RL1854 takes up industry reform for 1gm gold jewellery

I was surprised to know that 1-gm (imitation) jewellery trade too was under the same attack as precious metal jewllery is. In precious metal jewellery customers were being undersold, whereas the reverse was happening in imitation jewellery. Consumers were being oversold. Fortunately for gold and silver sold in any form/caratage of jewellery BIS has taken the right step by coming out with Hallmarking guidelines and implementing them through Assay labs. The immitation jewellery sector was not so lucky as the base metal in that category is made of metals other than gold/silver.

There was an opportunity lurking and most retailers grabbed it the wrong way. So this sector became a money spinner for the retailers and the consumer was being fleeced. It also meant an opportunity to comeout and standardize the sector. Amrish Jain of Aarel Jewellers Pvt Ltd. rose to this occasion. Aarel bought out advertisement in quite a few national dailies and started blogging to educate people on the current state of affairs and thus in one fell swoop became the undisputed leader in immitation jewellery.

It takes a lot of guts, conviction and vision to stand out from the crowd. Its tough to say 'STOP' to a practice in which the entire industry is consumed. And when you can do that , thats when you are reckoned as a leader.

We need few more jewellers to recognise its an opportunity to believe in 'It's profitable to be ethical.'

Disclaimer: Kathana Jewellers does not stock 1-gm jewellery.

Bolo Tie: What is it?

When a regular customer visited us for a customized jewellery order. It was another day at work. What he asked us to make raised our eyebrows. He asked us to craft a bolo-tie in gold and diamonds. Not that we couldnt do it. Our issue was more fundamental. We didnt know what a bolo-tie is? Bolo-tie is a necktie used by horse riders (cowboys) usually to keep the hat on their head. A search on the internet threw many examples. Wikipedia has an interesting story on the origin of this neck wear.

The customer happens to visit the US quite often and had planned a gift to his american counterpart. He obviously had a certain budget in his mind. An all diamond studded piece would have shot his budget. So to cut costs we kept the outer and inner most edges in diamonds and the middle was crafted and rhodium polished to give it the look of baguette diamonds. This was further accented with bunch leaves on the edges and centre to complete the look. The black cord which is used to hang it around the neck or tied to the hat was provided by the customer. The result is for all to see below.

Bolo-Tie in Gold and Diamonds.

Do Diamonds in diamond jewellery have no resale value?

.......was a simple question posed by Poonam who stumbled on our blog recently. I was on the phone with the enquirer who is getting married in March 2009. She wanted to know this because thats what she heard from her friend. That diamonds are worthless in an old diamond jewellery.

Diamonds in diamond jewellery are usually very small in size compared to a solitaire ring. Often called melle or star in industry lingo. These diamonds are usually cut and polished from the fragments(leftovers) of cutting bigger diamonds.

When returning to the same jeweller where you originally bought the diamond jewellry from, the best practise is deducting 10% of the entire value and making charge. The 10% deducted is on account of losses due to broken diamonds. Yes even though diamonds are the strongest natural substance known to humans, they do break when jewellers try to salvage whatever they can from the scrap(old gold ornaments).

The severe competition among jewellers discourages a common shopper to try selling the old diamond ornaments purchased elsewhere. Any jeweller is reluctant to pay you the price you paid to another jeweller. Otherwise a diamond is a diamond and even a small diamond dropped on the floor in our manufacturing unit leaves the Karigar scurrying for a broom to sweep it in.