Ramble On Ron

Diamonds, Music and other Facets of Life

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Large and Rare Colored Diamonds Are Still Strong

The US retail jewelry market is still a little weak, but the super high end/investment quality diamonds are very strong with both Christie’s and Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels Auctions doing very well in Geneva this week. From Diamonds.net: Sotheby’s Jewels: Jewels of historical significance garnered strong prices at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels sale, held in Geneva on November 17. […]

I Don’t Like The Redskins, But I Love Washington DC!

We just had our first Buying Event at White Flint Mall in Bethesda, MD.  It went very well.  We’ve cultivated a big following in DC though our website, with customers coming to our store from DC and Northern Virginia on a regular basis.  So we teamed up with my cousin, David Samuelson, who happens to […]

The Diamond World is Changing

I knew it! The brands are breaking down. I just ran across this article from The Wall Street Journal about Tiffany and Co and other big retailers cutting and polishing their own diamonds in Botswana. Graff has owned Safdico Diamonds for a while, but he doesn’t sell to the masses like Tiffany. What jumped out […]

Petra Diamonds Finds HUGE 507 Carat Stone

They found some big ones this week in South Africa, most notably a 507 carat white Type II clean diamond.  I’m sure they’ll try to get a 200 carat out of it, and I can’t wait to see what this thing looks like finished! From Reuters: LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) – AIM-listed Petra Diamonds (PDL.L) […]

Guest Blog Post: To Bid Or Not To Bid

This is an awesome guest blog post by Dana Kiyomura, expert in estate and antique jewelry. Dana has an office in NYC where she buys and sells vintage jewelry and you can follow her on Twitter @winebrilliant. “Bidding at a jewelry auction is time consuming and can be dangerous. First you have to preview the […]

Diamond Market Report

Like other financial and commodities markets, today’s diamond market is very volatile and unpredictable.  A lot of companies going into Chapter 11.  That being said, it’s a GREAT TIME to buy or to invest in diamonds.  They will be back!  The market for super high end colored diamonds is still strong and bridal is doing […]

Off To Vegas For JCK

Well I’m off to Las Vegas for the JCK Jewelry Trade Show where I will be presenting with Greg Cangialosi from Blue Sky Factory on Sunday at 9:45 PST, 12:45 EST.  We will be streaming live so come check it out.  Then Monday is a Facebook Face to Face party at TAO.  Should be a […]

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