Tiffany & Co Beverly Hills

[AndyRosse]

Just an FYI, but this is another old post that someone has pulled back up...Seems to be happening a lot lately...

 

[Mara]

HA HA HA HO HO HO!

yes this is a very old thread!

Statik...welcome...I'm SO incredibly flattered that your very first post has to be to ask me if I am really a bitter non-Tiffany-getting woman!

When you mention a $5k Tiffany bauble, what exactly are you talking about in terms of engagement rings? A chip of diamond? Because that's what $5k gets you at Tiffany, baby. Have you looked there recently?

Buying a house was high on the agenda, and we did so this year. A Tiffany ring the size I wanted (with the full-on encrusted diamond setting I got to boot) would have been alot more than $5k and therefore it WOULD HAVE come down to Tiffany ring or new house and hello I'm not an idiot! What do you think I chose?

No way was I wearing my down payment on my ring finger and feeling proud about it.

Just for the record, if I WAS going to spend absurd amounts of money on a branded ring, I would get something like Harry Winston or Fred Leighton. Though I will admit Tiff's aquamarine diamond encrusted ring I posted about in the past WAS to die for. I would quite possibly buy Tiffany diamonds...if they were second-hand from a place like signedpieces.com and it was comparable to something I could build from scratch elsewhere. But pay retail? Not very likely!

And by the way for the future, Tiffany posts are reserved for FRIDAYS. Not Mondays. I'm sure by this Friday you'll have much more to say about Tiffany....I can't wait to see it!

 

[StatiK76]

 

[sevens one]

Hey Man, Lighten up. We''re not all Tiffany haters around these parts. Geez.

Don''t forget to post:
Hand pics, profile shots, arrows, close ups, in the box, out of the box.......etc, etc

 

[valeria101]

Date: 11/18/2004 4:55:34 PM
Author: StatiK76

95% of the people that are anti-tiffany are generally wives that never recieved a Tiffany ring

Well, so maybe they just got what they wanted then ?

Regardless, there haven''t been any hart attacks due to jealousy around here

not at 1, 2 ,3, 4 or 5 carat diamonds.Tiffany or Cartier... So you can safely post yours if you want.

 

[reena]

Date: 11/18/2004 4:55:34 PM
Author: StatiK76
Mara,

You sure can dance around a handfull of questions!

regardless. I found myself in a similar situation as what your husband probably found himself in when he decided to propose. Do I spend ''too much'' at Tiffany & Co, or do I buy budget-conciously and use any additional money to assist in saving for a home. In regard to the $5k I was referring to in my previos post .. I was referring to an aprox 5k cost difference between a Tiffany & Co e-ring vs. a non-Tiffany ring. I just figured that this was an important enough thing to not to allow an aproximate $5000 difference sway my decision. Really, $5000 will not be making a difference on when, or how i purchase our future home. Which is why your comment on using the extra money to buy a home surprised me .. Maybe the ring he purchased would have cost $20,000 more at Tiffany - i don''t know .. That would maybe legitimize your reasoning.

I recognized that my girlfriend would die for a Tiffany & Co. ring - She jokes, and plays around with the idea .. But is no more serious than when I joke around and ask for a Monster Truck for christmas! So, I spent a month or so cruising the forums, reading anything and everything that had to do with Tiffany & Co. I spotted an interesting pattern in the threads discussing T&C rings. 95% of the people that are anti-tiffany are generally wives that never recieved a Tiffany ring. I wonder whether they would feel so passionately against the ''blue box'', if they had been the one who had recieved it ... (yourself included). I sincerely do not believe that any girl (in her right mind, or not) would refuse a ring due to potential cost or its packaging.

Despite the many protests, drippingly jealous comments, slanderous remarks, and ''blue box'' cost theories ..
I decided - Some girls are worth the extra cash .. and some aren''t. The ones that aren''t, can sit on the pricescope forums, and jealously bash the branded ring they never recieved untill they are ''robin egg blue'' in the face.

So I dumped 20k(cdn) on 1c IF/F from Tiffany.

