Tom Shane's World

I am again on the ‘big iron bird’, flying to Bangkok.  This will be a short trip (for me) of only a couple of weeks.  Then I will have three weeks back in the States and I have to turn around and return to Asia.  As much as I love being in Hong Kong and Thailand, each of these trips take over 24 hours…and that’s not fun.

Anyhow, our Christmas sales of rubies and sapphires exceeded our plans, so we won’t have enough stones to get us through ‘til April, if I don’t buy them now.  We’ve recently gotten the fancy colors of sapphires into our showcases.  While we always carry three shades of blue, as well as pink, yellow, green, orange and lavender…we now offer some colors that are really “fancy” one-of-a-kind items.  We can mount them in rings or pendants; just don’t ask for those fancy colors in earrings, please!  We can never duplicate them for a proper match.

We are now starting to work with white sapphires as well.  They look almost like a diamond (not quite the brilliance, if you have a really discerning eye).  We won’t have them available in our normal stock for a few months; but if you mention reading about them on this blog, we will bring them in for you to look at.  They cost a fraction of what a comparable diamond would cost.

If anyone has ideas of where they would like to see us use these white sapphires, please let us know in the comments.  We are really curious as to how they will be received by our customers; given their easy confusion with diamonds, to the untrained eye.

There has been much internal conversation, within our company, as to the pros and cons of offering these white sapphires.  Some of our executives fear that a couple may wish to use a white sapphire instead of a diamond in their engagement ring, thus hurting our diamond sales.  Some of our people are concerned about the “what if…” issue.  That means what if he buys a sapphire and tells his bride that it is a diamond.  Who is to be held accountable?  Interesting issues, so please let us hear from you!!!  My own thoughts are that some people may actually prefer the white sapphire for personal, political or financial reasons…and it is our job as their jeweler to give them the opportunity to make an informed choice.

Another new product that is coming our way, but not until March, will be red sapphires.  Most gemologists study that both ruby and sapphire are made of the same mineral, which is corundum.  Corundum in every color but red is called sapphire; in red it is called ruby.  However, I have come across some extremely rare red stones, which are truly sapphires and not rubies.  They have more crystal (when examined internally) than rubies, making them prettier and visually different.  They can only be seen side by side with a ruby, to let you understand what is so special about them.  If you are curious, be sure to call the store closest to you, to confirm that they have red sapphires in stock to show you, before making the drive.  If not, make your request known, and they will get one in to show you, by request.  Just be patient with us, as they are just now being re-cut and re-polished in our Bangkok cutting factory…so the beauty is sure to be maximized.

Red sapphires I was looking at during the buying trip

I love being able to offer our customers things that they will never see anywhere else in America.  This excitement is, in addition to great business, personally very rewarding.  Having unique product is one major way in which we differentiate Shane Co. from other jewelers.

Valentine’s Day fancy colored heart shaped sapphires are still in stock, but running out soon.  These are natural sapphires, but in colors that you have never seen elsewhere.  Each stone is truly one of a kind, and most unusual.  The prices on these are really great, as I bought up an entire production, which took years to accumulate by a man here in Bangkok, who was in need of cash.

This trip in Bangkok will be a short one, but we will be able to remain well stocked in the rubies and sapphires that remind you of how different our quality is from anyone else.  Every stone we have is 100% natural; mined from the earth.  To us, we sell symbols of love, and can’t imagine a man made or synthetic stone causing a woman a great feeling of the relationship, compared to a natural stone.  Especially when we sell natural stones for less than others sell phony stones for.  But that may be my personal prejudice showing through!  Anyhow, my next blog post will be from Denver!

Over the years I have heard a lot of different people make a lot of different comments regarding this unique holiday.  I’ve listened to the positive and the negative schools of thought.  Everything from the classic negative argument, “Just another way for ‘greeting card companies’ to make you buy something” to the classic positive appeal, “It’s nice to receive something from those who are important from you on this day”…even if it is contrived.

That being said, I’ve never really given the matter too much deep thought, until now.  Being a very passionate person about most things in life, I surprisingly have historically found myself neither strongly promoting nor opposed to matters such as this.  To point out the obvious, of course the business that I’m in benefits financially from the celebration of Valentine’s Day.  But this is precisely why I’ve made the conscious decision to explore the notion further, trying to do so through the eyes of our customers, as an armchair anthropologist of sorts, if nothing else.

I will try to stay as neutral as possible during my brief little analysis here, and see where it takes me.  I will allow the result of my own personal conclusion come from the focus group which is our customer base.  The customer is after all, our boss.

Over the years of seeing our customers come in for gifts tied to Valentine’s Day, I have seen more consistency in demeanor from our customers than one might expect.

Most guys come into the store looking forward to finding something really special and unique to present to their special someone, and they want their gift to show thought.  Rarely does a customer walk into our door and imply that they “have to” get a gift for Valentine’s Day.  Furthermore, rarely do I hear anyone say or imply anything to the effect of, “So long as I stay under $XX, I don’t much care what the gift is”.

Of course, societal pressures often strongly imply that some sort of notice should be given to this holiday.  That much I’d hate to debate against.  However, I think that a lot of people really enjoy the reminder to do something out-of-the-ordinary, even if it is expected; an ironic twist I suppose.

Getting back to me personally on the topic, I know that if I decided to tell my fiancée that we should make a point to do something mutually endearing towards one another on an arbitrary date each year, and never utter the words “Happy Valentine’s Day” to one another, she’d be supportive and welcome the switch.

Likewise, it should go without saying that kind acts, be they either on random days of the year, contrived holidays, or both, should be part of a normal healthy relationship.  They can be of a gift-giving nature, simple gestures of kindness, or truly anything that is mutually understood between the couple.

In short, I think that I’ve concluded that I myself see absolutely nothing the matter with any sort of contrived holiday that encourages recognition of loved ones.  It has nothing to do with the fact that people should do nice things for one another during non-holiday periods.  That should go without saying, and never were the two meant to be mutually exclusive.  Besides, I know that over the years I’ve seen a tremendous amount of customers walking out of our store around this time of year looking forward to presenting their well-thought-out gift to their loved one…and I can only be sure that there have been a lot of happy smiles several days later when sentiments are exchanged, knowing that their special someone took the time and effort to let them know how much they’re cared for.

To come full circle on the matter, I’m glad that after ‘celebrating’ the holiday numerous times, and partaking in other’s celebrations from a gift-providing standpoint, that I finally took a moment to give it thought.  At least if I’m ever asked about the topic I don’t have to reply that, “I’ve never given it much thought!”