Merrily Adrift in English

It’s my native language, so I’ve spoken it for a very long time (some say too long).  Occasionally, however, I can’t just take it for granted, and such is the case with “Merry Christmas”.  I don’t know how often I’ve wished people a “Merry Christmas” this year, let alone in all the years that preceded it; but as I stop to think about it, it seems to me that the word “merry” is on its way out of the language.  Oh, carolers sing “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” every Christmas, but not one in a hundred would know that the title of the carol is a direct address (hence the comma) or that in contemporary English the sentence might best be understood as “May you have God’s blessings”.  Today we might use “merry” disparagingly as in “Even though they knew the idea wouldn’t work, they merrily continued with it.”  If you recall the “Folkies” of the late ‘50s and ‘60s  you may remember as well the “Limelighters” singing “I Saw Esau”.  If the lyrics still stick in your head you might recall that the singer was put out at seeing Esau giving his girl a “merry twirl”, and in this context the word’s usage was quite ambiguous.  It could have meant that Esau was showing her a pleasurable good time of some sort or another, it could have meant that whatever Esau was doing was being accomplished energetically, it could have meant that whatever Esau was doing with his girl was filled with laughter or it could have simply meant that whatever was being done, was being done in high spirits.  One might also hear of someone being led on a “merry chase” (though that likelihood diminishes every year) and in this case the meaning, a brisk chase, is very plain.  How all of this came from the Middle English “merri”, meaning “pleasant”, is all a matter of conjecture; though I’m sure some of the meanings of the word must have been ironic.

Then there is “Happy New Year”.  I’ve been wishing people ‘Happy New Year’ all week without a look into the origin of “happy”.   Though we most often use the word to express an emotion, we also use it in other ways (“there was a happy outcome”), so I’ve been driven again to the dictionary (several, in fact).  To the best of my understanding, “happy” has its origin in the Middle English “haps”, meaning fortune or chance (derived, in turn, from the Old Norse “happ”).  Though no one has ever used “haps’ in any conversation with me, one of the continuing characters in American writer James Lee Burke’s “Dave Robichaux” mystery series regularly asks Dave, “What’s the haps?”  If his idiomatic usage (the novels are set in southern Louisiana) is anything other than the author’s overt contrivance (oops, there’s another middle english verb, ‘vert’), then, perhaps (darn, there’s “haps”cropping up again) the original use of the word continues in some parts of the English speaking world   At any rate, by the end of the Middle Ages “happy” had come to mean “favored by fortune”, and this seems to be the meaning originally intended when someone wished someone else a “Happy New Year”; that is, a year favored by good fortune.  With my research complete, I can now comfortably, merrily and happily, wish all of you a somewhat belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

For the merriest and happiest of new years, you might consider making an investment in your emotional attachments.   You might consider putting the gift of a Hearts On Fire diamond or fine diamond Jewelry by Hearts On Fire on your calendar as a “must” for your next gift giving occasion.  It is the world’s most perfectly cut diamond; and unlike most of the otherdata you may have on diamonds, this isn’t just a drylaboratory fact.  Perfection in cut yields startling beauty obvious, to anyone who really looks at a Hearts On Fire diamond.  Indeed, one happy result of presenting a gift of Hearts On Fire is the statement it makes.  It says, “I love you” perfectly.  Isn’t that the merry result you want?  Check out our Hearts On Fire collection on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment.  We’ll help you choose the perfect gift; after all, we’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers an uncommon jeweler. 

Christmas Shopping 101

Half a century ago one of my favorite stores to “shop” was the old Abercrombie and Fitch. In the 1950’s it was a high end sporting goods store, complete with an incredible gun room that properly belonged in a movie (it had a huge stuffed Polar Bear in one corner!).  In addition to guns, rods and reels it also carried men’s and women’s clothing aimed, however, at “the carriage trade” rather than the youth market catered to by the current iteration of Abercrombie and Fitch.   Somehow,  forty years ago or so, clothing led the company astray.  I can only guess that sporting goods had become stagnant; so management decided to plunge heavily into women’s fashion. The clothes didn’t sell.  In fact, the strain imposed by “the wrong bet” on fashion forced the company to seek bankruptcy protection, thus illustrating the fact that cash flow is the life blood of business.  A retailer must turn (sell) his inventory to remain solvent, let alone make a profit; and of course, this affects the jewelry business on many levels, right down to the consumer.

Makers of jewelry can find themselves faced with falling demand.  Those who make “high end” jewelry can usually scrap jewelry that doesn’t sell and fashion new jewelry reusing their gems (the labor is lost, the gold and platinum will be re-refined, but for small value).  Those who provide jewelry to “mass merchandisers” and low end chains have a harder time of it as they are ‘married’ to the fortunes of their ‘big buyers’.   Mass merchandisers suffer from the volatility of their market; and this opens the jewelry makers who supply them to risk as well.  Lured by ‘big sales, they often commit themselves to contracts with extended terms of payment and even agreements to take back unsold merchandise.  When business ‘softens’, and mass merchandisers fail to pay their bills, they’re at once in trouble.  If they are compelled to take unsold goods back, the intrinsic value of such jewelry is small; so scrapping it will yield little.  Fearing economic  risk, then, ‘gun-shy’ mass merchandisers and their suppliers very often tend to adopt a conservative character in design as well as a commitment to ‘cheap’ manufacture

This explains why, when I comparison shop chain jewelry stores and the jewelry departments of mass merchandisers, I usually see a strong commitment to basic designs and little attention to either quality or fashion. You may see 50 diamond crosses, all of which look fairly similar to one another, and you may see 50 variations on the diamond heart, but you are far less likely to see a wholly original piece of jewelry - let alone a beautifully crafted one.  For you, the prudent jewelry buyer, this infers that you must concentrate your jewelry dollars on quality jewelry possessions you can enjoy “forever”.  It clearly means that you should allocate a much smaller part of your budget to jewelry you see as “nice” but perhaps without durable “legs” in design or execution.

