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- Feb 26, 2006
Ninjahood thanks for the article. Check your ezinbox.
From Keynes to Schelling, we know what's up.
From Keynes to Schelling, we know what's up.
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ame thing almost. They were both a carat so 1 has to be more dence.
wrong sir...a moissante is largely measured in milimeters because if you know what a carat was (200 miligrams) you'd know that a moissanite and diamond cut into indentical shapes wouldn't WEIGH da same because moissanties are SLIGHLTY lighter then a diamond.
team platano
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I had been looking on ebay but I wasn't really sure if alot of the jewels and sellers on ebay were legit. Something about ebay always makes me think they're some kind of catch.
there are lots of legit jewelry and sellers on Ebay. Jewelry is their #1 seller.
Online sellers+including Ebay ones can afford to offer the same or similar products as regular stores+jewelers because they have less overhead to worry about........store rent+employees+utilities+etc.
but like with buying anything on Ebay or just in general, if someone is offering a deal too good to be true, it probably is, especially with jewelry. Always buy from reputable sellers w/documented references, and don't just go by high feedback ratings....try and look into their past auctions and see what kind of stuff has been involved in their transactions. If a guy has been pushing Beanie Babies and suddenly is listing a bunch of Cartiers + Rolexes, well........
Btw, I got something cool to share w/y'all. It's not about celeb ice, but it is jewelry related, and I'm only telling it cuz I was hella shocked when I found out some of the details, esp since one of my friends was involved for almost a year but didn't tell me (or any of our other friends either). I only found out because he wanted to get me involved, but I said no for various reasons.
Enough talk, here's the low-down.........
One of my dogs is dealing w/a mutual friend that has been moving a lot of low-mid line ice & white gold jewelry (engagement/wedding rings, pendants, bracelets, etc) on Ebay. Our dude (actually, his wife...more on that later) makes good dough w/the Ebay hustle because the affordable stuff ($75--$500) is what sells.......girls+housewives from Nebraska, Minnesota, & middle America go crazy for those things because they don't break the bank and "are fun"---perfect for impulse buys/shoppers. But that's chump change and not really the interesting part of the guy's career+this account.
The guy got into the jewelry business because of his wife, whose family owns a BIG jewelry company/manufacturer in Asia. (I'm talking HUGE, HUGE.....I've seen the companies press reports+catalogs+trade/jewelry show literature and did some detective work w/some peeps I know that came from or have friends+fam in Asia, and they did know of the company & their operations) They have a few different factories in China+Taiwan+HK area to handle their various contracts, including making much higher quality+designer platinum+sterling silver+gold+ice pieces for some VERY high profile+upscale jewelry stores in the US and other parts of the world. (designer companies might have their own designs but contract jewelry manufacturing companies like his to make the pieces.....often, the designs are copyrighted to ensure exclusitivity for the stores, but, well.......as most know copyrights+intellectual property don't mean jack to Asians, especially the Chinese)In any case, I don't know how they managed to land those contracts, but they did and knowing a lil something about business w/Chinese companies, a big pay-off(s) and schmoozing are no doubt involved. What's really funny is that some of the pieces they do for designers are, as mentioned, manufactured in Asia, but the designer stores push them off as "Made In Italy" or "store/designer exclusives".I asked about this when I was screening some of the samples, and our dude said that the stores get away with that because technically the DESIGNS are from Italy....not really close to "MADE in Italy", but I didn't push after that. As for the "exclusive" part, the stores don't really know the extent or can't control the company cranking out more of the "exclusive" designs/pieces for other stores (mostly in Asia)........this is kinda similar to NIKE and their lack of control over shoe manufacturing companies+the variant problem.
While it was intriguing to find out about how sophisticated + high profile their overseas operations are, the most interesting part of the company's biz is how well they treat their employees. They built state of the art dorm buildings on their factory sites for their employees and immediate families (NOT relatives...aunts, uncles, cousins, etc) to live. They aren't really dorms so much as luxury apartments.....we're talking about computer+tech factory "clean-room" immaculate and with all the modern conveniences, including a health club. For those of you familiar w/the living conditions of most regular folk in Asia, esp China, a lot of people are EXTREMELY poor and live horribly, so for these people to be living so well, it's like hitting the lottery! The employees+their families are free to live there pretty much forever as long as employees still work for the company. Oh, and, each factory site has a school to educate employee family members up until college level.........pretty crazy.
My friend is only dealing with the mid line stuff and selling it to local shops+boutiques (some displayed on a consignment basis too) while our dude's wife handles most of the Ebay action (she never cared for the family business & just does the Ebay stuff to keep busy), and he+his in-laws+fam tackle the bigger contracts. They keep asking my friend if he wants to start pushing more expensive joints, but 1. he doesn't want to front all that $$$$ (he has to buy most of the stuff from our other friend before flipping them to shops+boutiques, etc) 2. mainly, he's paranoid enough as it is about getting jacked. People in the jewelry biz are always getting hit up, esp around jewelry/trade show time....my homeys in Vegas told me stories about that type of stuff. I'm sure you others messing/pushing ice+jewelry know about those incidents too.
Sorry for the off-topic and going on so long, but I was really fascinated when I found out about their operation and also that my homey and mutual friend were involved...........pretty weird what some peoples' friends+fam are into w/out you even knowing or until much later.
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exactly, so one is more dense.
true, hense da fact that a diamond is a 10 and a moissanrte is a 9.25
team platano
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Singer Ciara and her boyfriend Bow Wow (with his mom) in St. Barts for Vacation.
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yellow gold looks so good right now.
Truth.
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i might be a lil late and a lil off topic...
but i seen the Lil Jon Roll call video on MTV jams
and KTown is that you at the end of the video?
..just wonderin lol..
that's not that off topic, but this is......
lol
and yeh, that was me in the Roll Call Video
if you peep the uncut version on liljononline.com you'll see an extra scene with me on the cell phone callin the boss.
and lil jon actually jumping off the west blvd. bridge.
DJ Homicide, DJ AM, DJ Ben Baller = A M C
Dyrt clothing coming soon worldwide!
www.solerebelfoundation.com
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always make sure you are at least workin with real gold. 18k isn't that big a deal, but when you start gettin into 10k then there's a difference.
yeah thats absolutely true
my chain is 100% 14k which is 53-54% gold
18k is 75% gold but remember this, gold is one of da softest metals so if your da clumsy type best believe your 18k jewelry will scratch like no tomorrow....
10K ain't even worth da money so never get 10K
and i don't think its been disscussed here yet...K-town can you please tell people that a ton of mini diamonds/moissanites paved that equal 2, 4,8,etc total carat weight is WAAY CHEAPER then then one single rock of da exact same carat weight.
team platano