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The Jewelry Trends Blog is
a resource for news, style tips, and facts about jewelry. |
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Entry for December 11, 2007 
On November 27, 2007, The New York Times published an article with the following byline: Tiffany and Co. is still waiting for a verdict in its lawsuit against eBay after a weeklong bench trial in which Tiffany's lawyers argued that eBay is a distribution network that allows counterfeit Tiffany items to be bought and sold.
I read this article with both a personal and professional interest. My personal interest stems from a devastating jewelry purchasing experience through Ebay in 2000, before I opened my own jewelry business. Indeed, it was this experience that inspired me to open my own online jewelry store. Here is my sad experience. When my husband asked me to marry him, we were just starting out, burdened by college debt, and unable to afford a diamond ring. After 10 years of marriage, we had saved $5000 to be used to purchase the diamond I had been dreaming of wearing. Wanting the most ‘bang for the buck’ I spent several months researching the four Cs of diamonds and the best places to purchase. A friend suggested looking on Ebay. So I did. I found what was represented to be a beautiful stone slightly over 1 carat for $5000. I bid on the item, but did not win the auction. Nobody won the auction, it had not met its reserve price. So I contacted the seller through Ebay and asked him what the reserve was. He told me it was $5000. I was delighted! It appeared that this supposedly beautiful diamond was meant for me. I felt protected because the seller indicated in the listing that he would provide a refund if the diamond does not appraise at least at the value paid and indicated grade. So I used PayPal to send our hard saved $5000 to the seller, and he sent me the diamond. It did not look right. I contacted the seller. He became belligerent. He refused to acknowledge anything was wrong with the diamond. So I took it to a local jewelry store who employed a GIA certified appraiser and I paid to have the diamond appraised. The official appraisal stated that the diamond was seriously flawed, rated I2, and worse had such bad cracks that if it was ever knocked it would probably break apart. Furthermore, it had been artificially enhanced, which was not indicated by the seller, and the value was only $1700. I sent this information to the seller, who denied it, and refused me a refund, then disconnected his phone. I contacted Ebay, and they refused to help because of the fact that the purchase was completed after the auction closed. I contacted PayPal and they refused to help because of the fact that the time it took to get the appraisal and try to work with the seller took just over 3 weeks, which is their deadline for making a claim. So I contacted the local police department, who told me that they could not get involved because it involved interstate commerce. I contacted the state attorney in Nevada (the seller resided in Las Vegas) and they told me that this case had no chance of ever being pursued because on a relative scale it was minor.
It took me about a year to recover from this experience both financially and personally. I began doing market research into online jewelry stores. I decided that I surely was not the only person who had a bad experience on Ebay or online jewelry purchases. I knew there would be an opportunity to create a reputable online jewelry store. In fact, Kay Jewelers had not even begun to sell online (they are now one of the top online jewelry sellers) and Tiffany had not even begun to sell diamond rings online (they only began in October 2005). The online jewelry market was young and there were still too many sharks in the waters who were hurting the online jewelry industry.
In December 2005, I launched my online jewelry store, with the guarantee of selling only top quality jewelry. I have enjoyed this business so much that I consider this fact alone to be the happing ending to my Ebay jewelry purchasing experience.
So, some words of advice. Online shopping can be fun and convenient, but be sure to conduct some basic research on the retailer. Look for a guarantee, and read the fine print about that guarantee, look for a Better Business Bureau Seal, and look for a Secure Site Verification seal to ensure that your credit card information is protected. Also, make sure that the online seller conspicuously displays its address, and Google-Earth that address to be sure that it is a valid address. Check to see if that address is a residential address or a commercial building (you can do this by going to Google Earth). Chances are that if an online retailer has a commercial facility, they have more invested in their business and they are more likely to be around longer than somebody who is just working out of their home. Finally, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
As for this court case, it took a large entity like Tiffany & Co to effectively address these issues with eBay. I await the verdict simply to see how the courts handle eBay’s “hands of” approach to sales.
Have a great day.
Entry for December 5, 2007 
On November 27, 2007, The New York Times published an article with the following byline: Tiffany and Co. is still waiting for a verdict in its lawsuit against eBay after a weeklong bench trial in which Tiffany's lawyers argued that eBay is a distribution network that allows counterfeit Tiffany items to be bought and sold.
