Lab grown Kashmir sapphires selling well…

Our lab grown Kashmir sapphires are selling very well, and thus we thought it was about time to have a better photo taken of them for our website.

The Asscher cut has probably had the largest jump in sales, and so here is our latest photo:

Asscher cut lab grown blue sapphire

We’re planning to also photo our lab grown Alexandrite in the near future. 

Details and pricing on our inventory of lab grown Kashmir blue sapphires are here.

Zimbabwe diamonds leave bloody trail…

Here’s a depressing article – I’ll just quote the first paragraph:

 ”Human Rights Watch said Friday that Zimbabwe’s armed forces have taken over diamond fields in the east and killed more than 200 people, forcing children to search for the gems and beating villagers who get in the way.”

Plus a photo of the ‘mining’…more like a bunch of people in a dirty pit.

Zimbabwe diamonds article – MSNBC.com

Just when it seemed they were getting the conflict diamond issue under control.  At least the problem is getting the publicity it deserves, which in itself will help reduce events like this over the long run.

Platinum Stud Earrings = Record demand

Our latest weekly special sold out in under one hour this week – it was our first ever offering of 6 prong stud earrings (1.5ctw) in Platinum with our version 6 Asha…for $299!

Based on the strong demand, we are going to be greatly expanding our offering of our Asha stud earrings in platinum.

There are three keys to how we can offer ready to wear platinum stud earrings at such exceptional pricing:

1 – Vertical integration – We make and set all our earrings in house

2 – Volume – We sell a much higher volume of stud earrings than most jewelers.  This volume lets us purchase all our components (including our stunning all-wood earring presentationo boxes) at significant discounts versus just buying 1 and 2 parts here and there.

3 – Web direct sales – We sell our stud earrings directly to the wearer, allowing us to bypass the overhead of a traditional jewelry retailer.

The result is exceptional pricing on stud earrings that allow you to to enjoy all the beauty of diamond studs without the worry or expense. 

“My Tiffany diamond studs sit in my jewelry box
because I prefer my Ashas.”
- Customer Testimonial

Because of the rapid response on our weekly specials, we recommend anyone interested sign up for the email notification for when we offer them. This is solely used for weekly specials (no spam, reselling of info, etc).

Details on our weekly special are here:
http://www.betterthandiamond.com/weekly/

We currently have a new 4 prong martini stud that our CAD designer just finished, and we will be casting these and hopefully offering them later this Spring – first as a weekly special, and then as a regular addition to our growing selection of platinum stud earrings.

Our full selection of earrings is available here:  http://www.betterthandiamond.com/diamonds/jewelry/earrings/index.php

Asha Imitation Diamond (aka Fake Diamond) feedback…

We’re always happy to receive emails from customers and are pleased to post a recent testimonial from an Asha diamond simulant customer:

I just wanted to send a note about my “diamond” and how very pleased I have been with it. My husband used a 1.5 ct Asscher from you for the center stone in my engagement ring. I have received countless complements, and people are stunned to learn it isn’t a mined stone.

I’ve been wearing it for almost a year now with no problems (and I’ve banged it on stuff quite a few times), the sparkle and fire are as gorgeous as the day I got it.

Anyone thinking about the Asha as an alternative to a regular mined diamond should definitely go for it. I feel so smug having a big shiny rock for about $200!!

 

We’re currently working on updating our testimonials page to share this email along with many others,  but you can review our current feedback here:

http://betterthandiamond.com/feedback/feedback01.php

Further, feel free to visit our message boards where you can read feedback on a wide variety of products with over 400,000 posts:

http://betterthandiamond.com/discussion

 

 

 

Takara blue diamond in halo micropave ring

One of our customers posted a nice video of her lab grown Takara blue diamond set in our micropave halo diamond ring and we’re pleased to show it here:

Hopefully you can see the beauty of our lab grown diamonds in a bit more life-like fashion with this versus just static photos.

Takara Pink Diamond ring shown in Newsweek magazine…

Our subsidiary, Takara diamonds, which focuses on lab grown pink diamonds (and blue and yellow diamonds) recently had a photo of one our pink diamond rings used in a Newsweek article titled “Keeping Up Appearances” (pg 50).  We’ll try to get a reprint shortly, but for now, here’s a zoom shot of the ring in the center of the article:

Takara Pink Diamond ring

 Supply of our pink diamonds has been very constrained, but we are hoping to have more available later this Spring.

BetterThanDiamond posts record Holiday sales

We our pleased to note that we had record Holiday sales this December.  The only negative was that we sold out of a number of items and stone sizes, and thus were not able to fully meet demand as we would have liked, and had to turn away a number of orders.

As a result, we will be hiring additional staff next year and expanding our inventory significantly this Spring.  We have our largest run of Asha stones ever currently in progress, which should be available end of January 09.

Our offices will be closed until Jan 5th. 

We wish you a wonderful Holiday Season and look forward to serving you in the New Year!

Additional testimonials…

We’re working on posting a number of kind customer testimonials regarding our Asha diamond simulant, version 6.  One such example is below, and the others will be posted on our feedback page this week!

 “I just want to drop you a line to inform you that I have received my 3 carat Assher Cut gem stone. It is absolutely beautiful and my girlfriend is very pleased to say the least! The sparkle and the bling seem to be never ending! It is just downright gorgeous!!“

 

 

Matching wedding band for Halo Engagement ring

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve at long last completed our matching wedding band for our very popular Timeless Halo Engagement ring. 

The band uses the same top quality natural micropave diamonds, and is the perfect accent for the Timeless halo ring.  Suitable to wear with one or two bands, depending on the look you are after.

Click here for details!

Charles & Colvard (moissanite maker) sales down 35%

One of our main competitors did not fare so well over the 4th quarter – Charles and Colvard, makers of moissanite, had a sales decline of 35% and lost money during that period:

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1122918/

With their stock hovering above $1 (vs. $25+ a few years back) there is speculation they may be bought out.