And by the way - i''m posting this on Thursday. Get over it (and the rest of your Tiffany issues).

woah baby! sounds like you''ve got a bee in your bonnet.

frankly my friend i think you miss the point. the issue in these tiffany discussions is not really whether "any woman in her right mind" would turn down a 1 carat ring simply because it was from tiffany and cost twice what it should. the issue instead is whether, given a budget of $x dollars, a girl in her right mind would turn down a 1 carat stone from tiffany in favor of getting a 1.5 or 2 carat stone of equal or better quality from a nondesigner source. some girls would, some girls wouldn''t. depends on the girl. and that''s cool.

your girl, for example, was thrilled with the 1 carat solitaire from tiff''s. it''s designer, it''s flawless, and i''m sure it''s really beautiful. so that''s cool. i can appreciate that. i, on the other hand, chose to spend the same amount of money on a 2 plus carat stone in a diamond setting. can i tell people it''s from tiffany? nope. but that''s just what i preferred have. and that''s cool, too.

so, can''t we just be friends, without hurling around unfounded accusations of jealousy and bitterness?

 

[jenwill]

Date: 11/18/2004 4:55:34 PM
Author: StatiK76
Mara,

Despite the many protests, drippingly jealous comments, slanderous remarks, and ''blue box'' cost theories ..
I decided - Some girls are worth the extra cash .. and some aren''t. The ones that aren''t, can sit on the pricescope forums, and jealously bash the branded ring they never recieved untill they are ''robin egg blue'' in the face.

Whew! Such animosity!

It isn''t about extra cash...it is about value for the dollar/euro/kroner. Saying that those who didn''t get a T &CO ring were not ''worth the cash'' is, in my opinion, super rude. For one thing to say that anyone is ''worth'' any more than another is wrong. For the second thing, it probably isn''t that any less money was spent- it was just spent differently- like others said spend 20K on t&co 1CT, or spend 20K on 1.5-2CT elsewhere. Still $20K.

I have read posts from people who have ended up purchasing from T&Co, and they seem to get as much praise and well wishes from the group as any other. As long as an informed decision is made, there is no absolute right and wrong. Just right and wrong for that specific person.

Live long and prosper...

 

[Mara]

Well we almost made it to Friday.

Someone else described it well. It's about the value. To me, buying a diamond at Tiffany would be like buying seafood at a local burger joint. Maybe seafood isnt the best quality there? Who really knows what you are getting other than what they tell you? The unknown-quality seafood may be more expensive as well. Why not just have a burger?

I know enough about diamonds to know that buying a diamond at Tiffany most of the time only gets you that image of nouveau riche everyone is clamoring to have, and unless you get some spectacular unique design that no one else carries (sorry the Tiffany solitaire does not count since there are so many replicas that the *average* person hardly knows the real thing from a replica) then why go and spend that money when you could actually get a diamond that is probably better than the quality of a Tiffany diamond, with a unique design, etc etc etc.....

This has already all been said in previous posts. But for whatever reason, insecure men keep coming on here and bashing the 'Tiffany haters' in order to justify them spending $$ at Tiffany. It's funny how it's pretty much only people who buy at Tiffany have the attitude that everyone else is cheap or not worth the money or whatever.

I don't hate Tiffany, it's just not THE place for me to spend my hard earned money on diamonds, or my hubby's for that matter. Sure if someone threw me a free Tiffany bauble and no one had to actually pay for it, I'd take it! It's a free diamond! But I'd not want to shell out the cash for it when I could have had what I really wanted (aka custom designed ring with kick-ass diamond that I hand selected) for LESS or gotten a bigger stone for that same Tiff money. However, I do have Tiffany jewelry and probably will get something from there for Xmas. But diamonds, no...I'll hand-select and build custom items myself.

And for the record...if I got my setting and my diamond at Tiffany, I probably would have paid almost double what we did. Tiffany also doesnt make my setting...it's a custom job that I have never seen *exactly* replicated elsewhere.

Lastly...I don't know what 'questions' you think I didn't answer, but to be really blatantly clear about it, I'm not bitter that I didn't get a Tiffany diamond...I have something entirely unique which we chose/designed together, which to me is more important than saying it's from Tiffany.

But yes, to each their own.

Aren't we so glad that you dredged up this old thread just to attack me? Wasn't it FUN and don't you feel much better?

