Paying it forward

Hi all

wonder if any of you do this.

Sold a crystal set in silver for much less than it cost. Why?
Sold it to the uncle whose niece had just lost her father, how sad.

The situation just touched my heart. And sometimes I sell not for
profit but for compassion. Sure I sell enough at good profit to let
me sell for those special times.

Sometimes it is not about money, but passing on a piece to “lighten
the load” for someone who is doing the hard yards.

Any one else do this or am I just a “crazy on my own”

all the best
Richard

Hi Richard,

I don’t know about selling a stock item low, but I’ve certainly
fixed thing that probably weren’t worth it, or fixed them for free,
because I could, and the person involved needed the lift.

(or made/fixed tool parts to get somebody down their path.)

Regards,
Brian

I was so moved at the discussion led by a Holocoust survivor I gave
her my own silver Bashert ring. Funny, since she was a young girl
when she was in the concentration camp, she did not remember her
Yiddish and only knew Hebrew. So she did not know what Bashert meant.
It is “Meant to be” or “intended”. Here are examples in gold.

Esta Jo

Esta Jo Schifter
Shifting Metal
shiftingmetal.com

Hello Brian and Richard,

I made heavy sterling wedding bands for a gay couple and just
charged them the cost of the metal. Sweet guys in a hard patch who
loved each other. Well worth it! Yes, simple repairs without charge
too. Sometimes the sentimental item value is less than the cost of
repair, but of great value to the owner. No skin off my nose. Does
this make me an old softiee

Judy in Kansas, where squash is coming on and blueberries are almost
done.

I did a neighborhood popup. I had one of a kind stuff and was
selling pretty well. One young woman, an employee at the venue, and a
writer, was in love with a pendant made from a large steel washer and
some beads. She had no money, but it loved her, too. I had to make it
a gift, they belonged to one another. The poetry she spoke about what
it meant to her was more valuable than the item. I wish I had been
able to record it.

I have a customer/ friend whose 18 yr old daughter had cystic
fibrosis.

Talented little artist BUT with a limited time left to do anything.

I suggested, would you like to design some buttons? She came up with
2 designs, the “Eye” and the “Hand” of Salome.

I was regularly visiting my die maker and twisted his arm to

  1. Model her designs
  2. cut them
  3. Supply the steel and hardening

all for free.

Then as a surprise for her, Id make 50 or so buttons for her to sell
to her friends etc.

Great little project.

To see the look on her face was something ill never forget She’s gone
as was expected, within a year of her project, but her buttons and
the dies will live on.

Ted.

Hi Richard,

I have given so many pieces of jewelry away so many times over the
years for the same reason you give pieces away at cost or less than
cost.

Acts of kindness and compassion have powerful feel good effects for
everyone involved.

I read recently about how an organization (I cannot remember their
name) placed a large board with hundreds of dollars pinned to it at
Penn Station NY. The sign on the board read: Take what you need,
give what you can. A higher percentage of people pinned more money
to the board than took money.

Another example of kindness and compassion that made everyone happy!

Dont stop!

All the best
Tina

Richard,

Well done!

Bob A. DeMarcki

I do it all the time. Even a merchant has a soul.

Bobby W. Baker

Hi all

Acts of kindness and compassion have powerful feel good effects
for everyone involved. 

Yes doing things to help others has a strong effect. I often have
people looking at my jewellery who just cannot afford the full price.
So I ask them how much they can afford and sell it to them for that.
On the condition they do not tell how much they paid.

They send me customers and come back and buy at full price. That
little bit of kindness has its own rewards.

all the best
Richard

Absolutely I have done it, stupid and wrong for business as it may
have been. I even keep a spare tumbled stones around for kids to
come up to my wares and are curious. They think it’s wonderful and I
think it’s really good for my karma

Pia

Hi all

I have collected some less than perfect stones I am going to give to
kids.

all the best
Richard

I just cried reading some of these stories. Thank you, each and every
one of you, for what you do and the art you share with others

On Paying it Forward, there is an inspiring post in the Orchid
archives Adorn America - Making, Giving, Wearing - Jewelry Discussion - Ganoksin Orchid Jewelry Forum Community for Jewelers and Metalsmiths

originally posted by Michael David Sturlin 2009 describing the Adorn
America Movement as presented by Alan Revere in 2009. It’s well worth
re-reading.

Janice

Does anyone here know of someone in Belfast Ireland who could help
set up a pewter casting shop for USEL to help teach the visually
challenged to do pewter casting? It is part of a program I have done
in Panama to teach the blind how to make jewelry… I know sounds
almost impossible but believe me it is not. I have 5 visually
impaired people working in Panama making a living helping to make
jewelry. That is why the Gov. Of Ireland asked me to come here to
help them set up a similar program for them. Any help will be
grateful. Thanks Vernon