(We're missing the author name on this one. Please post in the DenMother's Corner if you know the source for this lovely submission.)
When I started jewelcraft I wanted a guide that would take me step by step through the process. While there are many guides which are helpful, none were as detailed as what I was looking for. In this guide I walk a new jeweler step by step from a skill of zero to 191, when it is too expensive to make jewelry for practice. I specifically tell you what to make and why, how much things cost, and how much they sell for.
A couple of warnings to start. First, I do not recommend jewelcraft for anyone except enchanters. Only enchanters can enchant metal bars. Only jewelry made with enchanted metal bars has any magical properties. Only jewelry with magical properties is worth wearing. If you cannot enchant the metals yourself you face the added expense and difficulty of having bars enchanted. Don't let the ease of obtaining enchanted silver fool you, players at that level are often poor and willing to sit and cast for a few platinum. By the time an enchanter can handle electrum bars, it is not worth his time. My advice is phrased as though you are an enchanter. The second warning is that, whether you are an enchanter or not, you should be a character who possesses a high intelligence, since jewelcraft is very expensive. Intelligence determines how often you get skill increases, and so how much it costs to improve. Be sure to wear the best intelligence gear you can when jewelcrafting, which, you being a jeweler and all, should be pretty good. Some time back Verant authoritatively said that Wisdom did not affect the chance of success in skills, squashing an old rumor. In September of 2000 they said that the higher of Int or Wis will help you succeed. I suggest you check here or the message boards for the latest. (This is confirmed to be true, whichever stat is highest will determine the rate you learn jewelcraft, or any other trade skill in EQ for that matter - Ed)
Getting your enchant metal spells is tricky if you are not a Dark Elf. The spells are only sold in Neriak in the Library in Neriak Third gate. (Ed: The spells are now sold in Felwithe as well.) If you worship a good god (enchanters should be agnostic anyway) you should not enter Neriak. If you are new to Neriak I suggest making a newbie Dark Elf to learn your way around the city before taking your enchanter in. You have to zone three times, and your illusion drops when you zone. So you have to invis, zone, check for guards, and re-illusion yourself each time. Illusion Dark Elf is good in Neriak, but illusion Gnome works also. You should have a steady source of income before you start jewelcraft. I do not mean to be negative, and if you are extremely patient you can make jewelcraft pay from the start. However, it is best to be realistic, and recognize that although huge profits await you later, it will cost more than you make for a long time. It will cost around 1500 to 2000 platinum in failures to get to 191.
I give advice in this guide on prices. Prices vary from server to server, older servers have more jewelers and more older jewelry and lower prices, new servers are the opposite. The prices I list are average. I tend to price things so that I will sell many items at a modest profit, rather than a few items at a large profit. I want people who bought silver jewelry from me to come back to me for platinum jewelry, not regret having dealt with me because they found out later that they overpaid. For this reason I spend most of my time selling things that are well below my skill level, so that I seldom fail and can make money with low prices. Remember when auctioning stats or prices to put a space between any number and a letter. If you don't, some numbers will be dropped, even though the message looks fine to you. So say "WTS 2 Int rings 4 p" NOT "WTS 2int rings 4p" which people will often see as "WTS int rings p."
Start by spending 21 practice points on jewelcraft with your guildmaster, the maximum. If you start jewelcraft late enough in life to have so much money that twenty or thirty platinum does not mean much, then make silver malachite until it becomes trivial at 16. Verant no longer uses the phrase "This item is trivial for someone of your skill to make", but we still refer to the point when a combination cannot increase your skill as the trivial, or triv, level. Remember, you get one item from a stack by holding down control when you click on the stack. The most important factor to recognize in any trade skill is that the closer your current skill level is to the trivial level of the item you are working on, the less likely you are to fail, and the more likely you are to get skill increases. If your skill level is only three or four points below the triv level of the item you are making, then your failures will be fewer, and your skill increases more likely than if you were ten or twenty skill levels below the item you are working on. It is critical to understand this, it's the key to all you will be doing. In jewelcraft it is best to make many items which you will never use, and which no sensible player is ever going to want. Jewelcraft has a very nice progression of trivial levels, since there are so many gems, so you can always be working on items that triv a few levels from your current skill. The only exceptions are jumping from one metal to the next.
