Are you a wearer or a collector?

[Dreamer_D]

Gypsy made this distinction somewhere and I thought it was a really good one. She did not elaborate, but in my mind the difference looks like this:

Wearers like to wear their jewels, and might tend to reset a single diamond, or change their ring a lot, but want only a few pieces that they can really *wear* all the time. They don't like having jewelry sit in the jewelry box unworn, and might sell pieces that don't get worn and enjoyed.

Collectors... well... collect! They like to have many pieces and will not part with their jewels unless absolutely forced to. The more the merrier in their jewelry box, it does not matter how often a piece is worn, it will always have a place in the collection!

So which one are you?

 

[Dee*Jay]

What's it called when you only have a few pieces but you still never get around to wearing them, LOL?!?

LOVE LOVE LOVE that you are giving Gypsy's beautiful band a new home BTW! Can't wait for pics!

 

[decodelighted]

What's it called when you only have a few pieces but you still never get around to wearing them, LOL?!?

Ha! Exactly. Which would you be if you wear the same thing everyday for a year & then switch to something new for another year? I'm that way with necklaces & watches & earrings I guess. But my e-ring & band are the same they've always been. And I wear them everyday all day.

I guess I collect though - because I don't sell off last year's stuff. I buy so few things that I really like what I have & would be sad to part with any of it. Have been thinking of giving a couple 80's yellow gold pieces to my sisters who look good in yellow gold. (I don't!) OH GAWD. Forget collector, I'm a HOARDER.

 

[Gypsy]

What's it called when you only have a few pieces but you still never get around to wearing them, LOL?!?

That's easy... it's called Dee Jay!

HI babe, how are you?

I'm definitely a wearer, I've discovered. It's not that I don't WANT to collect. It's just that seeing pieces sitting and collecting dust pains me and makes me twitchy with the need to DO something with them.

 

[kenny]

I have more loose stones than set ones, so I guess that makes me more of a collector.

It doesn't bug me to have loose stones.
Loose ones are much more fun to photograph.

 

[Gypsy]

Trust me kenny. If you had my sad lack of skill (and absolutely NO talent in that area at all) you wouldn't find photographing them anything but torture. LOL. I'm happy your two passions compliment each other so well though.

 

[mayerling]

Wearer. I really don't have enough pieces yet to even fathom being a collector.

 

[ksinger]

Both? I have 9 rings, and I love and wear all of them. ALL THE TIME ON EVERY FINGER!! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

OK..just kidding on the last. But I do wear all of them, they get changed up daily. (Choosing my jewelry for the day is part of the morning routine) Same with my nicer earrings and my pearl sets. And I balk at the idea of getting rid of any of them, at least at this time.

 

[rosetta]

Collector. Since I accumulated loads of jewellery for my wedding.

I wear my rings, pendant and earrings everyday. These are the only things that I will ever upgrade. And by upgrade, I mean buy another bigger version and not sell the ones I have.

Yeah, I'm a collector alright

My kids (should they ever exist) are so lucky, they will inherit a serious haul. Hope they are natural born PSers!

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I'm both - I wear all of them. I've only traded 2 things over the years.

 

[iheartscience]

A little bit of both? Probably mostly collector, although I've been better about mixing it up more lately.

 

[Deia]

I have more loose stones than set ones, so I guess that makes me more of a collector.

It doesn't bug me to have loose stones.
Loose ones are much more fun to photograph.

+1

 

[kelpie]

I started out a third category....a schizophrenic dabbler. I bought a ton of things many of which didn't get worn , many of which I promptly resold in a few weeks. The jewelry I've always regretted the most was stuff I've done with stock settings (except my studs which singlestone hand applied milgrain on to save me money by allowing me to go stock). This was a journey to discover my tastes. Now that my tastes are more developed I'm divesting all the remaining randomness so I can invest in fewer signature custom pieces that are exactly what I know I like. Now that I'm building that collection I wouldn't part with any of those pieces as I consider their selection process very special and plan to hand them to my nieces and potential offspring someday.

 

[tyty333]

I would like to be a collector but the wallet says "No way" so I guess that makes me a wearer!

 

[JuneRose]

I would like to be a collector but the wallet says "No way" so I guess that makes me a wearer!

Ha yes that's exactly what I was going to say! I have the personality of a collector but the wallet-capacity of a wearer!

 

[Kismet]

Both I guess. I have a lot of jewelry but it all gets worn

 

[centralsquare]

Definitely a wearer but I don't have too much to be a collector

 

[Bella_mezzo]

definitely a wearer

 

[Amys Bling]

at this point in time, I'm a wearer- my budget and collection are small so everything gets worn. If I had a nice big bling budget I might turn into a wearer/collector and have RHR and earrings in different styles and rotate them in and out of the spotlight.

 

[Circe]

I'm a collector who tries to wear as much of it as possible. The sharp irony is that the costume stuff gets worn more than the real stuff, because if I want to rotate that, it means regular trips to the safety-deposit box, which is kind of a pain in the neck.

I do think this might be the point where I start down-sizing and ... refining my collection, for lack of a better term: a lot of the pieces I've received over the years have never made it into rotation, simply because they're not even a little "me." But the stuff I find myself? Bet your sweet bippy that's going to get worn, even if it means I wind up looking like a Christmas tree!

