Best Friend?

[mbarrick]

Remember this? It's gone now. I sold it today along with my old wedding ring. The tangible remains of those two mistakes have been removed from the house. And I learned something: the hype they sell you in jewelry stores about the value of diamonds is complete crap. Their resale value is crap because the retail markup is absurd. I did some research on the what I could expect to get for the diamond before selling it and discovered that if you can get 10% of the current retail price you're doing well, and with smaller rocks that goes down. I got 6% of the price I paid Ivana's engagement ring. As it turns out the gold wedding band had a better resale value in terms of percentage of retail.

I've mentioned before that women with the used-car-salemen gene work in jewlery stores, this only goes to confirm that. The whole "a diamond is forever" crap is marketing blather made up by de Beers to get people to buy diamonds instead of prettier coloured stones. Diamonds are not forever, they are not a girl's (or any one else's) best friend, as an "investment" the suck shit. They are most useful ground up and used to make sandpaper.

What I got for the thing was about the same as the last Canadian Springs bill I was stuck with. And that's it.

Comments

Wedding Rings and Diamonds ... blah ....

[thomasrymour.livejournal.com]

I'll tell ya, you are right that the "true" (=resale) value of the rings are less than 10% of what you pay for them ... I think the first wedding ring set (first wedding) was just under $2,000 back in 1986 (purchased in Vancouver, B.C.). The fate of my ring after divorce? I tossed it over a cliff into a sinkhole. Goodbye. (hock shops were only willing to pay me $25-50 for it). Hers? I have no clue. I believe she sold it.

2nd marriage - we paid less than $300 for hers, and $150 for mine. (1996 in Tallahassee, Florida) After divorce: Hers ... I assume she sold it since on her web site, she let it go defunct, and the only remaining picture on the site was one of her engagement/wedding ring set. Mine - I planted in a 7-story tall bonfire at Starwood before it was set on fire. Good riddance. However, her promise ring and my engagement ring still sit buried underneath an ancient altar in Tulum. Someday I'll go back and dig them up and toss them in the ocean. Blah.
If I get married again, it'll probably be simplified clannaugh rings.

In goes the Ring ....


and BLAST AWAY!!!!!!


= YAYYYY!!!!! FREEDOM!!!!

Re: Wedding Rings and Diamonds ... blah ....

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Heh... that's familiar. While I held on to the ring for too long, I burned all the wedding clothes, right down to the shoes I wore that day, not long after we separated.

Tangentally

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Do you know of any good reference books on the psychology and sociology around bonfire rituals? Ideally something that takes a cross-cultural anthropologial approach.

Bonfire Rituals

[thomasrymour.livejournal.com]

Sorry, can't help you with psychology / sociology books ... but Anthropology books on the analysis of ritual and bonfires, religion, and spiritual beliefs I could probably dig up if you are interested. Let me know.

Though, if you've got on hand a copy of Sir James Frazier's classic "The Golden Bough" - pages 705 through 743: The Fire-Festivals of Europe, or 743-753: "The Interpretation of the Fire-Festivals", including sections on the Solar Theory of the Fire-Festivals, The Purification of the Fire-Festivals, might give some ideas of where to start. 754-763: The Burning of Human Beings, Animals, and Effigies in the Fires ... are also a good read. Especially if you like Frazier.

Hope that helps ...

Thanks

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

That actually sounds like a good jumping off point for what I have in mind.

Re: Thanks

[valerian.livejournal.com]

Erm...
You're not going to set me on fire, are you?

Heh.