If your ears are pierced, you should own the pair of diamond studs you best see yourself in. If you can’t afford the pair you want at once, buy a smaller pair of quality diamonds and trade up for the ones you want.  If you enjoy rings, concentrate first on those that will have meaning for you - celebrations of your life that will give you a lift every time you look at them.  Bracelets? If you like them, take a hard look at what you like about them (wide? multiples? with gems? cuffs? bangles? links?), then buy them in proportion to the pleasure you derive from wearing them.  Necklaces? Diamond pendants are more versatile than other necklaces as they can be worn with a wider variety of clothing, though it’s a good idea to be able to put your diamond on attachments (chains, chords, ribbons) of varying lengths so they can remain “neckline” friendly.  Like diamond earrings, as long as you buy quality, you can trade up until you get the diamond pendant you want “for always”.  Above all, keep your eye on what you prize in jewelry to keep from bankrupting your jewelry budget with purchases of fashion you’ll soon tire of.  Observe this maxim, “If you don’t love it, don’t buy it.”  Liking a piece of expensive jewelry just isn’t good enough; and the corollary to this is, “Making do with ‘poverty jewelry’ will never make you happy.”

Of course the ultimate basics are diamonds.  Color, clarity and carat weight all play a part in determining the rarity of diamonds, but there is more to it than that.  So it is that here at Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers we select our diamonds for beauty above all - not laboratory values nor price.  So it is that we insist on originality in design and quality execution.  We want the jewelry we offer to be a joy forever for its wearer.  So it is that if you want to give a ‘forever’ Christmas gift you must come see us.  Check out our collection on line at  hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment to make this the merriest Christmas!

P.S. If you have diamonds, broken or unworn pieces of jewelry that you would like to sell, come in and we’ll help you establish their market value; and perhaps, we’ll make the best offer to buy them.

LUXURY

It’s one of those things that’s relative; and perhaps a trip to the dictionary will only confuse this notion.  The word, luxury, has a Latin root, ‘luxus’, meaning excess or extravagance; but even the Romans found the word slippery.  “luxuriare” was used by the ancient Romans to describe profuse growth, so the notion of abundance has clearly been an inherent part of any understanding of luxury for at least two millennia.  Excess, extravagance, abundance - luxury - how can one consider it except as a comparative?

In the late 1940s (yes, I’m that old) family trips were often aimed at reconnecting to relatives - family - in other parts of the country; and for this city boy they were often eye opening.  There were, for example, no paved roads into one of my dad’s boyhood homes, Marshfield, Missouri; and while there were paved roads into Tulsa, Oklahoma, my aunt Ellen’s home had no running water.  Things were more ‘luxurious’ when we visited my cousin Bob Hackett’s home in Oklahoma City - paved roads, electricity, running water, all the ‘modern’ conveniences and not that dissimilar to our family home in the Chicago area.  Of course, the circumstances of his home were luxurious when compared to those of my aunt Ellen; and the circumstances of her life were more luxurious than those of my great aunt Ophelia and my great uncle John, at the time 90+ years old residents of Marshfield.  On the other hand a comparison between my cousin Bob’s late 1940s home in Oklahoma City and your home today might illustrate the ‘profuse growth’ aspect of ‘luxuriare’.

Few, if any, Americans had air conditioned homes when we visited cousin Bob; and during our visit it never fell below 100º (Fahrenheit), even at night!  Yet we survived; so I guess air conditioning could be considered a luxury.  The ‘phones were all land lines; and in much of the U.S. you called the operator at a central switchboard to place your call; so it seems you could consider our cellular world to be one of ‘luxurious’ communications.  There were a few television sets (and only a few television stations) and they were both so expensive and so ‘impractical’ that few had one - a far cry from the entertainment luxuries we enjoy today.  My point, of course, is that luxury is relative, except when it comes to luxuries with emotional content - strikingly, fine jewelry.

I have a friend who has, over the last forty years or so, become a well to do and respected figure in the world of jewelry; and one of his most treasured possessions has no obvious practical function.  It is his mother’s engagement ring; and its immense value lies in its emotional importance.  It connects him to a mother who passed away while he was only a child; and while this is remarkable within the context of his life, it is, very generally, the greatest value in fine jewelry.  My late mother’s pearls connect my daughter to her grandmother and my late mother-in-law’s diamond wedding ring is proudly worn by one of my sisters-in-law.  What other luxuries can have so enduring a value?  Certainly the present demonstrates this.

Recently a couple came in to our store to have a new ring made for the diamond he had presented her twenty years ago.  Like many men (particularly an engineer!), he had concentrated on the value of the diamond he purchased and paid little attention to it as a piece of jewelry.  In fact, he’d done a good job in selecting it, that is, he had bought for beauty not just for weight; but it had never reflected her ebullient personality.  When one of the prongs holding the diamond had failed, she’d put it in a safety deposit box and got on with her life - a daughter, a profession and more; but the ‘itch’ to wear her diamond had grown over time.  With a good marriage, and the understanding that comes with it, they were ready to let her ‘finish’ her engagement ring by setting her diamond in a ring that was really hers.  She looked at dozens and found nothing; but then, as more came out of our vault, she spied one that she had to put on her finger.  She loved it; and after we had made her ring, she loved it more.   Her husband, however, may have been the happiest.  He wrote us a quick note reading (we’ve saved it with their pictures together) ‘Thank you for making my wife happy.‘  Without a concrete function, perhaps the ring is a luxury; but I find it hard to acknowledge happiness as a luxury.  

In fact it is the enduring emotional content of fine jewelry that lifts it far above all other luxuries and yet may make it the most practical of possessions.  Should you buy a piece of fine jewelry to celebrate one of life’s momentous events or to express your love for another?  Of course you should!  There is nothing like it; and if you focus on the purchase of a beautiful diamond it will remain a treasured statement of your love and joy forever.  So come see us here at Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers.  We care about your feelings and that is our gift to you, one that few can equal.  Because we know the real value of jewelry, check out our website, hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment.  We have the stuff of dreams waiting here for you.

Golconda Anew

In the last six months two of the world’s great historic diamonds, the Beau Sancy and the Arch Duke, have been sold at auction.  The Beau Sancy sold for nearly $10 million, the Arch Duke for almost $22 million; and both originated in the fabled mines of Golconda.  Alas, Golconda is no more.