I read this article with both a personal and professional interest. My personal interest stems from a devastating jewelry purchasing experience through Ebay in 2000, before I opened my own jewelry business. Indeed, it was this experience that inspired me to open my own online jewelry store. Here is my sad experience. When my husband asked me to marry him, we were just starting out, burdened by college debt, and unable to afford a diamond ring. After 10 years of marriage, we had saved $5000 to be used to purchase the diamond I had been dreaming of wearing. Wanting the most ‘bang for the buck’ I spent several months researching the four Cs of diamonds and the best places to purchase. A friend suggested looking on Ebay. So I did. I found what was represented to be a beautiful stone slightly over 1 carat for $5000. I bid on the item, but did not win the auction. Nobody won the auction, it had not met its reserve price. So I contacted the seller through Ebay and asked him what the reserve was. He told me it was $5000. I was delighted! It appeared that this supposedly beautiful diamond was meant for me. I felt protected because the seller indicated in the listing that he would provide a refund if the diamond does not appraise at least at the value paid and indicated grade. So I used PayPal to send our hard saved $5000 to the seller, and he sent me the diamond. It did not look right. I contacted the seller. He became belligerent. He refused to acknowledge anything was wrong with the diamond. So I took it to a local jewelry store who employed a GIA certified appraiser and I paid to have the diamond appraised. The official appraisal stated that the diamond was seriously flawed, rated I2, and worse had such bad cracks that if it was ever knocked it would probably break apart. Furthermore, it had been artificially enhanced, which was not indicated by the seller, and the value was only $1700. I sent this information to the seller, who denied it, and refused me a refund, then disconnected his phone. I contacted Ebay, and they refused to help because of the fact that the purchase was completed after the auction closed. I contacted PayPal and they refused to help because of the fact that the time it took to get the appraisal and try to work with the seller took just over 3 weeks, which is their deadline for making a claim. So I contacted the local police department, who told me that they could not get involved because it involved interstate commerce. I contacted the state attorney in Nevada (the seller resided in Las Vegas) and they told me that this case had no chance of ever being pursued because on a relative scale it was minor. I had been scammed.
It took me about a year to recover from this experience both financially and personally. I began doing market research into online jewelry stores. I decided that I surely was not the only person who had a bad experience on Ebay or online jewelry purchases. I knew there would be an opportunity to create a reputable online jewelry store. In fact, Kay Jewelers had not even begun to sell online (they are now one of the top online jewelry sellers) and Tiffany had not even begun to sell diamond rings online (they only began in October 2005). The online jewelry market was young and there were still too many sharks in the waters who were hurting the online jewelry industry.
In December 2005, I launched my online jewelry store, with the guarantee of selling only top quality jewelry. I have enjoyed this business so much that I consider this fact alone to be the happy ending to my sad Ebay jewelry purchasing experience.
So, some words of advice. Online shopping can be fun and convenient, but be sure to conduct some basic research on the retailer. Look for a guarantee, and read the fine print about that guarantee, look for a Better Business Bureau Seal, and look for a Secure Site Verification seal to ensure that your credit card information is protected. Also, make sure that the online seller conspicuously displays its address, and Google-Earth that address to be sure that it is a valid address. Check to see if that address is a residential address or a commercial building (you can do this by going to Google Earth). Chances are that if an online retailer has a commercial facility, they have more invested in their business and they are more likely to be around longer than somebody who is just working out of their home. Finally, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
As for this court case, it took a large entity like Tiffany & Co to effectively address these issues with eBay. I await the verdict simply to see how the courts handle eBay’s “hands of” approach to sales.
Have a great day.
Entry for December 5, 2007 
On November 27, 2007, The New York Times published an article with the following byline: Tiffany and Co. is still waiting for a verdict in its lawsuit against eBay after a weeklong bench trial in which Tiffany's lawyers argued that eBay is a distribution network that allows counterfeit Tiffany items to be bought and sold.
