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Interesting trip

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glitterata

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Today I returned the I1 I''d ordered last week from James Allen. I ended up not liking the look of the inclusions.

Instead of having me send it from New York to Maryland just to have them send it back up to New York again, Jim told me to take it directly to the wholesaler in the diamond district. A fascinating experience. They''re upstairs in one of the buildings on 47th St. To get in, I had to pass through a million metal detectors, surrender my ID, stick my finger in a machine that read my fingerprint, grin at a camera.

The elevator had one of those little TVs in it that you sometimes see nowadays. Usually they show headlines and weather, or ads. This one showed mug shots of men wanted for robbing diamond dealers.

Then when I got upstairs to their suite (and got buzzed through several hundred doors), the wholesaler was sitting with a colleage behind a big desk in a large, bright office with a big window, talking to a customer. They were discussing diamonds in the most casual way, and he (the wholesaler) was actually throwing them across the room at the customer! In their paper wrappers, but still--throwing them. "Here, take a look." And then he''d toss it.

And I haven''t heard so much Yiddish spoken since my Grandpa Joe, may he rest in peace, passed away in the 70s. And I''ve NEVER heard so much Yiddish spoken into cell phones.
 

FireGoddess

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Did you get any diamonds thrown your way?? Say, with more prominent inclusions to your liking??
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glitterata

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Alas, no. I''ll have to keep looking.

I didn''t get any decent photos of that one, either, unfortunately.

I loved the way the dealer looked at diamonds without a loupe, holding them about .1 mm away from his eyeball. He brought the tweezers up to his eye so fast and so close, I thought he was going to poke himself in the eye.
 

JulieN

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perhaps he was myopic
 

W2W

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glitterata,

Who was the wholesaler? Did you ask whether you could buy a stone from him directly?
 

Modified Brilliant

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Interesting to note that there''s no such thing as "wholesale to the public," yet a gazillion companies use the term.

Wholesalers sell to retailers. Here''s the definition from wikipedia.com.... Wholesaling consists of the sale of goods/merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services.

Not trying to be a wise guy
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and if I''m wrong about this....someone please correct me
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www.metrojewelryappraisers.com
 

Kaleigh

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Date: 3/22/2006 11:09:23 PM
Author: Modified Brilliant
Interesting to note that there''s no such thing as ''wholesale to the public,'' yet a gazillion companies use the term.

Wholesalers sell to retailers. Here''s the definition from wikipedia.com.... Wholesaling consists of the sale of goods/merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services.

Not trying to be a wise guy
4.gif
and if I''m wrong about this....someone please correct me
15.gif


www.metrojewelryappraisers.com
You''re not a wise guy, good post. Clears up a lot for those that don''t know.......
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BrownEyes

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I love to stop in the Diamond District whenever I''m in NYC, and I''ve had a near-similar experience to Glitterata ... (i.e., getting through the tight security, etc.)

I often remind myself that most of the Hassidic Jews walking along the street are diamond dealers, and they are probably carrying 100''s of thousands of dollars worth of valuable diamonds in their extra-deep pockets -- wrapped only in those paper wrappers!

Unreal!
 

Tool Guy

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Lots of funny stuff going on in the diamond business.
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glitterata

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No, I didn''t ask if he''d sell to me directly--I assumed he wouldn''t, since he''s a wholesaler, not a retailer. I didn''t want to insult him. He was doing me a favor by letting me return the diamond directly, saving several days of shipping back and forth before I could get my refund.

Anyway, if anybody accuses me of having committed a crime yesterday afternoon at 3:45, I have a rock-solid alibi. They even have my fingerprint on record.
 

Modified Brilliant

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Date: 3/23/2006 11:20:13 AM
Author: glitterata
No, I didn''t ask if he''d sell to me directly--I assumed he wouldn''t, since he''s a wholesaler, not a retailer. I didn''t want to insult him. He was doing me a favor by letting me return the diamond directly, saving several days of shipping back and forth before I could get my refund.

Anyway, if anybody accuses me of having committed a crime yesterday afternoon at 3:45, I have a rock-solid alibi. They even have my fingerprint on record.
Sounds like you both exercised sound judgement. It must have been a cool experience for you to experience first hand the inner workings of the diamond business in NYC. I''m still amazed everytime I walk down 47th street, what business deals must take place there everyday.

www.metrojewelryappraisers.com
 
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