Calling collectors! What have you learned over the years?

[pearaffair]

Wink,
Go ahead and post your personal collection.

If another trade member wishes to post there personal collection, I give permission to do it here on this thread. It has to be a personal collection and not roaming pieces.

Thanks, admin!

Wink, I look forward to your beautiful story now having some pictures to go with the words! Perhaps it will inspire me to post some pictures from my own bling-collecting journey... although it is just beginning!

 

[MissGotRocks]

I don't really consider myself a 'collector'. I buy what I wear and don't really have multiples of anything except bracelets. I try to buy great quality pieces that are mounted simply so they are very wearable without having to be babied. I clean all of my diamond jewelry every day to keep it pretty and sparkly! I have looked at so many beautiful pieces of jewelry here on PS through the years but have learned to not leap before I look and THINK. What looks good on others doesn't necessarily look good on me or work for me. It would be so easy to be swayed by the newest and latest gorgeous ring or whatever I see here but that's when clicking off with the mouse works for me. I tend to overthink things anyway so by the time I have analyzed it eight ways til Sunday there is yet another beautiful thing to see! Buying and selling can be very expensive and usually involves a loss of funds somewhere along the line so I try to be very careful about what I buy.

 

[marcy]

Fun stories.

I have always loved jewelry but discovered fine jewelry in college when I had friends would loaned me some rings to wear. After college graduation I bought myself a small emerald ring that I actually still wear (now modified with a diamond added to it to increase it's overall size) I bought some rings and earrings here and there but about 20 years ago I decided I wanted a nice sapphire. The mall jewelers had the dark, navy sapphires that barely had a spark so we went to the nearest large city and I found my first gorgeous sapphire. It was a 1/2 carat oval, a nice royal blue that IMO glowed. My jewelry collection was born.

I started buying inexpensive (and yes cheap) stuff online for quantity but I soon found I only wore things that I really liked and they were always my nicer pieces. Many of those pieces sold quickly and easily to ladies at work or school the money of which went in to my next piece of jewelry. I was in my collect as much as possible phase and always had to had rings, earrings, bracelets and pendants to match. I have many pieces I don't wear because they just aren't that nice, they aren't my style and were definitely impulse purchases.

My original ering was picked out by my DH with a center diamond of .15 ct with 2 little diamond accents. The band had what I called "kinhard" diamonds - ones you can hardly see. We eventually got me a 1/3 ctw channel set band to wear with my ering and I wore that for 16 years.

For our 16th anniversary my DH and I decided to get new wedding rings. He got this really cool tri gold band with different rows that spin. I got a 1/2 carat E AGS0 and set it in a matching PC wedding set. I had read about the ideal cut diamonds and actually found PS because I was disappointed how dark the diamond went in sunlight. I was sure I was "robbed" and didn't get the best diamond.

After becoming a regular on PS I definitely became influenced by the bigger, better and fancier bling we see on here. I edged up to a .75 ct center diamond, then a 1 carat and now I have a 1.5 carat ering. I generally like plain, simpler jewelry but my RHR rings are becoming more vintage and antique looking. I know the size of stones I like on me are small by PS standards but that is the size I like on me.

Now I gravitate towards my favorite pieces and ignore the rest of it. I have 4 wedding bands that I swap out about a week at a time. I have about 5 RHR that get a lot of attention with about 5 additional RHR that I get out once a month of so. I basically wear my studs 90% of time. I only wear one pendant anymore and usually just wear one of my bracelets.

I guess I doubt many of us are lucky enough to find the pieces we truly love and cherish on our first attempts. Avoid impulse buys, don't get what everyone has - but stick with what appeals to you. Over time your tastes will probably change. On loose gems and diamonds I would definitely patronize places that give you full credit of your purchase price if you ever want to upgrade. My current EC RHR is my 4th EC; I worked my way up until I found one I love enough I doubt I'd upgrade it and I always had a nice down payment on a bigger diamond. Another lesson I've learned - going custom is like gambling - only spend what you are willing to lose. You may walk away a winner or you may not. I honestly enjoy the fun and excitement of picking out or finding the next piece of jewelry often more than the end result. That probably contributed to those pieces I Just had to have but I don't wear them anymore.

Happy Collecting!
Marcy

 

[WinkHPD]

Wink,
Go ahead and post your personal collection.

If another trade member wishes to post their personal collection, I give permission to do it here on this thread. It has to be a personal collection and not roaming pieces.

Thank you Andrey. I really appreciate this. I will get some of Resa's jewelry out of the safe tomorrow and take some new photos.

