In 1604 Sancy sold the larger of the two diamonds to James I of England and the smaller to Marie de Médicis. In 1610 Marie had the diamond set into the crown she would wear at her coronation – high fashion for royalty then and now; but not necessarily good luck. Marie was crowned ‘Queen Consort’ on May 13 and the following day her king, Henry IV of France, was stabbed to death by Francois Ravaillac, a religious fanatic who’s emotional instability had caused him to be rejected by two religious orders he’d attempted to join. After that everything was downhill for Marie. Though she was immediately recognized as regent for her eight year old son (Louis XIII), she soon fell into ‘bad habits’ that led to a coup d’état against her seven years later. She fled the country but continued to intrigue, without success, for a return to power. She did, however, live like a queen – far beyond her means. Upon her death in 1642, and to settle her debts, the Beau Sancy was sold to Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (he was, effectively, the king of the Netherlands). The diamond then passed through his heirs to William of Orange who gave it to Mary Stuart as a wedding present. In 1689 the couple became co-monarchs of England; but the Beau Sancy became only a passing part of the royal jewels of England.

When William and Mary died without issue, the diamond was inherited by a royal second cousin, Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg. In the course of European politics, Frederick became King Frederick I of Prussia; and the Beau Sancy was set in his royal crown. Over the next 200 years it remained part of the Prussian crown jewels and was ‘restyled’ again and again so that in 1913 it was the center piece of a necklace of diamonds. Then World War I spelled the end for the House of Hohenzollern. With revolution in Germany, Wilhelm II (King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany) fled to exile in the Netherlands – leaving the Beau Sancy behind. When the smoke cleared, the bulk of the gems in the Hohenzollern family’s crown jewels were deposited in museums appropriate to their origins; and the Beau Sancy remained in the old Prussian capital, Berlin. That unfortunate city was virtually destroyed in the last days of World War II; but the Beau Sancy was spared. Some unknown person hid the diamond in a bricked up crypt where, at war’s end, it was discovered by British troops. After, I’m sure, some soul searching, it was returned to the ‘estate of the House of Prussia’ – the Hohenzollerns – and virtually disappeared from view until now.

Early this month Sotheby’s (auctions) announced that on May 15 it would sell ‘The Beau Sancy’ for Georg Friedrich Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, head of the Imperial House of Hohenzollern and great-great-grandson of Wilhelm II, the last Kaiser of Germany. David Bennet, head honcho of Sotheby’s jewelry division for the Middle East and Europe said, remarking on the gem’s romantic history, “It’s a stone that appeals to me greatly as a survivor of all those tumultuous events”. Of course the real question for Sotheby’s and the prince is that of what price that appeal may command. At present, there are no known offers for the diamond, but Philipp Herzog von Württemberg, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, would like the French Government to buy it (at $4 million, or thereabouts) so that it might be put on display next to the Sancy in the Louvre. Given that government’s current tight finances, that seems unlikely – unless a French ‘white knight’ (only the fabulously wealthy need apply for this job) comes to its rescue and buys the Beau Sancy to donate to the Louvre.

There is no luxury purchase that retains its value as well as an important diamond; so what better way is there to express your love for someone than with the gift of a fine diamond? A carat diamond is, quite literally, a one in a million find; and you have to sort through five million gem quality diamonds to find one large enough to cut into a two carat gem. Only an important diamond approaches the rarity of that special person in your life; so if the time to definitively express your love is now, come see us. We won’t sell you a mediocre diamond; and we’re extremely competitive in our diamond pricing. We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers and after you check us out on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com, phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment. We’ll help you select the perfect gift, custom made for that most important person in your life.

On the eve of that long ago war, control of the Pacific basin was generally held to be divided between the Japanese and American navies; and Japan’s purpose was to tip the balance to the Japanese fleet. For six months and a bit more, the Japanese had it all their way, seizing control of the raw materials Japan’s militarists felt necessary to achieving economic independence. Then on June 4, 1942, a brilliant confluence of military intelligence, planning, courage and outrageous good fortune at the Battle of Midway allowed the beleaguered American fleet to even the balance. Over the next year and a half the struggle continued and through it all the American economy churned out an ever growing fleet of warships. As they came into service young Americans eagerly filled them; and the U.S. Navy increasingly tipped the balance our way. The growth had been spectacular.

