Good Books: Jennie Yabroff writes about A. J. Jacobs, who spents one year following every rule in the Bible + his experiences @ 'The Year of Living Biblically'
Useful link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20910659/site/newsweek/page/0/
Friday, September 28, 2007
Walking A Tightrope Without A Net
Kelly Devine Thomas writes about auctioneer's style and expertise + the invisible factors at play + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1486
De Beers Seeks EC Diamond Origin Legislation
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the concept of origin labeling and quality branding by DTC in order to protect its interest + European legistlations and protection of consumer's rights + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp
Innovative Diamond Tools
Here is what DATA Diamond Technology’s site says about the products:
Handheld Diamond Weigher: VIBE-130 Where conventional weighing scales need to placed on a level base, and require preparation to ensure that air conditioning and drafts do not distort results, D.A.T.A. Diamond Advanced Technology Ltd’s innovative tweezer called the VIBE-130 both weighs and measures the diameter of the diamond in an instant. Using pioneering technology patented around the world, the VIBE-130 weighs all shapes of polished stones, from 0.005 to 1.5 carats. The information is instantly transmitted to the company’s computerized inventory or Excel sheet thus by-passing the need for manual inputting of data. The advantages are clear: diamond offices save time and are able to completely eradicate any possibility of error whether human or due to an unstable working environment. Light-weight and designed to be easy to hold and work with, the VIBE-130 is the only such device in the world. It operates using a specially developed vibration technology that the company has created over the past five years.
Gem Count: DATA Diamond Technology’s Gem Count is designed to bring a highly sophisticated level of automation to one of the most basic activities of colored gemstone manufacturing. To fill customers’ orders, manufacturers often need to count many thousands of gemstones, a process that invariably requires excessive time and effort, and one that is prone to mistakes. Designed to count rough, semi-processed and polished stones in sizes as small as 0.8 mm in diameter, colored gemstone manufacturers will find that the Gem Count eliminates a labor-intensive portion of the production process, thereby making their operation more predictable and efficient, and improving their competitive edge. Like with the Diamond Count, the results of the count are instantly transmitted to the client’s inventory software or to an Excel sheet using Bluetooth wireless technology. This avoids the traditional requirement for manual input and eliminates the possibility of human error, both intentional and accidental.
Diamond Count: Counting diamonds is a labor-intensive task in which mistakes, both accidental and deliberate, can easily happen. Aiming to provide a technologically advanced solution to this problem, D.A.T.A. Diamond Advanced Technology Ltd introduces the Diamond Count machine, which counts rough and semi-processed diamonds and is the only such machine for the diamond industry. With close to 100 percent accuracy, the instrument can count 600 to 1,200 diamonds per minute depending on size. The latest generation of the Diamond Count is able to count diamonds with a diameter as small as 0.8 mm. The machine can count up to 1,700 carats in just minutes. The machine counts a preset number of diamonds and can also separate larger parcels into smaller ones. Results of the count are instantly transmitted to the clients’ inventory software or to an Excel sheet using Bluetooth wireless technology. This avoids the traditional requirement for manual input and eliminates the possibility of human error, both intentional and accidental.
M-Count: Certain companies involved in the diamond and colored gemstone industries have very specific requirements when it comes to counting rough and processed stones. It is for these firms that D.A.T.A. Diamond Advanced Technology Ltd developed the M-Count. The machine was initially developed for major mining companies, whose considerable required throughput necessitated a system with a massive processing capacity. Each M-Count can be modified to suit the demand of a particular client. The M-Count can be configured to count diamonds and colored gemstones ranging in size from 10 carats to +9 sieve sizes. Up to 7,000 carats can be processed in just minutes. The machine counts a pre-set number of diamonds and/or gemstone and can also separate larger parcels into smaller ones. Results of the count are instantly transmitted to the client’s inventory software or to an Excel sheet using Bluetooth wireless technology. This avoids the traditional requirement for manual input and eliminates the possibility of human error, both intentional and accidental.
