MARCH MADNESS SALE at VINTAGE JEWELRY SHOWCASE is underway now!

As the end of February draws near, it's time for our annual MARCH MADNESS SALE to begin. So we kicked it off yesterday with some incredible savings to be had on everything from fine diamond and gemstone jewelry (rings, bracelets, bangles, necklaces) to designer vintage costume jewelry (Sherman, Haskell, unsigned beauties) We even have a vintage 18k and 925 silver set by Cartier on sale ... and it's just a new addition to our site.

We took a look at what our customers have added to their "wish lists" and that's what we've reduced, in some cases by several hundreds of dollars. If ever there was a time to snap up a knockout diamond ring or necklace at a fantastic price, this is it! How about something like this killer vintage diamond necklace below, just recently appraised at $4875 CAD. We had it listed at $2495, but during our March Madness Sale, it's yours for only $1895. But you must order it by March 15th!

CLICK THIS LINK to see the appraisal and more photos of this knockout piece. 

Been dreaming of owning a genuine emerald and diamond ring? That 0.75ct stunner above is set in Platinum and flanked by 2 brilliant baguette diamonds on either side. During our MARCH MADNESS SALE you can save $100 on this beautiful vintage ring which is now a very affordable $595 until March 15th. Emerald is May's birthstone: know someone with a May birthday who love to get this as a gift? Learn more about it HERE. 

Designer costume jewelry collectors might like to save on the few remaining SHERMAN pieces we have in our SHOP AT RUBY LANE. We've reduced prices on those for the MARCH MADNESS SALE too. How about this magnificent sunburst necklace below for only $195! That's $100 off our original asking price. What a beauty to add to your Sherman collection! See more photos AT THIS LINK

We have other SHERMANS being offered at reduced prices too. These include a rare "mink" Swarovski crystal AB set in topaz, a Siam red, japan-backed bracelet   & earrings, a knockout larger-stoned pink Sherman set, and a pretty fuschia set. Both of the latter are necklace/earring sets. Just type SHERMAN into our search box in our RUBY LANE SHOP. 

There are so many wonderful pieces available at reduced prices during our MARCH MADNESS SALE that I couldn't possibly list them all here. So why not  slip over and take a look around. And while you're there, you might enjoy checking out some of our latest arrivals too. We've added 5 new items in the past few days, including this incredible unsigned beauty shown below: 

This has got to be one of the most beautiful necklace/earring sets I've ever seen. It was impossible to believe it wasn't signed. When I first saw it, I thought it was a JULIANA by D&E, because of the hand-painted "easter-egg" cabochons. Well it's not a Juliana but it certainly rivals it for beautiful design and workmanship. This piece came from the huge collection of one of my customers. She has been collecting for years and now circumstances have forced her to sell off some of her treasures. So we're selling her pieces on consignment. She's open to offers so please slip over to BLACK BEAUTY and take a close look at this one. 

And though it's already too late for you to buy the Miriam Haskell glass bead necklace shown below, I wanted to share it with you. This is also from this lady's collection. It was snapped up by a smart buyer within hours of my listing it. But I wanted to show it here as it's such a fabulous Haskell necklace. It'll also give  you an idea of the quality pieces our lady will be offering shoppers who visit OUR RUBY LANE SHOP. I hope that will be you who are reading this! Now, come on over and see what else we have for you during our MARCH MADNESS SALE at VINTAGE JEWELRY SHOWCASE at RUBY LANE. 

BANGLES: DIAMONDS, CARTIER, ART NOUVEAU, SILVER ...

I've been looking over the stock in our SHOP AT RUBY LANE and realized we're almost overstocked in bangles ... if such a thing is possible. What I've also noticed is the diversity of bangles available. It's quite amazing how many different styles, metals, stones etc differentiate one bangle from another. Personally, I'm a bangle and bracelet person, more so than rings and maybe that's why I keep buying them for our shop, thinking others like them as much as I do. Am I wrong?

