True Tales: Engaging Stories

BY INSTORE TEAM

Published in the October 2013 issue

CAUTIONARY TALE

I was showing sapphire engagement rings to a gentleman. He seemed trustworthy, so I disregarded caution and began piling a number of rings on the velvet mat for him to compare. He suddenly stopped me: “Should you be having so many rings out?”

I stammered: “Well, you look like a nice person …”

“I should be, he said: I am the chief of police here! And you should be more cautious!”

But the story does not end there. After we had a chuckle and I promised to be more careful, I asked him how he had met his fiancée-to-be. “She was with a crowd who came to the station to demonstrate against us,” he said. “They carried signs and chanted slogans.”

“But,” I protested, “why then make contact with someone who is against you?”

“Ah,” he said knowingly, “Protesters are interesting!”

I did sell them a sapphire ring, and these two are now married 20 years. — Eve J. Alfillé, Eve J. Alfillé Gallery and Studio, Evanston, IL

FLAWED COMMENT

I once had an attractive young lady in with her fiancé looking at engagement rings. She had on a low-cut blouse that emphasized her cleavage. As I was taking them through diamond grading I noted an inclusion under the microscope and blurted out: “Take a look at that cleavage on the right.” I looked up and all three of us just burst into laughter. — Gary Youngberg, Ames Silversmithing, Ames, IA

GENTLE REMINDER

I had a client direct me to make an engagement ring for her son, using the center diamond from her failed marriage. The obvious question kept gnawing at me, and I eventually had to ask while we were designing it: “Why would you let your son get engaged with this stone? The history of it seems … less then romantic.” My client coolly replied, “That’s the whole point: So he is reminded every day not to turn into the @$$hole his father is.” — Deric Metzger, DeMer Jewelry, Oceanside, CA