Diamonds were first discovered in India about two and a half millennia ago; and for the better part of 2,000 years little was known of them outside of India.  Oh, the Romans imported them to use as scribes, but seem to have cared little for their remote origins.  And unlikely though it might seem, the Chinese of antiquity, after having imported diamond scribes from Rome, seem to have thought that diamonds originated in the Roman Empire; but the eager traders of Renaissance Europe laid bare the secret.  In the fifteenth century, only a few years after another Burgundian had invented the diamond polishing wheel, Marie of Burgundy received the first diamond engagement ring.  After that everyone with money (read ‘monarchs and nobles’) wanted them.  Everyone soon knew that diamonds came from India; but there was one problem in India itself.   Virtually all of the diamonds that came from the storied ‘mines’ of Golconda were alluvial.  That is, streams had washed them from their origins, wherever that may have been, into the rivers of historic Golconda (located in modern India’s states of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh). As demand grew, the supply of Golconda’s diamonds diminished; and by 1800 few were left to be found.  Interestingly enough, however, the modern states embracing historic Golconda border on the state of Madhya Pradesh, the site of a newly announced major diamond find.  While to my knowledge no one has publicly asked the question, I cannot help but wonder whether some, if not all, of Golconda’s diamonds had been washed down from the hills of Madhya Pradesh.

The existence of a contemporary diamond mine in Madhya Pradesh, albeit a small and marginally profitable one, and the lure of finding the source of Golconda’s diamonds must have inspired the search for the new mine.  It is just so rational; and so it must have seemed to the geologists working for  Rio Tinto Diamonds who surveyed the hills and valleys of Madhya Pradesh looking for the ‘mother lode’ for more than two years.  So rational that, when they found it, Rio Tinto wanted to make sure that it didn’t lose the fruits of their research before the company was sure the diamonds were really there.  So they kept it as secret as possible, a very real challenge since everyone prospecting for diamonds had their eyes on the firm.   To this end the company named their work ‘The Bunder Project’, both a name and a subterfuge. Monkeys, ‘bunder‘ in the local language, abound in the area, and it worked as a subterfuge because it diverted competitors‘ attention to a search for the remote, and completely fictional, hamlet of Bunder. 

Rio Tinto’s geologists quietly continued their work.  Now, two years after that initial discovery, Rio Tinto has gone public with the announcement of a new mine.

With mines, now, on three continents, the company is unique in the world of diamond mining in its insistence on identifying the origin of all of its significant gems.  Completely in character, therefore, the firm has made the announcement with a piece of jewelry crafted in diamonds from the new mine.   It is a necklace; and it exuberantly identifies the mine’s geographic location with its map coordinates - engraved on its back.   Symbolically, the company has named the necklace ‘The Courageous Spirit’, this to emphasize its commitment to using the mine not merely for the wealth the mine will produce but for the good the mine will work for the people of Madhya Pradesh.  They need it.

With a population of more than 75 million people, Madhya Pradesh is one of India’s largest and poorest states.  82% of the state’s women are illiterate; thus poverty is abetted by ignorance.  To help combat this, Rio Tinto has developed a three pronged program to use some of its new found wealth.  It has partnered with UNICEF (to help children), embarked on a program of practical education for local women and has committed itself to give preference in hiring to local people.  As the state is also home to some of India’s endangered fauna, the company has already established eco-friendly mining.  That is, it does not despoil the land with structures that will decay, it uses no chemicals, it minimizes water usage (and recycles much of it) and even works to minimize dust and noise.  If it is Golconda Anew, it will benefit the poor as much as it offers diamonds for adornment. 

We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers.  Our diamonds sparkle in a romantic restaurant because we care about heritage worthy jewelry.  So if you are in the market for the perfect jewelry gift, check us out on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com; then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment.  Our name’s on the door and we’re proud of it because we care about you.

P.S. If you have diamonds or broken or unworn pieces of jewelry that you would like to sell, come in and we’ll help you establish their market value; and perhaps, we’ll make the best offer to buy them.

The Dilemma

As you math geeks well know, a lemma is a problem; and a dilemma is one with two solutions that are not only possible but offer different merits that must be weighed.  So it is understandable that the average guy approaches the purchase of a significant gift for his significant other in some trepidation.  A purchase involves spending his money (the economic part of the problem); but it is the emotional response of the recipient (pleasing the person) that is his goal.  Emotion/money - there it is; and when it comes to jewelry, particularly diamonds, the problem is exacerbated by the question of fashion (will it please her?) versus extravagant display (how big a diamond do I need to give to say what I want to say?).   In contemporary America, men are increasingly seeking to meet the problem by shopping with the intended recipient.  Thus they escape the dilemma by transferring it  to the one who will receive the gift.  That’s right.  She is thus compelled (within obvious limits) to make the cash versus emotion decision, an obvious moral challenge.  With this in mind, I offer my first piece of advice; and though it may seem odd to you, it is to women and in the fashion arena.  Simply put, don’t settle for something you merely like.  Fine jewelry hangs around for a long time; so if you don’t love it, sooner or later you’ll have the itch to get something else.  Allow me to illustrate.

Ten years ago a young man came into our store and bought one of the finest diamonds in the world, the Hearts On Fire.  It had the twin merits of size and beauty and it satisfied his desire that the ring he purchased have the greatest possible intrinsic value.  He proposed, offering it to her in a simple solitaire ring.  She accepted.  They married; and after a decade of marriage they enjoyed both children and prosperity; but she didn’t like her ring - and never had.  She understood that he had strained himself economically to buy it; but it was far too severe for a very feminine woman.  The classic dilemma asserted itself; and the couple arrived in our store seeking a trade back.  As is our policy, we were happy to comply; but the couple was still divided.  He couldn’t understand why she wanted to spend their money on fashion over what he viewed as substance.  That is, he would have been happy to trade the diamond back for a larger diamond - and that is the original direction taken in the dialogue.  She, however, finally asserted herself to make it clear that she wanted a more opulent finished look, even if it denied her a larger diamond.  For more than a month the drama played out.   He had balked a bit because he knew that much of the additional money in the ring she desired was the cost of labor and small diamonds - both expensive, but lacking in ‘substance’‘ - distressed sale’ value, if you will.  Ultimately, and as you might expect (remember, he just wanted to please her), she got the new ring.  Far from severe, the ring is magnificently opulent - set with more than 60 small, but exquisitely cut, Hearts On Fire diamonds - and almost incidentally, set with a new Hearts On Fire gem nearly identical in size to her original diamond.   Philosophically speaking, it hadn’t really cost them much, a dollar a day for ten years; but it underscores the character of the diamond purchase dilemma; and it brings me to my second piece of advice.

