Diamonds are a girls best friend?
In this week’s episode- Janet talks about diamonds, from popular shapes of stones to whether they’re a good investment or not, with jeweller to the stars Ian Sharp.
Here’s what we cover:
- Most popular gift for Valentines Day, from a jewellers perspective.
- Types of diamond cuts.
- What to do with your old jewellery?
- Best time to buy diamonds.
- Where and how to get in contact with Ian Sharp.
Transcript
Janet: Hi everybody. I am here today, I know you already know, my very, very good friend. But also jeweller to the stars. And everybody I know, Ian Sharp, now Ian’s been in business for about 40 years.
Ian: About Forty years, yeah. In the same premises.
Janet: It can’t be, you’re only 21.
Ian: Something like that … just turned 22.
Janet: Oh, did you? Okay. Now I really want to talk to you, and we’ve got a lot of ladies out there, we want to talk to you about diamonds.
Ian: Yes. Which is a lady’s best friend.
Janet: Which is a lady’s best friend. Yeah. So what I want to know is for Valentines Day … what do most people buy for Valentines Day?
Ian: They buy little trinkets, they buy diamond pendants, diamond studs, they buy mainly diamonds as a way to go, or they just buy little chains or things like that with their little hearts on the them and things like that. So Valentines Days are soft little presents before the big one.
Janet: I like it. I like your thinking. Now there are all different shapes of diamonds. And you and I have been through all of them. Can I ask you what you think is the most bought shape, and why?
Ian: At the moment, diamonds are the flavour of the month, and white gold is.
Janet: At the moment? Sorry. Diamonds have always been a flavour of the month. Just saying
Ian: More so, yeah. It used to be years ago emerald, rubies and sapphires.
Janet: Oh!
Ian: So now, I mean for the last 10 to 15 years. And really the oval diamond is what really is making the scene at the moment and the other one’s radiant cut-
Janet: So, what is a radiant cut?
Ian: The radiant is a square with the corners off, so it’s not the sharp princess cut. And the oval, we already know it’s an oval shape, the most popular at the end of the day is rounds. And round diamonds, they’ve got the most shine and facets and really bright. And you can take a round diamond and somehow put it in an oval setting, which makes it look like an oval stone.
Janet: Which actually brings me to something, do you remember ages ago … everyone knows I’ve been married twice … I came in because Ian is my friend.
Ian: I hope she gets married three times.
Janet: No! No. And I obviously had two wedding rings and two engagement rings. And they had sat in the cupboard for … my first marriage ended thirty years ago, something like that … so they’d all sat in the cupboard for a long time, so I had some nice diamonds, but I didn’t ever want to wear them. You don’t want to wear your engagement rings and that…
Janet: So I was having a bit of a chat to Ian, I said, “What am I going to do?” And I don’t know if you all know, but Ian, I brought them into him, and he put them both together into a ring that I absolutely love and wear every day, and you’ve got to see, this is the most beautiful ring.
Janet: Can you see? I’m just trying to make it really close to the camera. There. What am I doing?
Ian: That’s it. Beautiful.
Janet: Look. And what Ian said, is what you said about the round. So this is a square setting-
Ian: With a round diamond.
Janet: With around diamond. But it does look like-
Ian: A cushion.
Janet: Yes.
Ian: It’s called the cushion look. And what you do is you take your old jewellery that you … sitting in the safe, sitting in the cupboards, and you don’t do anything with. You bring it in, turn it into one nice piece. And you enjoy wearing it every day. Instead of sitting, getting pinched, getting lost.
Janet: Not only that. You can do things … like I’ve come before and I’ve lost one earring. So I bring the one earring. I’ve got a few things-
Ian: Old chains.
Janet: Yes.
Ian: Old chains, old earrings. Old bracelets. Nine carat, Eighteen carat, white gold, yellow … You bring it in, we look at it, give a value on it, take it, take it apart, and then decide with you, do you want a ring? Do you want an earring? Do you want a bracelet? And walk out with once piece out of 10, 20, 30 pieces. Which you wear every day for the next ten years and you enjoy it.
Janet: And you really should. Can I tell you instead of having things put away in the cupboard somewhere, it’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s not like the old days where we used to go … well, I didn’t, but … people on television, they’d wear their diamond necklace then put it back in the safe and it would sit there and get dusty … I personally believe, and I think that the new kind of thinking is that, get all of your good stones, put them into some fabulous pieces, you wear them everyday, you enjoy them everyday rather.
Janet: A lot of things that people get that are inherited. And they come and they say, “I want to use that stone.” I’m now going to ask you, “Why are the old stones not that beautiful shiny?”
Ian: Because they were old cuts, that were cut differently, we’ve got the latest technology, and the diamonds are cut now to perfection. And the old diamonds are nice, but haven’t got a nice cut to it. Or the colour’s not right. Now what we do, and what we sell now is whiter diamonds. That’s the most important, that they’re white and beautiful.