 

[chantal990]

Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy go Mara!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I totally agree Tiffany for
e-rings and diamonds is a no go for me but I love some of their other items especially some of the antique stuff like the enamel flowers. And I will always be happy about Tiffant''s role in getting the beautiful tanzanite out and onto the market

 

[Todd07]

StatiK,
Did you forget where you are???
This is an advice forum on how to buy the best diamond ring for your money. I've only been here a few months but I've never seen anyone say buying at Tiffany's was shrewd. Mara may be more vocal but she is hardly the only one who recommends against the blue box.

For a given budget, this forum tells you how to get the most diamond that meets your 4C desires. When you buy Tiffany, you pay for BRAND in addition to the 4 Cs. Buying brand is not bad but it's not what this forum is about.

 

[fire&ice]

I know enough about diamonds to know that buying a diamond at Tiffany most of the time only gets you that image of nouveau riche everyone is clamoring to have,

Oh it''s Friday! And I''ll have at it.

this above................and Tiffany & Co. is sooooooooo Middle America.

 

[StatiK76]

VALUE??? You are discussing VALUE on a controlled market? That is truly laughable.

Suggesting someone has paid ''too much'' for a diamond from Tiffany is a little ironic don''t you think considering the item purchased is not even rare? Granted the non-rare item still holds a market value .. but that is quite arguable.

I take more offense to the suggestion that I or others have paid for a blue box .. when in reality every single diamond owner has paid a ridiculous cost for .. what? .. what have they paid for that meets its sticker price?? Surely not the diamond!

If this site is truly about budget .. you are all fools.

 

[Hest88]

Date: 11/19/2004 9:58

0 AM
Author: fire&ice

this above................and Tiffany & Co. is sooooooooo Middle America.

Yeah, I gotta agree. When Tiffany stores start popping up everywhere and every gal and her mother has a Tiffany pendant, then the prestige is long gone.

 

[ame]

Tiffany's quality is mediocre. I suppose if you are desperate for clarity and color, like Statik appears to be, versus really good cut, overspend for a brand.

Id rather spend less than Tiffany's charges to get the EXACT SAME QUALITY from WAL-MART.

Tiffanys charges a premium for a NAME and blue box. If you feel you are getting a better value, continue living that fantasy. Paying 3x as much for crappy quality is NOT a value.

 

[ForteKitty]

You know, i was shocked to find that all of my brother''s friends have Tiffany jewelry from their boyfriends.... and they''re only 15-16!!

Where do these kids get their money from?!? (and how they can spend it like that is completely unfathomable.)

 

[StatiK76]

WAL-MART eh?!

this place really IS about budget!

 

[Mara]

"Suggesting someone has paid ''too much'' for a diamond from Tiffany is a little ironic don''t you think considering the item purchased is not even rare? "

Since you are paying for an item that isn''t rare, what exactly ARE you paying for then if you shop at Tiffany?

As a diamond freak I want to pay for quality of stone, not the packing it comes in or the ''prestige'' of the name to my friends. I want to know that my stone is a knock-your-socks-off-top-5% and it feels good to know too that I paid what it was worth in terms of what the jeweler bought it for and what they sold it to me for. Just as I wouldn''t pay a 40% markup at a Tiffany, I won''t pay it at a jeweler either.
"I take more offense to the suggestion that I or others have paid for a blue box .. when in reality every single diamond owner has paid a ridiculous cost for .. "

Some have paid a much less ''ridiculous'' cost than others...

"If this site is truly about budget .. you are all fools."

Fools with more money left in pocket after a diamond purchase? I would venture to say yes.

 

[ame]

Date: 11/19/2004 1:52:33 PM
Author: Mara
''Suggesting someone has paid ''too much'' for a diamond from Tiffany is a little ironic don''t you think considering the item purchased is not even rare? ''



Since you are paying for an item that isn''t rare, what exactly ARE you paying for then if you shop at Tiffany?


As a diamond freak I want to pay for quality of stone, not the packing it comes in or the ''prestige'' of the name to my friends. I want to know that my stone is a knock-your-socks-off-top-5% and it feels good to know too that I paid what it was worth in terms of what the jeweler bought it for and what they sold it to me for. Just as I wouldn''t pay a 40% markup at a Tiffany, I won''t pay it at a jeweler either.