Beauty trumps intrinsic value; and this is an important piece of advice for even the most ‘substantive value’ driven male shopper.  The internet has rendered many of the men I encounter daily self deluded.  After a few hours of research, they are convinced they know everything about diamonds; while I, with close to 60 years experience in looking at them, know that only diamond beauty is important.  Carat weight?  Color?  Clarity?  These are laboratory values; only cut is obvious to even the casual observer.  To belabor the obvious, it is cut that makes a diamond beautiful.   As a corollary to this, it is important to look at the diamond you wish to buy.  ‘Mail order’ shopping won’t do; the diamond you buy should sparkle brilliantly - not merely in the sort of ‘sun lamps’ that illuminate the average jewelry store but most importantly in the romantic light of a dimly lit restaurant.  Beyond that, there is always the question of fashion.  I’d love to say that I have simple, concrete advice here, but I can only offer a stratagem.  If you and your intended do not intend to shop as a couple, interview her (be discreet, please!) about the fashion she sees as important.  It may mean that you spend as much on the ring as you spend on the principal diamond; but remember the purpose of the gift.  You want to tell her you love her; and when you demonstrate that you’ve been listening to her, you’ve said it ‘loud and clear.’

If you are in the market for a diamond come see us here at Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers.  We think fine jewelry should be a family treasure .  We know diamonds.  We know fine jewelry; and we care about you; so check us out on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment.  We’re the uncommon jeweler.  We’ll help solve the dilemma.  We’ll help you select the perfect gift.  

P.S. If you have diamonds or broken or unworn pieces of jewelry that you would like to sell, come in and we’ll help you establish their market value; and perhaps, we’ll make the best offer to buy them. 

Life Limits

I’m often asked if we guarantee our jewelry. Of course we do; but it’s an odd question
in that those who ask it usually have little idea of what is customarily guaranteed.
In point of fact, they often confuse a guarantee with insurance; and nothing
could be farther from reality. If a gem falls out of a new ring and there has been no
obvious damage to it, virtually every legitimate jeweler will replace it. If, on the
other hand, the ring is bent and/or broken as a result of some misadventure, it’s
time to file an insurance claim, as no guarantee will cover accidental damage.
Wear and tear is another issue. In general, jewelry guarantees, just like automotive
guarantees, cover the quality of manufacture, but not ‘wear and tear’. What seems
to escape many jewelry owners is that the more a piece of jewelry is worn, the
more likely it is that it will require some kind of maintenance or repair.

A couple of weeks ago one of our clients realized that she’d not had her diamond
ring reappraised (for purposes of insurance) for 25 years. She’d worn it every day
of those years; and in the cheerful conviction that it was ‘indestructible’, she had
never had it inspected. While it was true that none of the 22 small diamonds with
which it was set had fallen out, she was somewhat surprised to learn that she had
managed to break 5 of them. This complicated her desire to insure the ring since
insurers will not insure something that is already broken. Her ‘good news’ was
that the value of the large diamond in the ring had tripled over the last quarter century;
so it was obvious to her that she should have the ring restored and insure it.
I’d love to say that this is an unusual story; but such is far from the case.

Saturday a somewhat perplexed woman, on the sunny side of 50, came into our
store with two rings in need of repair. She couldn’t quite understand why they
might need service as ‘you (meaning our store) ‘had just repaired them.’ Given
their scarred, worn, dirty and broken condition, this was hard to swallow; and a little
research revealed that the last time we’d worked on one ring was 17 years ago.
The other had been in our care more recently, 10 years ago. The first ring was the
more seriously damaged. It had been bent into an oval and had cracked thus allowing
2 of the small diamonds in the ring to fall out. The other ring also had damage
that had resulted in the loss of a diamond; and in neither instance had she any idea
of when the damage might had occurred. What she did not appear to realize was
that jewelry should be worn with some care.

Then there is the crew of cheery watch assassins who come to see us on a regular
basis. Once again, like automotive warrantees watch warrantees cover initial
manufacture, only. Yet in a sort of mechanical Darwinism, these intrepid watch
testers (most usually men) have defined the limits of abusive wear. Broken or
scratched crystal? Many are surprised that the crystal over the face of the watch is
not ‘guaranteed’; nor do they seem to understand that the face of the watch and its
movement (the works) are connected. A cracked or broken crystal leaks dirt and
moisture, both of which will damage the movement and void the guarantee. Yet
the relentlessly careless watch wearer regularly ignores damage to the crystal,
wears the watch and then registers surprise when it stops functioning. Happily,
though alarmingly common, jewelry and watch assassins are in the minority.

Last week one of our clients brought in a family heirloom pocket watch for inspection.
It was a bit over 100 years old and though the 14 Kart gold case that encompassed
its movement was a bit worn, it still worked well and was in over-all beautiful
condition. In like manner, Saturday I had the opportunity to inspect a couple of
pieces of jewelry that one of our clients had inherited. The first was a beautiful
handmade platinum, rock crystal and diamond brooch. Judging by the style of the
diamond cutting, the mode of fabrication and the clasp, I think it to be ‘Edwardian’.
That means it’s about 100 years old; yet it shows negligible wear. That
doesn’t mean it was never worn. Unlike the ‘tragedy‘ ridden pieces of jewelry
above, it was worn with care.

The lives of both great jewelry and great romances are limited by the need for care
and maintenance. Usually you take care of your romance by paying attention to
the one you love; but sometimes life gets so hectic that you lose the communication.
It doesn’t have to happen; and when you buy her a great diamond it won’t.
We know diamonds and we care about their emotional value. We hand select them
for beauty you can be proud of; and unlike jewelers who care little about beauty,
we even offer Hearts On Fire, the world’s most perfectly cut diamond. Perfection
in cut yields perfect beauty - fire and sparkle worthy of your great romance.
Check us out on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then phone us at 708.788.0880
for a ‘maintenance’ appointment. We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers, not a common
jeweler.

