The other day I saw a TikTok that asked everyone to share the biggest lie that is told in their profession. I even duetted the video with my biggest fine jewelry pet peeve (revealed below). The very next day I saw another jewelry industry professional address the very thing I was talked about in the video and I felt so much relief. It led to me DMing and discussing industry pet peeves with a few mutuals and it got me thinking - what else in the fine jewelry world drives us all nuts? Below, please enjoy my personal pet peeves, things that are done by people in the industry, and by customers. As a reminder - this is all in good fun. However, learning some of these distinctions might help you feel more informed as a customer!
Calling a GIA Report a "Certification".
They're reports. Guys. THEY ARE REPORTS. It says so right on the dang thing itself. Don't believe me? Here is a screenshot from GIA so you can see for yourself- they do not certify stones. This is a huge misnomer in the jewelry industry. One that goes so deep - everyone calls it a cert. Jewelers, sales people, diamond cutters, wholesalers - they all know it is a report, and yet everyone calls it a cert. I myself have often had to catch myself because it is so rare to hear it called a report my own brain betrays me and tries to say "cert". Do I think everyone in the industry is willfully trying to hoodwink customers into thinking they get a certification when they get a report? No. But I do think some salespeople know the power the word "certified" has and take advantage of that? Yes. Unfortunately, I have seen many an industry professional really lean into the "GIA Certified" verbiage for the sale. It's gross. A GIA Report is exactly what it sounds like - a report. It is a trained professional's summarization of the characteristics, size, shape, color, etc. of a stone. It is still useful, and still important. But it does not "certify" anything.
Using the phrase "pavé diamond(s)".
Pavé is a type of setting. It is NOT a type of diamond. "Pavé" translates to "pavement" and the setting style is so named because when you set small diamonds in a row very close together using minimal metal, it will give the look your piece is "paved" in diamonds. Also, at this point this phrase has basically morphed and become a generalized blanket term to mean any very small diamond, and it drives me nuts.
Speaking of small diamonds...there is no such thing as a "diamond chip".
Well, I guess technically there is, they might exist somewhere - but the very small diamonds you see in jewelry are not "chips". I have met people who are under the impression the tiny diamonds are tiny broken pieces of diamond. Let me reassure you - they are not pieces of diamonds "chipped" off a bigger diamond. They have been cut and shaped and polished just like larger diamonds. They may be single cut (vs. full cut) and have less facets, but they are full-ass diamonds, not scrap broken pieces left over. The industry term for these tiny diamonds is "melee", pronounced "mel-e".
Saying "silver" when you mean "white"
This one is almost exclusively done by customers (sorry guys!) but when you go jewelry shopping and are trying to indicate you like white metal, don't describe it as silver unless you intend to buy Sterling Silver. I say this because as industry professionals, we probably know what you mean, but since silver is a precious metal, we want to make sure you don't mean you want to buy something made out of silver when you want something that is "silver" in color. In the industry, white gold, platinum, and even palladium are referred to as "white" in color, not silver.
When brands try to rename something standardized with their own "exclusive" name
Look, I work in marketing. Every industry does this. I completely understand the play behind branding your own distinct "thing" as something only you can offer. But rebranding rose gold as apricot gold, red gold (manly!), beige gold etc. is just fucking annoying. It's rose gold. Everyone in the industry has their own mix of rose gold and it's going to look slightly different wherever you go. This doesn't make you special. This just leads to uninformed customers walking into stores asking for "apricot gold" to be looked at by sales people like they are idiots. OR for the customers to think the people working in that store are idiots. (In this case I guess it works out in favor of the person who named the item, because they'll come running back to you to buy your "exclusive" thing that isn't really exclusive.) When I see companies creating their own diamond grading system so they can convince consumers they are selling some triple-rare-ultra-excellent-stupendous-brilliant-ass diamond that no one else has my eyes actually roll so far back into my head they fall down my throat. I'll probably get some hate for this one but I am over it. Stop trying to confuse people.
Okay, that's it for now - your turn! What are some "lies" told in your profession that drive you nuts?
Cheers,
Claire