I'm wondering how these gemstones even make their way on the street. Are jewelry workshops really so messy and flippant with this product that it presumably gets caught up on people and just falls off their clothes when they leave from work? Is it from crappy stone settings falling off immediately on leaving the stores? Seems so strange to me how such a valuable product ends up dispersed in the environment like this.
Some jewelers are dealing with things of great enough value that some gold dust or small stones doesn’t matter. Most jewelry value is not in the gold or gems, it’s in the eye of the beholder so to speak. So losing the actual ring is a much bigger loss than the gold/gem value. However, a guy on the street that isn’t dealing in six figure goods, places great value in that small gold amount.
Most people would be amazed at how little, when not in a shop under bright lights, jewelry is actually worth. Let’s just say they aren’t selling gold, they are selling emotions and hype. And many customers get extremely angry when they go to resell and find out how little it’s worth. You’ll be lucky to get a tenth of what you paid for the stones.
Source; my wife ran the biggest gold buying store in northern LA county for a few years.
> Are jewelry workshops really so messy and flippant with this product that it presumably gets caught up on people and just falls off their clothes when they leave from work?
Boots, not clothes. Diamonds are so sharp that they easily get lodged in rubber soles. And then fall out when you walk.
And the small diamonds are still pretty cheap. He said about $100 per carat of small diamonds. It's not surprising that they're more casual with this inventory.
It's not such a valuable product. It only supports one low-paying full-time job, and who knows how long before the streets have been cleaned out of past accumulation.
> Over six days, he says, he collected enough gold for two sales totaling $819 on 47th Street.
jaggederest|1 year ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5GPWJPLcHg
kjkjadksj|1 year ago
mtnGoat|1 year ago
Most people would be amazed at how little, when not in a shop under bright lights, jewelry is actually worth. Let’s just say they aren’t selling gold, they are selling emotions and hype. And many customers get extremely angry when they go to resell and find out how little it’s worth. You’ll be lucky to get a tenth of what you paid for the stones.
Source; my wife ran the biggest gold buying store in northern LA county for a few years.
cyberax|1 year ago
Boots, not clothes. Diamonds are so sharp that they easily get lodged in rubber soles. And then fall out when you walk.
BobAliceInATree|1 year ago
And the small diamonds are still pretty cheap. He said about $100 per carat of small diamonds. It's not surprising that they're more casual with this inventory.
gowld|1 year ago
> Over six days, he says, he collected enough gold for two sales totaling $819 on 47th Street.
ainonsense44|1 year ago
I call marketing stunt. Most unlikely not a truthful representation of what to expect when doing it yourself.