P.S. If you have diamonds or broken or unworn pieces of jewelry that you would
like to sell, come in and we’ll help you establish their market value; and perhaps,
we’ll make the best offer to buy them.

IT’S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS

A young woman who had been recently divorced came into our store several days ago attempting to sell her no longer desired engagement and wedding rings. I replied that we rarely buy jewelry “over-the-counter”; but I offered to look at them to see if we might be interested in a trade. Even though most of the diamonds offered to us are far below our standards for generic gems (the stuff you see everywhere, not our exquisitely crafted, incredibly rare and exclusive Hearts On Fire diamonds), we do accept diamonds in trade if they can be re-cut to meet our exacting standards. After cleaning hers, however, it was clear we couldn’t offer any of her diamonds to our clients. The center diamond in her engagement ring had a durability threatening crack in it and her smaller diamonds were filled with visible inclusions - characteristics that should have made them relatively cheap to purchase, but not our cup of tea. Somehow this revelation seemed to give her a rough kind of satisfaction, since it seemed to say that her ex-husband had not seen enough worth in their marriage to invest much in symbols of it. After she left I found myself musing over the difference between “worth” and “value”.

When women (and men) speak of family jewelry they’ve inherited, it’s obvious that the worth they find in it is emotional; while its intrinsic (market) value is often ‘interesting’, but usually of secondary importance. Just to check into my impressions, I looked into my “American Heritage Dictionary” for common usage distinctions between “value” and “worth.” Therein ‘value’ is defined as “an amount of goods, services or money considered to be a fair and suitable equivalent for something else.” Despite the fact that this definition makes me feel as if I’ve had a sudden encounter with the legal profession, it seems pretty clear to me that (usually) when we speak of something’s “value”, we speak of something that can somehow be quantified in the market place. By contrast, the first definition my dictionary offered for “worth” was, “the quality of something that renders it desirable, useful or valuable,” clearly meaning that determinations of “worth” can be far more subjective than determinations of value. The young woman who sought to rid herself of the symbols of her shattered marriage was simply trying to say, “They are without worth to me.” In like manner, the widower who had me size his late wife’s well worn wedding ring so that he could wear it in her memory was trying to say, “She was worth everything to me;” and so it is that jewelry “speaks”.

The question, then, for the jewelry buyer should always be one of worth. If you are buying a piece of jewelry for yourself, it should say what you want it to say to yourself and others. If you are buying a piece of jewelry as a gift, it should say what you want it to say to the recipient. Unfortunately, many who buy a piece of jewelry as a gift confuse worth and value, a path loaded with pitfalls.  One has to become an authority on jewelry metals and modes of manufacture if one is to know the value of the piece of jewelry one is buying; and diamonds are even worse. It’s true there are a technicalities that can be “mastered” by the neophyte gem buyer, but most of them bear only on a gem’s rarity.  Rarity certainly does bear on a gem’s market value, its price, but these technicalities are “laboratory” values that do not by themselves enhance a gem’s beauty - the clearest statement of worth. Think about that for a moment. When given as a gift, the worth of a gem is emotional; it comes from within the giver and his or her relationship to the recipient. Its value as a negotiable asset is very secondary at best. It is its beauty that says what you want it to say, and its worth is forever established by the emotions tied to it. In a nutshell, it’s the thought that counts.

Put yourself in the moment before you buy a gift. A dozen roses may mean as much at that moment, because they are beautiful, as something of 10 times their value. The drawback, of course, is that roses are perishable whereas jewelry is not. Beautiful jewelry will make the moment last; and if it is a moment that should be shared forever, fine jewelry has no peer. This is what makes gifts of engagement rings, wedding rings, anniversary rings, and all the other gifts of fine jewelry that can mark one of life’s great moments, so important. They can be there every day for the rest of the recipient’s life, a constant reminder of your love. So check out our website, hurstsberwynjewelers.com, for our fine jewelry collection; then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment to select a piece of fine jewelry, particularly a beautiful diamond, that will speak for you perfectly and lastingly. We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers, not a common jeweler.

P.S. If you have diamonds or broken or unworn pieces of jewelry that you would like to sell, come in and we’ll help you establish their market value; and perhaps, we’ll make the best offer to buy them.

A Little Respect

When Kathy and I visited London several months ago,the local currency flowed through our hands at a speed typical of tourist spending.  I must confess, however, that I paid little to the details of the Bank of England notes we were spending, otherwise I might have observed that one of the security features of the L 20 note was a vertical row of Adam Smith profiles.  And if you know of the law of supply and demand, you know a bit about Smith’s major work, ‘The Wealth of Nations’.

Born a bit more than 290 years ago near Edinburgh (in Kirkcaldy), Scotland, he published his seminal book on economics, “The Wealth of Nations”, in 1776.  And though some may argue that his appearance on the notes (March, 2007) was terribly tardy, the man’s acuity certainly demands this kind of respect.  Indeed, few, regardless of their politics, would argue with many of his observations, particularly, this one; “Labour was the first price, the original purchase - money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all wealth of the world was originally purchased.”  Honoring him with his likeness on banknotes, then, seems singularly appropriate.  It was, however, conspicuously difficult owing to the small amount of labor spent on capturing his likeness during his lifetime, only three images.  Fortunately, one of them had been used to produce a limited series of about 300 pieces of “glass paste” portrait medallions of him; and one such medallion (currently hanging in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery) was available to the bank’s board of governors to use.  So it is, if you pick up a L20 note, you can see, at least in silhouette, what Smith looked like - and all thanks to the jewelry business. 

Of course what we’re really dealing with here is a glass cameo; and as a medallion, it was meant to be worn as a pendant.  While many of you are familiar with shell cameos (usually carved from conch shell), stone and glass cameos have also been with us for a long time.  Those of stone are, obviously, also carved, but the use of “glass paste” to make the Smith cameo may have you wondering, so let’s take a look at it. 

