True Tales

A Season When Custom-Set Teeth Earrings Were All the Rage

The trend didn’t last long, but the customer relationship did.

Published

3 years ago

September 16, 2020

INSTORE Staff Instore September 2020 Issue

Aa number of years ago, a woman came into my shop and asked if I would set a pair of human teeth into earrings. Never being one to shy away from any job, I agreed and set them up in a simple setting that was, as always, distinctly my look. So some of you are saying, “Eeew. Setting human teeth. Disgusting!” But that’s not the best part. A week after I had finished those up (and she was quite happy), one of my regular customers came in and asked me if I could set one of his teeth into an earring! The woman disappeared, but he’s still a customer, and when he’s in town, he brings in his tooth earring (along with the rest of his wife’s and his jewelry) to get it cleaned. — Daniel Spirer, Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, Cambridge, MA

When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”