Merchants will pay you roughly what the components cost when you successfully make an item, assuming decent faction and good charisma (above 100). So you lose nothing on a success sold to a merchant. Failure destroys the gem and the metal bar. Merchants pay a little extra for enchanted items, but not enough to justify enchanting bars for items you will sell to the merchants.
Start your real jewelcraft career by making silver cats eye agate necklaces. These cost about seven gold per attempt, five for the bar and two for the gem, and yield a +3 charisma necklace. I suggest enchanting some of the bars for the cat's eye agate necklaces. There is not as much of a market among players for these as there should be, but these can be sold for 2p each. The trouble these days is that Splitpaw necklaces are +5 charisma and are lore, so they tend to be cheap. Silver cat's eye agate triv out at jewelcraft skill of 24. Make bloodstone silver next, which trivs at 26. With luck you will only need to make a few bloodstone and sell your successes back to the merchant.
Next make a few onyx bracelets, which triv at 28, cost over a plat per attempt, and are also not worth selling to players. Then make silver Jasper, a +2 Wisdom ring, which trivs at 30 and makes your first truly useful bit of jewelry. These cost about a plat and a quarter to attempt, and sell for about three plat each. Next make Silver Carnelian, which is a +2 Agility ring, trivs at 32. You can sell some now and then for about 3p. Next go to star rose quartz, which makes a +2 Intelligence ring, and costs a plat and a half per attempt, and trivs at 34. These sell for about four plat each. Both the wisdom and intelligence rings have a good market if you travel around selling your wares. Up to this point, with decent success and patience selling what you create, you can break even on jewelcraft. You can either be patient and sell lots of rings, or get an outside source of funds (I was extremely lucky, can you say "toolboxes"?).
Selling is easier if you make the items only when you have a buyer. When I travel I carry stacks of enchanted metal bars, and partial stacks of gems, and I only make the items when I need them. Jewelry never stacks, so each item you make takes up a slot, whereas all your gems and metal take eight or ten slots total. Just keep enough extra gems and bars for failures. The exceptions are the more expensive items. Also, enchant all of the bars you carry, or none. Having two sets means that you will accidentally sell someone an unenchanted item at some point, which is very tough to explain.
Now you can go to Silver Amber Rings, which are +2 strength, cost over three platinum per attempt, and trivs out at 36. These are tough to sell because the players who could use just two strength can seldom afford the five or six plat you need to charge for these rings, counting failures. The next step up is Jade. Later in your career, Jade will make really nice bracelets when combined with electrum which will pay for much of your jewelry making. However, with silver all you get is a 5 mana 5 hitpoint, 1 AC ring that there is not much demand for. Your wis/int rings provide the same mana to casters, and it is difficult to justify twelve to fifteen plat a pair for the extra ten hitpoints and 2 AC. The mana of a 2 int or wis ring increases as the players level, but jade rings stay at 5 mana forever. On the other hand, hybrids (Rangers, Paladins, ShadowKnights), who get a whopping 20 mana at level 9 (Ed: Huh? Even at base stats, more like 135.), could use the mana, the hitpoints and the AC the rings give. Jade can be purchased in Highhold Keep, from Merchant Edina who is on your right just before you turn left to go down the stairs to the bank (she also is the closest place to Freeport that I found Topaz, Emeralds, Opals or Rubies). These rings triv out at 40, and cost more than four platinum per attempt. In my first stab at these I tried ten Silver Jaded rings, failed on seven and got no skill increases (my int was around 135). In other words I spent 41 plat to get 12 plat worth of rings and gained nothing for my loss of 29 platinum. Ouch.