Well let me tell you ... and maybe tempt you ... with some of the gorgeous bangles we are currently carrying. That one at the top of this post is, undeniably, the most valuable, if not the most beautiful of all those we have. We just had it appraised in February, and to our delight, it came in at over $10,000. WOW! It's 14k and has 2.85cts of top quality diamonds, ranging from VVS baguettes to Si1 round cuts with superb color in all. The overall weight of the bangle is 25grams, but let's face it: that's all the technical details: if the beauty of the design itself doesn't speak to you, nothing will. This is just an outstanding piece of vintage jewelry being offered to you at 1/3 its appraised value. CLICK HERE to see more photos and learn more about it.

Alternately, maybe your taste in bangles goes well back in time, way before the dating on the bangle above, like to the early 1900's? In that case, take a look at this utterly charming Art Nouveau 14k gold bangle adorned with genuine angel skin coral cameos:

How pretty and dainty is that! The bangle is 1/4" wide and the coral cameos of the ladies' faces are 1/2" high. What's truly remarkable about this bangle is its condition: it looks nearly new and yet it's 100 years old. That's another WOW! 

Learn more about this one and see more photos at THIS LINK. 

While we're looking at really old bangles, here's a real beauty from the Art Deco period that has recently been appraised at $2850 and which we're again offering for about 1/3 of its appraised value:

This fabulous old bangle adorned with cultured pearls, sapphires and rubies, all set in 15 grams of 14k yellow gold, is for a smaller wrist i.e. 6.5.  This one is a designer piece, stamped JGJLRY. See more pictures & learn more HERE.

And since we're talking designers, how about this, our latest acquistion and addition to OUR RUBY LANE SHOP. We're really pleased and excited to be able to offer our shoppers this authenticated CARTIER set of bangle and brooch:

When you look at a set like this, it's almost hard to believe it's vintage: the look is contemporary and timeless. You can wear a set like this to the office during the day and out for cocktails or on a date in the evening and it'll never look out of place. This Cartier set is stamped 18k 925 Cartier on both the pin and the bangle. The 18k yellow gold is in those stripes you see. And adorning both pieces is a brilliant purple, trillion-cut amethyst. This set comes with the original beige/grey felt pouch with its satin ribbon stamped "Cartier" and the original red Cartier box, as shown below: 

So if you're into designer signed jewelry, and have always longed for a Cartier, slip over to THIS LINK and learn more about this one. It's affordable Cartier!

There are several more bangles in OUR SHOP AT RUBY LANE, along with some lovely diamond and other bracelets. And we have more arriving all the time. So be sure to check our shop regularly! Here's looking at Bangles!

COLORED DIAMONDS ARE HOT BUT IRRADIATED OR ENHANCED ARE NOT!

See this ring at http://www.rubylane.com/shops/vivijewels/item/FancyYellowPLAT

Have you caught onto the latest craze in diamond rings ie. colored diamonds? While clear, beautiful diamonds will always be a girl's best friend, amongst those who can afford them e.g Hilary Clinton and Hollywood stars, colored diamonds are hot, hot, hot! Here's some interesting information on that from the NATURAL DIAMOND ASSOCIATION site:

"Former First Lady, Hillary Clinton, wore her 4.23 carat "Kahn Canary" flawless diamond to President Bill Clinton’s Inaugural Ball and other important events. The Academy Awards, where fashion can make or break the image of movie stars, actress Whoopi Goldberg wore a $5 million canary yellow diamond pendant that weighed 80 carats, and actress Julianne Moore wore a 7.52 carat fancy vivid yellow diamond. In the fashion industry, supermodel Christy Turlington set her cushion-shaped yellow diamond in a navel ring. Designer Donatella Versace has also been spotted showing off her yellow diamonds. In the hit series, "Sex and the City," the chic Samantha Jones character receives a yellow diamond stunner from her boyfriend, Richard, after his indiscretion."


Imagine being able to afford rocks that size, even in ordinary clear diamonds!


Yes, those in the money are sporting red, green, blue, yellow and brown diamonds but if you're just catching onto this current hunger for coloured diamonds, you might want to be wary as you shop around. You see, while coloured diamonds are hot, irradiated or enhanced diamonds are not as hot, though they can be just as beautiful and just as expensive. 


So what's wrong with diamonds that have been enhanced or irradiated? Well nothing really except they're just nowhere near as valuable as a natural, unenhanced, untreated diamond ... regardless of the color! According to Wikipedia:


"Diamonds which are chosen for treatment are usually those that would be otherwise difficult to sell as gem diamonds, where inclusions or fractures noticeably detract from the beauty of the diamond to even casual observers. In these cases, the loss in value due to treating the diamond is more than offset by the value added by the mitigating of obvious flaws."