 

[jewelerman]

im both.got my first silver and turquoise ring at age 7 and still have and wear it ,but it is fine with me that its rarely worn...i know its there and that makes me feel good. there are pieces that will never get worn again and im okay with knowing that they will be taken out once in a while to be enjoyed and cleaned or shown to a relative or friend.i have had to sell many pieces and that's okay also.i have owned pieces that i knew that i would never wear,but wanted to enjoy through ownership.I know it would be a real blow to loose any major piece that has personal significance.I got into the jewelry trade at 12 and never thought that i would do anything else but that until 2003 when i went back to college.Since im only working with a few jewelry clients the last few years, and out of main stream retail ,then my focus is on other things rather then collecting.I don't dress up much right now so the flashier pieces sit in a bank box.

 

[Laila619]

Probably a collector, but I'm trying to become more of a wearer and get rid of things that I don't use.

 

[Haven]

This is a really interesting thread.

I'm a wearer. The only diamonds I own are the ones in my set, plus one ring that I inherited from my grandmother. I wear all of these pieces regularly. Any additional jewelry that I have is all costume jewelry, and if I don't wear a piece for a while, I give it away.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I am a wearer. My mom gave me a TON of jewelry and I sold a lot of it (mostly all gold) and only kept what I would wear and/or a kept a few unique pieces, but those sit in my safe deposit box.

I had two diamond pendants and sold one b/c I didn't really wear either enough to justify keeping both. The one I kept holds the diamond from my mom's eng. ring and I wear that probably once a month.

If I could sell off everything except the 10 (or less) pieces I regularily wear for a decent price, I would. Actually...I plan to sell off more to fund a project I will wear.

Oh, and I have TONS of loose colored stones. At the time, I planned to collect more, but now they sit in their baggies. lol (eta - I would sell them if I thought they'd be worth anything - chances are, they're not!)

 

[lyra]

I'd like to be a small time collector but I am fiscally responsible to the point that I talk myself out of virtually everything I think I want. I enjoy the "hunt", if there is one, to a great extent and will wear a piece for years once it is "acquired". I like a little variety in metals too. When it comes right down to it though, I can go for days and days on end wearing only my 5 stone RH ring and my etoile type wedding set because I don't take them off at all. So I'm a wearer who only daydreams of being a collector.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I'd like to be a small time collector but I am fiscally responsible to the point that I talk myself out of virtually everything I think I want. I enjoy the "hunt", if there is one, to a great extent and will wear a piece for years once it is "acquired". I like a little variety in metals too. When it comes right down to it though, I can go for days and days on end wearing only my 5 stone RH ring and my etoile type wedding set because I don't take them off at all. So I'm a wearer who only daydreams of being a collector.

This is pretty much me too. I daydream of winning the lotto and going wild and purchasing every bauble in Tiffany's but then I doubt I'd wear any of it b/c I'm into a simple look. Plus, we'd have to hide all our $$$ so relatives wouldn't come pounding on our doors fighting over the aquamarine/diamond pendant I've wanted for ages (not sure if it's still available).

 

[junebug17]

I think I'm more of a wearer. I have a small jewelry budget so I really can't afford to spend money on items I'm not going to wear that much. And I'm really cheap to boot In fact, one of the questions I ask myself when I purchase something is "how often am I really going to wear this ? ". So I tend to put my money towards classic, fairly simple pieces that I can easily mix and match, and that I really love.

I do find that over time I get bored wearing the same pieces, so once in a while I do like to get something to change things up a bit, but I really try to choose wisely and make sure it's something I'm really going to wear.

I have a .75 oec pendant, and don't wear it that much. I can't figure out why, it's so pretty. I think part of it is I wear diamond studs everyday, and I feel like it's a bit too "matchy". I've been thinking about resetting it into a ring so I can enjoy the beauty of the stone and start wearing it more! It's too pretty to be sitting in my jewelry box.

 

[Lottie]

I am definately a wearer, When my children are older, and my house needs less plastering/tiling/carpeting/walls knocking down/extentions/EVERYTHING! then I would like to answer that question again

 

[yssie]

I think I'm a wearer in intention and motivation, and a collector in practice.

 

[Bliss]

I'm a wearer, though my diamond earring collection is growing so now I'm turning into a collector. I justify it by telling myself that I'll give a pair to my daughter on every significant milestone of her life. That's what I tell DH because he thinks everything I buy for our baby girl is A-OK! But all kidding aside, it does pain me to have pieces sit unloved in my jewelry box. So I try to buy staple pieces that are part of my signature look. I'm pretty much always wearing diamond studs, simple diamond dangles, sapphire/diamond earrings or big blingy diamond hoops. Phew. As for necklaces, my Tiff DBTY solitaire sits unloved because I'm always rockin' the WF DBTY. Yekutiel recently made the bale of my diamond cross pendant bigger so I can wear them together. I also try to buy my pieces platinum so I can wear my jewelry to the gym, in the shower, in the pool and etc. I don't like high maintenance pieces because they give me stress!