I read this article with both a personal and professional interest. My personal interest stems from a devastating jewelry purchasing experience through Ebay in 2000, before I opened my own jewelry business. Indeed, it was this experience that inspired me to open my own online jewelry store. Here is my sad experience. When my husband asked me to marry him, we were just starting out, burdened by college debt, and unable to afford a diamond ring. After 10 years of marriage, we had saved $5000 to be used to purchase the diamond I had been dreaming of wearing. Wanting the most ‘bang for the buck’ I spent several months researching the four Cs of diamonds and the best places to purchase. A friend suggested looking on Ebay. So I did. I found what was represented to be a beautiful stone slightly over 1 carat for $5000. I bid on the item, but did not win the auction. Nobody won the auction, it had not met its reserve price. So I contacted the seller through Ebay and asked him what the reserve was. He told me it was $5000. I was delighted! It appeared that this supposedly beautiful diamond was meant for me. I felt protected because the seller indicated in the listing that he would provide a refund if the diamond does not appraise at least at the value paid and indicated grade. So I used PayPal to send our hard saved $5000 to the seller, and he sent me the diamond. It did not look right. I contacted the seller. He became belligerent. He refused to acknowledge anything was wrong with the diamond. So I took it to a local jewelry store who employed a GIA certified appraiser and I paid to have the diamond appraised. The official appraisal stated that the diamond was seriously flawed, rated I2, and worse had such bad cracks that if it was ever knocked it would probably break apart. Furthermore, it had been artificially enhanced, which was not indicated by the seller, and the value was only $1700. I sent this information to the seller, who denied it, and refused me a refund, then disconnected his phone. I contacted Ebay, and they refused to help because of the fact that the purchase was completed after the auction closed. I contacted PayPal and they refused to help because of the fact that the time it took to get the appraisal and try to work with the seller took just over 3 weeks, which is their deadline for making a claim. So I contacted the local police department, who told me that they could not get involved because it involved interstate commerce. I contacted the state attorney in Nevada (the seller resided in Las Vegas) and they told me that this case had no chance of ever being pursued because on a relative scale it was minor. I had been scammed.
It took me about a year to recover from this experience both financially and personally. I began doing market research into online jewelry stores. I decided that I surely was not the only person who had a bad experience on Ebay or online jewelry purchases. I knew there would be an opportunity to create a reputable online jewelry store. In fact, Kay Jewelers had not even begun to sell online (they are now one of the top online jewelry sellers) and Tiffany had not even begun to sell diamond rings online (they only began in October 2005). The online jewelry market was young and there were still too many sharks in the waters who were hurting the online jewelry industry.
In December 2005, I launched my online jewelry store, with the guarantee of selling only top quality jewelry. I have enjoyed this business so much that I consider this fact alone to be the happy ending to my sad Ebay jewelry purchasing experience.
So, some words of advice. Online shopping can be fun and convenient, but be sure to conduct some basic research on the retailer. Look for a guarantee, and read the fine print about that guarantee, look for a Better Business Bureau Seal, and look for a Secure Site Verification seal to ensure that your credit card information is protected. Also, make sure that the online seller conspicuously displays its address, and Google-Earth that address to be sure that it is a valid address. Check to see if that address is a residential address or a commercial building (you can do this by going to Google Earth). Chances are that if an online retailer has a commercial facility, they have more invested in their business and they are more likely to be around longer than somebody who is just working out of their home. Finally, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
As for this court case, it took a large entity like Tiffany & Co to effectively address these accountability issues with eBay. I await the verdict simply to see how the courts handle eBay’s “hands of” approach to sales.
Have a great day.