On the eve of Japan’s incursion into China in 1937, the U.S. Navy had 355 ships in service. Once war appeared on the horizon, the Roosevelt Administration actively pushed warship construction so that on the eve of war in 1941 the U.S. Navy had almost doubled its effective strength; but once war began this construction program was dwarfed. By the end of 1944 our active fleet had grown to almost 6100 warships; and by war’s end (the end of August 1945) we had added nearly 700 more ships to that staggering level. The end of the war, of course, meant that the scale of our active fleet could be hugely scaled back; but the ships, mothballed in harbors up and down our coasts, remained silently in wait.

Though our active fleet on the eve of the Korean War (1950) was roughly the size of our 1941 Navy, its composition was far more modern; and it was without a serious competitor for primacy on the world’s oceans. Just to keep things that way, the U.S. hauled out many of its mothballed veterans to make sure that ‘Pax Americana’ would continue on the world’s seas. It did; and as the ‘Cold War’ continued, a funny thing happened, the law of unintended consequences came into play. That is, with the world’s oceans safe highways for shipping, international trade prospered; and over time the global economy of our own time sputtered into being. Japanese TVs, cars and cameras became commonplace, soon to be followed by newcomer Korean goods; and now, the Chinese have benefited from ‘Pax Americana’. Of course, we’re often alarmed at China’s increasing power; but at this moment the U.S. Navy stands as a singular power in the world. That is (and for the sake of comparison), our fleet is the world’s most powerful (by a huge margin); and taken together with the Navy’s air component and the Marine Corps, our Navy is greater in size than the whole of the United Kingdom’s military establishment. So what does that mean for the global economy?

Your clothes, the food we eat, and more, are often very easily imported; but some imports can be morally compromised. Your cell phone was almost certainly made ‘off shore’ using rare metals and minerals mined in still another part of the world – sometimes by people reduced to near slavery. The chocolate you enjoy very likely began as cacao grown in Africa – often harvested by children (Nestlé, the world’s biggest user of chocolate is currently investigating this); and of course, the jewelry business has been hit by the threat of ‘blood diamonds’. Unlike the electronics industry and the chocolate business, however, the jewelry business has been doing something about the moral challenges of a global economy. The mechanism is called the Kimberly Process and the U.S. Government subscribes to it. Without going into great detail, it is a system for tracking diamonds from the mine to the consumer in order to guarantee that they are ‘clean’. So while you may swear off some goods, fearing responsibility for the exploitation of others, you may buy diamonds with confidence.

Global demand for diamonds is growing rapidly; but the supply remains stagnant. Very simply, this means that diamond prices are rising and will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. It also has meant that to meet demands, inferior (homely) diamonds now abound on the market; but not here at Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers. We pride ourselves on the quality of our hand selected diamonds so greatly that we promise you that we will not sell you an ugly diamond. So check out our website, hurstsberwynjewelers.com; then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment with one of our jewelry professionals. We’ll help you buy the beautiful gift you really desire. Come see us!

The British Natural History Museum had displayed the diamond and reported the “curse of the Black Orlov” in it’s September 21, 2005 news release. It made the improbable connection to Catherine the Great as well; and it presented evidence of the alleged curse. It rested on the claimed suicides of Princess Nadia Vyegin-Orlov, Princess Leonila Galitsine-Bariatinsky and J.W. Paris, each reputed to have been a former owner of the diamond. A diamond that drove people to suicide? The story strained my credulity, even the Hope diamond doesn’t have inexplicable tragedy associated with it. In my skepticism I turned to the “Natural Color Diamond Encyclopedia” and found a story that was not associated with “selling” the diamond in any way.