Useful link:
http://www.data-tech.co.il
Handheld Diamond Weigher: VIBE-130 Where conventional weighing scales need to placed on a level base, and require preparation to ensure that air conditioning and drafts do not distort results, D.A.T.A. Diamond Advanced Technology Ltd’s innovative tweezer called the VIBE-130 both weighs and measures the diameter of the diamond in an instant. Using pioneering technology patented around the world, the VIBE-130 weighs all shapes of polished stones, from 0.005 to 1.5 carats. The information is instantly transmitted to the company’s computerized inventory or Excel sheet thus by-passing the need for manual inputting of data. The advantages are clear: diamond offices save time and are able to completely eradicate any possibility of error whether human or due to an unstable working environment. Light-weight and designed to be easy to hold and work with, the VIBE-130 is the only such device in the world. It operates using a specially developed vibration technology that the company has created over the past five years.
Gem Count: DATA Diamond Technology’s Gem Count is designed to bring a highly sophisticated level of automation to one of the most basic activities of colored gemstone manufacturing. To fill customers’ orders, manufacturers often need to count many thousands of gemstones, a process that invariably requires excessive time and effort, and one that is prone to mistakes. Designed to count rough, semi-processed and polished stones in sizes as small as 0.8 mm in diameter, colored gemstone manufacturers will find that the Gem Count eliminates a labor-intensive portion of the production process, thereby making their operation more predictable and efficient, and improving their competitive edge. Like with the Diamond Count, the results of the count are instantly transmitted to the client’s inventory software or to an Excel sheet using Bluetooth wireless technology. This avoids the traditional requirement for manual input and eliminates the possibility of human error, both intentional and accidental.
Diamond Count: Counting diamonds is a labor-intensive task in which mistakes, both accidental and deliberate, can easily happen. Aiming to provide a technologically advanced solution to this problem, D.A.T.A. Diamond Advanced Technology Ltd introduces the Diamond Count machine, which counts rough and semi-processed diamonds and is the only such machine for the diamond industry. With close to 100 percent accuracy, the instrument can count 600 to 1,200 diamonds per minute depending on size. The latest generation of the Diamond Count is able to count diamonds with a diameter as small as 0.8 mm. The machine can count up to 1,700 carats in just minutes. The machine counts a preset number of diamonds and can also separate larger parcels into smaller ones. Results of the count are instantly transmitted to the clients’ inventory software or to an Excel sheet using Bluetooth wireless technology. This avoids the traditional requirement for manual input and eliminates the possibility of human error, both intentional and accidental.
M-Count: Certain companies involved in the diamond and colored gemstone industries have very specific requirements when it comes to counting rough and processed stones. It is for these firms that D.A.T.A. Diamond Advanced Technology Ltd developed the M-Count. The machine was initially developed for major mining companies, whose considerable required throughput necessitated a system with a massive processing capacity. Each M-Count can be modified to suit the demand of a particular client. The M-Count can be configured to count diamonds and colored gemstones ranging in size from 10 carats to +9 sieve sizes. Up to 7,000 carats can be processed in just minutes. The machine counts a pre-set number of diamonds and/or gemstone and can also separate larger parcels into smaller ones. Results of the count are instantly transmitted to the client’s inventory software or to an Excel sheet using Bluetooth wireless technology. This avoids the traditional requirement for manual input and eliminates the possibility of human error, both intentional and accidental.
Useful link:
http://www.data-tech.co.il
Selling Diamonds
(via Diamond Promotion Service) Selling With Information: Every salesman should know his diamonds. But he should also be careful about how he displays that knowledge.
Some young couples, shopping for an engagement ring, want to know all the technical facts about every diamond they consider. Others would be turned off by a flood of information that, in their preoccupation of the moment, they neither want nor understand. Customers for other pieces of diamond jewelry are usually less interested in diamond facts than in diamond fashions.
It is essential, nevertheless, that information be given clearly and confidently whenever it is requested.
A jeweler must be an expert in the eyes of his customers. So when a question about diamonds is asked, you have to answer it. You can’t look it up in a book or a promotion piece without losing that expert image. You can’t turn the question aside.
The language you use is important. One customer may be able to absorb all the technical terms you have; he’d feel you were condescending if you talked to him in simple terms. Another customer might need the translation of technical talk into terms of his everyday life; he’d feel you were snowing him if you talked over his head. It’s a matter of judgment to decide what terms to use with what customers.
Your information about diamonds should always be directed toward their individuality. As the symbol of love, a diamond is a very personal thing; and personal things should be individual. The infinite combinations of the characteristics of carat weight, color, clarity and cut makes each diamond unique. That is important to impress upon your customers.
