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mk5000
08-31-2007, 04:28 PM
I couldn't find a shopnbc board so i figured i would put my info here by comparison

i am NOT a topaz person but i wanted to buy one to see what the insanity was

i once watched a chuck clemency show,
Chuck Clemency is a jackass manic idiot.he had a peach topaz. it was a gorgeous color, trying to emulate the sri lankan pad, so i figure i would get it. my first shopnbc purchase

i wore the ring once, and put it away for about a year

a year later the entire underside of the coloring was gone, peeled off. while it was sitting in a safe place, unworn away from all humans, while I was living out of town.

so, that next year, i got one from shopathome, who had one a little darker, that they called salmon, it has survived for quite a while without wearing out after one wearing. essentially the same price, but the sah one was a LOT larger, though no accent stones.

i don't mind paying for crap if it's crap prices and i know i am getting crap. and if it is pretty crap.

colleen lopez is on hsn right now selling milli clusters in silver. nearly every stone i have seen on this show is just awful. the prices are not real bargains but the designs are pretty bad. teh color is almost invisible. crap but it's not pretty

i am watching elian of beverly hills on the shopnbc. he's selling high end crap. yeah there's a lot more gold and it's 14 k. they are telling me that the stone is impeccable. the tanzanite on the screen is about the color of one of those inky saffonix. it's a pretty design and a good amount of gold. but the stone is hideous. til they backlit it. He earlier showed an aqua he alleges is a deep rich color but is the color of watered down sky. and the diamonds he keeps insisting are near colorless near vs. wuh?

he's selling crap occasionally pretty but very overpriced

and then you have Neekee who is overmodulating and selling the same thing as the others, overpriced pretty crap and cheap bad crap. and stuff in the middle.

the channels that are upstarts, will have the same crap. the jewelry stores, same.

if you are going to collect, collect the stuff you love

if you are into art and fashion, collect what you will wear

if you think that you can resell because one of the hosts showed you an appraisal, perish the thought

but please jewelry channels, please give us hosts that don't make me doubt sincerity, who don't yell and shriek, who can pronounce their words and who actually tell you the real retail price without inventing sky high appraisals that you know you can't reproduce

beekeeper
09-01-2007, 07:34 AM
I think the other big 3 shopping channels are pretty fair with retail prices. JTV is a joke in this department.

I am not a fan of enhanced stones, and when I say enhanced ... I basically mean created stones ... all the horrid colors of topaz and quartz, etc. I saw Sharon trying to convince us that the strawberry quartz is a very high end color yesterday ... yawn ... please lady, high end in Wal-Mart maybe!

I have a couple Chuck Clemancy pieces (my most recent, a kunzite and pink tourmaline ring) that I love. Many pieces have gone back, because I wasn't thrilled with the quality, but overall I really like his designs. I did get suckered into buying one of his mystic topaz rings earlier this year. I planned on returning it but failed to do so in the 30 days, so I still have it. It's pretty, and I do wear it ... but I would never buy another mystic or "created" stone.

My fave lines at ShopNBC are Carlo Vianni and Dallas Prince. I LOVE the color combos that the Carlo Vianni line has, and Dallas Princes designs are so different ... nothing you'd ever see anywhere else. I like the Gem treasures too, but I think they are too full of themselves, hence their higher prices.

mk5000
09-01-2007, 07:52 AM
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beekeeper:
I think the other big 3 shopping channels are pretty fair with retail prices. JTV is a joke in this department.

I am not a fan of enhanced stones, and when I say enhanced ... I basically mean created stones ... all the horrid colors of topaz and quartz, etc. I saw Sharon trying to convince us that the strawberry quartz is a very high end color yesterday ... yawn ... please lady, high end in Wal-Mart maybe!

I have a couple Chuck Clemancy pieces (my most recent, a kunzite and pink tourmaline ring) that I love. Many pieces have gone back, because I wasn't thrilled with the quality, but overall I really like his designs. I did get suckered into buying one of his mystic topaz rings earlier this year. I planned on returning it but failed to do so in the 30 days, so I still have it. It's pretty, and I do wear it ... but I would never buy another mystic or "created" stone.

My fave lines at ShopNBC are Carlo Vianni and Dallas Prince. I LOVE the color combos that the Carlo Vianni line has, and Dallas Princes designs are so different ... nothing you'd ever see anywhere else. I like the Gem treasures too, but I think they are too full of themselves, hence their higher prices.
www.tvtalkshows.com/board/showpost.php?p=1686997
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thankfully i missed the high end topaz statement.

I also love Carlo and Dallas designs. Carlo seems to repeat the country field of flowers design (campobello) a lot and lately all i ever see is turquoise. In the past tho, they were dragging out what (they said) was stash carlo had held for years (i got the idea he's deceased).

They used to bring alexandrites and other things that were highly uncommon. Now, his unusual stuff seems to be web only and I have a feeling most of their energies are directed at marketing in Europe now.

Dallas never had a design I didn't like but the stones are ones that i either have loose or already have a custom ring with that stone

one day if i get real famous, maybe i will ask some of those folks to build me something

beekeeper
09-01-2007, 08:07 AM
You don't have to be famous mk5000, just have a lot of money! :-)

Whoanellie
09-01-2007, 09:28 AM
Strawberry quartz and cherry quartz are man-made glass - they do not exist in nature.

Love Dallas' designs - wish she would size them down just a tad for us more petite gals. Carlo Viani is affiliated with LeVian. LeVian usually has a few trunk shows every year in the major department stores.

Bought a salmon topaz from Chuck. Sent it in for resizing and it was returned with the coating removed from the culet resulting in a white spot in the center of the stone. Have a mystic topaz and enjoy it, but that's it with vapor deposition for me.

mk5000
09-01-2007, 04:32 PM
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Whoanellie:
Strawberry quartz and cherry quartz are man-made glass - they do not exist in nature.

Love Dallas' designs - wish she would size them down just a tad for us more petite gals. Carlo Viani is affiliated with LeVian. LeVian usually has a few trunk shows every year in the major department stores.

Bought a salmon topaz from Chuck. Sent it in for resizing and it was returned with the coating removed from the culet resulting in a white spot in the center of the stone. Have a mystic topaz and enjoy it, but that's it with vapor deposition for me.
www.tvtalkshows.com/board/showpost.php?p=1687064
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i don't dig quartz at all.

i had never even heard of fruit flavored quartz til you just now mentioned it

bleah not tasty at all.

thanks for the tip

mystylady
09-01-2007, 09:06 PM
You guys make me breathe a sigh of relief that I don't buy jewelry on TV!