The entry on the Black Orlov described the diamond as a dark “gun-metal” in color and not absolutely opaque; then it went on to discuss the “legend of the Black Orlov”. I was cheered to read, “Regrettably, most accounts of the early history of this diamond must be treated with the utmost skepticism.” The author observed that there is no evidence of black diamonds having ever been found in India (in fact, natural black diamonds have only been found in Brazil and in the Central African Republic). Had one been found, he or she continued, it is unlikely that it would have been used as the eye of an idol since Hindus see black as an inauspicious color. Third, there never was a Princess Nadia Vyegin-Orlov; all princes Orlov descended from the brother of Catherine the Great’s lover, Count Grigori Grigorievitch Orlov. Finally, the diamond’s cushion shape indicates that it was probably polished in the19th century.

“Diamond Legend”, another internet resource, shed a little more light on the story. It reported that one real, historical, princess might have been a cause of the “legend”. While there is no evidence of a Princess Nadia Vyegin-Orlov, it commented, there had been a Princess Nadezhda Petrovna Orlov (probably nicknamed Nadia). Her family had lived on Black Lake before the Revolutions of 1917 and bred horses known as “Black Orlovs”. Thus, though there is no record of it, given the family’s ‘branded’ horses, a large black diamond might have been a natural purchase. After the revolutions, probably using the family’s jewelry to finance her flight and resettlement, Nadia had settled in France. Hardly a suicide, she had lived to the age of 90, dying in 1988; and with no ‘witnesses’ to dispute the story, I suspect the stories of the Orlov (which Grigori, Grigorievich Orlov had given to Catherine the Great) and the Black Orlov were deliberately conflated, the better to sell the black diamond.

If you’re in the market for the perfect gift this Christmas and have become frustrated with salespeople who neither know jewelry nor are interested in you, come see us here at Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers. We know jewelry and we understand that your gift may well be your way of saying, “I love you..” No one will take your search for that perfect gift as seriously as we will. So to know a bit about our offerings, check out our website, hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then come see us. Oh! To save a little money, you may want to check out our ’12 Days of Christmas Challenge”. Your correct answer can save you $50.00!

On the eve of that long ago war, control of the Pacific basin was generally held to be divided between the Japanese and American navies; and Japan’s purpose was to tip the balance to the Japanese fleet. For six months and a bit more, the Japanese had it all their way, seizing control of the raw materials Japan’s militarists felt necessary to achieving economic independence. Then on June 4, 1942, a brilliant confluence of military intelligence, planning, courage and outrageous good fortune at the Battle of Midway allowed the beleaguered American fleet to even the balance. Over the next year and a half the struggle continued and through it all the American economy churned out an ever growing fleet of warships. As they came into service young Americans eagerly filled them; and the U.S. Navy increasingly tipped the balance our way. The growth had been spectacular.

On the eve of Japan’s incursion into China in 1937, the U.S. Navy had 355 ships in service. Once war appeared on the horizon, the Roosevelt Administration actively pushed warship construction so that on the eve of war in 1941 the U.S. Navy had almost doubled its effective strength; but once war began this construction program was dwarfed. By the end of 1944 our active fleet had grown to almost 6100 warships; and by war’s end (the end of August 1945) we had added nearly 700 more ships to that staggering level. The end of the war, of course, meant that the scale of our active fleet could be hugely scaled back; but the ships, mothballed in harbors up and down our coasts, remained silently in wait.

Though our active fleet on the eve of the Korean War (1950) was roughly the size of our 1941 Navy, its composition was far more modern; and it was without a serious competitor for primacy on the world’s oceans. Just to keep things that way, the U.S. hauled out many of its mothballed veterans to make sure that ‘Pax Americana’ would continue on the world’s seas. It did; and as the ‘Cold War’ continued, a funny thing happened, the law of unintended consequences came into play. That is, with the world’s oceans safe highways for shipping, international trade prospered; and over time the global economy of our own time sputtered into being. Japanese TVs, cars and cameras became commonplace, soon to be followed by newcomer Korean goods; and now, the Chinese have benefited from ‘Pax Americana’. Of course, we’re often alarmed at China’s increasing power; but at this moment the U.S. Navy stands as a singular power in the world. That is (and for the sake of comparison), our fleet is the world’s most powerful (by a huge margin); and taken together with the Navy’s air component and the Marine Corps, our Navy is greater in size than the whole of the United Kingdom’s military establishment. So what does that mean for the global economy?

