Fun with jewelers
So I have these two rings that I never wear anymore. One is a huge peridot (my birthstone) that Mom got me for my birthday a few years ago. The other is the diamond that was my great-grandmother's engagement ring, then later it was my mom's engagement ring. Two years ago Mom bought herself this big ol' honking ring, and I got the old one for my 25th birthday. Now that I have an engagement ring of my own, and another ring from Bren that I wear on my right hand, these two just don't get worn.
I decided to go to Helzberg for their "Designer Restyle Event" yesterday. I was excited...I've been talking about making these two rings into necklaces for a while, and Helzberg had a necklace in their ad a month or so ago that I just loved. I didn't expect them to have that exact pendant available in the restyle, but I hoped they'd have something comparable. Something simple, elegant, me.
They had three cases of ring settings and loose stones to choose from. They had a grand total of 12 pendants. So I was being "helped" by the guest designer guy (GDG), and a Helzberg employee who we'll call Miss 1-900.
I show them the rings. Miss 1-900 gushes, "Ohhhh, that peridoooot is sooooo gorgeoooooous. And that's suuuuuch a uniiiiique cuuuuut." I refrain from rolling my eyes as GDG pulls a huge, gaudy pendant from the case. "You could put the peridot at the bottom here, and the diamond above it here." Miss 1-900: "Ohhhh, that would look sooooo niiiiiice." I replied that I really wasn't planning on having them put into the same piece (they're shaped too differently to complement each other, IMO), and I also wasn't prepared to spend $650 (!!!) on having this done. (I was shocked...you can buy a necklace with the stone, chain, everything for half that!) And I really do prefer more simple pieces, so do you have anything like that?
GDG pulls out a tiny little pendant - it consisted of nothing more than a loop at the top for the chain to go through, and a tiny, tiny diamond at the base. He explained that they would attach the peridot to a head and attach it below the diamond. The cost for this puny bit of nothingness? $999. Nine hundred ninety-fucking-nine dollars.
It took everything I had for my jaw to not drop through the case. Bren and I paid less than $999 for all of our wedding rings - my two 14kw bands, his 14kw band, and my 14kw engagement ring with a third carat GIA certified diamond. What in dog's name makes these people think that their pendant was worth more than all that? I smiled and politely told them that it really wasn't what I had in mind, and I just wasn't prepared to spend that kind of money. Miss 1-900 points out their financing options, to which I replied I would be shocked if I were approved. "You never know till you try, right?" "Um...no, I know. Trust me."
I finally had to tell them I'd have to think about it, and if nothing else I'd just return today if I decided I wanted one of their pendants. I left them dumbfounded as I walked out of the store.
On a whim, I decided to go to this tiny little jewelry repair place at the other end of the mall, called Touch of Class. I told the lady what I was looking for, and she pulls out this catalog that makes the JCPenney catalog look like a magazine. There were easily 100 pages worth of pendants to choose from. I started flipping through and found the cutest thing in no time at all. It's got the V-shaped loop at the top for the chain to go through, and two horizontal bars that the diamond sits between. These sensible people even price according to the size of the stone (and therefore the amount of gold required) and so the pricing was quite fair. The pendant I liked for the diamond? $49. Oh, sure, then you have to pay a mounting fee ($30) and S&H ($5). Still, the grand total when it was all said and done was just over $88. I didn't have the money to order the peridot at the same time (it's probably going to be just under $200), but even once that's done, the two together, plus the chains I'll have to buy, will still have cost a fraction of what Helzberg wanted. Clearly Helzberg is quite proud of their designer...it's just too bad I don't agree. :)
In other news, this might just be the cutest teddy bear evAr.
I decided to go to Helzberg for their "Designer Restyle Event" yesterday. I was excited...I've been talking about making these two rings into necklaces for a while, and Helzberg had a necklace in their ad a month or so ago that I just loved. I didn't expect them to have that exact pendant available in the restyle, but I hoped they'd have something comparable. Something simple, elegant, me.
They had three cases of ring settings and loose stones to choose from. They had a grand total of 12 pendants. So I was being "helped" by the guest designer guy (GDG), and a Helzberg employee who we'll call Miss 1-900.
I show them the rings. Miss 1-900 gushes, "Ohhhh, that peridoooot is sooooo gorgeoooooous. And that's suuuuuch a uniiiiique cuuuuut." I refrain from rolling my eyes as GDG pulls a huge, gaudy pendant from the case. "You could put the peridot at the bottom here, and the diamond above it here." Miss 1-900: "Ohhhh, that would look sooooo niiiiiice." I replied that I really wasn't planning on having them put into the same piece (they're shaped too differently to complement each other, IMO), and I also wasn't prepared to spend $650 (!!!) on having this done. (I was shocked...you can buy a necklace with the stone, chain, everything for half that!) And I really do prefer more simple pieces, so do you have anything like that?
GDG pulls out a tiny little pendant - it consisted of nothing more than a loop at the top for the chain to go through, and a tiny, tiny diamond at the base. He explained that they would attach the peridot to a head and attach it below the diamond. The cost for this puny bit of nothingness? $999. Nine hundred ninety-fucking-nine dollars.
It took everything I had for my jaw to not drop through the case. Bren and I paid less than $999 for all of our wedding rings - my two 14kw bands, his 14kw band, and my 14kw engagement ring with a third carat GIA certified diamond. What in dog's name makes these people think that their pendant was worth more than all that? I smiled and politely told them that it really wasn't what I had in mind, and I just wasn't prepared to spend that kind of money. Miss 1-900 points out their financing options, to which I replied I would be shocked if I were approved. "You never know till you try, right?" "Um...no, I know. Trust me."
I finally had to tell them I'd have to think about it, and if nothing else I'd just return today if I decided I wanted one of their pendants. I left them dumbfounded as I walked out of the store.
On a whim, I decided to go to this tiny little jewelry repair place at the other end of the mall, called Touch of Class. I told the lady what I was looking for, and she pulls out this catalog that makes the JCPenney catalog look like a magazine. There were easily 100 pages worth of pendants to choose from. I started flipping through and found the cutest thing in no time at all. It's got the V-shaped loop at the top for the chain to go through, and two horizontal bars that the diamond sits between. These sensible people even price according to the size of the stone (and therefore the amount of gold required) and so the pricing was quite fair. The pendant I liked for the diamond? $49. Oh, sure, then you have to pay a mounting fee ($30) and S&H ($5). Still, the grand total when it was all said and done was just over $88. I didn't have the money to order the peridot at the same time (it's probably going to be just under $200), but even once that's done, the two together, plus the chains I'll have to buy, will still have cost a fraction of what Helzberg wanted. Clearly Helzberg is quite proud of their designer...it's just too bad I don't agree. :)
In other news, this might just be the cutest teddy bear evAr.