You see, the bottom line is finding unflawed diamonds of superb clarity and colour is like looking for a needle in a haystack. They are RARE! Again, according to the NATURAL DIAMOND ASSOCIATION:


"Natural Color Diamonds are found in nature in every shade imaginable - each and every stone one of a kind. The physical conditions required to form these miracles of nature occur so rarely that only one diamond in 10,000 possesses this natural color."


That brings me to the gorgeous, natural canary diamond ring now available in OUR SHOP AT RUBY LANE and shown in the photos in this post. This is the kind of coloured diamond ring you should be looking for. Custom-made and set in platinum and 18k, this cushion-cut natural canary diamond is 1.02cts of VS1 clarity, with no hint of brown or champagne, or heaven forbid, that super yellow, almost bile-coloured shade that you find in treated diamonds. That superb diamond is flanked by .30 cts of natural clear diamonds also of VS2 clarity and H-I colour. Then running down the sides of the band are another 56 smaller diamonds, bringing the total carat weight of this magnificent ring to 1.67cts. You can read the full details in the appraisal posted on the site. Incidentally, the ring appraised over $15,000 in February 2010. 

See this ring at http://www.rubylane.com/shops/vivijewels/item/FancyYellowPLAT

At the price we're offering it for, little wonder that it was added to 10 wish lists within the first 24 hours of putting it up in our shop. Who will be the smart one to snap this beauty up at an incomparable price. Just search "canary diamond ring" in Google products in Shopping and see what you'll find: lots of yellow diamond rings at monster prices ... and very few of them that are natural, unenhanced diamonds. Most have been treated in some way i.e. irradiated to get rid of inclusions or enhanced to bring up a better colour in what was probably not the nicest diamond to start with. Remember "only one diamond in 10,000 possesses this natural color."


Before I wrap this up, to add some more weight to why treatment matters, here's something else I found in Wikipedia:


"Treated diamonds usually trade at a significant discount to untreated diamonds. This is due to several factors, including relative scarcity — a much larger number of stones can be treated to reach gem quality than are found naturally occurring in a gem quality state — and the potential impermanence of various treatments."


So if you find a yellow diamond ring elsewhere, ask the vendor if the stone is natural or has been treated in any way. If they don't know, beware. If the stone looks super yellow, it's most likely treated. If the price is low, suspect treatment, or even lab-created. If those things don't matter to you, then no problem. But if you want the real thing, buy a ring like ours from a reputable seller who can put facts and an appraisal behind the asking price. 


See this fabulous ring and learn more about it HERE.

WAS THIS SELLER ON THE LEVEL? TAKING STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF WHEN SOMETHING SEEMS WRONG ...

Today I'm sharing with you a story about what happened to us late last year. It nearly cost us, well cost my daughter, a lot of money. But we want to share it with you here because something we did might just have made all the difference between being scammed and losing our money instead of keeping it. Here's what happened:


November 2009 was a bad month for my daughter. The month opened with her discovery that her debit account at her local bank had been compromised. No sooner was that sorted out, but she took a highly needed short vacation in Las Vegas only to have her Canadian passport stolen in a Casino. She almost wasn't allowed to board the plane home! While she was away, her PayPal account was accidentally frozen and she couldn't pay for online purchases. But the event that made all those seem minor was what we've come to call "The case of the Empty Box" 

It began about 2 weeks before she left for that Vegas holiday. She'd purchased a $1500 ring online and asked that it be sent Express as she was going away shortly. Alarm bells rang a little when she noticed the seller wouldn't take the recommended form of payment i.e. PayPal, but insisted she use a newer company. After checking into the company, she proceeded and paid.

14 days later, the ring still hadn't arrived despite her request it be sent Express (usually arrives in 3 days or less). She contacted the seller. The seller apologized saying she had been sick and sent her boyfriend to the PO with the package. The boyfriend, contrary to her instructions, had shipped the ring just regular USPS, with no insurance or tracking! (My daughter had paid $30 for Express shipping remember?). Panic set in but my daughter's flight was booked. We consoled her saying it'll probably arrive while she was gone and we'd let her know. Have a nice holiday and don't worry...