Your clothes, the food we eat, and more, are often very easily imported; but some imports can be morally compromised. Your cell phone was almost certainly made ‘off shore’ using rare metals and minerals mined in still another part of the world – sometimes by people reduced to near slavery. The chocolate you enjoy very likely began as cacao grown in Africa – often harvested by children (Nestlé, the world’s biggest user of chocolate is currently investigating this); and of course, the jewelry business has been hit by the threat of ‘blood diamonds’. Unlike the electronics industry and the chocolate business, however, the jewelry business has been doing something about the moral challenges of a global economy. The mechanism is called the Kimberly Process and the U.S. Government subscribes to it. Without going into great detail, it is a system for tracking diamonds from the mine to the consumer in order to guarantee that they are ‘clean’. So while you may swear off some goods, fearing responsibility for the exploitation of others, you may buy diamonds with confidence.

Global demand for diamonds is growing rapidly; but the supply remains stagnant. Very simply, this means that diamond prices are rising and will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. It also has meant that to meet demands, inferior (homely) diamonds now abound on the market; but not here at Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers. We pride ourselves on the quality of our hand selected diamonds so greatly that we promise you that we will not sell you an ugly diamond. So this Christmas check out our website, hurstsberwynjewelers.com; then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment with one of our jewelry professionals. We’ll help you buy the beautiful gift you really desire. Come see us!

A few weeks ago Professor Thomas J. Sargent (New York University) received a Nobel Prize for economics, primarily as a product of his thought on macroeconomic human behavior. It is built on the notion that the economic behavior of the human race is the product of our ‘rational expectations’. In this, he is not alone. After Professor Sargent published ‘Rational Expectations and Econometric Practice (with Robert E. Lucas Jr.) in 1981, the notion that the universe of our economic lives is mechanistically stable, rational and repetitive became dominant in the world of economic thought. Of course, the key word for the mechanists is “rational”. Its corollary, of course, is that virtually all people govern their economic lives through efficient economic decisions based on a cold analysis of all of the information available to them. Needless to say, I’m skeptical of their thinking.

What puzzles me is how the Swedish Academy could have ignored the economic collapse of 2008 in awarding the prize to Professor Sargent. Though he is clearly a thinker to be reckoned with, I fear that this event, dismissed by the ‘rationalists’ as a ‘random shock‘, has made it clear that rationality is not the only factor in our economic thinking. Indeed emotions such as greed, fear and aspirations seem to play important roles in our economic life, considerations that defied the predictions of Professor Sargent and his ‘posse’. After the fact, of course, macroeconomic thinkers have come up with explanations to link rationality to the behaviors that led to the train wreck; but I am inclined to dismiss this as the rationalizations of those who cannot admit to ignorance. All of which brings me to the price of gold.

Howard, one of the characters in John Huston’s 1948 film ‘The Treasure of Sierra Madre’ summarized the problem of gold, both for the viewer and future economists. “Aah, gold’s a devilish sort of thing, anyway. You start out, you tell yourself you’ll be satisfied with 25,000 handsome smackers worth of it. So help me, Lord, and cross my heart. Fine resolution. After months of sweatin’ yourself dizzy, and growin’ short on provisions, and findin’ nothin’, you finally come down to 15,000, then ten. Finally, you say, “Lord, let me just find $5,000 worth and I’ll never ask for anythin’ more the rest of my life.”” If you missed it, that’s greed and disappointment in a nutshell; and reason has little to do with it. And so it goes for the price of gold in our own time.

