The Times, They Are A’ Changin’

Written by: Andrew Fabrikant

The times, they are a changin’. As life changes occur, so do changes in style.  Recently more and more people have approached us to sell their jewelry because they are changing their lifestyles.  All the kids are married and charity functions are a thing of the past.
I met with a NYC couple who are thrilled to be living out an old cliché.  They are using the proceeds from the sale of their jewelry to put a down payment on a retirement home in Florida.

Pear Shaped Diamond

They are both in their 60’s and have decided that living in Florida and being near their grandchildren will be their lives now.   He is retiring in 2 years and wanted to purchase a new home while he could afford a house as nice as the one they live in now.
They were selling his mother’s jewelry, which never fit his wife’s fashion sense or style. (It rarely does.)  His feeling was that his mother would be gratified to know that the jewelry was being put to good use.
His mother’s engagement ring alone could have paid for much of the house.  She had an 8.32 carat pear shaped diamond (similar to the diamond pictured right) that was a G color and an SI2 in clarity.  My cousin Peter gave me great advice and we had the diamond looked at for re-cutting.  We ended up with a few great choices on how to improve the value of the diamond.  If we had left the diamond as it was, we would have gotten much less money for our client.
In the end, we were able to provide our client with a price that was substantially higher than what he had expected.