How likely is this?

[kiwifuz]

My boyfriend was telling me tonight that he heard about a really great local jeweler. He went on to say that they have their own cutters who cut all of their diamonds in South Africa for them to their specs.

So, how likely is that? We live in a small town. I''d say the entire area before you truly get into empty farm fields is maybe 95,000 people.

Thanks!

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

I have my own cutters too.
1 firm in Israel and one in India.
I do not own them though

 

[kiwifuz]

I just think it seems a bit far fetched.... Plus I wasn't aware that that much diamond cutting went on in africa.

I will add though, part of my doubt comes from the commercial that this man ran on the radio not two months ago saying "the numbers and angles don't matter, they don't even mean anything to you, as long as it sparkles she'll love it because it's from you".

...plus all of his neon lights on his store make me ill

Thanks Garry!

 

[fire&ice]

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On 10/6/2003 2:54:56 AM kiwifuz wrote:


I will add though, part of my doubt comes from the commercial that this man ran on the radio not two months ago saying 'the numbers and angles don't matter, they don't even mean anything to you, as long as it sparkles she'll love it because it's from you'.

This is an interesting development. So, enough people are asking about the angles & numbers to launch a counter campaign.

 

[magna2]

Interesting. Now if this jeweler who supposedly has their own cutters, more like cutters that they used, so that diamonds are cut to the his specifications, then what are the so call specifications that this jeweler deems proper for "his" diamonds.

If he is not willing to tell you why "his" diamonds are such great cuts then he is simply blowing smoke in your face. It is a strange marketing strategy to simply say my diamonds sparkles and your soon to be fiancee doesn't care much of the quality since it's from you so buy it. If this was the case, any diamond from any jeweler will do.

 

[mike04456]

There are local cutters in South Africa, but SA is not known as a cutting center. It's part of an agreement between De Beers and the RSA government to foster local industry--much as the Ekati and Diavik mines provide rough to indigenous cutters in Canada. Interestingly enough, the local SA cutters are not working with local rough--they get it from De Beers's London stockpile, unlike what is happening in Canada. This a growing source of controversy, as De Beers does not want to provide local Canadian rough as a prerequisite to opening their one Canadian mine.




Personally, I would not be impressed if someone told me a diamond was cut in SA. Most of the best cutters are in NY and Antwerp, with a few in Israel and India.

 

[Bagpuss]

As a consumer, I'd run a mile from this guy.

I ran across local jewellers who tried to tell me that I didn't need to know about 'complicated' angles and numbers, that I should leave all that 'difficult stuff' up to the jeweller. One got quite nasty when I insisted on knowing. I never went back.

There are guys like this on the web too. I ran across a diamond selling website for a UK firm who were also trying to rubbish the idea of ideal cut diamonds. They held to the position that a 60/60 diamond would give you a good cut and a good spread and that all the other measurements were just so much hype.

You have to educate yourself if you don't want to get caught out by these guys who wish to sell diamonds only on their terms. You may want or need to save money and opt for a well cut 60/60 diamond. I'm sure there are a lot of lovely 60/60 diamonds out there, but you need to know what you are buying, how much it should cost you and what compromises you are making. These guys just seem to want to keep consumers in the dark and the warning flags go up when I come across guys like this.

 

[kiwifuz]

I figured I should run as far away from this guy as possible. I'm not surprised at the replies at all but i figured I'd ask.

I think my boyfriend was looking for a local place that he could go to and find something that's guaranteed to be ideal without him having to do much research.

I just seriously had never heard of SA even having diamond cutters, just places like Israel, Indian, Antwerp, etc.

Thanks for the info everyone!

 

[DiamondExpert]

I think all the jeweler means is that he buys from/custom orders from a cutter in SA...thus, in the vernacular, he might say, "We have "our own" cutters in SA, blah, blah."...not an unsusal situation, but it doesn't (necessarily) mean that they own the cutting shop. Who is cutting to whose specs may be debatable.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

thats what i meant Gary, ony your turn of phrase is always better than mine