“Glass paste” is, quite literally, glass that has been heated to the point of “plasticity”; and in making his portrait medallion of Smith the artist, James Tassie, literally pressed such glass into a carved mold (his original piece of art).  Since the mold had probably been carved in stone, the heat it suffered in each use surely caused

the accuracy of the image to slowly degrade, hence the limited number of pieces.  Interestingly, this confluence of art and jewelry dates back more than 4000 years.  Glass animals, amulets and so on first appear in the historical record during Egypt’s “Middle Kingdom”; and by the time Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed wealthy Romans were wearing pressed glass cameo and intaglio jewelry in colors that imitated precious gems.  Through the recovery of thousands of ancient Etruscan jewelry molds (from tombs in modern Tuscany) and a few tantalizing surviving records we know that just as Tassie had used glass paste to make his Smith medallion, ancient Etruscan jewelers pressed “pasta vitra” into their molds to make cameos and intaglios.  Obviously the ancient molds are valuable historical artifacts; but with an extra step or two (to prevent degrading them) some are still usable using the ‘lost wax’ casting process.  For the skilled artisan this technique can yield excellent, accurate castings; for the less proficient inferior results are common.  More important than technique, however, is the emotional content transmitted by these ‘exercises of jewelry.‘  The United Kingdom’s government can honor and take pride in Smith’s insights into economics through Tassie’s work; while those who own a pasta vitra intaglio created from an ancient mold can emotionally connect with antiquity.

Emotion is what jewelry is all about; so fine emotions, like the deep feelings you have for another, are beautifully expressed with a thoughtful gift of fine jewelry, particularly a diamond.  But since all diamonds are not ‘created‘ equal, you may need a little help in selecting one to ‘speak for you’; that’s where we come in.  We’re Hursts‘ Berwyn Jewelers; and we know diamonds.  We want you to be proud of the diamond you buy from us.  We want people to say to the wearer, “Let me see your diamond!”  So check us out on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment.  We’ll help you select the perfect gift because we’re just not a common jeweler.  

THE INSPECTOR

When we receive any new gem or piece of jewelry from a vendor it is subjected to an exhaustive inspection.  Our quality standards are so high that on one occasion I was not particularly startled to overhear Kathleen say (speaking on the telephone), “I don’t care if it is good enough for (fill in the name of a prestigious jeweler), it’s not good enough for me!”  She was addressing faults she had found in the manufacture of a piece shipped us that made it unacceptable to us.

This sort of inspection is important to guarantee that the consumer receives the value he expects.  It has two aspects, an inspection for obvious defects in manufacture such as cracks, poor polish, flaws in gem settings and so on, and an inspection for the presence of hallmarks and trademarks.  The first may seem obvious, but jewelry retailers with little interest in anything other than price seldom seem to check the basic finished quality of the jewelry they offer.   The importance of checking for hallmarks and trademarks is a little less obvious.  Unlike most of the ‘developed world’, quality marking precious metal jewelry (stamping it ‘14K’, ‘18K’ or whatever to state its precious metal content) is optional for jewelry sold in this country.   Current U.S. metals laws allow a seller to verbally claim a precious metal content without quality marking it but they require him to trademark (state who made it) if he puts any quality mark whatsoever on it and it is shipped interstate.  Since the law is relatively vague, it is little appreciated by the buying public.   This opens the door to under karating, quality marking a piece of jewelry to overstate its gold or platinum content,  a common ‘cheat’ among those who sell ‘bargain priced jewelry.  As you might expect, cheats rarely identify their goods with a trademark, but those who buy ‘price’ goods for mass market retailers are seldom vigilant and sometimes both ignorant and trusting.  As a result, untrademarked goods are easy to find; and from time to time, those who sell them (and those who buy from them) get ‘stung’. 

A few years back a classic case erupted in California.  As it transpired, shoppers at a department store chain began to complain that their ‘14K‘ gold chains were tarnishing.  When the complaints finally became loud enough, some one of the buyers for the chain had the wit to have the gold content of the ‘14K‘ chains they were selling tested for gold content.  The test came back and the report wasn’t good.  Though the chains were marked ‘14K’ (a bit more than 58% gold), they actually tested a little less than ‘8‘ karat (33% gold, not a legal gold alloy in the U.S.).  Unsurprisingly, when department store officers went back to look for the chain manufacturer, he was ‘out of business‘; and its officers were not to be found.  A little more detective work revealed that the erstwhile chain makers had bought ‘scrap gold‘ on the open market at bargain prices, melted it down with a judicious addition of scrap brass and used this promiscuous mixture to make their chains.  As both manufacture and sales were pretty much limited to California the fraud they perpetrated was not in violation of U.S. law; and it must have been hugely profitable to the slippery fraudsters.  I don’t know, at this time, whether or not they’ve ever been arrested and prosecuted; but back when the fraud was discovered it was learned that they’d fled the country to avoid prosecution.  I’m sure they traveled first class.

Gems are quite another matter; and assessing their value is not for the uninitiated.   Usually the problem is not so much fraud as it is failure to read the fine print.  In point of fact, U.S. law is almost silent about gems; so this can leave the shopper to make his way through a dark and bewildering forest of claims and documents.  Even diamonds are not immune to misunderstanding since most consumers do not know that only a very few laboratory grading reports have consistent and reliable value; and even they have weaknesses - bringing me back to the inspector.  While internal characteristics, for example, may be cited on a laboratory report for a diamond, it may neglect to mention surface cracks.  These will affect rarity (and thus value), but if they neither affect durability nor appearance, they may not be cited on a report.  Then there are the other precious and semi-precious gems.

What do you do when a vendor ships you a ring set with an ‘amethyst’ that has a piece of purple paper behind it (to ‘enhance’ its color)?  The inspector ships it back, refuses to pay the bill and refuses to do any more business with the supplier.  The same is true when a vendor furnishes a ring with a ‘black’ opal in it that turns out to be a very white opal set against a black background.  The client must be presumed to be naive because gems are so subtle.  This makes the retailer’s inspector vital to assuring that all goods are as represented when they were first ordered to be made and before they are offered for sale.   Deceitful vendors are weeded out by the inspector and only the work of the most virtuous are offered to the client. 

We value our reputation; so when you seek enduring quality in fine jewelry you must come see us.  Check out our website, hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment.  We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers, not a common jeweler.

