DIAMOND & GEMSTONE RINGS - REAL BLING BLINGS!

Shown Above: Offers considered on this incredible large EMERALD and diamond ring appraised over $10,000 at VINTAGE JEWELRY SHOWCASE at RUBY LANE and VIANVI JEWELRY at RUBY PLAZA.


When it comes to REAL bling bling, you can't beat the real thing i.e. real diamonds and real gemstones. Sure, costume jewelry is often super pretty, nicely designed, and if it's vintage, generally of high quality when it comes to the crystals and rhinestones used. But let's face it: that costume jewelry takes a beating over time. Unless you keep it all in a box and never wear it, sooner or later stones chip, become cloudy or discolored or fall out altogether. And those old crystals are often hard to replace: after all, the pieces were made 20 - 50 years ago. Finding the perfectly matching crystal can be an impossible job, even more so if the designer is a famous one like Sherman.

But of course, costume jewelry is so much more affordable than real diamond and gemstone jewelry. So while many of us dream of owning a gorgeous emerald and diamond ring like the one at the top of this post, dream is all we can do ... unless we consider buying "used", "second hand" or what sounds nicer "pre-loved". Let's stick with pre-loved as often, that's exactly what the original owner probably felt: love for that special ring. She may not have worn it every day. She kept it boxed and put it on for special occasions. Being real diamonds and genuine gemstones, it wouldn't go cloudy or discolor. Being real diamonds and gemstones, chipping was much less likely as the stones are so much harder. Oh sure, they can be chipped or scratched, but if your seller is honest, they'll disclose any flaws. Even flawed, a diamond or gemstone still retains value. And if a stone does fall out and is lost, replacing them isn't anywhere near as difficult, though it is more expensive.

These are some of the reasons we like selling genuine diamond and gemstone jewelry at VINTAGE JEWELRY SHOWCASE and VIANVI JEWELRY. We try to give a buyer the chance to own truly valuable and beautiful rings, necklaces, brooches or bracelets at a fraction of what they would have paid had they bought it brand new. We go all out looking for quality items. We avoid chipped stones. We steer clear of diamonds with carbon deposits or poor clarity ie.. the diamonds look cloudy or milky. (If we do happen to have some that don't quite meet our criteria, you can count on us to have priced it according to its lesser quality). You might not know it, but many of the rings being sold in retail outlets today, if they seem affordable, are often of a diamond quality we won't touch! It sometimes shocks us looking at new rings in modern retail shops with price tags of $2000 - $3000 ... and offering diamonds we wouldn't want! But folks buy them because they're new. The little pinpoint lights make them twinkle in those glass displays and the buyer thinks they're awesome. We don't. The ones that are awesome, if new, are many thousands of dollars more!

So that said, feast your eyes on some of the diamond/gemstone rings we currently have in our VIANVI shops. These are true quality ... and the appraisals we have done back that up. No, they are not cheap. But we're selling them at a fraction of their value. What a way for you, our buyers, to afford quality jewelry!

Above: RARE natural ALEXANDRITE & diamond cocktail ring appraised at $8950. Our price: ONLY $3795! CLICK HERE TO SEE & LEARN MORE.

Above: Stunning cocktail ring feartures 1/2ct of diamonds set around a brilliant pink TOURMALINE. Fabulous ring at fabulous price during our 50% OFF SALE. Only $350!! CLICK THIS LINK TO SEE & LEARN MORE

Above: Appraised at $3800, it doesn't get much prettier than this RUBY and Diamond dinner ring, on sale now for only $1079. CLICK HERE NOW!

Above: Unheated, natural SAPPHIRE and Diamond Ring, appraised at $8850 is set in platinum. Only $3299. Rare gemstone! LEARN MORE HERE!


There are so many more gorgeous diamond and gemstone rings available in our shops, and right now, with our 50% OFF SALE in full swing, you can't get much better for so much less. Be sure to drop by and look for those items marked 50% OFF. Necklaces and bracelets too! Lots of real BLING BLING!

OUR EBAY EXPERIMENT: RESULTS & WHAT WE'VE LEARNED

Well our little experiment with selling at auction on ebay, after not having done so for months, is nearly finished. We still have a few auctions running but it's easy to project already how those will end up i.e. dead. Here's our conclusions:

1) Ebay will bring lots of page views and even bidders  ... IF the auction starts at 99 cents or less!

2) Ebay will bring few page views and almost no bidders if the auction starts at what an item is worth, unless it's worth very little

3) Lots of "watchers" doesn't mean lots of bidders. Now we know that's not news but in general, if you have 50 watchers, you're lucky to have 10 real bidders.

Of the 13 items I had listed, 5 were sold. Three of them went for between $30 - $46, at the opening bid price! The other two, higher end pieces, went for less than 1/10th their appraised value!! I let a $6000 Jabel ring go for $650! There were 13 watchers. Only one person bid. What were the rest doing? I suspect the rest were probably other eBay sellers just curious to see if that Jabel with one carat of diamonds (worth more than the entire ring!) would sell at all before they list theirs.