It is always so much fun to get her finer gems out of the safe and see them again. It is a lot like having really welcome guests come and stay for the afternoon. In a perfect world she could wear them all and grow new arms and fingers as needed.

I think I will shoot three pieces, her yellow diamond, her wonderful aquamarine and her amethyst with emerald melee halo pendant. It will be a fun photo shoot!

I hope some of the other trade members will come and play too.

Just for fun, here is a picture taken the last time I was in Paul's office in Antwerp.




Wink

P.S. The picture shows when I load it, but is gone when I post it. No one wants to look at me anyway. Real pictures tomorrow...

 

[anne_h]

Here's what I always tell people who ask for my jewelry advice: Educate yourself then buy what you love.

IMO, the value is in the enjoyment. Buy what speaks to you!

Anne

 

[diamondseeker2006]

My biggest piece of advice is to save and buy quality fine jewelry pieces only. I learned that the hard way when I was younger, but I really didn't get much jewelry during the years we had younger children (but I loved jewelry from childhood). Pricescope was the gateway drug to fuel my passion for quality diamonds and fine jewelry, and of course, the internet gives one access to knowledge and unlimited diamonds and jewels! A side note to my best advice is to buy diamonds that can be upgraded with no restrictions. That way you can enjoy high quality and stay in budget with the ability to go larger later on.

I really wear my staple pieces 95% of the time (wedding set, diamond cross pendant, studs or hoops, and watch), so most things I have do not get worn often. However, I keep the things I love and will give them to my daughters over time. I do love having a custom project going, even though I absolutely do not need another single thing.

I will say this in agreement with a couple of others...I love VCA jewelry and it is what I'd love to collect if I were very wealthy. I hope to have a few more Alhambra pieces because I think they are the most wearable as they work with dressy or casual...and I am casual 95% of the time! Their higher end pieces I will just admire as I do great art in a museum. I think their designs are very beautiful.

 

[LLJsmom]

You've made several very excellent points, LLJsmom. Soooo many years down the line and I still haven't dressed Holly properly. I keep thinking maybe she needs to grow a little, but maybe it's a matter of the right costume (?). The current plain setting is a bit too boring for me; and as beautiful as Holly is, I'm just not drawn to her enough to give her the frequent wear and thus the love she deserves. Which is exactly why I love VCA sooo much. I love love love my Perlee clover bangle, the attention to the detail, the artistry aspect of this VCA piece makes it sooo attractive IMO. Even more so for my Lotus ring - it's absolutely mesmerising!! My Lotus ring is my most favourite pieces of bling, bar none - for now anyway, hehe. VCA carries sooo many beautiful pieces, inclg the stone pieces which I wouldn't wear personally (bc they're not my style), but regardless they're still breathtakingly beautiful. But LLJsmom, have you tried on the Cartier pave Love bangles? The workmanship is also exquisite.

So yeah, def not a collector here either - but a lot of that is a function of resources and to a lesser extent lifestyle. But if I could collect (ie. if money permitted), a lot more VCA diamond-jewellery and VCA watches - Oh My God!!!......Ok, going to wake up from that dream now, hehe!!

So are you looking into the right setting for Holly?

I would love a diamond pave love. A diamond vintage Alhambra bracelet would also be on my list. Alas, those would be on a dream list only...

I will say that as I wear my single motif pendant more and my love cuff more, the more I like it. These really grow on me.

 

[WinkHPD]

Okay, been a zoo here. Here is the yellow diamond. This ring was made circa 1978 by a jewelry designer in Boise. I had finished my year at Sexty's, a wonderful store in Boise that I went with right out of the GIA for the entire year of 1976. I then went back to college to get my marketing degree.



More to follow.

Wink

 

[WinkHPD]

I have tried three times to remove the extra picture. It is a nice one so I guess it can stay...

 

[Tophat1]

Absolutely gorgeous. I didn't mind looking at it twice!

 

[WinkHPD]

This is an amethyst pendant that I had made for Resa when we were both stationed in Rio de Janeiro at the American embassy there. We started dating in late 1970 if my memory serves me correctly. This is one of the first pieces I gave her and she has always loved the green against the purple. I think I might have had this made for her birthday in February of 1971. This was made by the jeweler who used to cash my pay checks as described above.



As you can see the Brasilian emeralds are nice color, but not as nice as a high quality Columbian. Over the years the oil has somewhat evaporated so the emeralds are also showing less color because of the now more apparent flaws in the gems. In the photo on my computer here I can see polishing scratches on the tables of the emeralds too, but they are not visible to the unaided eye.



From the side you can see that this was hand assembled with lots of solder joints. I believe this was made from drawn gold wire, all then hand assembled. Fairly primitive, yet both Resa and I have always loved this piece. It was given, and received, with love.

