Diamond Market Update: 2011, Q3

Posted on | October 6, 2011 | 4 Comments

As the world economy dips into a recession, we’re looking at our holdings in diamonds and deciding how to navigate our through this market. The stock market has been getting crushed the past couple months and even metals are unstable. Gold reached a high of approx $1920 per ounce and is now hovering at $1650. Silver reached $43 an ounce a couple months ago and is currently trading at approx $32. Percentage wise, it’s a HUGE swing. I could go on all day about metals – click here to read what I wrote back in January 2011 in a post entitled, “Silver…The New Gold”.

Let’s talk my favorite subject – DIAMONDS. Diamonds are an interesting category because they are not trading as a commodity on any exchanges (yet), but they certainly can be treated as an asset with real value in the market. Most jewelers don’t want to tell customers about diamonds as a commodity, or the value of diamonds in the wholesale market. They would rather “romance” the sale – much like the current and past Debeers ad campaigns. Most people in the diamond indusrty are still resistant to

transparency. Well, it’s a new world and I’m here to educate and help people make informed decisions about diamonds, whether they are buying or selling.

Back in June, I wrote a blog post, JCK Las Vegas 2011 – Diamonds Are King!, and besides discussing how much fun I had in Vegas, I talked about the how the diamond market was BOOMING. I was getting top top dollar from buyers, especially from India and Asia, where the demand seemed to be high. Since that time, and especially in the past month, I’ve noticed a lot of hesitation from buyers. They are afraid to buy because they don’t know what’s coming worldwide – Europe is a mess and the US isn’t much better off. Bottom line is that each business has to prepare for natural downturns in the market and adjust accordingly. It’s like any business. My personal opinion is that diamonds will come back up as we get closer to the holidays and make a strong run into 2012.

Martin Rapaport, who some may say is the diamond market maker, summed it up recently with this quote:

“The diamond trade must accept the fact that diamonds are part of the real world and that diamond prices go up and down. Price volatility is to be expected and accepted as a normal part of doing business. Firms should develop strategies for dealing with downward moving markets. Smart sellers recognize that inventory cost should be based on replacement cost rather than historic cost. They remain profitable and support market prices by selling cheap and buying cheaper. Lower prices are a healthy part of the economic cycle as they create excellent buying opportunities and higher profits for smart buyers who ensure that diamonds remain an excellent value in uncertain times.” said Martin Rapaport, Chairman of the Rapaport Group.”

Like any smart investor, we look at a little downturn as an excellent buying opportunity. If you’re in market for a diamond, it’s a GREAT time to buy. Just remember that, “Diamonds are part of the real world…”

Stop Sharing!

Posted on | September 15, 2011 | 1 Comment

Facebook, Twitter, blogs, real conversations (did we forget about them?) – it seems like it’s all about sharing information these days in the new business world. I have shared a lot of information in a lot of places. I share on Facebook and Twitter – articles, thoughts, pictures, and more. On this blog, I write about diamonds, gold, the jewelry market and music. You may remember an earlier post I wrote, The Grateful Dead Created Social Networking. My idea was later made into a book “Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead” by two other guys – a popular marketer, David Meerman Scott, and the CEO of Hubspot, Brian Halligan. Did they have my same idea? Yes. Did I have it first? Maybe. But they executed on that idea and I did not, so they win.

Of course, I’m not looking to get rich writing a book about The Grateful Dead, I prefer to just listen. However, when it comes to buying/selling jewelry, I take it very seriously. About 3-4 years ago, I was asked to speak at the JCK Las Vegas Jewelry Show – the topic, Social Media of course. I said yes and went with a friend, who owned an email marketing company, to give a talk. The first year it was not very popular, but once Facebook caught on, it got more a lot more attention. I went on to speak at JCK for a few years and at The Couture Show, the JA Show, The Instore Show and other jewelry trade shows. After doing all of this, I sat back and thought about why I was doing it. Although my father was proud, he often asked me, “Why are you giving away your secrets? Don’ tell nobody nothin’!” For me, it was a combination of ego, the need to become an industry thought leader, and not being able to say no…and also somehow buying into the myth that the more I talk about this stuff, the more I will grow as a businessman. After about the third year, I had spent a lot of my time on this and was not getting paid for my time. (directly) I did make some nice connections, but my time is money and most of these trade shows did not pay, except for a trip. So I stopped, sat back, and watched the other guys talk about the same topics. Well, since then, we’ve been doing a lot more actual business and using my techniques to make real money, so I’m happy – although I’ll admit I miss it a little.