At level 40 you face a choice. You can continue with silver and expensive gems, or switch to electrum and cheap gems. Electrum Malachite costs under three plat per attempt. Silver pearl costs over five plat per attempt, but it trivs out at 42, only two levels above your current skill. I got lucky with pearl, I failed four times out of five, but got two skill increases, and trived the combo out for a cost of 20 platinum. Then you can make silver topaz, which cost nearly six plat per attempt, but which triv out at 44. I tried seventeen times, failed on seven, got one skill up. So I lost 37 plat for one skill increase. Later I ran across a Topaz someone had sold to Pardor the Blessed, took it as an omen, and bought the only one he had. I succeeded and got a skill increase. The move from 43 to skill level 44 netted me a profit of a quarter of a platinum selling the enchanted item to a merchant.
To review up to this point, the main thing we learn is that luck plays a huge part if you look at only a few skill increases. With decent luck and sales you can get to a skill of 34 for free, or nearly so. The increase from 34 to 44 cost me about one hundred platinum, 10 plat per increase. Another bit of advice on practicing: although the Freeport area is better than Qeynos for selling, with all the high levels around the bank, and the constant bazaar in East Commonlands, Qeynos is better for practicing. The Jewelbox inside Ironforges in North Qeynos has a merchant with most of the gems you need and a merchant with metal bars a few feet apart, whereas in Freeport you have to zone, North Freeport has metal bars and West Freeport has gems. Also in Freeport many gems must be bought either in East Commonlands (Katha Firespinner) or even Highkeep.
The next step, whenever you stop using silver, is electrum malachite, which cost two and three quarters plat per attempt, but which trivs out at 74. Since this is 30 points above your current skill, it will therefore fail a lot and give few skill increases. Silver items triv out every few skill levels, peridot (ten plat) 46, emerald (13 plat) 48, but the cost of the gems is too high to make it worthwhile. Silver ruby makes a very nice veil, 4 strength and 4 wisdom, and it trivs out at around 75 or 80, but costs 132 plat per attempt. Do not try silver Ruby until you have mastered jewelcraft, or you will never make money on them, as they sell for 175-200 plat. In fact, a skill of 150 is best working with silver and expensive gems. So you take your money from the bank, bite the bullet, and make Electrum malachite bracelets, which triv at 74. Lapis lazuli trivs at 76, turquoise 79, hematite 82, cat's eye agate (4 charisma bracelets which can sell for 10p a pair) 84, bloodstone 87, onyx 90 all will get you the few points of skill for each gem with relatively few attempts.
Jasper electrum makes a +2 wisdom earring, which costs three and a half plat per attempt, and should fetch 6 or 7p each on a fairly regular basis. Electrum star rose quartz, on the other hand, trivs at 98, costs under 4 plat to try, but produces a 2 int necklace which will not sell because blackened iron medallions (+3 Int +3 wis) sell for 20p or less.
When I Mastered jewelcraft and started work on Jaded Electrum Bracelets I had an epiphany, a revelation. I had always known that the random number generator in EQ was very streaky: I once failed ten consecutive times on an item that was trivial to me. However, I experienced success with the first few bracelets, and got good skill ups, so I kept at it. I went ten for twelve, with skill increases on both failures and five skill ups total. So for 75 plat I got five skill increases and five pairs of bracelets I easily sold for 125 plat. More importantly I learned a valuable lesson - when the rolls are with you keep rolling, use up your gems til the tide turns. If you start at another time and fail, say two of your first three, stop. Wait a few minutes, make jewelry later and see how the random number generator is feeling. Shortly after this I heard a jeweler shout that at skill of 198 he had just blown 2000 plat trying to make platinum ruby veils (235 plat per attempt). I know why, and I know that this will not be happening to me. You can stop it happening to you.
Through all my enchanting to skill 150 I made most of my money on one item - Jaded Electrum Bracelets, 10 Mana 10 Hitpoints, 2 Armor Class wrist item, which any player can wear. They cost about 6 and a quarter plat per attempt and sell for 25 plat a pair easily. I auction the stats, not the name, and sell these constantly. Electrum Jade trivs at 106, then go to Pearl 108, Topaz 111, Peridot 113, Emerald 116, and maybe Opal 119, which costs 20 plat a pop. At this point you are switching to a more expensive metal, again, and cheap gems. Gold Malachite costs ten and a half plat per attempt. I tried 100 times in one sitting. I failed 25 times but went from 125 to 138 in skill. So it was around 20 p per skill increase. When you near 150 in skill you can think about Silver Ruby Veils, and other expensive gems combined with silver. This is the phase of your career that causes other players to think all enchanters are rich. You will enjoy it. In fact, it will probably change your idea of "rich" so much that you'll feel poor with 1k in the bank and another k in merchandise in your backpacks.