''I take more offense to the suggestion that I or others have paid for a blue box .. when in reality every single diamond owner has paid a ridiculous cost for .. ''


Some have paid a much less ''ridiculous'' cost than others...

''If this site is truly about budget .. you are all fools.''


Fools with more money left in pocket after a diamond purchase? I would venture to say yes.

HERE HERE

 

[Todd07]

These Tiffany threads remind me of the recent pre-election political threads.

When someone is rabidly committed to their party (Tiffany''s) no amount of discussion will open their mind up to new possibilities or an understanding that the other party may have something constructive to offer.

 

[JJ2004]

Mara,

Thanks for the education on the theory of brands.

I have a degree in economics and two masters degrees from an ivy league institution. Diamonds are as valuable as pebbles in a beach. It''s driven by an artificial supply and demand. So, as a lot have said, the diamond game is just a question of how duped you want to be.

For a living, I''ve managed some of the bigger brands of consumables you use. I am the reason why you don''t leave a supermarket buying only the generic items. No, in most cases there are no differences in these products. Something to think about, since you never want to pay more for a product than you really should.

By the way, when that one person was referencing the $5K, he meant the delta between a Tiffany and non-Tiffany diamond. Not the absolute amount. That shouldn''t have been as hard to comprehend as it is to understand economic and marketing theory, right?

Mara, please, don''t try to bring up theories on economics and brand management. You are way over your head on this one.

The louder you shout, the more people think that you have nothing worthwhile to say.

 

[widget]

I may have missed it in this looooong thread, but has anyone compared the relative resale/depreciation values of a Tiffany ring and it''s generic equivalent?

widget

 

[Mara]

Sorry to burst your bubble JJ, but my career is in the marketing, in the last 7 years I've worked for a few very well-known companies in consumer marketing, and my husband is an MBA from Kellogg so we both have *some* idea of how branding works.

We also have friends who work for some of the largest consumer brands (aka Johnson and Johnson) as branding and product marketing managers, so THEY know how branding works too. BUT, throwing around titles, jobs, or degrees around Pscope does not impress anyone (unless it's the diamond industry). Nor does insulting others because YOU think that learning economic and marketing theory is hard. Please. Faux condescension works best in the real world. Not online.

Of course I know the difference or lack-thereof between generic and branded items, especially common things such as cereals. I actually smirk when I see marketing played out in day-to-day life, since I know where it comes from. But if I choose to pay $4 for a branded cereal vs $3 for a non-branded, that delta is slightly larger than the $5k that someone misquoted (and you perpetuated). In our case it would have been more like double.

There IS quality difference between Tiff/Non-Tiff depending on what you are looking for. More to the diamond than just color and clarity. So the branding argument doesn't really work here in terms of generic vs branded. There is a quality difference in this instance, and some might argue that the non-branded items in this example are actually better. But of course those who buy Tiff mostly believe that it's better quality than anything elsewhere. That marketing power at play!

"The louder you shout, the more people think that you have nothing worthwhile to say."

I absolutely couldn't agree more.

Well, It's not Friday anymore and I have to go shop at Tiffany.

 

[Jennifer5973]

You want to pay double the money for a Tiffany diamond? Knock yourself out. Yes, they are quality. Yes, there is something nice about the little blue box (although I agree with F&I that it's really become non-exclusive). What we've done here is prove that a diamond of the same --or better--quality can be gotten without that brand mark-up.

And unlike the luxury car or Hermes pocketbook, who knows it's a Tiffany? And how many of us, post the 2 weeks after we got engaged, go around saying, "Hi, my diamond is from Tiffany's"? And I hate to say it, but most people could care less. So, you're not only paying for a brand that doesn't automatically deliver a superior product but you're not even getting the "flash" of showing it off because 99.9999% of the people don't know and don't care.

