Buying the Perfect Pearl Jewelry
Buying jewelry can be a scary task. Who do you trust? How do you know if the various jewelers have quality jewelry? The list of questions can continue on! Jewelry Cedar Rapids wants to put your mind at ease by making the process of selecting the perfect pearl jewelry an easy, rewarding experience.
This was the main reason why pearls fetched such extraordinary prices in the past. Imitation or fake pearls are also widely sold in inexpensive jewelry, but the quality of the iridescence is usually very poor, and generally speaking, fake pearls are usually quite easy to distinguish from the real thing.
You need to understand what sort of pearls you are buying, if you buy Pearls that come from Pearl farms you need to understand how they are picked up, these sort of pearls are carefully selected from long-established pearl farms. And then range in size from under 1mm to 20mm giants. Usually this farm pearls are harvested in the cooler winter months, after about two years of cultivation.
Like natural pearls, cultured pearls grow inside of a mollusk, but with human intervention. Cultured pearls are sold by their size in millimeters. Saltwater pearls originate within a saltwater mollusk. Saltwater pearls can be either natural or cultured.
Obviously it is not a surprise for anyone to understand that natural pearls are more expensive and if you are really interested in getting the best pearls in the world, well, you need to Travel all the way to Japan.
When you buy a Pearl you need to ask about the origins and their shapes. This is the way they get classified.
So where do Pearls come from ? Well Pearls are formed inside the shell of certain bivalve mollusks: as a response to an irritant inside its shell, the mollusk creates a pearl to seal off the irritation. Pearls come in eight basic shapes: round, semi-round, button, drop, pear, oval, baroque, and circled.
Pearls where before only for fashion, but now you can find pearls have also been crushed and used in cosmetics, medicines, or in paint formulations. Pearls with the smoothest surfaces are the highest-quality, most sought-after pearls.
Regarding buying Pearls as part of Jewelry, you need to know the following: almost all pearls used for jewelry are cultured by planting a core or nucleus into pearl oysters. Abalone from along the Pacific Coast, primarily California, produce both blister and free pearls and their shells are used for inlay in jewelry and other items.
Try to find a company or design that offers these same finer-quality of any Japanese cultured Pearls at a fraction of traditional-store prices. It is not easy but for sure it is possible. Pearls are a great present for many people out there, you will never look out of fashion with a nice Pearl jewelry necklace, and for sure always buying some high quality pearls is a wise investment. Pearls are perfect for gifts and for that special and romantic occasions.
Tips to Buying Diamond Engagement Rings
Surprising your girlfriend with a beautiful diamond engagement ring is a moment both of you will cherish for the rest of your lives. Buying an engagement ring is a very special occasion and you should choose the ring wisely. Jewelry Cedar Rapids wants to give you the information you need to make this decision, as your fiancée will be showing it off to all of her friends and family members.
The market is flooded with numerous jewelers and shops claiming to sell the most authentic and beautiful diamonds there are. To make the right choice from the plethora of designs and variety can indeed be a confusing task. It would do you good to be aware of some basic tips on buying diamond jewelry before you buy one for your girlfriend. The ‘four c’s’, color, cut, clarity and carat, are the deciding factors for a diamond’s purity and value. This king of gems comes in all colors, with white being the purest and costliest. Although it is the hardest stone available, diamond can be cut in a variety of fancy shapes and sizes. The shape and cut determines the shine of the gem.
One should choose the shape of the diamond according to your girlfriend’s personality. If she is dainty– buy a small elegant one; tall and well-built? go for a large square rock. The sparkle of the diamond often holds more importance than the rock’s size. Clarity of the diamond ensures a dazzling shine every time the light passes through the stone. Carat, or the weight of diamond, also contributes to its price and value in the market.
Educating yourself about the ‘four c’s’ will keep you from buying imitations. Even though it is conventional to spend two months salary on your engagement ring, you can buy synthetic diamonds, which will be easier on your wallet. Synthetic diamond has the same physical properties of a real diamond but is more affordable than the real one. Finally, do ask the jeweler to provide a purity certificate, which will serve as a guarantee and later help in insuring your gems.
Tips On Buying Watches Online
The internet has become one of the most popular ways to buy watches and other pieces of jewelry. Shopping online is more convenient for most people because, they no longer have to go from store to store to comparison shop. Jewelry Cedar Rapids understands that your time is valuable and that is why we would like to save you both time and money when it comes to your watch or jewelry purchases.
People used to go from one store to another to choose watches for themselves or for their loved ones. Today, choosing a watch can be easily achieved just by looking at the different catalogs offered by numerous websites selling various types of watches.