Silver Ruby Veils are a 4 Wisdom 4 Strength item that Clerics, Druids and Shaman all love, and that Rangers and Paladins find useful as well. These cost 132 platinum to attempt, but are tough to sell for more than 180 platinum each, though 200 is possible. You should just make these and carry the finished product around with you. With a price of 180 you need a success rate of 75% just to break even. At a skill of 139 I failed one of two attempts. At around 145 I was on a good random number streak and made one with no problem. Once I hit 150 my failures were few and far between (better than 90% success). That's why you wait so long to make these. Remember, it is still worth it for the very best jewelers to make Silver Ruby, so you're competing with people who can't remember the last time they failed. Plus, there are a lot of these around, almost everyone who buys a Platinum Ruby veil sells a silver ruby veil, so many of your customers will remember someone trying to dump silver ruby for 150 plat (merchants pay 137).
Silver Star Ruby costs 70 plat and makes a 5 charisma 5 dexterity veil that you are probably wearing. So you can always sell yours for 100 or 110 plat and make a new one later. Silver Sapphire costs 105 plat and makes a 4 intelligence 4 strength necklace that has a decent market at around 150 plat. In Gold the progression is the same as for Electrum and will take you to 191 in skill. Gold Malachite trivs at 146, Lapis Lazuli 148, Turquoise 151, Hematite 156, Cats Eye (7 CHA bracelets, sell for around 35p a pair) 156, Bloodstone 159, Onyx 162, Jasper 164. The Jasper make a 3 Wisdom Earring that sells well for around 20p each or 35p a pair. Gold carnelian trivs at 167 (5 Agility ring, 35p a pair). Star Rose Quartz makes a 4 Int necklace and trivs at 170. Caster's realm lists Gold Star Rose Quartz as bugged, with far more fails that normal and I have had so many problems that I stopped selling them more than once. Because of failures you can get 25p or even 30p for these necklaces, few jewelers sell them. Do not make these for practice, save yourself some aggravation. I switched to Amber (3 Strength earring 40 to 45 p a pair) which trived at 172. Next comes Jade (15 HP 15 Mana 2 AC Bracelet 45 p a pair) 178, Pearl 180, Topaz 183 (3 AC earring 45p a pair), Peridot (21p per attempt)186, Emerald (24 p per attempt) 188, and Opal (28 p per attempt) 191.
When you get above 180 in skill you can start thinking about electrum and expensive gems. Star Ruby makes a great enchanter ring, 7 Charisma 5 Dexterity which sells for around 100-120. Sapphire makes a 4 Strength 2 Intelligence earring, but these are not that great because golden ear studs (a quest reward, I think) give 3 int for around 30 plat, and electrum sapphire has to sell for 150 to 175. Likewise electrum ruby is not that great, 4 str 2 wis, 200p or so. Your real money at this point is still silver and expensive gems, or many common gold items.
You will notice as you get to around 175 it takes more and more attempts to get a skill up. I tried 100 gold jade at skill 176 without an increase! An odd thing is that as you work with harder and harder combinations you fail less because your skill is so high. On those 100 gold jade tries I failed only once. On gold emerald on the other hand I was 28 of 28 with three skill ups. These were all with an int of 157. You should expect a skill up for about every two or three stacks. Platinum currently never trivs, so each skill increase past 191 will be a lucky bonus to making jewelry because the higher gold combos, and all platinum combos, are too expensive to be used just for practice.
