If you are like many in the Okanagan, December is about Christmas and surprising a loved one with something special, while January might bring a journey south to visit some palm trees for some well deserved R&R. Perhaps you surprised him with a trip this year and he surprised you with those diamond earrings you’ve always wanted!
The question is this: Do you wear those sparkly treasures on your vacation?
The answer is NO!
If you are planning to sip daiquiris on the beach, leave the diamonds at home!
I know, I know… You will be lying on the beach, sipping a pina colada by day and putting on your favourite sundress and those strappy sandals to go dining and dancing like a celebrity at night. You want to glam it up a bit and feel like the rockstar that you are! I get it. But taking fine jewellery while travelling is not a good idea.
Unfortunately, the in-room safes at your resort are not always in working order. If that weren’t enough, pick-pocketing in airports and busy tourist areas is rampant. And what if the airline loses your luggage? It happens all the time! The bad guys are out there, in higher numbers than you want to believe, looking for their opportunity to liquidate you from your treasured asset.
As one of the few Okanagan jewellery stores with an on-site goldsmith, we’ve had clients come in to have us create a replica of their wedding ring with Cubic Zirconias. The thought is that she can have the bling without the risk of losing it or having it stolen.
To this I say, save your money.
The only thing a thief will see is the rock on your finger – regardless of whether or not it’s a fake!
To start, recreating jewellery can be an expensive undertaking as the labour to make a ring is the same whether you have the goldsmith make it with diamonds or not. But the bigger reason to avoid this trend is that the bad guy is not a gemologist. He will take your ring, using whatever level of force he chooses, and will only learn later that you’ve tricked him and it’s a fake. You haven’t negated the risk, other than to say that you didn’t lose the diamond itself. In some cases, the flashier the ring, fake or not, the more risk you may invite.
So here’s the next problem: What do you do with your jewellery treasures while you are on vacation if you can’t take them with you? The most obvious solution is to take your jewellery to your safety deposit box when you are away. One thing is for sure, do not leave them at home! People often leave their jewellery prepackaged up in a nice box – your jewellery box – for the thieves to come and help themselves. Now more than ever, you’d be surprised how many people know you are away and how fast words travels.
This leads into the topics of appraisals, insurance, etc… But those are discussions for another day!
