If you owned a jewellery store.

[treasurehunter]

After the last topic if you had 11k to spend , I thought this would be a fun topic, you own a jewellery store and have 200,000 us to spend on diamonds , what would you buy?

 

[Gypsy]

That doesn't seem like a whole lot of money. Is that just for loose stones? Or finished pieces and equipment as well. Is it a brick and mortar store or is it an internet store?

I'd prefer an internet store, and I'd probably specialize in well cut fancies with just a few rounds and also pre-owned pieces. As for settings, I'd probably want to work with a good custom bench. I'd have a nice small, secure office set up somewhere to keep the stones and equipment only. I doubt I'd see customer's there.

I'd take consignments as well. And I'd probably search for nice pre-owned piece I could list at good prices for my customers.

I would spend quite a bit of money on equipment, a photo set up that allows for ASETs and IS images. I'd probably buy a Megascope as well.

But as for what stones I'd buy? Who knows.

 

[treasurehunter]

Yes that is just for stones and it can be an online etailer .

 

[lambskin]

I would go bankrupt in a month! First I am very picky what I like so I would not buy pieces that are currently in fashion...i.e. no halos or gems I do not like i.e. black, yellow and brown diamonds, citrine, tanzanite, and any poorly colored stone. Next, I would only pick what I like and then I could not part with what I have selected or designed.

 

[kay1]

I'd be an internet retailer, I'd hold zero inventory, get stones in as they were ordered, and hold returns if they were of good quality, cut etc and mark them as some signature brand - if they fit great characteristics.

I'd use precast settings - like blue nile etc, and essentially 'sell my soul' (lol) until i added another zero to that figure. Then i'd change direction or create a second store and do it the way I wanted - WF/GOG style, good stuff, in house inventory and lots of IS, ASET info for the customer.

 

[heididdl]

I would do a store on 47th street called "Rent A Ring" and do something similar to "Rent the Runway" to allow every day people to rent or borrow diamond pieces to wear to family functions or high school reunions to highlight their outfits. So I would purchase a variety of colored and colorless stones in all shapes. I would have studs, pendants, bracelets and of course rings to choose from.

 

[beachavendrea]

I know one jeweller in london who hires out things. my friend hired a £150 000 tiara, she had to have a bodyguard and everything.

 

[treasurehunter]

Ok the idea is what diamonds you would buy with 200k not whether you would sell them this way or another but what shapes sizes colour grades etc.

 

[treasurehunter]

Ok the idea is what diamonds you would buy with 200k not whether you would sell them this way or another but what shapes sizes colour grades etc.

 

[Gypsy]

Ok the idea is what diamonds you would buy with 200k not whether you would sell them this way or another but what shapes sizes colour grades etc.

Too bad, the other is more fun.

 

[Karl_K]

Send 3 dmc files to Yoram and say cut me $200k of 1ct to 1.5ct gh-vs diamonds based on the dmc files.

 

[Gypsy]

I'd probably ask Yoram to cut me some old cut ovals and marquise with excellent light return around a carat (if he was interested) to a carat and a half. Also a couple small old cut pears (50-80 points).

 

[treasurehunter]

What is a DMC file? Diamond calc?
What shape would you get cut? and grades

 

[Karl_K]

What is a DMC file? Diamond calc?
What shape would you get cut? and grades

yea Diamcalc.
Not going to give my potential competition any ideas beyond that just in case I win the lottery :}

 

[treasurehunter]

haha

 

[WinkHPD]

If I had $200k to spend on diamonds for inventory, I would search out poorly cut fatties and cut them to very high standards, increasing their beauty and salability as well as their value. Oh, and I would buy them in the most popular sizes and grades, such as 1 - 1.5cts G-H VS2-SI1. I would pass on the real big diamonds and the under one carat goods unless I could get them at STEAL DEAL prices.

Then as I sold the diamonds I would just reinvest the money.

When I opened my first store in 1975 I had no idea how to do that and bought $100 grand worth of the then top cut diamonds I could find from Kiger and Keppie, along with a few from Kaplan. Had I just realized how much more could be made by recutting uglies I would have made at least an extra million dollars by now.

Of course, I would have had to move to NY or Antwerp or someplace other than Boise, where I could actually find the Uglies.

I do that on a very small scale now, but wow, how much fun would it be to have a couple hundred grand to do it right with???

Wink

 

[treasurehunter]

That is a good plan but why not just move to NYC or Antwerp or even Mumbai as they have many poorly cut stones there and start a recutting factory?

 

[WinkHPD]

That is a good plan but why not just move to NYC or Antwerp or even Mumbai as they have many poorly cut stones there and start a recutting factory?

Well, for one, my grand children live in Boise (3) and LA (1)

I hate it that one is not here in Boise, but that is where my daughter's work is. (She is a very successful voice over actress and her husband is very successful at his work too, both need to be where they are and have my complete support, even though I wish they needed to be in Boise.)

