Inflation

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

I guess you wouldn't need to replate it, since it is a solid piece of the same alloy, that all got blended together when the metal was molten, right? (warning: sculptor bob starting to wade into metallurgy, an up-and-coming area of interest about which he knows nothing at all currently )

I read that white gold is plated with rhodium and is easily replated. It can get dull looking or scratch, I guess. Unlike platinum which develops a "patina." Learned all this last week during my purchase of a ring for the DW.

That constitutes my otherwise complete and utter lack of knowledge on the subject!

 

[brewer12345]

Heheh, I just got back from a retail jeweler with a story to tell.  DW's watch is a (low end) Raymond Weil, so the local place that sells Timex' and Casios won't touch it, even though all it needs is a battery.  So I went into a joorly store near work.  I work in a place that is VERY affluent.  Hedge fund central.  When I pull into the parking lot, I am very careful not to scrape the many Lexi, BMWs, Porsches, etc. parked there.  You get the picture.

While I was waiting for the battery change, I spotted an interesting looking ring.  It had a very clear, bright stone the color of ancient wine (purplish with a deep amber/brown tinge).  I asked if it was a diamond, and they took it out of the case for me to look at it (I was dressed up and actually shaved today).  The guy said it was an estate diamond from the 1920s, and I had never seen anything like it in a colored diamond.  It was about 1.5 carats, maybe a touch more, and set with two other diamonds that were .75 to 1 carat each, all nice stones.  "Its a great buy", he said, "Only $32,000."

 

[flipstress]

Wow, $32,000!  That's over 1/4 of the purchase cost of our 1260-sq ft house in 2000.

I haven't had the money to spend on real jewelry, and I have no desire to save up and buy some either.  I think in all my working years, I've bought one real gold chain and a couple of Seiko watches.  The stuff I buy is costume jewelry.

My mom has given me four rings with stones--I think they're diamonds but growing up, I heard her stones termed as "diamante" and "brilliante" so I don't know which I got.  She's also given me a pair of earrings with same stones, a few gold rings, and gold necklaces.

Jewelry was a store of value where I come from, so that's probably why my dad bought her quite a few pieces--that, and love, of course He did buy some for himself, too.  Jewelry and land were what people invested in.  All our land has been sold off in the lean years.

No man has given me diamond jewelry.  The men I've dated are not well off.  Hmmm...maybe I should start finding jeweler's sons.  Anyway, I don't expect it.  I have enough and I'm afraid to wear them for fear of losing the stones.  (I know I've gotta get the settings checked.)

Your wives receiving them will feel pretty special, though.

 

[haha]

No man has given me diamond jewelry.  The men I've dated are not well off.  Hmmm...maybe I should start finding jeweler's sons.  Anyway, I don't expect it. 

Why not go straight to the headwaters and choose a jeweler himself? 

Better yet, choose an oilman and have him give you a nice 1000 bpd well. Then you can buy all the jewelry you might like, plus most anything else too.


Ha

 

[astromeria]

"Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend"
from GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953)
words by Jule Styne and music by Leo Robin

The French are glad to die for love.
They delight in fighting duels.
But I prefer a man who lives
And gives expensive jewels.

A kiss on the hand
May be quite continental,
But diamonds are a girl's best friend.

A kiss may be grand
But it won't pay the rental
On your humble flat
Or help you at the automat.

Men grow cold
As girls grow old,
And we all lose our charms in the end.

But square-cut or pear-shaped,
These rocks don't loose their shape.
Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

Tiffany's!
Cartier!
Black Starr!
Frost Gorham!
Talk to me Harry Winston.
Tell me all about it!

There may come a time
When a lass needs a lawyer,
But diamonds are a girl's best friend.

There may come a time
When a hard-boiled employer
Thinks you're awful nice,
But get that ice or else no dice.

He's your guy
When stocks are high,
But beware when they start to descend.

It's then that those louses
Go back to their spouses.
Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

I've heard of affairs
That are strictly platonic,
But diamonds are a girl's best friend.

And I think affairs
That you must keep liaisonic
Are better bets
If little pets get big baguettes.

Time rolls on,
And youth is gone,
And you can't straighten up when you bend.

But stiff back
Or stiff knees,
You stand straight at Tiffany's.

Diamonds! Diamonds!
I don't mean rhinestones!
But diamonds are a girl's best friend.

 

[flipstress]

Why not go straight to the headwaters and choose a jeweler himself? 

Better yet, choose an oilman and have him give you a nice 1000 bpd well. Then you can buy all the jewelry you might like, plus most anything else too.


Ha

I wonder if Brewer's dad is available?   

Well, HaHa, one of these days, I'll take sailing lessons.  Maybe that'll open up my horizons and I'd meet men of substance (oil, diamonds, gold, and other precious metals and commodities.)  8)

Actually, I really would like to learn to sail because it was so peaceful the one time I got invited out on a sailboat ride...

 

[Scrooge]

"Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend"
from GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953)

That may help explain why, after checking diamond prices,  GENTLEMEN MARRY BRUNETTES (1955) 

 

[HFWR]

As Dolly Parton said, when asked if blondes were dumb: "I know I'm not dumb, and I also know I'm not blonde..."

 

[ESRBob]

So I went into a joorly store near work. I work in a place that is VERY affluent. Hedge fund central. When I pull into the parking lot, I am very careful not to scrape the many Lexi, BMWs, Porsches, etc. parked there. You get the picture.

Brewer,
Sounds a lot like Greenwich, CT. If it is, then I'm about 5 minutes away -- PM me and we can go have lunch sometime. I'll pull my 10-year-old minivan in between the Lexi and Porsches and we can enjoy looking at the $32,000 rings walking by on the sidewalk...