Buying a watch online can be easy but, it can be quite tricky considering that you are only choosing from photographs without ever touching the watch or knowing how it looks on your hands. People who do not have the time to go from one store to another however, believe that getting their watch online can save them time and money.
When choosing a watch online, do not just be tempted to choose one that looks good on the net. Make sure that you know the details of the watch like the price, the warranty and the quality of the watch. It is also important to take note of the shipping services offered by the company selling the watch online.
It is hard to choose from among the hundreds of watch photos displayed on different websites. However, you should limit your choice to the watch that meets your budget. It is not wise to go overboard when choosing a watch online. Thus, you must always have a ceiling price for your budget.
Why waste your time looking at the website for watches that costs an arm and a leg? Be realistic and go directly to watch catalogs that have more affordable prices.
You can start by looking at the photos of different kinds of watch in the internet and check them out when you are visiting the malls. This way, you are able to see the quality of the watch physically. Make sure you get the right model when doing your research so you can compare it to the real thing when going shopping.
When you have decided on the type of watch you like and you have examined a similar model in the shops, then you can buy the watch online. However, you have to make sure that you are getting the exact model and that the online dealer offers a warranty for the watch.
Choosing a reputable online watch dealer is a must if you do not want to be shortchanged. Shopping for a watch online can make the job easier but, you also have to be vigilant about the reputation of the dealer and the type of watch you are buying.
Diamond Jewelry Buying Guide
At Jewelry Cedar Rapids, we understand the many choices that consumers have when shopping for jewelry such as diamond engagement rings, diamond earrings and other diamond jewelry. However, the more selections you have also means there is more potential risk as well as rewards. Before you buy your diamond jewelry you need to do some research in order to understand which is the best company to purchase from.
The retail diamond market is comprised of three broad categories of diamond sources; jewelry stores, E-commerce diamond companies and diamond brokers.
Jewelry Stores
Until recent years, jewelry stores were the only option for most diamond shoppers. This was especially true for smaller towns and rural areas. These stores had a monopoly, much like Ma Bell with the phone systems during most of the 20th century. Jewelry stores were the only game in town and could set their prices at whatever markup they wanted.
Jewelry stores depend on impulse buying so they focus on having a selection to pick from, name recognition through extensive advertising, and being convenient so shoppers can walk in and make a purchase with no education or knowledge of the product. If it looks nice to an impulse buyer, they will pull out the credit card and have it gift-wrapped. To attract the impulse buyer, jewelers built elaborate stores with polished marble floors, expensive display cases, and lighting that makes everything in the store sparkle.
To pay for the stores, the decorations and all the expensive advertising, jewelry stores must maintain high markups on the items they sell. The more expensive stores have bigger inventory, higher rent and more advertising, which dictates the higher markup necessary to pay for all that overhead.
E-Commerce Diamond Retailers
The online shopping cart of hundreds of jewelry retailers has been one of the big growth areas for e-commerce. Shoppers can shop from the convenience of their home or work computer, look at the pictures of thousands of jewelry items online and place their order without ever talking to a human. E-commerce diamond retailers provide a list of diamonds owned by groups of wholesalers and let the shopper pick the diamond they want based on the specifications in the list. The shopper pays for the diamond in advance and then the wholesaler or the retailer ships the diamond to the consumer.
The online jewelry retailers offer the advantage of much greater selection than you can find in a jewelry store and the ability to ship the items all over the country, which provides greater options for shoppers in small towns and rural areas. Due to low overhead costs, online jewelers can provide lower prices than most jewelry stores. The disadvantage of the online jeweler is that there are few safeguards in place to keep the consumer from making a mistake. Picking the least expensive diamond from a list of options often means there is something less desirable about the diamond. Without an expert adviser to help, the consumer is mostly on their own to make their selection.
Diamond Brokers
There is a third type of diamond retailer, the diamond broker, that differs from the jewelry store or e-commerce retailer. Like most e-commerce retailers, brokers do not own inventory and have low overhead, but they differ in that they work as diamond consultants for the shopper to find the best diamonds meeting the consumer’s requirements.
To attract new clients, diamond brokers rely on word of mouth advertising. They typically have a website focused on online education and shopping advice instead of a list of inventory and the online shopping cart. Diamond brokers work with their client to find the best diamond on the wholesale market and present it to the client in the broker’s office or ship the diamond to the client to examine before they purchase. The result of the lower overhead and personal consultant service is that clients usually get a better diamond at a lower price than with jewelry stores or online retailers.
To determine which company is going to be the best supplier for your diamonds, know what retailer characteristics are most important to you then ask many questions. Be sure the company you select is going to be able to provide the personalized service, expert advice, high quality diamonds and low prices you deserve.
