In the Pink (Diamond, that is)

When J-Lo received a pink diamond engagement ring from Ben Affleck several years ago it stampeded thousands of young women into jewelry stores across the nation. They, naturally, wanted pink diamonds of their own. Sadly, this was not to be for all but a very few of them. Pink diamonds are so rare that the annual supply of pinks large enough to serve as an engagement ring center amounts, quite literally, into little more than a handful of gems. This rarity has made the recent discovery of a 12.76 carat light pink diamond (at Australia’s Argyle Mine) newsworthy. Josephine Johnson, speaking for the mine, observed that in 26 years of mining at Argyle this is far and away the largest pink to have been found. She went on to speculate that it seems unlikely, as the mine may be nearing the end of its life, that another such diamond would ever be found there. Then she outlined the diamond’s introduction to the world.

Until it’s cut, of course, it’s just a pretty and remarkable rock; so cutting will be the first task. Interestingly enough, as Rio Tinto, the firm owning the Argyle Mine, does not market its diamonds through DeBeers or any of the other major diamond marketing firms; it is to be cut in Australia, presumably by an Australian cutter. As it is an octahedral crystal (think of two four sided pyramids glued together base to base) the greatest brilliance would be achieved by cutting it into a round brilliant cut; but as it is quite large and has a rare color, other options may be explored.

Cutting it into a round brilliant would probably cost about half of the diamond’s weight; so Argyle and the cutter may agree to cut it to some other, less wasteful, shape. Then there is the question of the diamond’s color. Because it is their color that makes pink diamonds so rare, it is quite possible that, after studying the diamond, the cutter may elect to cut to a diamond shape that will show it off its color to the best advantage. So while the actual shape to which the diamond will be cut remains open to speculation, its immediate future does not.

After cutting, Rio Tinto intends to take the diamond they’ve named the “Argyle Pink Jubilee” on a world tour; but since the diamond is so rare, don’t expect to see it on public display. Rio Tinto will be looking for buyers who can spend at least $10 million for the gem; so the tour will, most likely, be limited to the home cities of ‘qualified’ buyers. These will surely include Hong Kong and New York; but it is quite likely that we won’t know what the ‘stops’ are until they’ve all been made. Then the gem will probably be sold at a very discrete auction; and its disposition after that will possibly be the concern of old men and young women.

That’s not to say that some old guy is likely to buy it and have it set in a piece of jewelry for a young woman - it could be a young guy who buys it. After all, thepink diamond Ben gave to J-Lo weighed in at 6.10 carats; and neither of them is ancient. On the other hand, there is also the collector market. In November of 2010, for example, Laurence Graff (now 73 years old, but sprightly) bought a 24.78 carat emerald cut ‘Fancy Intense Pink’ diamond for $45.6 million. The billionaire London jeweler named it the ‘Graff Pink’ and exclaimed that it was the ‘most fabulous diamond’ he’d ever seen. That’s quite a comment coming from the guy who had purchased the 35.56 carat Wittelsbach Diamond (a gray-blue gem) only two years previously. He’d not been completely satisfied with the color of that historic diamond (once part of the Bavarian Crown Jewels); so he’d had it recut to enhance its color. The re-cut was successful and now his diamond is as blue as the Hope Diamond; and though it had lost 5 carats in weight, its rarity had probably been enhanced. In fact, however, the collector market and romance are not mutually exclusive.

In July, 2009, Mr. Graff (then only 70) fathered a ‘love child’ by a 37 year old jeweler in his employ. Apparently the affair had gone on for nine years; and while Laurence’s wife, Anne Marie, had tolerated it, Josephine’s pregnancy had brought the Graffs to the brink of a divorce that would have cost Laurence a bit more than $1 billion dollars. The couple reconciled, however; so who says ‘money can’t buy me love’? As for Josephine, Laurence, proud of his fertility, plans to take care of both her and their daughter. I don’t know if this could include a pink diamond ring, but I wouldn’t count the possibility out.

When he was writing the Broadway musical ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’, Jule Stein penned a tune few of today’s young women know, ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’. A somewhat satyric lyric accompanied the melody; but in the show love was triumphant - thus underscoring the fact that a beautiful diamond is a great way to say, “I love you.” Here at Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers we can help you say ‘I love you’ perfectly with one of our gorgeous diamonds. We hand select them for their beauty; so we’re proud of them and when you buy one you will be too. Our prices are ‘market’ and our jewelry is superb; so check us out on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment to select the gift of a lifetime.