I could not handle the travel back and forth from Mumbai, as I am already an old man who loves the comfort of his own bed. I would not be happy in Antwerp, as much as I love my visits there as I speak no Flemish and my French is good enough to order a meal, find the bathroom and order a beer, but in no way conversational, and I would still need to travel back and forth to the States, which is only a few hours shorter than the trip from Mumbai.

But the real reason is that I would need MUCH more than $200k to do that properly and several years of training. (See the comment above that I am already an old man.)

No, I would never try to reinvent that wheel, there are many companies who do that well, and a few that do that very well and one who I know that does it incredibly well. The world does not need another underfunded beginner trying to crowd into that market. No thank you very much, and it particularly does not need it to be me, who would not enjoy doing that work at all.

Nay! I shall continue to critique the work done by others in that field, and choose those who do it best to be my cutters, and should I ever have $200k I already know who I would gladly give it to.

Wink

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Do I already have inventory in the store and now get $200k to stock more stuff or $200K to spend on me (because to look professional in my jewelry store, I'd *have to* be wearing exceptional pieces)...Lets, see... I'd buy lots of diamonds around .80-1.5 in round, cushion, & pear, and G-H and VS2 and then I'd stuck them into various pendant and earring mountings, buy a nice jewelry travel case and run for the boarder! Sigh...

 

[MichelleCarmen]

That doesn't seem like a whole lot of money. Is that just for loose stones? .

It doesn't seem like a whole lot of money. For $200K, I could satisfy nearly every dream jewelry piece I want, but probably not stock a store properly.

 

[Todd Gray]

After the last topic if you had 11k to spend , I thought this would be a fun topic, you own a jewellery store and have 200,000 us to spend on diamonds , what would you buy?

1. Not much. Can I buy a few more zeros?

2. I'd buy round ideals, bread and butter sizes: 0.50 - 0.99 carats, and maybe a 1.20 or two, G-I color, SI-1 / VS-2 goods, and hope to flip them real fast, re-invest everything, buy it all over again, flip, re-invest, lather, rinse, repeat...

 

[Karl_K]

After the last topic if you had 11k to spend , I thought this would be a fun topic, you own a jewellery store and have 200,000 us to spend on diamonds , what would you buy?

1. Not much. Can I buy a few more zeros?

2. I'd buy round ideals, bread and butter sizes: 0.50 - 0.99 carats, and maybe a 1.20 or two, G-I color, SI-1 / VS-2 goods, and hope to flip them real fast, re-invest everything, buy it all over again, flip, re-invest, lather, rinse, repeat...

This is depressing I just ran some numbers and with 200k in stock to churn for an online dealer you can make more money as a walmart greeter.

 

[Sunstorm]

Good question whether for me or my store; guess we all have different ideas. I would buy fancy color and fancy shaped colorless as well as some top notch rounds then custom design or sell lose or both but recutting is a great idea and antiques are VAT free where I live so that would be a way to go as well and kinda my first love but going in a different direction now, history is one thing but creating something exactly to your own and clients' liking is the most satisfying to me; two directions how can you merge them? New and custom but old stuff too to recut and/or to keep to sell... but consignment and/or auctions are better for antiques I think; 200 k is not a whole lot but not bad to start with either if spent wisely, at least not here, and if buying is done at the right prices. Of course you could spend the entire chunk on one red but that would not be very smart for a store.

 

[Todd Gray]

After the last topic if you had 11k to spend , I thought this would be a fun topic, you own a jewellery store and have 200,000 us to spend on diamonds , what would you buy?

1. Not much. Can I buy a few more zeros?

2. I'd buy round ideals, bread and butter sizes: 0.50 - 0.99 carats, and maybe a 1.20 or two, G-I color, SI-1 / VS-2 goods, and hope to flip them real fast, re-invest everything, buy it all over again, flip, re-invest, lather, rinse, repeat...

This is depressing I just ran some numbers and with 200k in stock to churn for an online dealer you can make more money as a walmart greeter.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Don't hate me, but many months I do get to buy $200k of new diamonds.
My cutters and brokers know I will look at pretty much anything...and I love to buy more offbeat stuff, so I see a lot of it.
Look at it this way....you can always find a 1.01ct GIA G/SI1 EX/EX/EX/...but how often do you see a horsehead- or a brown diamond with pink undertones.....or an O-P Cushion......

 

[Sky56]

I'd buy oodles of nice diamonds and other gemstones which are in ugly settings at pawn shops and reset and sell beautiful jewelry. It would take forever because most diamonds I see in pawn shops are dogs. I'm inspired by the few lucky finds I had. Just a crazy fantasy.

 

[treasurehunter]

Rock Diamond you have the luck of living in New york so you can select out the best diamonds in the ''other'' category, I love your website and all of your stones I think what you have done is genius.