 

[ladelfina]

flipstress, (at least in Italian) a 'diamante' and a 'brillante' are the same thing (yay!).  Or rather, 'brillante' is a name for the stone once it's been cut.

My MIL had 2 big diamond earrings and she wanted to give them to me to trade in for a single engagement ring stone. I don't know how many carats they are but each one is about 8.5mm in diameter. I told her we'd lose a lot of the value in the buying and selling, and, even if that weren't so, with the money from the 2 stones you wouldn't get a stone that was 2x as big, or even 1.5x.. so we made one into the engagement ring and the other into a pendant, and I scored a few points in the 'frugal' department with MIL!!!

Where I live people can be snobbish; they are ready to write me off as a bag lady until they see the big rock, so I get better treatment in certain contexts... (unfair but true, I see that people do notice). I wouldn't have insisted on going out and purchasing a big ring, but it has already "paid" for itself.. a la Mastercard:

Diamond ring: $10,000
Being able to get away with looking frumpy every day: priceless. 

 

[astromeria]

I left my diamond ring at home when I went to Italy to avoid looking like a rich American!

 

[ESRBob]

Diamond ring: $10,000
Being able to get away with looking frumpy every day: priceless.

Ladelfina,
I know exactly what you mean. As I spend more years in ER I start to look a little rougher around the edges sometimes, in public, and I notice that other people in our town have not exactly started down the bohemian road themselves... Having something in your back pocket (or in your case, on your finger) seems to make a difference. ER isn't supposed to be about being treated like a bag-lady all the time! (unless you like to go incognito)

 

[brewer12345]

Ladelfina,
I know exactly what you mean.  As I spend more years in ER I start to look a little rougher around the edges sometimes, in public, and I notice that other people in our town have not exactly started down the bohemian road themselves...  Having something in your back pocket (or in your case, on your finger) seems to make a difference.   ER isn't supposed to be about being treated like a bag-lady all the time!  (unless you like to go incognito)

Heheh, that reminds me. Now that I work in a small shop and I pretty much sit in front of a terminal all day, I don't bother to shave or dress up unless we have current or prospective clients in. So I sometimes forget that I look scruffy and wander into one of the upscale shops nearby looking for something specific. You should see the reactions I get!

 

[Nords]

ER isn't supposed to be about being treated like a bag-lady all the time!  (unless you like to go incognito)

The difference is that in ER you should have a choice...

 

[IBWino]

Heheh, that reminds me.  Now that I work in a small shop and I pretty much sit in front of a terminal all day, I don't bother to shave or dress up unless we have current or prospective clients in.  So I sometimes forget that I look scruffy and wander into one of the upscale shops nearby looking for something specific.  You should see the reactions I get!

Yeah, I've been working from a home office for three years now and I sometimes go several days without shaving. Work in my sweats or a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt most of the time; I've almost forgot how to tie a tie. My DW usually has to remind me to "get cleaned up" before we go out. I must say, it's a great way to wind down a career and gradually slip into FIRE.

 

[ESRBob]

The difference is that in ER you should have a choice...

True, we have a choice. It is just the seduction of loosening my standards in dress and personal grooming is just too great. I mean, I can't believe I used to wear ties and wool suits and starched shirts every freakin' weekday, even in summer. Since we didn't move, most of my friends still do that sort of thing (OK, a few have dropped the tie, but the wool slacks and sport jacket are still very much in evidence...) The best I can hope for is they make a special category for me -- 'Former Suit'.

Still, even if I wanted to, I couldn't keep up with some of the more extreme ones. Bumped into a serious conversation last summer between two couples trying to determine where was the most expensive hotel/inn they could find on Block Island, as they wanted to book it. That was the same night one of the mom's put the whole ER thing under fire saying that she felt it sent the wrong signal to her sons about work ethic. (her husband was ER and she was pushing like mad to get him to go back to work -- she has now succeeded).

 

[laurence]

ESRBob, I can't believe that woman! If her husband made enough to ensure a good life for his family and allow him to ER so he can actually spend some time with them, who the hell is she to tell him that isn't good enough? If she wants to inspire a good work ethic in her sons (whatever that means - I would think happiness in ER would be plenty inspiration to work hard), she can get a job! If she already has one and thinks every house should be dual income, she can get a second! Wow! What a jerk!

 

[REWahoo]

Wow! What a jerk!

Good morning Laurence. Are we having a bad day?

 

[laurence]

I got up for work at 4, got home from work at 10 last night, sorry! The worst part is I have to do these kinds of hours right now due to other's mistakes/screw ups.

So yeah, the thought of ER sounds pretty good right now, and the thought of soemone forced back into this BS by a spouse sounds pretty messed up...guess it touched a nerve!

 

[ESRBob]

Laurence,
I know, I know. I was shocked, too. The interesting thing is that the woman is normally very mild-mannered and quiet. This is the first time I ever saw her get her 'dander' up. Then again, her husband, the one who had been doing ER for a few years, was not exactly fighting the return to work -- he was having trouble channelling his energy into constructive pursuits and was also having status-loss regrets. So she was pushing while he wasn't resisting that much.

They did/do have plenty of $ so the financial side wasn't the issue.

I don't think you'll have to worry about this when your time comes, though! Hang in there through these long days of Overwork... there is an end to all this one day...

 

[Nords]

Then again, her husband, the one who had been doing ER for a few years, was not exactly fighting the return to work -- he was having trouble channelling his energy into constructive pursuits and was also having status-loss regrets.

Another one struggling to be responsible for his own entertainment.

At least he attempted to make the leap. He's learned more than any of us who just bought a one-way ticket and a bridge pyrotechnic.