While the only sweat involved in speculating in gold is the cold sweat of fear (not rationality), I think it’s real enough to have caused the current demand for gold, and thus its price, to wobble a bit over the last few weeks. Those who have lost faith in fiat currency, fearful that the sovereign debt crisis currently afflicting Europe will somehow diminish their nest eggs of saved wealth, have driven the price of gold to new highs. Speculators (speculating on the gullibility of ‘gold bugs’?) have been the other force driving gold prices; but like Howard’s gold miner, they seen to have become a bit disappointed in the easy profitability of gold. After crossing over the $1800/ounce mark several weeks ago, the price of gold has wobbled between the $1600/ounce range and the mid-$1700s; and this can only be a product of the failed anticipation of quick profits. Not being a macroeconomist, I see the ‘ups’ as driven by fear and greed and the ‘downs‘, as Howard observed, driven by the failure of gold purchases to meet greedy expectations. No doubt, rationalist macroeconomists have an ‘after the fact’ explanation for the volatility of gold prices, but I think ‘rational expectations‘ really have little to do with it.

If any purchase is emotionally driven, it is the purchase of a diamond; so we don’t sell commodity diamonds and jewelry. Our gems are hand selected for beauty and our jewelry is design and labor intensive, much closer to art than mere raw materials. For these reasons, ‘one-off’ custom manufacture is part and parcel of what we offer you; and our “crown jewels”, of course, are our diamonds, particularly our Hearts On Fire diamonds. They are the ultimate in the diamond cutter’s art; so their singular blazing beauty makes them the perfect gift. Giving one to her or him will say “I love you,” perfectly. So check out our collection of fine jewelry on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com; then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment. We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers; and we have the stuff of dreams waiting for you.

I was, for example, stunned to learn that there was a market for the bakelite jewelry manufactured during World War II. The boss of my youth had held on to some of it for eight years after the war’s end, frugal Czech that he was; but even he reached the point where he scratched his head and could see no reason to save it from the trash can. It had no intrinsic value and no one wanted to buy it; why give it valuable space? Yet today, I’m told, a very tall former governor of our state collects the stuff and will pay a pretty penny for some of it. Who knew? Then there are the gold plated cuff links we had in for our recent estate sale. Fifty years ago I bought a pair like it in a men’s store (and better looking, I think) for $5.00. I still have them and I would have to say that they are valueless. The pair that arrived for our estate show, however, had belonged to Bob Hope; and apparently his fame had rubbed off on them to the tune of a couple of hundred dollars. I scratched my head in bewilderment at that. Certainly, their perceived value would dissipate as the late Mr. Hope became just a faint whisper in history; but perhaps therein lie the tales that impel people to collect. It’s romance. I will guess that somehow bakelite jewelry has some emotional meaning to those who collect it (association with what is perceived as an heroic age in our history?); while Bob Hope’s jewelry may have nostalgic significance for those who value it. At any rate, I’ve been drawn up short, again, on the subject of costume jewelry.

It seems that a London auction house, Drewatts, has sold some of the late Duchess of Windsor’s costume jewelry at auction (October 10). While the Duchess had a large collection of ‘real’ jewelry, the Financial Times recently quoted her as saying (in 1937, the year following her failure to make the cut as next queen of England), “I hate to admit it, but I am absolutely fascinated by fake jewellery at the moment; I think it is so good.” The pieces auctioned off included a ‘body-sculpture’ necklace of truly regal proportions; that is, it is a faux Middle-Eastern style necklace that, as it extends from neck to navel, is nearly a garment. I can’t say what it must have cost in 1937 nor what its value might be today; but prior to the auction Drewatts estimated that the collection might earn close to $5,000 at auction. James Nicholson, Drewatts, authority on jewelry, defended this estimate observing that “Royal memorabilia is in a different category. It’s the association with a woman known for her style and her jewellery.” “Anything to do with the duke and the duchess will help,” Nicholson observed, “Magical names bring people out.” I’m sure he’s right; but as for me, I’m still skeptical about the real value of anything that’s not ‘real’.

