Please, please, please people! Jewelery is an art! It has been used as a mere method of generating income forever but until we in the profession see it as an art form rather than a pound of chopped liver that sells by the pound (or gram), it will be seen as a mere commodity by our customers as well. How many times have you had a customer enter your store, heft a piece and try to buy it by weight? Feel good? I think not. There, I feel better now.
Steve, I read your posting and grinned. I've always told
everyone who asks that I am a Jeweler,(not an artist), plain and
simple. I find the “art” is in the buyers’ perception of my work,
and if I have to tell 'em its “art”, I’ve missed something
anyway. Never have I had anyone,“heft a piece and try to buy it
by weight”, but it may yet happen. I’ll probably roll my eyes and
laugh out loud. One customer did ask me if one of my brooches was
a cigarette lighter, does that count? 
Keep fighting.
Lisa,(Its 100 degrees, and its raining…Has the equator
shifted?) Topanga,CA USA