Ramble On Ron

Diamonds, Music and other Facets of Life

Message To Retailers: Buy Diamonds For Stock!

In today’s economic climate, jewelry retailers need to find new ways to increase margins, while still competing with e-tailers and everyone else in their market. Buying gold has become a necessity for a lot of traditional retailers in order to keep cash flow positive. However, the gold buying train won’t last forever. Even the popular [...]

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Diamond Market Update: 2011, Q3

As the world economy dips into a recession, we’re looking at our holdings in diamonds and deciding how to navigate our through this market. The stock market has been getting crushed the past couple months and even metals are unstable. Gold reached a high of approx $1920 per ounce and is now hovering at $1650. [...]

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JCK Las Vegas 2011 – Diamonds Are King!

Interesting weekend we had in Las Vegas for the annual JCK Jewelry Show. This year they held the show at Mandalay Bay which was a much nicer venue than the Sands at Venetian. We stayed over at the new Cosmopolitan. GREAT hotel – best rooms in Vegas by far. All rooms have a terrace so [...]

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Selling Diamonds In Baltimore/Washington DC

I just want to share this video where I talk about what we look for when buying diamonds from our customers. Of course we also show a few nice diamonds in this one! Have a look and please click here to contact us if you’re in the market to sell your diamond.

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When Will The Big Jewelry Companies WAKE UP?

I was reading my friend Rob Bates’s column in JCK Online, Diamond Shavings, and came across this article about Blue Nile and their plans for mobile over the next few years. From the article: But a phone call from a customer during the 2009 holiday season put the future into better perspective, says Diane Irvine, [...]

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Video: Watch The Graff Pink Sell For $46 Million

I have to hand it to Sotheby’s on this one. Here’s footage of the record setting 24.78 carat Fancy Intense Pink Diamond being sold at auction in Geneva for $46 million. Sotheby’s TV finally did it right here by showing the REAL live auction, giving everyone a chance to see what it’s like to be [...]

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The Diamond Market Moving Into December 2010

It’s been a while since I’ve written about the state of the diamond industry as we prepare for the Holiday Season. I am in the unique position of looking at the market from both a wholesale and retail perspective. We buy so many diamonds from the public that we are regular traders in the market, [...]

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Blue Nile vs Local Jeweler Video

I made this cool video the other day and got a nice reaction from it, especially from my friends in the jewelry industry. It’s a common conversation between a diamond retailer and an internet shopper. The emails and comments that I received from people in the industry is that they loved it and it was [...]

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The Gold Party Is Over

Got an email this morning from the State of Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation prohibiting “hotel shows and home gold parties”. Here’s an excerpt from the bill: SECONDHAND PRECIOUS METAL OBJECT DEALER/ PAWNBROKER ACT COMPLIANCE ADVISORY New law prohibits hotel shows, home gold parties; requires dealer name, license number on advertisements. On October [...]

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Looking At Diamonds…And Myself

I had an enlightening experience today with a customer. He came in to look at some diamonds we were holding for him, only to tell me that he found another diamond from an e-tailer and just wanted to look at settings. I explained that we don’t just sell mountings and set other company’s diamonds in [...]

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