Of course, my prejudices reflect itself in our jewelry. I just can’t see jewelry that is the first thing to turn green in the spring; so ours is real gold, real platinum and real silver. Our gems are both real and gorgeous; and we pride ourselves, in particular, on our diamonds, which we hand selected for their beauty – very real and lasting ‘bling.’ We do our very best to tightly control the quality of all that we offer since we believe that it, with the careful wear a piece of fine jewelry deserves, should be able to last you for the rest of your life. Check out our jewelry collection on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com; then phone us for an appointment to select your perfect piece of jewelry. We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers; and our greatest pleasure is fulfilling your dreams. Oh! When you come, bring your sunglasses. Some people find looking at real ‘bling’ hard on their eyes.

A few years ago the daughter of one of my oldest friends came into the store with her grandmother’s diamond ring. She recognized that it was worn beyond repair but wanted to be able to wear ‘grandma’s diamond’. That meant scrapping the ring for its precious metal and setting the diamond in a new ring; but as the diamond was really homely (it had, most likely, been cut – for weight, not beauty – at the mine in the late 1800s); I had to stick my nose in with some advice. “Let me have it recut for you. It will make the diamond pop with beauty.” From the standpoint of a sale, I’d made a mistake – no sale; but she did say that she would think it over. To give her some food for thought, I had to remind her that I’d known her grandmother (and had hung around her house for countless hours in high school). She had been a much bigger woman; and I observed as much, remarking, “ If you had wanted to wear your grandmother’s wedding dress, it would have to have been altered. This is no different.” My argument not withstanding, however, she had to think it over.

A few months later she returned to ask me what she could expect if the diamond were to be recut. I measured it and realized that a really radical recut would reduce the weight of her grandmother’s diamond by less than 10%. Moreover, I told her, it would appear no smaller since the diamond cutter’s work would do little to change the diamond’s diameter. She left the diamond and I sent it off to one of the two best diamond cutters in the United States. Six weeks later the diamond was back, and it was beautiful. I phoned her to come see it. She loved it and selected a new ring to put it in, one that she wears to this day; and every time she looks at it or someone admires it and comments on it, her grandmother’s memory lives on.

Then there was the woman who had inherited her mother’s engagement ring and had worn it every day to do everything. She loved the old ring and her idea of ‘upcycling’ had been repairing it. Now it was worn beyond redemption, a collection of what can only be called ‘wires’; and one by one they were cracking. As she hadn’t realized that a gold ring could wear out, she was heartbroken. We looked at new rings for the diamonds; but nothing would do. Then we offered to duplicate her mother’s ring; and though that would be considerably more expensive than buying a series production ring, it was exactly what she wanted. It took a little back and forth with the artisan who would make it; but finally she felt we’d captured the essence of the original ring. We made it. She loved it. End of story.

Currently we’re upcycling grandma’s diamond for a young woman to wear on her wedding day. It has been somewhat problematic as she doesn’t have an easy time visualizing the designs we’ve proposed. It was time for Kathy to the rescue. She found pictures of some commercially available settings, cut them out and ‘pasted’ them on the young woman’s chest until, together, they found one that looked good in the mirror. It was a contemporary heart shape without a place for a diamond in it; but that was no problem. Stepping back into the dialogue, I pointed out a, somewhat unorthodox, place to position the diamond. Kathy removed doubts by placing one of our stock diamonds (of the same size as grandma’s) in the position and the young woman was pleased. Now we’re in the process of fabricating a custom head (the setting for the diamond) that will uniquely complete the piece. Sure it will take time, but fine jewelry is all about forever and the woman is patient.

This is typical of our business. We average at least one custom order each week; and to preserve the value of the pieces we make, we insist that they be crafted to the highest standards in the jewelry business. So if you need to ‘upcycle’ a piece of jewelry or need a new piece of breathtaking beauty, come see us. We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers; and our pleasure is helping you realize your dreams. Check us out on the web at hurstsberwynjewelers.com; then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment. We won’t disappoint you.

