(no subject)

[camwyn]

Saw a sponsored article on the Boston Globe's website today. I know those things are basically just extended ads, but this one was about trends at a local jeweler, so I thought I'd have a look. Mostly it was about people opting to get old stones reset in more modern designs, which was kind of interesting. There's a certain element of the axe of one's grandfather to jewelry at times- no, it is not the ring you originally had, but the central stone is the same stone, so it represents a continuity of the original piece. It's not entirely the axe of one's grandfather, though, because in the case of the axe you're usually dealing with an attempt to keep the item in question as close to the original as possible, just replacing elements and updating things carefully along the way to keep them working and looking new. People who get stones reset usually seem to be going for a new and different look, with extra elements or fewer ones as the case may be. I don't think the jewelers are reusing the original metal, either- the article mentioned that yellow gold was very popular for rings in the 80s, and that a lot of the resets are done into white gold or platinum settings, so I don't think the jewelers are making their own white gold alloy from the metal of the original ring. What you wind up with is more the child of the original piece than a new refreshed version.

Philosophy aside, I went to have a look at the web page of the jeweler in question. When I was little and my grandparents or my parents took me with them to go shopping on Ditmars Boulevard, we would pass at least one jewelry store along the way and I loved to stare into the windows. Sparkly stones of all kinds were gorgeous, so far as I was concerned. It's hard for me to do that now without feeling like I'm giving the people inside the store the mistaken impression that I'm considering buying, and since it's just wrong to give a businessperson false hope like that, I wanted to take the opportunity to look at the place's jewelry inventory online.

Honestly and truly, I had no freaking idea whatsoever of the price of fine jewelry. None. I mean, I was aware of the price of gold and of silver in terms of the commodities market, because I buy wire from Rio Grande and they list the current prices on gold, silver, and platinum on the ordering page, but I had not looked at the price of actual finished jewelry products since... crud, I don't know. Grade school, probably- we were taught how to write different kinds of business letter in English class, and for one of them we had to write a letter to a catalog company placing an order without the use of one of their order forms, and I remember writing an order letter for several pieces of jewelry including a tennis bracelet that were listed in a Sears-type catalog. I don't think I've looked at the price on fine jewelry since. High school/college rings and the stuff at Punctured Professional Body Piercing doesn't count, that's fashion jewelry, which is a completely separate breed/animal/weight class/whatever from fine jewelry.

I'd seen the prices given for the stuff stars wear on special occasions, of course. Harry Winston and other diamond companies make a point of letting people know those numbers. But those are mega swankypants special pieces; I didn't connect those numbers to anything regular people would deal with. Same with the prices of big stones found in this or that market, or museum stones or pieces. Those are special cases and didn't count. I just... did not know that it was possible to pay $150 for an admittedly very pretty pair of simple 6x4mm oval amethyst earrings, or a thousand dollars for a pair of similarly very pretty, very simple sapphire studs. These aren't even the fancy ones! These are cut stones with very simple white gold prong settings and no accents of any kind! The pieces look like they're well made, and the descriptions given (including the stones' Gemological Institute of America assessments) indicate that they're very good quality, but...

Wow. Just wow.

I've been grumpy about the price of Swarovski crystals before but suddenly Daniel Swarovski's original slogan of "A diamond for everyone" makes oh my Fnord so much more sense.

Comments

[rymenhild]

I am told that it's possible to buy fine jewelry much more cheaply if you start closer to the wholesaler (at Jewelers' Row in NYC, for instance). The markup rises at every level of sale.

[ymfaery]

I usually don't even think about buying jewelry unless I'm at some kind of exhibition or sale. The costume jewelry alone is more expensive than I'm willing to pay for at retail.