When information is requested, be sure that you give it by demonstration as well as by words. Not every customer will want to look through a loupe or a microscope. Nor would every customer be able to see subtle gradations of color, even when pointed out. But they should be given the opportunity to do so, if they show the interest.
Selling with information is selling with facts, with confidence. Both should be solid.
Selling With Fashion
Fashion means different things to different people. Many are convinced that fashion is a conspiracy of planned obsolescence; what’s ‘in’ this year is ‘out’ next year.
Actually, fashion is whatever makes each woman look, and feel, her best. Therefore, diamond fashions are permanent, because the diamond is permanent in the way it makes a woman look and feel.
The settings for diamonds can change from year to year, from decade to decade. The same diamond can be put into different settings during its long life. But the diamond is always in fashion.
The diamond engagement ring, for example, may have the classic simplicity of the solitaire Tiffany mounting. Or it may have an infinite variety of settings, with center stone, side stones and precious metal all making integrated contributions to the intricate design. But each setting, be it classic or modern, is fashionable because it is personal.
Many couples are afraid that the ring they select may go out of style. You’ll be selling with fashion if you convince her that, as long as the setting continues to mean to her what it means on the day she first wears it, her ring will be her style. And should there come a time when she changes, as women often do, she can have her diamond put into another setting that will be her style then.
Fashion is highly important in the selling of other diamond jewelry. A diamond is a gift of love, be it ring, pin, watch, earrings, necklace or bracelet. But a diamond gift is also something to be worn as a fashion accessory.
One aspect of selling with fashion is the demonstration of your fashion sense by showing the capabilities of the different styles of diamond jewelry. The traditional is classic and timeless, and it can be worn with almost everything. The antique and the modern can also be worn with almost everything, but for different and special effects.
Another aspect is showing the versatility of a single piece; the more ways it can be worn, the more valuable it becomes. It’s simple economics that the more often a diamond piece can be worn, the less it costs for each wearing.
For example, a pin or brooch is usually worn at the shoulder. But you can show, with today’s fashions, that it can also be worn on a sleeve or cuff, on a belt, at the neckline, or on a hat or in the hair. Ear clips can be worn on a neckline, or even on the shoes. A necklace or bracelet can be wired for a tiara. Even a ring can double as a jewel for belt or scarf.
Your women customers will be particularly impressed when you sell with fashion. But even a man who is buying a gift for a loved one can be impressed with the versatility you can show him, to show her.
Selling with fashion is selling both for today and for always.
After The Sale Is Concluded
The consummation of a sale at the counter should be a beginning, not an end. You have established your market potential. You have brought traffic into your store. You have made the sale at the counter. A shopper has become a customer.
The next step is to make that customer a client, one who will naturally turn to you for all his diamond jewelry in the future. Your merchandise and salesmanship have made a customer. Interest and service will make a client.
Interest can be shown in many ways. For instance, you could take a picture of a young couple as they buy their engagement ring. Since the girl will wear her ring constantly, she has no need for the ordinary ring box; so you could package her ring in a box that could be used later for another purpose. You could send a card of congratulation on their wedding, after the birth of each baby, on each anniversary. You could call or write to any customer whenever you have something of special interest for her, or him.
Your study of your market potential can show you what types of expression of interest can be most effective for you. Service is simply interest applied for a specific purpose. At regular intervals you could call or write to suggest that a ring, or watch, or pin, be brought back for a cleaning and any necessary adjustments. And a client’s visit for such a purpose is store traffic.
Market potential. Store traffic. Counter sales. Clients. They all add up to more sales of more diamonds.
Selling Diamonds (continued)
Some young couples, shopping for an engagement ring, want to know all the technical facts about every diamond they consider. Others would be turned off by a flood of information that, in their preoccupation of the moment, they neither want nor understand. Customers for other pieces of diamond jewelry are usually less interested in diamond facts than in diamond fashions.
It is essential, nevertheless, that information be given clearly and confidently whenever it is requested.
A jeweler must be an expert in the eyes of his customers. So when a question about diamonds is asked, you have to answer it. You can’t look it up in a book or a promotion piece without losing that expert image. You can’t turn the question aside.
The language you use is important. One customer may be able to absorb all the technical terms you have; he’d feel you were condescending if you talked to him in simple terms. Another customer might need the translation of technical talk into terms of his everyday life; he’d feel you were snowing him if you talked over his head. It’s a matter of judgment to decide what terms to use with what customers.
