[Jewelry making - Article 00168] - [Orchid] Price of color-enhanced stones

[Miachelle DePiano]

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Was: "Lets Get Yurman" 

    Ed, 

    I wasn't thinking of diffusion-but I was thinking of stones like
    topaz, sapphires, chalcedony, quartz, etc that get enhanced
    routinely. Would a clear or yellow/brown topaz sell as readily as a
    blue topaz? My guess is a flat "no". In topaz's case, the coloration
    makes the value of the stone. 

    If a stone really and truly is a stunning color, such a rare orange
    diamond, or a true padparasha, then by all means the value of that
    stone should be higher. 

    However, given that stones have been treated for coloration for
    centuries, my contention is that the seller (whether of the stone
    before it's used in jewelery, or the retailer selling the jewelry)
    should be honest and educate the buyer as to what they are buying. If
    the buyer is willing to pay the price after being educated, then
    logic states the demand determines the market value, doesn't it? 

    This leads to the question of other treatments that affect "deeper"
    qualities of a stone, and those I don't agree with in hiking up
    pricing, such as lasering a diamond, or the "Yehuda" diamonds. 

    In the case of David Yurman-his strength is his marketing. Through
    his marketing practices, he has turned his name into an icon of
    desirable jewelry among the semi-wealthy (and apparently
    semi-uneducated when it comes to jewelry, in my opinion). I don't
    know that his high prices are as related to hiking up prices on
    colored stones as much as it is hiking up prices because he's
    slapping his name on a piece of jewelry. 

Regards,
Miachelle
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