post one
Personally I love the how natural mAterials make me feel. I get a
thrill from how varied and beautiful nature can be. I like finding
something special. I don't think I would enjoy my work as much or
my clients would appreciate it as much without that extra thrill.
post two
I know that there are many lovely, lab grown stones. However,
there is so much customer resistance to them because, as Tracy
pointed out, customers equate them with low quality.
I probably sell more different kinds of natural gemstones set in
jewelry than anyone on this forum, dino bone to diamonds. When you
have a customer that wants a birthstone, 5mm round ruby, lab created
is $450, natural between $2000-$3000, do you give the customer an
option or watch them walk?
In my 30 years of retail, most customers are quite accepting of a lab
created gems, and a lot of the time they are happy with simulated
gems. Especially grandmother on a limited budget.
There is a big difference in lab created, some companies have pinkish
synthetic ruby stones, and some companies have a true ruby red
synthetic that are really hard to tell from a natural ruby.
If you cannot tell which ruby is natural, how can you tell how you
feel without knowing which is real? If it is based on intellectual
knowledge, might be about thinking rather than feeling.
Particularly at this point in time, with the economy not very kind to
most of us, if I want to stay in business, I am glad that I am able
to give my customer the choice.
I did sell a one carat natural very fine ruby for $8,000. But what
choice can you give a customer that wants a ruby and only has $500 to
spend?
Perhaps because I have a brick and mortar store, perhaps because I am
a Graduate Gemologist, I am able to sell lab created gems. I do tell
the customer that the synthetic is made to look like the best quality
natural gem which is usually out of the price range for most people.
I do have some people who do not want lab created gems.
They usually do not make any kind of gem purchase. ( They say they
will wait to afford what they want. Price of gems goes up faster than
most wage increases).
I do not know how you cannot make a sale of a synthetic/simulant
alexandrite when the price of a natural gem is not affordable by
most customers. We have people come in and ask for them, we tell them
they are synthetic/simulant and they say they know, they like them. A
lot of man made gems that look like alexandrite are color change
synthetic corundum or color change spinel. When you are selling lab
created, make sure you say " This is a man made gem, it is the same
exact chemical composition as the natural, just made in a lab". Works
for me.
I also have noticed, when someone comes in for an aquamarine
birthstone, many more people are happy with the price for a blue
topaz as opposed to an aqua, and they buy one. I always give the
price for the aqua, and then I tell them that blue topaz looks just
like aqua, and it can be 15-20% of the aqua.
I will bet a lot of people who are so purist about the gems they use
are not anywhere as purist about the processed “food” they consume.
GMO corn or soy, anyone? Banned in Europe, not in the U.S. Virus is
genetically altered, used to modify gene in our food, we eat it, we
get modified by the virus. Allergies increased in Europe to something
like 55% from 5-10%. Rant over.
Richard Hart
Denver, co.