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