However, something recently happened to me that validated my father’s words. I told another person/acquaintance/friend about what I was doing in the diamond buying industry. Not every detail, but a little. My current partner also spoke to him since they used to do business together. Now he’s copied my site and even took some identical pictures and logos from my site. I’m not really worried about it because once you have a website up, it’s for public consumption. Also, the other site happens to be a terrible offering. However, it did remind me that’s it’s not always cool to tell people about your business or post about your business, even if it gets a lot of “likes” and comments. Remember, no one cares about your business more than you do and everyone has an agenda, whether they admit it or not, or whether it is conscious or not. So my lesson is BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU SHARE – online or real time. The one thing that I do take comfort in is the fact that it’s all about EXECUTION and I am confident that we know how to do that!

Grateful Dead Terrapin Station 4-27-77

Posted on | August 24, 2011 | No Comments

I have some posts cued up but of course I’m Lost in Transactions right now, so I’ll throw a video up – Terrapin Station from the Capitol Theater 4-27-77. This Spring Tour was the best few months The Grateful Dead ever played.

“The story teller makes no choice. Soon you will not hear his voice.
His job is to shed light, and not to master.”

Lost in Transactions

Posted on | July 12, 2011 | 2 Comments

We’ve been busy here at Samuelson’s with a lot of different projects. We just hired a new Director of Marketing and there have been customers in Baltimore, Washington DC and from all over the country selling their diamonds, silver and jewelry to us. So every day I’m involved in a lot of transactions – whether it’s me buying from customers or trading with other dealers.

I feel like this has inhibited me a little bit with my creativity. You know, the videos, facebook stuff, and the other ideas that make us who we are. So I’ve been Lost in Transactions. Is it a good thing? Isn’t the whole point of creative marketing efforts to get new customers and create business? Well, it is and we are doing it, so I’m not complaining. But I do need to make time to be more creative.

On that note, keep an eye out for a few more videos – the next one will have to do with our Living Social Deal – it’s a doozy! We are also planning something for our Diamonds Facebook Fan Page when we reach 1 million fans. We’re at 916,000 right now, so it’s coming soon – we may even giveaway a big diamond!

 

Phish Merriweather Post 6/11/11

Posted on | June 15, 2011 | No Comments

Wow, what a show. Check out this Wilson->Sand. Great light show too – enjoy!

Phish – 6/11/11 \”Wilson\” > \”Sand\”

JCK Las Vegas 2011 – Diamonds Are King!

Posted on | June 10, 2011 | 4 Comments

Interesting weekend we had in Las Vegas for the annual JCK Jewelry Show. This year they held the show at Mandalay Bay which was a much nicer

venue than the Sands at Venetian. We stayed over at the new Cosmopolitan. GREAT hotel – best rooms in Vegas by far. All rooms have a terrace so we were overlooking the Bellagio fountains every night. That made it hard to get over to Mandalay though – the Cosmo is right in the middle of the action and there are great restaurants and bars in there like STK, Blue Ribbon Sushi, Milos, Bond, to name a few. You know how Vegas gets, it’s hard to know what you’ll be doing at any given time and we were just going with the flow.

So with all that fun – and the Antiques and Estate Jewelry Show (I worked that show Saturday) across the street at Paris, I only made it to the JCK Show on Sunday.  Then Sunday night there was a big party at Mandalay that I missed, although I may have gone if they had a better act than Bruno Mars (really?). While I had a very successful show, (sold some nice stuff) I did miss out on seeing some industry friends, as I was not around the heart of the show and hotel most of the time. As I flew back, I regretted that – however, I will admit that it was somewhat of a conscious decision. We are doing so many exciting and innovative things around here, I didn’t want to get in any conversations and spill the beans. 🙂

Now let’s talk about what I saw in the diamond market. It’s getting very interesting these days as the US is slowly losing it’s status as the world’s largest consumer of diamonds to China and India. With young people in China starting to get more connected and having Western engagements, they will start to consume more diamonds. Not just more but a TON – like billions. India is the other country that has a rising middle class and also a billion people. The Indian diamond dealers are paying big money for stones and buying up as much as they can, often for extremely high prices. Even melee’ prices (diamonds smaller than 1/4 carat) are starting to rise. We are getting paid well for it, and the big stones are moving for big premiums.

