Italian Sparklers-Does Anyone Know This Vendor?

[AGBF]

I asked this question in Hangout, but no one was able to help me so I am asking again here. Does anyone know this vendor, (Leone) Italian Sparklers? I have seen their advertisements for a long time, but never had occasion to contact them. It seems that they are located in Italy. The product that they carry in which I am interested is Buccellati Hawaii gold earrings. They can sell them (shipping and tax dealt with) at about $800 lower than the usual retail price for these earrings here, maybe even lower than that. (The price they quoted was $800 less than Shiraz quoted; Neiman Marcus presumably charges more!)

Italian Sparklers accepts credit cards and Paypal. I just wonder if anyone has dealt with them before and found them reputable.

AGBF

 

[AGBF]

Date: 10/3/2009 5:22:09 PM
Author:AGBF

Does anyone know this vendor, (Leone) Italian Sparklers?

I find it really hard to believe that no one has ever heard of this company. If anyone posts an obscure photograph of a ring here in Rocky Talky, someone is able to track down the designer or manufacturer or where one can buy it. Someone has to know something about this vendor!

AGBF

 

[AGBF]

I thought that I would let everyone know that I am pursuing my acquaintance with the man with whom I have been corresponding in Italy. I have asked him if he has any references. If his company provides a safe and secure source of Buccellati jewelry, it will be a great boon to Buccellati lovers who frequent Pricescope; but we shall have to see! He accepts credit cards and Paypal. Wouldn''t paying with Paypal make such a transaction safe by definition? I mean, the vendor would not have one''s credit card number himself if one used Paypal, correct? And one could always refuse to pay a credit card charge if he never received goods after placing an order using a charge card. Am I missing something?

AGBF

 

[Harriet]

Deb,
I don't know anything about the vendor. But, thanks to Oldmancoyote (who went hunting for me), I do know that Buccellati is significantly cheaper in Italy. Perhaps you'll be more comfortable buying from one of the Italian boutiques instead? That's assuming that there's such an option. I've seen a fair number of Buccellati 'inspired' pieces.

 

[AGBF]

Date: 10/6/2009 7:02:56 PM
Author: Harriet

Perhaps you'll be more comfortable buying from one of the Italian boutiques instead? That's assuming that there's such an option. I've seen a fair number of Buccellati 'inspired' pieces.

I'm sorry to be dim, Harriet, but by "Italian boutiques" do you mean boutiques in Italy? And are you suggesting that I look for Buccellati in Italy or that I look for Buccellati "inspired" pieces?

AGBF

 

[Harriet]

If you are dim, where does that leave everyone else? I mean looking in Italy itself/

 

[SB621]

Never heard of them but I would think you would be covered by buyers protection on paypal. if you want to be even more secure. You could get a VISA or MC giftcard (that has a credit card number etc and use that...link it to you paypal account and pay with that giftcard. I have done that once before when buying something with paypal from a company in china. just another way of protecting yourself.

Goodluck and keep us updated.

 

[AGBF]

Thanks, Harriet and Sarah. Italian Sparklers made me an offer I couldn't refuse: they offered just to send me the earrings without my making any payment! So that is what they are doing. If I am satisfied, I will pay for them. I guess my question to all of you is how does one authenticate Buccellati earrings? Supposedly these come with a certificate of authenticity! I am not about to take them into Neiman Marcus (the only Buccellati retailer around here). Since my local jeweler (Grunberger's) is in Stamford, Connecticut and these are being sent to Virginia I am not about to ask someone even to test them to see if they are actually 18K gold. I think I will just eyeball them and if I like them, pay for them!

Any better ideas?

AGBF

 

[AGBF]

I was in Connecticut and thus away from home when my earrings arrived from Italy. I finally saw them today. They are beautiful. They came with a pouch and a certificate of authenticity, but I am still not 100% sure that they are Buccellati earrings, especially since I have never seen Buccellati earrings in person!

I used my loupe to try to make out the writing on the engraved circle on each earring. Each one seems to say "Buccellati", except that the first letter looks more like an "F" or an "A" to me than a "B". Then there are other letters or numbers that I cannot make out.

I do not know if the soldering should show the way it does, although I like it. I do not know if I should see a little bump I do through the loupe, although I believe the earrings are supposed to be handmade, and therefore they would be expected to be unique.

I called the wholesale phone number which one is advised to call by the Buccellati website if one needs more information. I spoke to a very knowledgeable Italian gentleman who was convinced that the earrings are bona fide (he pronounced it, "bona feed") not because of the credentials produced by the seller but because the seller had sent me the earrings and asked me for no money!!!

When he heard the asking price, he told me it was a wonderful price. I said I wondered if it was too good to be true, and he told me that sometimes we just get lucky! So I suspect I just got lucky.

I would like to show these to someone who sells Buccellati jewelry, but if someone who owns some Hawaii or Honolulu jewelry can tell me about the inscription and the soldering, I'd appreciate it! (Harriet?) I think I should be paying the seller if I plan to keep these!

AGBF

 

[AGBF]

I looked in the gold thread in Jewelry Pieces and I found this photo of a Buccellati Hawaii earring that I had taken from the Shiraz website (i.e. not the website of the vendor selling me these earrings).

It looks just like the earring I examined with my loupe .

AGBF

 

[AGBF]

I hope I am not boring everyone else who reads Rocky Talky to tears. I seem to be the only one posting to this thread. I really did intend it to be of help to other people who wanted to buy Buccellati jewelry, however, and I still hope that it will be. If no one is contemplating a purchase now, perhaps at some point in the future someone will do a search and find this thread in the archives and it will be a help to him then.

I wanted to let everyone know that after I received the earrings and examined then as described above, I spoke to the Buccellati company on the telephone. I called a phone number to which people with concerns not addressed elsewhere had been directed and then had to try to keep from being brushed off . I managed to keep the interest of an Italian gentleman who told me that although the Italian vendor from whom I had received my earrings was not listed on the Buccellati website, that it was possible that he was selling me real Buccellati earrings. (I had asked whether there was a different internal distribution system for Buccellati jewelry within Italy.)

What really convinced him (the man who worked for Buccellati), however, was that my vendor had sent the earrings without charging me first and that he was charging me such a low price. He said, "Madam, that is a very good price!" and then went on to say that he believed that the earrings were genuine.

At any rate, I took the earrings to Connecticut where there is a small jewelry store, Betteridge, with actual jewelers. (Where I live in Virginia the only place that sells Buccellati is Neiman Marcus, which may not have any real jeweler on the premises.) I couldn't have made a better choice! I had the service of three women, all of of whom knew Buccellati, and all of whom had seen fake Buccellati (one of them, recently, from Hong Kong).

In the end, the appraiser took the earrings upstairs and examined them under a microscope, comparing them to another pair, and pronounced them undoubtedly genuine Buccellati earrings. I now feel free to recommend Italian Sparklers and the jeweler with whom I worked, Roberto Cannone, without reservation. I got genuine Buccellati earrings from them at a price that the Buccellati company itself found jaw-droppingly low...and without any hassle whatsoever. I had no problems with customs and had to pay nothing until I had seen them. I highly recommend this vendor!

AGBF

 

[glitterata]

Congratulations, Deb! Thanks for posting your experience, and wear your earrings in good health. And please post ear shots!

 

[partgypsy]

Sounds like it was worth the legwork! You know you are going to have to post ear shots.