Gold and expensive gems are also fairly disappointing, and should only be made when you have a buyer. Gold Sapphire earrings, 4 Int 2 Str are the only exception (wear them and sell yours), they sell for 180-200p. Gold Star Ruby makes a 5 Cha 7 Dex ring, nice for rogues, and sells for around 120-140. Gold Ruby makes a 2 Str 4 Wis ring that is strictly special order, around 200-220. Gold Fire Emerald makes a 5 Str 3 Dex bracelet, selling for around 150-175. Platinum is where you make your real money, and a sympathetic enchanter might enchant a few bars for 10p a piece so you can make these in the long wait from level 24 to 34. These are where the money truly lies, and the failure rate will show you why. An experienced jeweler I know says that even near skill 200 Platinum Ruby fails 60% of the time. Treat platinum like gambling, only use money you can afford to lose. I failed my first two platinum ruby at skill 191 and it made a big dent in my bank account. Platinum Jasper, 6 Wisdom ring, sells for around 200, though I have seen 300 a pair. Platinum Star Rose, 4 Intelligence ring, sells for 200 or 225. Platinum Sapphire Necklace, 7 Int 7 Str, sells for around 700. Platinum Star Ruby Veil, 9 Cha 9 Dex veil, sells for 650, but not often, I saw one at a vendor in East Commons
The trade skill patch is very recent as I write this. It will have a varied effect on most jewelers, though buyers of jewelry will be happy. Since skill can now go to 250, the failure rate for high end jewelers will be reduced dramatically. On the other hand, only a few very rich jewelers can afford to spend the money to practice with platinum bars, so the rest of us will be taking price cuts even though our success rate is the same. We may well be priced out of all the better platinum items, and left making only things that the best jewelers don't bother with. I will update this when the prices have stabilized in a few months.
There are more exotic gems that generally don't get made with silver or electrum that you can attempt when your skill reaches 180 to 190. The trouble is that most are so rare that they really should be combined with Platinum. These are not sold by any gem merchant, they are dropped by fairly high level mobs. The lowest of these is Black Pearl, and it sells for 40 to 50 plat as I write this. I sold the first one I ever looted for 200p. Black Pearl makes a dexterity/agility item, gold is 7/7 necklace, platinum is 6/6 ring. Fire Opals are nice in that they can be bought. They cost 55 plat (NPC says gold only, it does NOT have to be in gold!) from Genni in the Temple of Solusek Ro (right side, third level) and can be used to make rings, 2AC 30HP for silver, electrum 3/35, gold 4/45 or platinum 5/55. The plat rings seem to sell for 1k a pair, the gold 250-300 a pair. Black sapphire is a drop and makes HP mana necklace (silver and platinum) and earrings. I have seen Platinum Black Sapphire necklaces, 55 HP 55 Mana, auctioned for 2k, but I am not sure of their true value. There are also Jacinth (AC/save magic) and Diamond (all saves) drops. These you will have to learn more about on your own. (Blue Diamonds can now also be used in jewelry - Ed)
I hope this walk through helps in your jewelcraft career. The main thing about being a jeweler is to remember that you are a merchant as well as an player. Avoid getting into arguments. Never try to rip off your customers. Be prepared for people to try to rip you off, however: you advertise 180, player says "I'll take it", then he says"How about 170?", then he says "All I have is 165" after you've been waiting where he said to meet you for ten minutes. I try to insist on not getting ripped without turning it into an argument. It's tough to do when someone in an Oracle Robe is jerking your chain for a few plat, or five gold (I have had it happen). Still, it does not pay to do anything more than walk away. I always advertise my price, so that people don't feel like they might be getting ripped off. If your price were way out of line you'd get shouts about that fact. Auctioning your prices shows confidence in your prices, reduces silly tells, and allows potential buyers to compare your price to others. If someone gives you grief about not knocking 30% off your price, it will happen, just say "Sorry, I have to cover failures" and leave it at that.
Help people whenever you can. Give often to newbies but never to beggars. Clarity/Breeze people as you pass, and all your customers who can use it. No sense running around with full mana. You'll be passing through many zones, and a good deed now and then is rewarding on its own and will help you become known. When you're rich and powerful remember when you were poor and weak. Finally, remember to go out and play some.