When she arrived home 2 weeks later, still no package. We assumed the worst. It had been lost or stolen. After all, it was marked with value of $1500 on outside and just sent surface mail. She contacted the seller who claimed to be as sick as she was over this. She hadn't yet been paid by the company so she would ask them that day to issue a refund. PHEW! At least she was honest ...

Then the strangest thing happened: the seller wrote again that same day saying that miraculously the package had shown up back at her place. HUH? Oh, not even quite that: the package had been returned to her neighbor who'd brought it over. WHAT? REALLY? How very odd. The seller asked my daughter what she'd like her to do now. Well my trusting daughter who never wants to think ill of anyone told her to send it on again, but this time make sure it went by Express Post and make sure the seller, not her boyfriend, take it to the Post Office.

Later that day, the seller sent a tracking number and said it was on the way just as promised. She even sent a photo of the outside of the box. We breathed a sigh of relief, pushing away the uneasy thoughts that kept jumping into our minds. Then the seller wrote again to tell us she'd even included a little gift of earrings that she had made to compensate for the problems. We relaxed a little more. We counted the days to the anticipated arrival of the $1500 diamond ring. Some inner voice was talking to my daughter and for a change, she was listening. She asked us to make sure when our postman arrived to have our camera ready while she opened the box with the postman there. It seemed a silly precaution but, well, just in case...

Well, the box arrived, on time. We all, postman too, stood by as my daughter opened the box and my husband took photos. Have you guessed? Yes, the box was empty except for some pink plastic wrap and a flimsy square box with no ring inside. No free gift either. The shock on all our faces was registered by the camera. The postman was floored. My daughter burst into tears. What were we to do now? The company to whom the money had been paid and held for the seller would release the funds when seller could show by tracking number that the item had been successfully delivered. All that had been delivered was an empty box!

My daughter's tears quickly turned to anger. She emailed the seller and contacted the company holding the money. The seller screamed innocence and disbelief. Someone must have opened the box and removed the contents! Really? Well we had photos of a fully sealed box that hadn't even been opened by Canada Customs! She demanded to see the photos taken with the Postman. What kind of story were we now telling her? We were lying! In the meantime, the company holding the money (MoneyBookers) asked to see the photos. We sent them. In less than 48 hours they wrote back and said "Sorry...but there's nothing more we can do. Contact your local police. The package was delivered. Funds will be released to the seller."

We couldn't believe this was happening. My daughter then contacted the site from which the ring was purchased and disclosed all the facts of the case to them. She offered to send the photos. They wrote back saying the seller had been in touch and wanted to see the pictures. My daughter took their advice but in the meantime contacted her credit card company as obviously now her payment to the seller was being processed. With Christmas around the corner, my anguished daughter tried to smile as she decorated the tree and tried to keep her mind off being $1500 poorer.

Is there a happy ending to "THE CASE OF THE EMPTY BOX". Well somewhere, someone was on our side. The seller, after getting the photos we were asked to show her, said we were obviously telling the truth about getting an empty box. She said she'd contact the company and ask that funds be returned to my daughter. She followed through and the funds were returned later that night. We found it odd that she'd come to see our side so quickly. Why? Was she perhaps now worried that with us reporting this to the Credit Card company etc., she just could get herself into hot water?

I guess we'll never know what really happened in this case. Incidentally, the seller did write one last time, moaning about the loss of her $1500 ring and telling us how nice a person she is and how she only wants peace on earth and all that stuff. We wanted to commiserate but somehow we couldn't. We wanted to believe she was being honest about it all but somehow we couldn't. Things just didn't add up:

1) Her "boyfriend" had sent a $1500 in an ordinary package marked $1500 for the cost of stamps when we'd paid for Express, insured mail

 2) The package didn't show up for weeks. After assuming loss and asking for a refund, suddenly the package showed up, back at the sender's home ... oh wait ... not even there! It showed up at a neighbour's on the very day we asked for a refund?

3) The package was sent again, properly this time, fully sealed and obviously never opened, not even by Canada customs ... and it arrived empty??!!

Maybe the seller was telling the truth all along but we have a hard time believing her. Would you?