The Eagle Diamond

The Eagle diamond, very likely now “deceased”, had a checkered career.   Found near the village of Eagle, Wisconsin, in 1876, it was probably an ‘immigrant’, having traveled via glacier, from one of northern Canada’s then unknown diamond deposits.  Its finder was Charles Woods, a hard scrabble tenant farmer who, having no reason to think it might be a diamond, kept it as a ‘pretty stone‘    A few years later, however, the tough farming that was his life pushed him and his wife, Clarissa, into desperate straits, and along with anything else that might fetch a few dollars it was sold to Samuel Boyton of Milwaukee (for $1.00!).  Boyton was not much impressed with the smokey yellow 16.25 carat gem he had purchased so he put it on the shelf until he was ready to travel to Chicago.  There, just to satisfy his curiosity, he had it appraised and was amazed to learn that it was, indeed, a diamond.  

Timing can be everything; and so it must have been for Sam Boyton.  Tiffany of New York had just recently made the young (23 years old) George Kunz a vice-president of the firm in recognition of his expertise as a ‘mineralogist’.  Self taught, Kunz was both a gem enthusiast and an enthusiast for all things ‘American’.  Needless to say, once Kunz heard of the diamond he had to have it for Tiffany’s collection.  A deal was struck; and Boyton pocketed $850 for what then became known as ‘The Eagle Diamond.’  Never cut, it went straight into Tiffany’s gem collection and there it remained until the early teens of the 20th century.  Always thought of as a curiosity, Tiffany finally sold the uncut gem to American financier J. P. Morgan who promptly donated it to New York’s American Museum of Natural History.  It sat there quietly for the next half century until, in 1964, it was stolen.  

In some ways it was an almost archetypical ‘60s event - beach bums, precious gems and even a movie star were all somehow involved.  A pair of 27 year olds, described as ‘surf bums’ in the newspapers (Jack Murphy, AKA ‘Murph the Surf’, and Allen Kuhn), had been inspired by a film they had seen to attempt the robbery.  The film, ‘Topkapi’, is a thriller in which the action revolves around the burglary of Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace Museum.  The home of the Ottoman Empire’s sultans until 1856, it houses a fabulous collection of gems, jewelry and art objects, a wonderful target for burglars.  As Jack and Allen saw it, there was a fortune to be made.  While they had no money and couldn’t afford the trip to Turkey, New York’s American Museum was doable; and on the night of October 29, 1964, they did it.

On the morning of the 30th the museum’s guards found that 24 gems had been stolen; and while the focus of concern was the world’s largest star sapphire (the Star of India, once owned by a heavy drinking advertising man who had kept it in his pocket), that oddity, the Eagle Diamond had also ‘flown the coup’.  The ‘case’ was soon cracked, however.

Murph and Jack weren’t that slick.  Their big spending life style and absence of visible income had already aroused the attention of Miami’s police; and on suspicion of a number of burglaries, they were arrested on Halloween.  Their ‘modus operandi’ then attracted the attention of New York’s police; but it was only a suspicion.  Released on bond in Miami, the New York Police Department’s interest in the duo became public knowledge.  This made them instant celebrities.  It was also their undoing.  Actress Eva Gabor saw their pictures in a newspaper and recognized them as the pair who had robbed her at gunpoint several months previously.  She filed a complaint; and this rattled Allen so badly that he made a deal with Manhattan’s District Attorney.  He agreed to supply information about the American Museum theft in exchange for leniency on other charges.  Information in hand, the bulk of the stolen gems, both in number and value, were recovered; but not the Eagle Diamond.  And it never has been.  While it may be hidden somewhere waiting to be found, most of the law enforcement agencies that had become involved in solving the theft think that it was probably cut into a few smaller, anonymous gems.  Sic transit gloria.

Diamonds are, of course, the most transportable pieces of wealth on the planet; and coupled with their beauty, their attraction is immediately understood.  Indeed, their rarity and beauty make them perfect gifts since they wonderfully express the love you have for another.  Not all diamonds are created equal, of course, but as your diamond experts we’ll help you purchase the gems that best speak for you.  We’ll never sell you a homely diamond; so visit us on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com for a look at our offerings then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment to select a beautiful self-expression.  We’re Hursts Berwyn Jewelers, not an ordinary jeweler.

VIRTUE IN THE WORLD ECONOMY

Saturday a young woman visiting our store asked me if I knew about the ‘Kimberly Process’.  I replied that I did and went on to demonstrate that we require all who supply diamonds to us to adhere to it.  Yet, in a way, it was an odd question, one I hadn’t heard for a few years.

Established in 2003 between diamond producing countries, diamond consuming countries, companies that process diamonds to bring them to market - as well as non-governmental human rights organizations, the goal of the Kimberly Process is to bar ‘conflict diamonds’ from the market.  It was engendered by vicious civil wars in Sierra Leone and Angola in which some of the warring factions had enslaved civilians to gather largely alluvial diamonds they then sold to finance military operations.  Though both wars had come to an end in 2002 and with their end much of the world’s concerns had subsided, the Kimberly Process institutionalized a mechanism for dealing with the problem of conflict diamonds in the future.  For this reason the 2006 release of the film ‘Blood Diamond’, and an ensuing public concern over conflict diamonds, came as a bit of a bewildering shock to the diamond business.  It was, of course, the public’s failure to understand that the film was historical in context that had engendered their alarm.  Fortunately for the diamond business, as the film disappeared from circulation the public’s anachronistic concern for conflict diamonds had subsided so completely that the young woman’s question caught me by surprise.  As a result, however, I felt compelled to look into its current state.