Wink

 

[WinkHPD]

Oh, I meant to mention that at the time that pendant was made, gold was pegged at $35 per ounce and that piece cost me maybe $150 to have made and I paid $0.35 per carat for the amethyst, it was expensive because it was a better color than the ones I bought for $0.25 per carat. I made less than $400 per month back then, so it was, for me, a significant purchase.

This last piece for today is an eleven carat aquamarine. It was done for Resa in 1975 as we neared the end of our six months at GIA getting our GG's. This was when GIA was in a small campus in Santa Monica on Irving Street. Often when vendors came in to have their gems looked at by the lab a word might reach the ear that a young student there had money and was addicted to fine gems.

Often the gem dealer would be invited to our apartment for dinner and if that was not possible there was a nice small restaurant next door where we could get a table and play. They were not allowed to show me gems in the GIA campus and were not supposed to sell to me, but I bought a LOT of gems in that small restaurant. Even some of the instructors would show me rare treasures from time to time, such as the "Theoretically they can't exist because they are singularly refractive" color change garnets that had been only recently been discovered. I once saw a completely transparent fire engine red star ruby of four or five carats that I could have purchased for only $4,000. If only I could have laid my hands on the money. Sigh! That gem has to be worth tens of thousands of dollars per carat now.

One day, not too long before we graduated, and with Resa seven or eight months pregnant, I got the opportunity to buy this incredible aquamarine. Eleven and change carats. It was not cheap, but it is so beautiful. When we were a young family and never seemed to have an extra nickel Resa used to joke that this was her best ever diaper changing ring.



Set in 18kt white gold, made to fit the ring by a jeweler in the 607 Hill Street building in Los Angeles.

That's enough of my collection for today, or should I say my wife's collection. I collected them for me and gave them to her, and I would play holy heck if I ever even tried to get them back! Not that I ever would. I love it when she wears something I have given her and treasure the look in her eyes whenever we get a piece out of the vault for her to wear.

Wink

 

[valeria101]

So beautiful... And pristine ! - only the diamond ring tells of being worn a little.

Count a nudge to wear from my part

 

[ac117]

I absolutely LOVE your (oops I meant your wife's collection! Especially that aquamarine that's my birthstone and that color is tdf!!!!!!

 

[MissGotRocks]

Oh, Wink, so beautiful! And the back stories are just fascinating! Sounds like special pieces for a very special lady - thanks SO much for sharing these with us!!

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

I collect mostly colored gemstones but I have a few diamonds in my collection as well. What I have learned is that there is not "an even or" when it comes to collecting fine gems or diamonds. For example, I choose to own trade ideals in both gemstones and diamonds and choose "less than" ideal as well. Beauty is just a matter of opinion.

 

[pearaffair]

Wink... the advice for collectors that I am hearing from you is to find your spouse on the GIA Campus!!! Lol!

Just kidding. Thanks for sharing their spectacular photos. Very fun!

I am loving the advice in this thread and I am letting it sit in my brain while I suss out which wisdom applies to me. Everyone has a unique strategy and happiness point - I wonder what mine will be? What a fun journey to be on....

 

[Phoenix]

So are you looking into the right setting for Holly?

I would love a diamond pave love. A diamond vintage Alhambra bracelet would also be on my list. Alas, those would be on a dream list only...

I will say that as I wear my single motif pendant more and my love cuff more, the more I like it. These really grow on me.

Hehe, I don't know yet...still don't know. I'm hopeless!

I'm rooting for you to get a pave Love!! I adore mine!! A diamond vintage Alhambra would be amazing too!!

I LOVE that you're wearing your pendant and Love cuff more, woot woot!!

 

[WinkHPD]

Wink... the advice for collectors that I am hearing from you is to find your spouse on the GIA Campus!!! Lol!

Just kidding. Thanks for sharing their spectacular photos. Very fun!

I am loving the advice in this thread and I am letting it sit in my brain while I suss out which wisdom applies to me. Everyone has a unique strategy and happiness point - I wonder what mine will be? What a fun journey to be on....

I "found her" in Brasil. I was a lowly Marine Security guard, lower than whale poop on the ocean's floor in the social scale of any embassy. When we announced our engagement one of her co workers took her aside and told her not to throw her life away. "Sleep with him if you must, but for heaven's sake, DON'T marry him."

This from a lady married already four or five times.

Resa and I are looking forward to our forty-fourth anniversary in August. She is the crown jewel of my collection, the one with which I will never part. I gave her my heart soon after our first date and she has given me hers through thick and thin. I am honored to have spent so many years with this wonderful lady.

