And That’s the Way It Is

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. My 2022 Thanksgiving will be memorable for me personally - I’ll save that story for another time and keep you all in suspense. Last year was the best jewelry gift giving Christmas season I ever experienced in all my 28 years on the island. 

I could have just jinxed myself for the one that’s about to happen.

Just like last year, demand for nice jewelry started on Black Friday. You would be surprised to know in the past it was never a real busy day for me - it seemed the entire island population ended up in Naples for the crazy sales offered. That was then...and me having a busy Black Friday has continued to be a good thing. Lots of early shoppers - my regular customers know the early bird gets the fattest worm. All the newest and unusual pieces are in the window or in the showcases and are fair game to the first who arrive early. Many are one of a kind and irreplaceable - there are simply no more to be had - unlike most cookie cutter mall shops that have multitudes of the same selling items the average Joe or Josie will settle for, like a $899 10kt. gold lightweight three carat rock salt quality diamond (actually more like dirty carbon) tennis bracelet. Don’t you worry, you won’t miss out on this bargain; they have a hundred or so of these “gems” in stock. I love it when the Ms. or Mrs. comes in after the holidays to have her new diamond tennis bracelet “cleaned” because the diamonds have no shine or sparkle. It’s hard to explain that no amount of steam cleaning is going to bring those sad excuses for diamonds to life; the significant other had no clue what exactly he was buying.

Luckily for me, despite the dismal and gloomy forecasts the media has been pumping at us about the stock market, economy, gas and food prices, there is still the demand for quality solid gold and fine diamond jewelry, who would have thought?

The demand for fine Brazilian aquamarine has prompted me to acquire more of the vibrant Caribbean blue gems that I incorporated into truly unique diamond pieces that my customers loved. My daughter Lindsay and I came up with a collection we call The Marco Blue. These are far from being the depressing kinds of blues. Together she and I have handpicked and acquired the most brilliant and spectacular Gulf Blue gemstones (Yeah, the Gulf of Mexico is an actual gorgeous blue if you go out a few miles off shore, the water off Residents beach is more like a smoky Topaz color). The Blues Collection comes from my years of being in business and knowing who is who in the gem world. The collection encompasses royal cornflower blue sapphire to magnificent ocean blue aquamarine. My favorite blue is the rare sea foam blue tourmaline that is next to impossible to keep in stock when I mount it in rings with diamond accents - the color of this gem will blow you away with its color change just like mother ocean. 

Rare blue zircon sparkles like a blue diamond and then there are the many blue shades of topaz, from sky blue, Swiss to London blue. I will invest heavily in stocking the collection this coming season.

Surprisingly, some very nice important emerald and ruby jewelry accented with diamonds also are in big demand; I don’t know what’s going on but I love it! Color was always a marginal selling jewelry item until the last two years. Once again there was more demand for finer heavy gold men’s chains and bracelets. The mariner’s link that resembles a boat anchor chain is the rage in all lengths and weights. Twice this year these chains were hard to locate - recently I was able to remedy the problem by calling an old friend, Sergio from Italy, a large chain supplier from Florence I met 20 years ago. He has hooked me up with a constant supply. 

Three Christmas seasons ago I rid my showcases of the jewelry I reluctantly had to carry because years ago, fine gold and diamond jewelry was simply not selling. From what I am seeing now and the quality pieces I am creating with these two hands…things have finally changed for the better.

The past two years, I will admit, were a great source of material for my slightly (?) sarcastic articles that to my amazement people seem to enjoy, though occasionally I manage to bend a nose or two out of joint.

I never name names, yet some way somehow, they know it’s about them!

It began with being asked by a casual browser “How my jewelry prices compared to Wal-Mart?” First, I bit my tongue. I nicely told him there was no comparison, and while he obviously enjoyed the “special quality” of the Walter Marte’ jewelry, I suggested he should continue shopping there. Only last month a guy said my choice of jewelry seemed a bit “beachy” and why don’t I carry turquoise jewelry… My suggestion to him was that he should try shopping in Arizona; it’s not “too beachy” there last time I visited. Around that same time my daughter interrupted a guy trying to open my front window display - he said I just wanted to see the price on the tag. She told him they are locked for a reason. I have the key; we are not exactly a “help yourself to my diamonds in the window” kind of establishment. He said something snide to Lindsay and stormed out in a huff. Try that at any Tiffany or Cartier store and see where you wind up. What a putz. 

A week before Christmas a woman refused to repair her $30,000 diamond bracelet that required two strategic solders that would prevent her from losing it. She said my $20 fee was outrageous, caused a scene, placed it back on her wrist and whooshed out of the store with her flying monkeys. I’ll bet she lost that expensive bracelet by now. 

I could fill every page of this newspaper or film a reality show with just last year’s challenging experiences dealing with the many fruitcakes, grumps, pre-Madonna’s, brides-zilla’s and skinflints that somehow found their way to my humble goldsmith shop. 

I praise the heavens above for the many wonderful friends and customers who truly appreciate me and my many years of experience as a master goldsmith, a craft I love and devoted my life to and even make living with.

This new year I will strive to educate those of you who are interested in the design and process of creating a fine piece of jewelry from a lump of gold and a pile of diamonds and gems. I will also continue to supply useful information about diamonds, gemstones, what to avoid when buying jewelry and the care of your fine jewelry - or maybe educating the ignorant so they know there is a big difference between buying jewelry from Wal-Mart and Cartier :-)

And now as I get another year closer to retirement, (don’t panic… not just yet!), my New Year’s resolution will be “never let a person waste your time more than once” I will still smile and nicely dismiss the folks that do me that injustice or are just impossible to please, because their departure will make room for the next customer who is eager to see what a wonderful things jeweler/goldsmith with fifty years of experience create for them.