MOVIE BUFFS ONLY

Name your choices for the Oscar 2012 Academy Awards in each of the following five categories:
1. Best Movie
2. Best Actor
3. Best Actress
4. Best Supporting Actor
5. Best Supporting Actress
Email them to hurstsjewelers@yahoo.com before Midnight February 24th 2012.
If you successfully name all five Oscar winners, we’ll send you a gift certificate for $100 applicable against a purchase of $300 or more.
Happy movie going! Don’t forget to look out for the jewelry on the red carpet!

Bling's the Thing

Bling’s the Thing

One’s formative years are exactly that, years that shape you.  With that as a given, I must confess that my formative years in the jewelry business (more than 55 years ago!) were colored by a certain contempt for costume jewelry.  It was gold plated stuff that, at cost, sold at prices like ‘$13.75/dozen’; that is, each piece cost just a bit more than a dollar.  My boss hoped to sell half of it at his regular retail mark-up for such merchandise and then close out the balance for half or less of the retail price.  Anything that survived the sale would be, quite literally, scrapped.  Given the fact that I was being paid fifty cents an hour, the idea of throwing away stuff he’d paid good money for horrified me; yet I could see the sense to it.  It was, after all, often referred to in the trade as ‘junk jewelry’, stuff that could easily be discarded.  It is equally understandable, however, that as I grew into ownership I would avoid being involved in jewelry of such dubious value.  Give me gold, silver, platinum and real gems; that’s the stuff!  So you can imagine my puzzlement when I learned that there are people who collect and value jewelry that I had participated in throwing away half a century ago.

I was, for example, stunned to learn that there was a market for the bakelite jewelry manufactured during World War II.  The boss of my youth had held on to some of it for eight years after the war’s end, frugal Czech that he was; but even he reached the point where he scratched his head and could see no reason to save it from the trash can.  It had no intrinsic value and no one wanted to buy it; why give it valuable space?  Yet today, I’m told, a very tall former governor of Illinois collects the stuff and will pay a pretty penny for some of it.  Who knew?  Then there are the gold plated cuff links we had in for a recent estate sale.  Fifty years ago I bought a pair like it in a men’s store (and better looking, I think) for $5.00.  I still have them and I would have to say that they are valueless.  The pair that arrived for our estate show, however, had belonged to Bob Hope; and apparently his fame had rubbed off on them to the tune of a couple of hundred dollars.  I scratched my head in bewilderment at that.  Certainly, their perceived value would dissipate as the late Mr. Hope became just a faint whisper in history; but perhaps therein lie the tales that impel people to collect.  It’s romance.  I will guess that somehow bakelite jewelry has some emotional meaning to those who collect it (association with what is perceived as an heroic age in our history?); while Bob Hope’s jewelry may have nostalgic significance for those who value it.  At any rate, I’ve been drawn up short, again, on the subject of costume jewelry.

It seems that a London auction house, Drewatts, on October 10, 2011, sold a large collection of the late Duchess of Windsor’s costume jewelry.  While the Duchess had a large collection of ‘real’ jewelry, the Financial Times recently quoted her as saying (in 1937, the year following her failure to make the cut as next queen of England), “I hate to admit it, but I am absolutely fascinated by fake jewellery at the moment; I think it is so good.”  The pieces sold at auction included a ‘body-sculpture’ necklace of truly regal proportions; that is, a faux Middle-Eastern style necklace that, as it extends from neck to navel, is nearly a garment.  I can’t say what it must have cost in 1937 nor what its value as a new piece of jewelry might be today; but Drewatts sold it off for close to $5,000 at auction.  I’m mind blown; but James Nicholson, Drewatts, authority on jewelry, observed that “Royal memorabilia is in a different category.  It’s the association with a woman known for her style and her jewellery.”  “Anything to do with the duke and the duchess will help”  (make a sale), Nicholson observed, “Magical names bring people out.”   I’m sure he’s right; but as for me, I’m still skeptical about the real value of anything that’s not ‘real’.

Of course, my prejudices reflect itself in our jewelry.  I just can’t see jewelry that is the first thing to turn green in the spring; so ours is real gold, real platinum and real silver.  Our gems are both real and gorgeous; and we pride ourselves, in particular, on our diamonds, which we hand selected for their beauty - very real and lasting ‘bling.’  Our diamond prices are ‘market’ (just like lobster) so we’re quite competitive.  And of course, we do our very best to tightly control the quality of all that we offer since we believe that, with the careful wear a piece of fine jewelry deserves, our goods should be able to last you for the rest of your life.  Check out our jewelry collection on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com; then phone us for an appointment to select your perfect piece of jewelry.  We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers; and our greatest pleasure is fulfilling your dreams.  Oh!  When you come, bring your sunglasses.  Some people find looking at real ‘bling’ hard on their eyes. 

