Sea Shells and Diamonds

Conch Shell

As I was packing up my house recently, preparing to move, my daughter came across a beautiful Conch shell that she found on the beach in Captiva, Florida when she was young. Captiva is known for its beautiful shells.

She was admiring her beautiful shell when it occurred to me that finding a beautiful sea shell in a place that is known for its shells is much like finding a beautiful diamond.

In the world of diamonds, there are thousands of diamonds available on the Internet.  If there is one thing that I know after a lifetime of 40+ years in the wholesale diamond business, it is this: Finding a beautiful diamond is much harder than finding a beautiful Conch shell!

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Recently I was evaluating the diamonds that I purchase for my “wholesale diamond stock”. I realized that for every thousand diamonds that I look at –  99% of which are certified by the GIA (Gemological Institute of America),  –  there are perhaps 20 that I purchase.

It is not a question of what the GIA report might say in terms f the diamond quality. It is a question of finding that rare diamond that you just look at and say, “WOW!’

A “WOW!” diamond is something that is truly amazing. You just want to look at it because its facets and its scintillation draw you in.  It is a work of nature and a very talented diamond cutter. It is one of the most spectacular things in the world. It is something incredibly beautiful.

It is very rare – even in a world filled with databases of many thousands of diamonds.

So, you might ask, “What is my point?”  In the sea of many thousands of diamonds (Internet diamond databases), one must understand that there are diamonds that are truly exceptional and the other 99%. Buying a diamond from an internet database – particularly the lowest priced diamond – is cheating yourself of the beauty of what an engagement diamonds supposed to be.

Maybe you think that an engagement diamond is just something that you “have to do” because it is an “expected” part of the engagement process.  This may be true to some extent. But it is something that will look at every day for many years. It should also be an investment in something that is truly spectacular.

NEIL REIFF

ARTIST CREDIT:  “Conch Shell on the Beach”.   Soft Pastel by Ria Hills (www.riahills.com)

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