we did not do any diamond-related activities on our honeymoon here. i have conflicting feelings about diamonds. first of all, i always thought they were a little boring; i mean, why have clear when you can have colors (also applies to my wardrobe...), and also, i've read enough about diamond mining to feel bad about the way it's all done. and just as easy not to want them under those circumstances.
when ryan proposed, he offered his grandmother's beautiful, classic, gorgeous diamond and platinum ring and said that if i didn't want it, he would buy me a colorful stone. but i loved that ring. so i chose it. and i a little bit love diamonds now. they're so... sparkly.
but i'm still conflicted about the mining. so we toured a conflict-free diamond factory/company, gassen diamonds.
a few things: we've been warned that the diamond tours end in pretty hard sells, and it's best to just walk away and purchase elsewhere. but i had lost a teeny, teeny diamond in a ring, and thought it might be fun to replace it with an "amsterdam diamond", assuming it wasn't too expensive (in reno, it costs about $20)
so ryan booked the tour and told them man he was taking his wife on a tour for her 30th birthday.
(these are replicas of the world's most famous diamonds)
the man who comes downstairs looks at us, looks at our stickers, and with a quizzical air, goes to the counter to ask something of the receptionist who checked us in. he comes back and says, "oh, the americans? right this way" we join him on the elevator with another employee, who says something to him in dutch. he replies, "let's hope so! ha ha ha" as we step off.
as we are looking at the small exhibit on the history of gassen (by the way, did you know the diamond industry in amsterdam effectively ended entirely with WWII, as most of the diamond cutters were jewish?) he rushes us into his salesroom, where we assured we "will be able to handle the diamonds. very large ones! come, come come."
this is where my "this is going to be really awkward" radar goes off. i realize for certain (i'd only suspected till that point) that this guy thinks we are here to make a big purchase for my birthday. and i realize he's going to be miffed, because it's also become clear that he's a big-wig at the company, and doesn't often do the tours.
the view from his office, whatever.
so we sit down, and he shakes out 4 packages wrapped in paper and plastic. he gives us the eye, and then says, "i'll start with the small ones". he gives a short lecture on diamond color, cut, clarity and carat, and puts them on white paper, so we can really compare. "everything looks beautiful on black velvet, that's why all the other jewelers use black velvet; we use white because we need to hide nothing."
and on the white paper, with comparison, you can see the differences in color. it's pretty interesting. know what else is interesting?
the small diamonds were 200 euro each.
the next size up was 19,000. (it shot out of his tweezers a la pretty woman, and flew across the room. i had to grab it. weird.)
then there was a 3 carat one that was 98,000, but it was supplanted by the the smaller (only 2.6 carats) one with superior color (the best) and had been cut into the gassen 121, which has twice the normal amount of facets, and is thus VERY sparkly.
that's it. and this is the best photo i could get. it's hard to photograph a diamond.
and here it is in my hand, next to a ring: notice that ring. it will play a part in our story.
it's worth 320,000 euro. that's what our house is worth. that diamond, or a house. REALLY???
so then he starts asking us what we would like to buy, and starts pulling out cases and cases of rings and earrings and necklaces, and offers them all to me to try on. when he asks what we would like, i tell him we're looking to replace the missing diamond in my ring, and would he please look into the pricing on that?
and this stunned, dawning realization, look comes over his face.
"i don't even know what the price would be for something that small."
he makes some inquiries, and says
"that would be 14 euro. the goldsmith can set it in the ring for you in 20 minutes."
"perfect"
the diamond arrives down the metal chute that connects everything (like the ones at drive-through banks). he shakes it out of the package, sneers, and says:
"it looks like a speck of dust."
then he promptly proceeds to LOSE the diamond, look for it half-heartedly for about 30 seconds, and then says:
"oh, i take the responsibility. i'll just have them pop down another of that size."
then he finds the diamond, on his blotter in front of him. then he makes a big deal about sticking the diamond onto a piece of tape, and carrying it to the goldsmith himself, as
"i wouldn't want it to get lost again in the tube".
he tells us to go through the gift shops, and if we see any other jewelry we like, we can let him know. otherwise, he'll meet us in the coffeeshop in 20 minutes.
so we go through the rest of the diamonds, see the cheaper, crystal faux diamonds, and wander into the coffeeshop, MAYBE 7 minutes later. we wait there for about 6 minutes. he comes in, steaming mad:
"where WERE you? i had to WAIT for you."
when we try to explain we were right where we were supposed to be, he's having none of it.
"right then, here's your bit of jewelry and your change. haveaniceday."
it was awesome.
this is where people put their visitor stickers after their tours.
the colors are not for different days. every group we saw had different colors and shapes. i think our stickers told a lie. i think they said we were big spenders.
i'm sorry tour guide. i didn't lie to you. the sticker did.
ps-- my "speck of dust" diamond? comes with a certificate of authenticity. oh yeah.
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