by Lee Hall

Created on: June 08, 2008

When you ask the question "Should a jewelry designer be required to reveal if stones are real or synthetic?" you should ask yourself why are you buying the piece.

For the average individual who is simply walking buy a display and see's a piece of flashy jewelry and is moved to buy, they probably are not educated enough to know the difference and will pay for what they see rather than what they don't. Depending on where you shop may determine the quality of the item, and whether the sales person is willing to educate you on the style and quality of the stones in that item. Many times the style is dictated by the type of stone being placed in it.

Much of the decision process depends on the individual who is making the purchase and the reason for buying. Are they buying for a loved one, for themselves, or simply because they think it looks nice. When a spouse makes a purchase they tend to be willing to purchase larger more expensive pieces, relying more on the sales person to extole the quality of the item, rather than past experience. They make a decision based on that information unless they take the time to shop around.

The person who is savy about jewelery, and is wanting something to show off, or looking for an investment quality item, will examin and ask questions about type, style, quality, synthetic or non. They want more bang for there buck, and have looked around at similar pieces already. They already understand the difference between precious and semi-precious stones and the grading system for each. They are informed and know what to look for, and may even cary a jewelers loop, or ask for one, to examine the piece they intend to buy. If the sales person doesn't have one, or if they are unable to get you one, leave immediately. Better safe than sorry.

So much of the pricing of fine jewelry is based on the quality of the stone, the labor involved in designing and manufactoring of the item. Gold, Silver, Platinum all have a fixed market value and can be figured from the daily newspaper. Most jewelers buy their precious metals directly from the refinery but stone price varies from dealer to dealer. Also from individuals, retailors, bench jewelers, or scrap gold buyers the price may vary radically. The price range can be from the sublime to the ridiculas. How much the person is willing to pay for scrape jewelery doesn't dictate what you will pay. In retail it is often said, "As much as the market will bear." I've seen the exact same piece sold for one hundred

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