Janet: And that’s the other thing that I don’t like, I see some of my much older friends that have got a diamond broach or something, and it’s the crustiest old-looking thing. It might have eight carats of diamonds in it, but it’s like, “What are you doing?” Okay, let me ask you this Ian, are there meanings to the different shapes of stones? Like an emerald cut, does that mean something? Or a brilliant…
Ian: It’s just the way … sometimes it becomes famous by, the emerald cut was worn by Elizabeth Taylor, so … oh, a pear shape, I beg your pardon … that became very popular. She wore a pear shape. And somebody else like a princess from The Netherlands or something wore an emerald cut. So that became the popular diamond-
Janet: My next question is that there are fashions that just go in cycles, some kind of a cycle.
Ian: Used to be princess cut used to be the diamond. It’s not the flavour of the month anymore.
Janet: Okay, so what is the one that you would say is the fashion sort of-
Ian: At the moment, it’s ovals and rounds.
Janet: Oval and round.
Ian: And that’s the nicest diamonds that are beautiful and that’s the fashion at the moment.
Janet: Well I don’t … I wrote a book about aphrodisiacs, and it’s called, “The Ultimate Guide to Aphrodisiacs that Really Work.” I think I’ve spoken to you about this before and it’s about, I really knew a lot of the anecdotal evidence, but I looked and found out scientifically, the aphrodisiacs that really, really work.
Janet: I actually forgot the diamonds, actually gentlemen just saying, one of the best aphrodisiacs you can get. But if you’re interested in getting a copy of my book, click the link below, enter your details, and we’ll send it out to you. www.rawessentials-aphrodisiactea.com
Janet: You probably have a lot of these things in your cupboard, and you really should have a look at this book, it will really open your eyes.
Ian: Really. Very good.
Janet: Yes. Ian, I wanted to ask a couple of other questions. Is there a best time to buy … is there price fluctuations? Is there like a stock exchange or something for diamonds?
Ian: No, you just buy the diamonds when you’re ready. You don’t wait for it to go up. They do go up. They go up just in the steady course of inflation and a bit more. And basically you buy when you really … don’t wait for next year, they’ll be cheap or … it does affect a bit of it by dollar, ’cause it goes by the American Dollar, so if the American Dollar goes up, that’s what we buy during … the price becomes better. If it drops, it drops.
Janet: Oh, I understand. When we were at parity, like diamonds were like…
Ian: So then they dropped by 10%-20%, it wasn’t because we had to increase, because the dollar. So you’ve got to remember that.
Janet: Alright. So I just want to know. What’s my next question? If you were … I found with you, just to talk a little bit about you, is that when I got my ring made, I knew you really, really well. And I came to you and I said, “Look, here’s my stuff.” And I said, “Okay, I’ll have a little think about what I would like.”
Ian: Yes.
Janet: Now, because you know me, you came and said to me, “I think that this is what we should have for it.” I looked at it and I loved it, but I thought, “Gosh, if I love that so much, I’m going to have a look at the other 56 styles.” And how funny that I came back to-
Ian: To the one that you loved, the original one-
Janet: No, to the one that you suggested, that’s why I think that you have this amazing thing that actually … no, but you actually look at the person and maybe the size or look for that person…
Ian: I judge a person by the way they come in and how they, what they look like, and what they want, and the four jewellers that are here as well, we work on the premise that’s … and we work together and make something that suits you. Like a dress-maker.
Janet: Amazing, because when I came back to the other 56, now look, I’ve been coming here for a very long time, since my first wedding I think. Anyway, we won’t go into that, however. What I loved about Ian, is that you actually have the workshop out the back. I don’t know if you remember, remember I brought my rings in and when you actually took me out-
Ian: To the back.
Janet: Not that he’s going to do this for everyone by the way, so it was a very special thing for me, but he took me out the back, into the workshop, and allowed me to watch my rings being melted, which was amazing. But having the workshop, I find that I can come and I can say, “Oh look, I’ve got this and this,” and then you just going out to the back and you’ll say, “Look, it’ll be 24 hours”-
Ian: Or it will be 10 minutes, sometimes we polish it within 10 minutes sometimes there’s something being done, come back in an a hour. Some people don’t want to leave it overnight. We’ll look at it, come back the following afternoon. And we have everything to show you. So everything gets done on the premises.
Janet: Okay, so I’ve been coming for many many years, so I know exactly where the shop is. But you know what? I actually don’t know the address, what is the address?
Ian: It’s 65 Toorak Road, South Yarra.
Janet: Wonderful, I was just talking before about aphrodisiacs. I’ve written a book. The book is called, “The Ultimate Guide to Aphrodisiacs.” Just have to write diamonds on the back of it, if you would like a copy. It’s free. You’re crazy if you don’t get your hands on it. It’s some of the best work I’ve ever done.
Janet: If you could, click the link below, put in your details, and we’ll send the book out to you. www.rawessentials-aphrodisiactea.com
Janet: And another thing, I really like to hear from you, write us comments, tell us what you think. We need to hear from you.
Janet: I think that that’s about as much diamonds, I know, just look at that, and cry, that was two weddings and two engagements, come in and see Ian. Diamonds are certainly a girl’s best friend.
Janet: Yeah. Thanks Ian.
Ian: See you later, thank you very much, you’re wonderful.