Hi Jessica,
I know of 4 main shopping channels out there. QVC, Home
Shopping/Americas Store, ValuVison, and Shop at Home. On all of them
the CZ’s used are high quality. ValuVison I know uses Swarovski.
They generally use quality Lab Created stones also. HSN is the
largest buyer of colored gemstones in the world, or at least that is
what they claim, and QVC can’t be too far behind. They generally
have pretty good stones when it comes to garnets, the topazes,
citrines etc. but they are the ones that coined the phrase “Midnight
Blue” for sapphires that are almost black. Once when I was watching
they were selling a sterling and garnet bracelet for about $39. This
also included a pair of garnet stud earrings free. There were 11
garnets each 8x6mm, in each bracelet/earring combo. They sold 22,000
combos. I bought one to see it. The metal work was made in Thailand
and was pretty nice. The stones were, at best, OK. Several had
nicks in the facets, one had a scratch on the face, and 2 had rather
large bubble inclusions. I sent it back and they exchanged it for
another with no questions asked. The stones were a little better.
The color was slightly brownish on both bracelets. Hsn also had 4
other items using these 8x6mm garnets and the show host mentioned
that they had bought 2 1/2 million carats of garnet for these items.
I wonder what they paid per carat? Tanzanites, most sapphires,
rubies, emeralds are little better than commercial quality. Tanz are
light and the others are generally opaque. They have some nice
Chinese peridot and aqua.
ValuVision is on the other hand the premier station, and they haves
pretty nice merchandize especially their stones. They also have
loose gemstones for sale. I have seen gold/platinum rings with 80%
color change natural alexandrite of 1 carat with 1.25 carat of
diamonds sell for $18,000+ on this channel. I have seen 9+ carat
Tanzanites which are custom cut and of dazzling brilliance and super
color sell for $9 -13,000. They encourage you to take their
merchandize to a gemologist and/or an appraiser. You have a 30 day
no questions asked return policy. John and Laura Ramsey out of
Seattle sell the loose gemstones and also jewelry of Lauras design.
Chuck Clemency of Jam Creations of New York City sells quite a bit of
up-scale jewelry there also. This company also include a 1 year
period, on up-scale jewelry, where they will fix it or replace any
stones that you loose break or just plain don’t like. They also
resize during that period as many times as you need it. Shipping is
even included. They have a Canadian company and an Indian company
that also sell on the channel. Additionally they have individual
artists/designers who sell on this station. They have merchandize in
all price points.
I did buy an aquamarine from the Ramseys. I paid a good dollar for
it and I got what I paid for. It was an ‘extra color’ stone and was
a sky blue topaz color with a very nice cut and clarity. Small
specks were visible under 10x and then only a very few.
Shop-at-Home is the last station and I only had it for a short time
and that only late at night. It is based in either Nashville or
Chattanooga Tennessee. I think that only a Jeff Foxworthy "bit’
could do it justice.
Well that is what I know. I hope it helps.
Regards,
Skip
Skip Meister
@Skip_Meister
Orchid Jewelry Listserve Member
N.R.A. Endowment
"No man’s life, liberty or fortune is safe…while our legislature is in session."
Benjamin Franklin