Wink

 

[ringcat]

Oh Wink! I got teary reading the last paragraph of your last post
We should all be so lucky to have a love like yours and Resa's. Congratulations on your forty four years together

 

[Sunstorm]

What a great thread! Wow I learnt a lot, as I am a woman working with diamonds and designing jewelry is very very dangerous. One thing I do know is that I have to make something for myself twice a year. I try to make something I truly love with a very interesting stone to me but sometimes I love the challenge of having to make myself something out of a small stone. I am also not a collector, nevertheless, I find over time that something is just not quite me and my favorites stand out. Those are the ones that I would never sell. However, I tend to keep the others too. Maybe they just symbolize a big birthday or I just appreciate their story and the workmanship put into them. I have special pieces I will not sell because there are very interesting stories behind them. Each of them I feel a special attachment to but some more than others.

I too prefer to wear elaborate pieces, simplicity bores me. I love some simple pieces but they are just not me. I anyhow like a more vintage vibe and my personal style matches that.

Since we were allowed to, I will post my favorite pieces I would not want to part with. In another six months surely something else will be added. I am honestly not sure if I have more passion for anything in life than for diamonds and jewelry. It is not really a joke if I say that they are such an important part of me, my identity that I love them more than many humans who come and go (except of course for the old time friends and family). But in my private life I am very loyal, not so in the case of jewelry, there is always a new love affair starting. I am very selective with diamonds but unfortunately it just kind of happens that after looking through so many you somehow always find one that takes your breath away for whatever reason.

These are my personal favorite earrings, they are quite impressive yet not heavy. They are handmade with 12 ctw natural blacks and whites as well as pave. I absolutely adore them and wear then almost every day in the winter especially. Summer my sunny sets take over.

 

[Sunstorm]

Other faves hmm, my absolute faves are my rings. I go through phases, there was a watch and bracelet phase, now I wear neither. But I have gone crazy for rings and I cannot stop, everything has to become a ring lately. I used to be the kind of woman to wear one ring and that was it, now I wear three or four.

This is my newest love for my birthday not long ago. I wanted to make something unusual out of a step cut, emeralds and baguettes usually go in more modern settings, three stones, etc. I just wanted to make something I felt was unique and I really love her finger coverage. One special little stone with a story too.

 

[Sunstorm]

Most people who know me know that I wear FCDs mostly. Especially stones with orange in them. Very few white diamonds make my heart beat faster. So of course my colored diamond rings, well with white pave too. The pear ring has been my favorite piece of jewelry, who knows why exactly but the stone has such character that I absolutely love. Sorry but photo quality is not so good.

 

[Sunstorm]

Hope you are not sick of my collection. I have more but these are the ones I wear daily. Ah last winter I was hit with a flower craze. It happened because I was gifted a parcel of a few small orangy yellows, some with gorgeous color, albeit all under 10 points, what to do? That was how this flower madness began. Unfortunately colors are not always accurate on the photos. I think I will also be making and wearing daisy dangles but for now that was put on hold.

 

[Sunstorm]

For now last but not least my summer necklace and earring set. The stone in my pendant is a very special stone because it has a very interesting story. All my jewelry is handmade. These pieces I posted are what I wear the most except the flowers, I do not wear both at the same time.

People used to laugh that I keep everything I make. Well, every joke has truth behind it ROFL.

 

[LLJsmom]

@Sunstorm you have one FABULOUSLY CRAZY collection. Thank you for sharing!!

 

[Tophat1]

Sun storm - your jewelry is true to your name! Gorgeous and sunny!

 

[pearaffair]

Just wanted to add to the piece of advice about not showing your jewel collection to your mother-in-law... maybe don't show to your mother either!

I showed a ring to my mom and her response was: "Looks pretty masculine... is this yours? Hmm... the setting, If I had to guess, feels like it's worth $50..." [platinum setting - guess she didn't like the patina...]

Thanks, Mom! Way to rain on my parade :/

So I learned that even when not soliciting opinions, showing someone your jewellery will invite commentary! Be prepared!

 

[Sunstorm]

Thank you girls for your kind words.

Pearaffair you are right, I learnt over the years to be true to myself, wear what I love, rock it, does not matter if anyone comments negatively, it can happen, others will appreciate it. But jewelry is really for our own joy every single day, every single glance. In a way it is really great to be a woman and love wearing jewelry and do it professionally too, in another way of course my wallet is not so happy but who cares, otherwise I would just spend it on other girly stuff.

 

[pearaffair]

@Sunstorm - 100% if I were not spending on bling it would just get piffled away on other stuff! I'd much rather give up the other stuff and save for a few nice pieces