I've spent my career working for three of the top five brands in US history (and I won't bore everyone here with my illustrious academic achievements), so don't go there either. For many of us, buying into the brand is a choice--and most quality brands are grounded in a product that delivers something. What does Tiffany's deliver that say, Whiteflash, can't ? At this point in the evolution of the diamond buying business, nothing. So it's your choice. if that blue box is important to you, I can live with that. But making value judgements on the people here becasue we choose not to buy into that particular hype is ludicrous.

For most of us, we've concluded that buying into that brand is not worth it. So what? I could have had a Tiffany diamond. I could have a new Mercedes right now if I wnated to. I could have a lot of "status" items but I choose not to becasue things like being able to live on one income in the NYC area and retiring at 50 or 55 are more important to me/us than living an image. I have diamonds becasue I enjoy them and that's it. But I do buy Coke because it tastes better than Pepsi. Hmmmmmmm.

PS I've been in several Tiffany's and the service stinks--and we're the epitome of the superficial Tiff sterotype. WASPS in suits with expensive stuff and deisgner duds. I am treated like a queen at my local jeweler's, even if I am in a jogsuit with no makeup!

Tiffany's can keep their blue box.

 

[fortheloveofdiamonds]

style="WIDTH: 99%; HEIGHT: 85px">

Date: 11/18/2004 4:55:34 PM
Author: StatiK76

95% of the people that are anti-tiffany are generally wives that never recieved a Tiffany ring

I am a wife. I went to Tiffany''s. They had beautiful rings. I tried on a 1 carat....beautiful...it was $13,995! No problem says husband. Whatever you want says he. I ended up with a non-branded ring weighing 3.0ctw. Yes. It was more money than the Tiff 1 carat....but.. my point is, many of the women here on ps are already married and many of them are on an upgrade diamond. Now, since WE "the wives" are choosing this diamond, we have the option of going to Tiffany''s NO. The fact that we choose not to make our ring purchase at Tiffany''s does not make us anti-tiff. It just says that we wanted something else!

And buddy, one other thing. Your comment about some women being worth it and some others not! Please! Love is not quantifiable! Whether a man can afford to spend $500 or $75,000 on a ring, it is not the cost of the ring that matters, but the promise behind it. So..get over yourself.....

 

[ForteKitty]

Date: 11/20/2004 11:59:31 AM
Author: JJ2004

Diamonds are as valuable as pebbles in a beach. It''s driven by an artificial supply and demand. So, as a lot have said, the diamond game is just a question of how duped you want to be.

If you think it''s worthless, why are you here?

 

[fortheloveofdiamonds]

Date: 11/19/2004 11:45:29 AM
Author: ForteKitty
You know, i was shocked to find that all of my brother''s friends have Tiffany jewelry from their boyfriends.... and they''re only 15-16!!

Where do these kids get their money from?!? (and how they can spend it like that is completely unfathomable.)

ForteKitty,


Your brother''s friends probably got the money from mom and pop. To me it is easy to see how they can spend it like that. Young boys have one thing on the brain.........and if they think that tiffany jewelry will help them get it... they''ll spend the money!

 

[fire&ice]

Date: 11/20/2004 12:12:29 PM
Author: widget
I may have missed it in this looooong thread, but has anyone compared the relative resale/depreciation values of a Tiffany ring and it''s generic equivalent?

widget

Yes, the ring, in total, will have a quicker (perhaps higher) resale value. Take the diamond out to sell as a loose stone - no difference in selling a diamond w/ similar specs. If one chooses to sell just the setting - it will retain more value than a non branded setting.

So, going back to the stone. It''s generic.

 

[sxn675]

Date: 11/21/2004 9:30:19 AM
Author: fire&ice

Date: 11/20/2004 12:12:29 PM

Author: widget

I may have missed it in this looooong thread, but has anyone compared the relative resale/depreciation values of a Tiffany ring and it's generic equivalent?


widget

Yes, the ring, in total, will have a quicker (perhaps higher) resale value. Take the diamond out to sell as a loose stone - no difference in selling a diamond w/ similar specs. If one chooses to sell just the setting - it will retain more value than a non branded setting.

Fire and Ice is right, but remember that the resale value of diamond jewelry is terrible, branded or not. But, I didn't really consider resale value in my wedding set because I'd like to keep it (though I AM considering changing my setting to something like Reena's or Treysar's!)