The other item that sold for 1/10th its appraised value had actually been previously "sold" on Ruby Lane for twice what I got on ebay ie.. $395. The original buyer never paid up. But here's the rub: either she or her relative bid on the eBay auction and got it for half price! Well good for her you might say ie. smart bidding and smart shopping. True. But for me as a vendor, it sucks.

Then there's my daughter's auctions. Several of hers finished yesterday and she still has several to go. The ones that started at 99 cents all sold. Did she get her money ie.. what it was worth? Well on one ring she got back her cost. But since ebay fees come out of that, she's down. On a second ring which miraculously she had priced with an opening bid of $475, she got all her money back but didn't make anything. Interesting that that one did gets bids and didn't start at 99 cents. The gorgeous diamond cross pendant shown in my previous blog post? It went for less than $100. Then take off ebay fees. It started at 99 cents. Now what if she'd paid $200 for that in the first place? Ouch!

Of the items still at auction, only one, a semi-mount for a ring, has any bids. All the others are high end items with the bidding starting where she must start or lose her shirt. On all those items there have been very few page views and just about no-one has a "watch" on them.

So final conclusion as far as we little sellers go: don't sell on ebay unless you can afford to start your auctions at 99 cents!! And don't complain if item sells below what it's worth if you do list there: that's the chance you take when you sell on ebay.

Our auction items are now back in our shops at RUBY LANE and RUBY PLAZA. If you're reading this and are a vendor or buyer, we're open to offers on all items, even when it doesn't state "make an offer". As summer sets in, sales slow down so we're a little more flexible, especially when we're overstocked. So why not drop over and take a look. Don't be shy. We'll listen :))

We have the gorgeous original set by STANLEY HAGLER (shown below) that's a real collector's item: Make us an offer!

Or how about this recently added sapphire/diamond brooch and earring set (below) that we've just added this past week. It's incredible!

EBAY SELLING EXPERIMENT PROCEEDING AS EXPECTED - POORLY!

If you read my previous blog post, you know that for the first time in a very long time, we decided to list some of our gorgeous fine jewelry on auction at eBay. Their offer of free listing i.e. no fees for a change, was an opportunity to compare eBay as a selling venue to our usual venues at RUBY LANE and RUBY PLAZA.  We were also hoping to use this as a chance to lure visitors to our new Ruby Plaza shop as it carries quite a few items that aren't or cannot be listed in our Ruby Lane Shop. We hope YOU  have checked out the new shop by now (hint! hint!)

So here we are with auctions ending in the next 24 -48 hours and going by the "page views" eBay supplies, traffic to the auction items have been dreadful! Whether that's because they're buried under so much other stuff at ebay that folks don't find them until the last minute (much to our disappointment of course) or they simply aren't what buyers want, we don't know. But we do know this much: eBay shoppers are still very loathe to bid or buy anything that priced higher, or where the opening bid is high, even if it's worth every cent and you can prove it by an appraisal. We have rings listed, like the glorious diamond and emerald cocktail ring below (which comes with an appraisal for $2150 CAD) on which the opening bid is a

very low $695, almost my cost, and no-one is even watching it. OUCH! This ring has 0.40 cts of VS - H diamonds (top quality) and 5 genuine, not lab-created emeralds! It's a absolute steal at that opening bid price.  But no, instead there's more watches on simple rings starting at $29 that aren't a patch on that one and will never match it for value. 

Well we do have bids on some items. Of course, they are the ones starting super low, like that incredible diamond cross shown at the top of this blog. That beauty comes with 0.65cts of diamonds and no kidding ... that one is worth bidding on. But here we are with 4 days to go in the auction at the bidding is stalled at $21.75!! How typical. We know what the watchers are doing of course: they're going to wait till the very last second and try to snipe it for pennies. And whoever wins it will score bigtime. But will they pay what it's really worth? I'm betting it doesn't even reach $200 and it's certainly worth more than that. 

Here's another example: the ring shown below comes with an appraisal for over $2200 CAD. The main diamond in this one is about 0.29cts and again, high quality. Bidding has opened (started at $49) and has reached a grand total of $87 at this point. Whoopee! NOT! Is this going to be another one of those items we lose our shirts on? Probably. Why do eBay sellers put themselves through this!

One thing's becoming abundantly clear to me: to sell successfully (ie. make any money) on eBay you either have to be able to buy items at rock-bottom prices or be a masochist. You certainly shouldn't rely on it as your only source of income ie. better keep your day job and do ebay for fun. Did I say fun? What's funny about losing money?!

One of the other rings we have at auction (there's plenty more) is the fabulous emerald-cut solitaire shown below. About a year back, we couldn't keep this style of ring in stock. Everyone was after emerald-cut solitaires. Well right now, this one's had lots of looks but only 4 watchers. Let's hope they're serious and not just curious. This is a 0.28ct solitaire engagement ring whose diamond is VS - VVS clarity and F-G color ... just a gorgeous and valuable stone. We have the opening bid on this at our cost! Someone will get lucky if they're smart enough to bid. But you can bet they'll do the usual eBay thing: wait till the last second.