Entry for November 6, 2007
Black Diamonds: Made from Stars "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, How I Wonder What You Are, Up Above The World So High, Like A Diamond In The Sky." The scientific name for Black Diamonds is Carbonado, from the Portuguese word for burned or carbonized. Black Diamonds were first discovered in Brazil in the 1800s and recently in Central Africa. There are several characteristics that separate black diamonds from other diamonds. These characteristics are 1) Unlike white diamonds, which are single crystals, Black Diamonds are a collection of individual crystals; 2) Black Diamonds have an internal strong luminescence caused by nitrogen that white diamonds do not have; 3) Black Diamonds are only found in two areas of the world, where as white diamonds are found all around the world, and 4) White diamonds have been discovered for thousands of years, and Black Diamonds were only discovered less than 200 years ago. These differences create an aura of mystery around Black Diamonds. Until recently, scientists have not understood how natural Black Diamonds were formed, but they have long understood how white diamonds are formed. In 1996, Geologist Stephen Haggerty of the University of Massachusettes stunned the audience at the American Geophysical Union meeting with the most probable origin of Black Diamonds. Black Diamonds were born in dying stars when carbon was crushed into dense clusters of black diamond and hurled into deep space. Eons later, the Sun’s gravity lured some of this material into our solar system, where blocks of it slammed into our atmosphere, shattering into the fragments that we have discovered in select areas today. (These areas, now known as Brazil and Central Aftrica were once one continent known as Pangaea, but are now separate continents. For this history, visit Pangaea). In fact, recent atomic measurements of Black Diamonds have placed their origins at nearly four billion years ago, a time when a constant barrage of giant meteors battered the Earth. Because of this, natural Black Diamonds are very rare and probably the oldest thing on earth that you can hold! But, wait…Diamonds forming in Outer Space? That Is Shocking. However, scientists have said for a while that the planets Uranus and Neptune may actually rain diamonds! How? Scientists have discovered that the gaseous atmosphere of these planets contains methane, a hydrocarbon. The planets have temperatures between 3,000 and 12,000 degrees Farenheit and pressure up to six million times the pressure of our atmosphere. This is an ideal condition for producing diamonds. So, why not just fly to outer space and collect a bunch of diamonds? Unfortunately, the possibility of harvesting diamonds on Uranus and Neptune is very remote, literally. These planets are roughly 1,700 and 2,720 million miles away from Earth, respectively, and the atmospheric pressure too strong to withstand. One final word on Black Diamonds: In this Blog Post, I am referring to Natural Black Diamonds. Please be aware that there also exists in the marketplace today Treated Black Diamonds. These are regular diamonds that have either been heat treated or irradiated to make them look black. So if you are shopping for a fine Black Diamond, be sure to shop at a reputable Jeweler and ask if it is a Natural Black Diamond or if it has been Treated.
Entry for October 29, 2007  Some Thoughts on Spiritual Jewelry:
One popular type of jewelry today is Tibetan Mala Jewelry. This jewelry is made with wooden beads from authentic large Tibetan Malas, which are sacred strands of 108 beads. This is the number of mantras and prayers that must be counted by Tibettan Buddhists when meditating. It is believed that the accumulated energy of each prayer is carried in each bead. Wooden malas are known for their calming and passifying ability.
Many stars and celebrities are now wearing Tibetan Mala Jewelry, such as Richard Gere in the above photo with the Dalai Lama. Tibetan Mala Jewelry can be paired beautifully with any other type of jewelry because of its simple elegance and natural elements. The Mala Jewelry line from The Royal Buddhas incorporates semi-precious stones, 14k gold and sterling silver in many of their pieces.
I have noticed an interesting trend regarding Mala Jewelry. I have seen Tibetan Mala Bracelets worn with a Sterling Silver Cross Necklace. The symbolism carried in this wonderful mixture of jewelry is an expression of a positive coexistence of many beliefs.
Which brings me to another thought only tangentally related to jewelry. While exploring other blogs today, I came across a website that attempts to sift through all of a person's beliefs and distill it down into a tidy category, if this is really possible: Belief-O-Matic.
So, how is this related to jewelry? I believe that the jewelry that we choose to wear is an expression of ourselves. Sometimes we wear jewelry that expresses our religious beliefs, sometimes we wear jewelry that expresses our interests or hobbies, such as in charm bracelets, many married people wear a ring that symbolizes their union, sometimes we wear jewelry that represents our birth month or astrolgical sign. However we choose to express ourselves through our choices in jewelry is dependent on knowing who we are. So if you are wondering where your religious beliefs lie, check out the Belief O'Matic website.
And if you are searching for some great spritual and fashionable jewelry, check out The Royal Buddhas.
Have a Great Day,
Holly Tracy
Entries: 1 - 5 of 15
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