How long will this diamond surge last? No one knows, but it looks like a great time to be invested in diamonds, I know I am!

 

The Customer Experience in Washington DC

Posted on | May 13, 2011 | No Comments

We made a video describing the customer experience in our Washington DC jewelry buying office. Please take a look at our new office. If you are interested in selling diamonds, silver, gold or coins in Washington please stop by. Even if you don’t have anything to sell, please come up and say hi – we’d love to see you!

Allman Brothers Band – Blue Sky

Posted on | April 18, 2011 | No Comments

Haven’t posted in a while so I found a good video to keep these posts current! Dickey Betts and Warren Haynes playing Blue Sky in 1991. Saw them a lot these years in college. Notice Warren playing a fender strat with lace sensor pickups (like I play along with another guy named Eric Clapton). Now Warren is all about Gibson – a Les Paul or ES-335. Enjoy!

From Pennsylvania Ave to Wisconsin Ave…

Posted on | March 19, 2011 | No Comments

Monday will be one month since we opened our Washington DC jewelry buying office. It’s going better than expected – WAY better. The neighborhood is unbelievable – just like New York City but in DC. High end shopping, great food, beautiful 6th floor office overlooking Wisconsin Ave, nice people. The customer reaction has been so wonderful. We have received many unsolicited email testimonials from customers on what a good experience they had. Everyone loves it – even my father!

My father and I work there on Wednesdays and it’s been a nice break from the monotony of every day here in Baltimore. The other day we ate lunch together and it’s really just a pleasure. To think where we came from 90 years ago (on Pennsylvania Ave here in Baltimore) and even 5 years ago, it’s just mind blowing. Not to mention that we’ve bought several diamonds, (LARGE and small) a lot of gold/silver coins and bars, a ton of sterling silver flatware, and other beautiful jewelry. My brother-in-law, David, has been a rock star. Our store manager and expert buyer, Paul, is killing it. The entire Samuelson’s team has done a great job – it’s just so gratifying.

I look forward to being down there more and growing our new DC presence. It’s amazing all the business we’ve done without any street presence, signs, billboards, banners…nothing. Strictly online ads (and videos) and even some repeat business. You can’t even find us on Google maps – but you can on Foursquare! 🙂

Just wait until we really get there – it will only get better! I am determined to buy more gold, silver, estate jewelry and (of course) diamonds than anyone in the DC area while delivering an honest, fair and superior customer experience.

Please make an appointment to stop by and say hello. We would love to see you!

Phish: Sample In A Jar

Posted on | March 3, 2011 | No Comments

It’s been a little while since I posted. Been so busy opening our DC jewelry buying office that I can’t find the time to write – but there’s nothing worse than a blog with no recent posts, right? So I want to share a quick vid that I watch often for your enjoyment. Be back soon! 🙂

« go back — keep looking »

Connect With Me

My Companies

Recent Reflections

• Gold & Diamond Market Update: 2026
• $3000 Gold, Are You Kidding Me?
• Diamond Market Report 2024
• Diamond Market Report 2022
• Is This Another Gold Rush?

Categories

• Business
• Entertainment
• Facebook
• Guest Posts
• Jewelry
• Life
• Music
• Social Media
• Sports
• Uncategorized

Previously

Previously Select Month August 2026 April 2025 January 2025 December 2022 February 2020 October 2019 January 2019 February 2017 April 2016 February 2016 July 2015 April 2015 December 2014 August 2014 May 2014 April 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 July 2013 May 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 June 2012 April 2012 March 2012 January 2012 December 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008

Jeweler Ron Samuelson wasn’t expecting much when he started a diamond fanpage on Facebook. Now 200,000+ fans later, Ron and his business are now pioneers in the new way the jewelry industry likes to market online…

- Engagement 101 Magazine

Search for:

About Me