In large measure, and despite the currently unsettled state of both Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, it still seems to be working.  In point of fact, however, a new issue has arisen, that of re-defining ‘conflict diamonds’.  At present the Kimberly Process defines them as diamonds, produced by whatever means, used to finance rebellions against sitting governments and bans such gems from trade.   The demand for a redefinition stems from a protest of human rights abuses made by artisinal miners against the Government of Zimbabwe.  Shamiso Mitsi, speaking for the artisinal miners, pointedly declared in June that he stands for expanding the term ‘blood diamond’ to include diamonds that sitting governments mine using the coerced labor of their citizens.  Global Witness, a non-governmental watchdog group, has already resigned from the Kimberly Process over Zimbabwe’s human rights abuses; and at the June intercessional planning meeting of the Kimberly Process western European governments, with the government of the United States,  were united in supporting the re-definition of ‘conflict diamonds’ to cover all diamonds mined in a fashion abusive of human rights.   Understandably, the government of Zimbabwe lead other African and some Asian nations in resisting this change in definition.   As the meeting’s purpose had been to  lay the groundwork for the plenary session of the Kimberly Process scheduled for November, any decision on a redefinition of the term ‘conflict diamond’ will have to wait until then, and even then might not take place.  Tafadzwa Musarara, chairman of ‘Resources Exploitation Watch’, another non-governmental organization, speaking after the close of the June Kimberly Process meeting, said he felt only the United Nations could change the definition of ‘blood diamonds’.   While this may leave you a bit skeptical of the ability of the diamond business to guard its virtue, I must point out that unlike much of the much larger world of international trade, the attempt is real and it is being made.  Take oil for example, or cocoa.

About 8% of our annual oil consumption comes from Venezuela; and the government is above criticism.  Just ask Marianela Sånchez.  When, this last May, she criticized prison conditions in Venezuela, a couple of government goons kidnapped and threatened her husband; but since we like Venezuela’s oil we say little.  Or cocoa.  By Nestle’s own 2008 audit, 89% of Cote d’Ivorie’s children are employed in harvesting cocoa; but child labor or not, our sweettooths will not be denied.   The moral of these stories?  It’s hard to be virtuous in our connected world economy; but the diamond business is seriously trying - and it should.

The moral imperative for the diamond business having a ‘clean act’ is, of course, connected to the importance of a diamond as a statement of love.  It speaks love; and that voice makes its ethics important.  So feel good about buying a diamond to do the talking for you; and unless you’re an expert, come see us so we can guide you to a beautiful diamond - an eloquent voice to speak your love.  Check us out on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment.  We’ll never let you down because we care.  We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers, not a common jeweler. 

Luxury

It’s one of those things that’s relative; and perhaps a trip to the dictionary will only confuse this notion. The word, luxury, has a Latin root, ‘luxus’, meaning excess or extravagance; but even the Romans found the word slippery. ‘luxuriare’ was used by the ancient Romans to describe profuse growth, so the notion of abundance has clearly been an inherent part of any understanding of luxury for at least two millennia. Excess, extravagance, abundance - luxury - how can one consider it except as a comparative?

In the late 1940s (yes, I’m that old) family trips were often aimed at reconnecting to relatives - family - in other parts of the country; and for this city boy they were often eye opening. There were, for example, no paved roads into one of my dad’s boyhood homes, Marshfield, Missouri; and while there were paved roads into Tulsa, Oklahoma, my aunt Ellen’s home had no running water. Things were more ’luxurious’ when we visited my cousin Bob Hackett’s home in Oklahoma City - paved roads, electricity, running water, all the ‘modern’ conveniences and not that dissimilar to our family home in the Chicago area. Of course, the circumstances of  his home were luxurious when compared to those of my aunt Ellen; and the circumstances of her life were more luxurious than those of my great aunt Ophelia and my great uncle John, 90+ year old residents of Marshfield. On the other hand a comparison between my cousin BobÕs late 1940s home in Oklahoma City and your home today might illustrate the ‘profuse growth’ aspect of ‘luxuriare’.

Few, if any, Americans had air conditioned homes when we visited cousin Bob; and during our visit it never fell below 100¼ (Fahrenheit), even at night! Yet we survived; so I guess air conditioning could be considered a luxury. The ‘phones were all land lines; and in much of the U.S. you called the operator at a central switchboard to place your call; so it seems you could consider our cellular world to be one of ‘luxurious’ communications. There were a few television sets (and only a few television stations) and they were both so expensive and so impractical’ that few had one - a far cry from the entertainment luxuries we enjoy today. My point, of course, is that luxury is relative, except when it comes to luxuries with emotional content - strikingly, fine jewelry.

I have a friend who has, over the last forty years or so, become a well to do and respected figure in the world of jewelry; and one of his most treasured possessions has no obvious practical function. It is his mother’s engagement ring; and its immense value lies in its emotional importance. It connects him to a mother who passed away while he was only a child; and while this is remarkable within the context of his life, it is, very generally, the greatest value in fine jewelry. My late mother’s pearls connect my daughter to her grandmother and my late mother-in-law’s diamond wedding ring is proudly worn by one of my sisters-in-law. What other luxuries can have so enduring a value? Certainly the present demonstrates this.

Recently a couple came in to our store to have a new ring made for the diamond he had presented her twenty years ago. Like many men (particularly an engineer!), he had concentrated on the value of the diamond he purchased and paid little attention to it as a piece of jewelry. In fact, he’d done a good job in selecting it, that is, he had bought for beauty not just for weight; but it had never reflected her ebullient personality. When one of the prongs holding the diamond had failed, she’d put it in a safety deposit box and got on with her life - a daughter, a profession and more; but the ‘itch’ to wear her diamond had grown over time. With a good marriage, and the understanding that comes with it, they were ready to let her ‘finish’ her engagement ring by setting her diamond in a ring that was really hers. She looked at dozens and found nothing; but then, as more came out of our vault, she spied one that she had to put on her finger. She loved it; and after we had made her ring, she loved it more. Her husband, however, may have been the happiest. He wrote us a quick note reading (we’ve saved it with their pictures together) ‘Thank you for making my wife happy.’ Without a concrete function, perhaps the ring is a luxury; but I find it hard to acknowledge happiness as a luxury.

In fact it is the enduring emotional content of fine jewelry that lifts it far above all other luxuries and yet may make it the most practical of possessions. Should you buy a piece of fine jewelry to celebrate one of life’s momentous events or to express your love for another? Of course you should! There is nothing like it; and if you focus on the purchase of a beautiful diamond it will remain a treasured statement of your love and joy forever. So come see us here at Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers. We care about your feelings and that is our gift to you, one that few can

equal. Because we know the real value of jewelry, check out our website,

hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment. We have the stuff