For me, I find this type of selling utterly nerve-wrecking. I try not to worry but I know that I'm one of those unfortunate sellers who doesn't buy her stuff at bargain basement prices. We pay a lot for each and every fine piece of jewelry we carry. So if we list on eBay, we can't start auctions at 99 cents like the big guys do, though I must admit some of them do amazingly. I guess the difference is they have huge followings on eBay. Maybe they have retail outlets. Maybe their buyers are other jewellers who know the value of the pieces. I wonder how many "ordinary" buyers who'd just like a nice ring for themselves or someone they love know the real value of what they're looking at. We know the quality we're selling. We spell it out in detail in our shops at RUBY LANE and RUBY PLAZA. We provide that same detail to eBay buyers but they don't bite. Why! There sure is something different about buying and selling on eBay. 

And thank heaven for our loyal Ruby Lane/Ruby Plaza customers who buy from us again and again, knowing that that they'll get what they see and it's worth what we say. Make no mistake: there are some very good, honest sellers on eBay who do bend over backwards to serve the customer and who stand behind their product. But there's one thing we have seen time and again too ie.. sellers who sell diamond and gemstone jewelry, making lavish claims about the quality, and then, even when you prove to them it ain't what they say, they refund your money and relist the item exactly as they had it before! Hmmm! 

Well, we'll see how our auctions go over the next few days. I know we'll be disappointed. I'm willing to bet most of the items won't sell at all, even at the super low opening bids, and those that do sell will bring sad $$ for the value. Those who buy our pieces will be very happy as they'll get top quality for low dollars. As for us, it'll be back to where we like selling: RUBY LANE and RUBY PLAZA. Oh, while we have you: that's a genuine diamond and garnet JABEL shown below and bidding on that one starts at only $295!! That's giving it away!

THE CANARY SINGS IN YELLOW DIAMOND RINGS

If you've been watching trends in diamond rings lately, especially amongst celebrities, you might have noticed that colored diamonds are the latest craze. Celebrities are sporting red, blue and especially yellow diamonds, everything from the soft canary yellows to deep, saturated yellows, and in our VINTAGE JEWELRY SHOWCASE at RUBY LANE, yellow diamond rings are indeed, our hottest selling item. But here's the thing: unheated, untreated, natural colored diamonds of great clarity and color are hard to come by and cost a fortune. That's why wearing such rings is pretty much only for the rich and famous. The rest of us make do with treated or "enhanced" colored stones as these are more affordable. Sadly, they are also likely to be less permanent, more prone to chipping etc. So when we're shopping for colored diamonds rings for our shops at RUBY LANE and the new shop at RUBY PLAZA, we spend hours searching for affordable "natural" yellow diamond rings because we want our customers to have only the best they can afford.

Take that fabulous cocktail/dinner ring shown at the top of this blog. It has 2.14cts of NATURAL (not enhanced) diamonds ranging in clarity from VS - Si1 and with E - G color. This applies to both the clear and yellow diamonds. The radiance and sparkle in this ring is incredible. It's 18k yellow gold and weighs over 13 grams. We had it appraised just this month and the appraisal came in over $8500 CAD. You can see more photos and learn more about it only at VIANVI: VINTAGE and CONTEMPORARY COLLECTIBLE JEWELRY at RUBY PLAZA, our new shop where we can now sell newer and even brand new items that we weren't able to sell in our VINTAGE JEWELRY SHOWCASE at RUBY LANE.  This ring is for the lady with larger fingers (like me) but if you want a yellow diamond ring for a smaller finger, then how's this one shown below:

This ring, available in both of our RUBY LANE and RUBY PLAZA shops, features a 0.57ct cushion-cut natural fancy yellow diamond surrounded by another 0.86cts of brilliant Si1 - i1 clear diamonds. Appraised at around the same price as the other ring above, this is the chance for a woman who wears a small ring size (4 3/4 - 5) to snap herself up a yellow diamond ring. Again, please consult the actual listing (click on LINKS above) for more photos and full details.

Below are some more photos of jewelry with canary yellow diamonds that we've already sold from VINTAGE JEWELRY SHOWCASE at RUBY LANE:

Aren't these gorgeous? And one thing is certain: we can't keep them in stock. Almost as soon as we list a new canary or fancy yellow diamond ring in our shops, they're gone! Of course, the reason for that is simple: we carry only the best quality we can find in natural, untreated diamonds and offer them to our customers at reasonable prices. We're not saying everyone can afford them but those who can know they'll pay less with us than they will with other vendors who are looking to really cash in on this latest trend: colored diamonds! And it won't be over in a hurry because right now, canary yellow diamonds sing!

While we have you, you might want to slip over to OUR NEW SHOP at RUBY PLAZA now. While you'll find a lot of the same items we carry in our SHOP AT RUBY LANE, you'll find others you'll never see there. On top of that, we're kicking off our new shop with a GRAND OPENING SALE that starts on Saturday, May 15th. We haven't decided when it will end but as usual, it's first in, best dressed. So if you've had your eye on something in our RUBY LANE SHOP for a while, you might want to GO! to our RUBY PLAZA SHOP this weekend. It just might be on sale there in our GRAND OPENING SALE. See you there! Look for items marked GO!