HOW TO BUY A MEDIOCRE DIAMOND

One night a guy strolled into our store a little before closing time, shoved a ring at

me and asked, “Is it a real diamond?” The ring looked as if it had been crafted in

the Alabama Home for the Terminally Inept and the gem in its center, I swear,

looked frosted. “I’ll have to run a couple of tests,” I said; then I checked its thermal

conductivity and refractivity. By golly, it was a diamond; so I pronounced it as

such. My inquisitor came to bat again, “How big is it?” I took a few measurements

and made a couple of calculations. “It’s about a carat,” I replied. “What do

you think of it?” he asked. “You don’t want to know,” I replied. “No, really, what

do you think of it?” he insisted. “You really don’t want to know,” I demurred. He

relentlessly insisted, “Yes, I do.” Compelled to an honest evaluation, I said, “It’s

the ugliest diamond I’ve ever seen.” Somewhat miffed at my candor, he stalked

out with a parting shot, “Well, I only paid $2900 for it!” His rudeness aside, I

could not help but wonder why he had bought it. If, however, you think he had

been ‘pretty cool’ in his diamond purchase, I have formulated the following rules

to aid you in emulating his success.

The first rule in “how to buy a mediocre diamond” is to never look at one. Buy

one over the internet on the basis of a ‘cert‘ - a laboratory grading report. If you

think yourself to be a serious diamond buyer, you’ll know that not all certs are

created equally; the worst are inflated sales aids. Diamond experts, however, also

know that even the best ‘cert’ won’t tell you everything about a diamond’s appearance.

Were you to look at diamonds, you might gather some ideas and form an

opinion about the components of diamond beauty. Then, goodness knows, were

you to exclusively restrict your choices to beautiful diamonds, you’d have far, far

fewer to chose from; and each would cost more than the ‘bargain‘ at the bottom of

the barrel.

Our second rule for buying a mediocre diamond is to consider diamond weight

exclusively in your purchase (diamonds are weighed in carats - a carat is .2 of a

gram). Pay no attention to the fact that the distribution of a diamonds weight has a

huge affect on a its appearance (If you think a 5 foot tall,100 pound woman looks

no more healthy than a 6 foot tall 100 pound man this will come to you naturally).

Ignoring a diamond’s proportions will guarantee that you will buy your “carats”

cheaply. They might be homely, and they may not look their weight, but they’ll be

cheap.

Our third rule for buying a mediocre diamond is to fixate on color, clarity and

price. Pay no attention to the fact that color and clarity were innate in the diamond

while it lay in the ground, just buy the color and clarity you want at the lowest possible

price. I suggest you buy an uncut diamond. It’ll look like a piece of wax, but

you will have successfully purchased your desired color and clarity at the lowest

possible price. Indeed, you will have also maximized the weight you will have

purchased at that price.

To understand the last rule, let’s go back to the fellow at the beginning of our story

and his diamond. We’ll clear up the mystery of its polish (its frosted appearance)

and that will take us to the fourth rule for buying a mediocre diamond. Polish is

one of the important elements in a diamond’s beauty; so I couldn’t get the ugly

gem’s appearance out of my head. A few months later I was talking to Hearts On

Fire diamond cutter Brian McCardy; and I had to ask him about that frosted finish.

“That’s easy,” he replied. “It had been burnt, exposed to high heat for a long time,

probably in a crematorium.” When he said that, everything fell into place. The

odds were very good that it had been stolen from someone’s ashes. Of course the

guy wouldn’t be sure if it was a diamond, he’d bought “a good deal” but very

probably not through a regular retail jeweler who had a reputation to maintain.

So there it is; if you really want to buy a mediocre diamond, you must never look

at real diamonds, just buy a piece of paper. Then as you shop, shop for the absolute

lowest price for a given weight, color and clarity. Ignore cut; and finally, pay

no attention to the person you will buy it from - in fact, the shadier his personality,

the better. If, on the other hand, you want a beautiful diamond, you need look no

farther than Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers.

Each of our diamonds is hand selected for

extraordinary appearance. That means that when we turn out the lights at our diamond

counter (try asking any other jeweler to do that) the diamond must still look

brilliant. It’s up to you, beauty - at competitive prices - or a diamond that will dog

you with its mediocre appearance forever. If you’re serious, phone us at

708.788.0880 for an appointment to buy the very best in diamond beauty.