Lou Goldberg also has a self-declared “passion for estate jewellery” that sometimes brings museum-quality pieces into his shop, like a unique diamond ring that he recently acquired for $750,000. “I’ve got quite a few pieces like that christmas gift sale,” he says. “1 bought an old Cartier clock, one of the first ones that were made. I found it broken in a corner of one of my customers’ homes, and she turns to me and says, ? Want $200,000 for it.’ I gave her $200,000. 1 won’t tell you what I sold it for.”
There’s also an online presence the Goldbergs work hard to foster and maintain. The Company website is extensive, and catalogs a wide range of inventory, complete with price, which, more than ever, is becoming increasingly important in our technologically-driven society. However, says Eric Goldberg, online sales are less important to the business than face-to-face encounters. “I think jewellery is way too personal xmas gift ,” he says. “We run into people who buy diamonds on the Internet from time to time, but jewellery is personal. People have to attach themselves to it, and it’s difficult to do that with a picture. You have to touch it, hold it, and try it on.”
This is true, he maintains, even when customers are buying pieces as gifts. “You can see how someone connects to a piece. When you show that first ring Links Charms , if you guess right, you can see their eyes light up. It’s not a book, or a CD or a DVD; it’s something that’s really personal and intimate,” he continues.
“For us, the Internet site is like a catalog cheap Links of london Charms . Perhaps at some point the web can be a source of sales, but in the final analysis, jewellery is all about emotion and sentiment. If we have 50 strings of pearls; how can the Internet show the difference between them, and how can someone pick the one they’re going to own and wear for the rest of their life?”