Alright fellow sparkly obsessors, I have quite the situation (no jersey shore pun intended).

My mother has an eternity ring which fits her fine but she would like to replace the white sapphires that are in there with diamonds. So she came to me since she knows I have a weakness for the shiny stuff.  Regularly, I wouldn't think twice about taking it down to jeweler's row and getting an estimate, but last time I went down there it took them 3 weeks to replace one stone in my pavé band.  So I come to you all because it is a rather unique ring.  I'm here more for advice than an estimate obviously. 

You can definitely see its age by the design and it is that which makes me nervous.  The stones aren't exactly in a "common setting".  It has (I think) 23 stones all the way around and its a size 7 maybe 7.5 I think.  So very tiny stones. My other big issue is that the ring is not gold or platinum, but rather palladium.  Where my mother is from those were the two most common metals.  I do not know what kind of metal palladium is.  Is is too durable to replace every single stone? Will this type of setting be ruined because of how deep the stones are set?  Will the labor in something like this exceed the cost of an identical ring?  These are questions I have virtually no answer to.  Pictures are below.

I appreciate all your help!  Thanks!!

That was my initial idea.  It's quite a heavy duty piece.  I'm not surprised at all.  Time to break the news to Mom.  Wish me luck!


Thanks so much for the response!! 

I think she will, it means a lot to her.  Now she has a reason to buy a new sparkly.