Your information about diamonds should always be directed toward their individuality. As the symbol of love, a diamond is a very personal thing; and personal things should be individual. The infinite combinations of the characteristics of carat weight, color, clarity and cut makes each diamond unique. That is important to impress upon your customers.
When information is requested, be sure that you give it by demonstration as well as by words. Not every customer will want to look through a loupe or a microscope. Nor would every customer be able to see subtle gradations of color, even when pointed out. But they should be given the opportunity to do so, if they show the interest.
Selling with information is selling with facts, with confidence. Both should be solid.
Selling With Fashion
Fashion means different things to different people. Many are convinced that fashion is a conspiracy of planned obsolescence; what’s ‘in’ this year is ‘out’ next year.
Actually, fashion is whatever makes each woman look, and feel, her best. Therefore, diamond fashions are permanent, because the diamond is permanent in the way it makes a woman look and feel.
The settings for diamonds can change from year to year, from decade to decade. The same diamond can be put into different settings during its long life. But the diamond is always in fashion.
The diamond engagement ring, for example, may have the classic simplicity of the solitaire Tiffany mounting. Or it may have an infinite variety of settings, with center stone, side stones and precious metal all making integrated contributions to the intricate design. But each setting, be it classic or modern, is fashionable because it is personal.
Many couples are afraid that the ring they select may go out of style. You’ll be selling with fashion if you convince her that, as long as the setting continues to mean to her what it means on the day she first wears it, her ring will be her style. And should there come a time when she changes, as women often do, she can have her diamond put into another setting that will be her style then.
Fashion is highly important in the selling of other diamond jewelry. A diamond is a gift of love, be it ring, pin, watch, earrings, necklace or bracelet. But a diamond gift is also something to be worn as a fashion accessory.
One aspect of selling with fashion is the demonstration of your fashion sense by showing the capabilities of the different styles of diamond jewelry. The traditional is classic and timeless, and it can be worn with almost everything. The antique and the modern can also be worn with almost everything, but for different and special effects.
Another aspect is showing the versatility of a single piece; the more ways it can be worn, the more valuable it becomes. It’s simple economics that the more often a diamond piece can be worn, the less it costs for each wearing.
For example, a pin or brooch is usually worn at the shoulder. But you can show, with today’s fashions, that it can also be worn on a sleeve or cuff, on a belt, at the neckline, or on a hat or in the hair. Ear clips can be worn on a neckline, or even on the shoes. A necklace or bracelet can be wired for a tiara. Even a ring can double as a jewel for belt or scarf.
Your women customers will be particularly impressed when you sell with fashion. But even a man who is buying a gift for a loved one can be impressed with the versatility you can show him, to show her.
Selling with fashion is selling both for today and for always.
After The Sale Is Concluded
The consummation of a sale at the counter should be a beginning, not an end. You have established your market potential. You have brought traffic into your store. You have made the sale at the counter. A shopper has become a customer.
The next step is to make that customer a client, one who will naturally turn to you for all his diamond jewelry in the future. Your merchandise and salesmanship have made a customer. Interest and service will make a client.
Interest can be shown in many ways. For instance, you could take a picture of a young couple as they buy their engagement ring. Since the girl will wear her ring constantly, she has no need for the ordinary ring box; so you could package her ring in a box that could be used later for another purpose. You could send a card of congratulation on their wedding, after the birth of each baby, on each anniversary. You could call or write to any customer whenever you have something of special interest for her, or him.
Your study of your market potential can show you what types of expression of interest can be most effective for you. Service is simply interest applied for a specific purpose. At regular intervals you could call or write to suggest that a ring, or watch, or pin, be brought back for a cleaning and any necessary adjustments. And a client’s visit for such a purpose is store traffic.
Market potential. Store traffic. Counter sales. Clients. They all add up to more sales of more diamonds.
Selling Diamonds (continued)
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Nizam's Jewelry
Economic Times writes about Nizam's jewelry exhibition via National Museum, displaying one of the largest and richest collections of jewels in India @ Nizam's jewellery on exhibition in Delhi...
A Day In The Life Of A Diamond
Prem Panicker finds out how gems go from rough pebbles to brilliant stones @ http://specials.rediff.com/money/2007/sep/17sld1.htm
Top Photo Collectors
Kelly Devine Thomas profiles select active photography collectors @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1474
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