She remarked that she really admired a Tiffany ring but then said, “But I’m not willing to pay Tiffany’s prices!” That led to the revelation. Somewhat proudly, she told me that her engagement ring had been copied from a Tiffany style by another jeweler at a price lower than Tiffany’s. I bit my tongue; but I’ll let you in on my feelings. I’m always offended by copies of another’s work. It is not only unethical but stupid and lazy beyond belief.

Ethically, the design was and is Tiffany’s intellectual property and I see an exact copy of it as tantamount to theft. The questions of stupidity and laziness are a bit more subtle. In point of fact, while a design may be copyrighted, three or more alterations to the design of ‘inspiration’ render it, technically, a ‘new’ design. To fight this threat, many designers, including those who work for Tiffany, try to create designs that defy easy imitation. As her ring was a solitaire, its innate simplicity made it easy to copy; and in addition to his theft of intellectual property, the jeweler had turned a blind eye to the Federal Trade Commission. Though the ring was marked ‘Plat’, indicating that it had been cast in platinum, it was not trademarked; and since 1961 the FTC has required a piece of jewelry that is ‘quality marked’ to bear a trademark. Obviously, a copy bearing a trademark other than Tiffany’s would make suit for copyright infringement all too easy; so the prudent thief had left it out. At any rate, if I’d been able to have a reasonable dialogue with the young woman I might have asked about the gem in her ring.

It was set with a round shaped faceted blue sapphire; and given its size, smaller than six millimeters in diameter, I wondered if the jeweler who had sold it had revealed whether or not it had been treated to enhance its color. As this is a somewhat obscure issue, let me explain. Its size rendered it fairly common; that is, rough sapphire is usually found in long hexagonal crystal rods that fairly frequently grow to, but rarely exceed, six millimeters in diameter. As such a sapphire is not unique in its size, the temptation to make it as saleable as possible is so great that almost all such gems come to market after they have been subjected to some sort of color enhancement. The practice is so widespread that in the absence of a laboratory report stating otherwise, I presume that any sapphire offered to me has been heated to enhance its color. I’ll bet the question of enhancement never came up in the thieving jeweler’s sale of the gem. It is, after all, a question of ethics; and since the jeweler in question had readily agreed to one ethical lapse, why not another?

Needless to say, I sold her nothing. It may have been her attitude, “I like a Tiffany ring, but I won’t pay Tiffany’s prices!”; or it may have been mine, “I won’t compromise my ethical stance to make a sale”. In fact, as she left in a bit of a huff, I’ll gladly take the blame for the no sale. There are some sales a truly professional jeweler can’t afford to make.

Obviously, the young woman valued Tiffany design but was not knowledgeable enough, regardless of the ethics of the matter, to know that appearance, alone, is not the only value in a piece of jewelry. In fact, eavesdropping at jewelry trade shows, the most common question I hear one jewelry professional ask another (while looking at a piece of jewelry) is about price – “Is that my cost or is it retail?” It takes solid experiential knowledge of gems and jewelry and a close examination of them and of the workmanship in a piece of jewelry to be able to know what it is really worth; and at a fast paced trade show, that question is really just the beginning. It is asked to determine whether the piece is in the ‘ballpark’ for appearances at the price. Deciding whether one will want to stock it takes a hard look; and here is where the jewelry professional earns his keep. He or she must have the patience and experience to evaluate the quality of the jewelry he is looking at and the people who make it. To best serve his or her clients, its price must be commensurate with its quality; and the craftsmen who make it must be ethically and technically stone reliable in their ability to deliver that quality consistently.

I’d love to tell you about the sales we’ve made, sight unseen, to people who are confident in our expertise and integrity – or about the the people who travel from out of state to do business with us – but time and space won’t allow. Just know this; we know jewelry and take pride in what we sell. So if you’re in the market for a gift of quality or an important self purchase, check out our website, hurstsberwynjewelers.com; then phone us for an appointment at 708.788.0880. We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers; and we are happiest when we can help you realize your dreams.