With only a few pictures in her portfolio and enough money to last a couple of months, Cherry, a beautiful, six-foot, platinum blonde from Arkansas, arrives in early 1970s New York City, hoping to successfully navigate the cutthroat world of agents, photographers, makeup artists, executives, and gorgeous models to take the fashion world by storm. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.
"Finally, one of the top diamond experts breaks the silence and demystifies the world of diamonds for regular folks like you and me."-Gregory J.P. Godek, author of 1001 Ways to Be Romantic Get Your Money's Worth on a Great Diamond! Buying a diamond can be one of the most important and intimidating purchases you ever make. Whether you're getting engaged or married, or are buying for an anniversary, investment, or just because, How to Buy a Diamond will take the pressure and uncertainty out of your purchase, and will show you how to get the best diamond for your money. Newly revised and completely updated, How to Buy a Diamond is the only book on the market to include wholesalers' secret pricing charts athat you, the public, never get to see. The charts are broken down by carat, clarity, and color-including the various types of color within each color grade. Important sections include: - Matching your funds with the perfect diamond - The four C's explained: clarity, color, cut and carat size - Ring styles and settings - Insuring and caring for your diamond - Picking the right jeweler - Grade bumping: what it is and how to spot it - Surprising new changes to guild stores - Jewelers' tricks of the trade - Wholesalers' secret pricing charts!
With the "right-hand diamond" all the rage right now, it is important for women to stay informed of the particulars when it comes to shopping for a diamond. Even if a woman is searching for an engagement ring with her fianc she should learn the basics to help him out, and to prevent her personal style from being compromised by uninformed choices. A Girls' Guide to Buying Diamonds provides all the key facts any woman needs to know before purchasing her ice. This style manual shows readers how to choose the perfect diamond, based on lifestyle, personality, even hand shape, all from a woman's perspective. Beautiful illustrations and photographs enhance discussions of bands, settings, cuts, and how to identify imperfections. Practical advice teaches readers to select a jeweler, arms them with questions to ask, as well as questions they should expect to hear. A Girls' Guide to Buying Diamonds is a must have for any girl-or boy-game for splurging on the ultimate glamorous accessory.
to this edition In working with my own clients to acquire gemstones and jewelry since this book was first published in 1984, they have pointed out that most people buy "jewelry" and not "gemstones." Because the book offers so much practical advice and money-saving tips about buying jewelry, they urged me to change the title. So, in this edition The Complete Guide to Buying Gems has been changed to Jewelry & Gems: The Buying Guide. Consumer and professional response to the book has been very gratifying. Almost 14,000 hardcover copies are in circulation. We have received hundreds of letters, phone calls and in-person comments about the helpfulness and interesting information it provides. We thank you for encouraging us to make the book more widely available by bringing out this softcover edition. We have taken the opportunity of this softcover edition to update the price guides for diamonds and colored gemstones and, in light of the increase in both the popularity and price of pearls, to add a price guide for them in the "Guide to Popular Gems and Their Prices." Also, we want to take this opportunity to comment further on gem invest ment, taking into account major developments since the original manuscript was written in 1980.
Purchasing gems and jewellery can be a magical experience, filled with excitement and anticipation. But lack of information, error, or misrepresentation can make the thrill of buying a gem or piece of jewellery confusing, intimidating, overwhelming, and costly. To help you to avoid the pitfalls and keep the magic, two internationally respected experts on buying gems and jewellery put their inside knowledge to work for you in this easy-to-read, easy-to-use guide. It is filled with practical advice and is designed to make it easy for you to have all the information you need to buy gems and jewellery with confidence.
Whether buying for personal pleasure or for investment, in today's market of Internet auctions, new diamond cuts, new colours, new treatments and new frauds buyers need a source of expert guidance. This comprehensive guide, from diamond expert and best-selling author Antoinette Matlins, is the unofficial bible for all diamond buyers who want to get the most for their money.
A myth-shattering investigation of the true cost of America's passion for finding a better bargain From the shuttered factories of the Rust Belt to the strip malls of the Sun Belt-and almost everywhere in between-America has been transformed by its relentless fixation on low price. This pervasive yet little- examined obsession with bargains is arguably the most powerful and devastating market force of our time, having fueled an excess of consumerism that blights our landscapes, escalates personal debt, lowers our standard of living, and even skews of our concept of time. Spotlighting the peculiar forces that drove Americans away from quality, durability, and craftsmanship and towards quantity, quantity, and more quantity, Ellen Ruppel Shell traces the rise of the bargain through our current big-box profusion to expose the astronomically high cost of cheap.
Whether you are buying a diamond for an engagement ring, anniversary, to commemorate a special moment, or for personal pleasure, today it is more important than ever to understand what you are buying. There are new shapes and cuts, fancy colours, high-tech treatments, and sophisticated frauds. There are new ways to buy -- such as Internet auctions and TV shopping. Buyers need a source of expert guidance. Practical, comprehensive, and easy to understand, this book offers in depth all the information you need to buy sparkling diamonds with confidence, including: What is a diamond?; The factors affecting quality differences in diamonds; Diamond grading reports and how to interpret them; How to compare prices; How to spot differences in stones that may appear to be the same quality; How to protect yourself from misrepresentation; Questions to ask when buying any diamond; What to get in writing; How to get what you want within your budget; Important information about buying on the Internet and much more.
"Perfectly Clear, Buying Diamonds for Pleasure and Profit" -- fourteen chapters tell all about diamonds from rough white diamonds to fancy colored investment-grade ones. Diamonds, the hardest substance on earth, are one of the most concentrated forms of wealth; when carefully considered, they can add sparkle to anyone's portfolio.
