Unique Gemstone Rings

We’ve mentioned the popular cocktail ring trend already, but these cocktail rings come with a twist. In lieu of the usual gemstones such as citrine, sapphire, garnet or rubies, these unique rings are set with some pretty spectacular, lesser-known gemstones including morganite, smokey quartz, green amethyst and pink topaz. The result? A standout cocktail ring that trumps the rest thanks to their unique beauty.  If you haven’t seen many of these gemstones in person, let us preface this article by mentioning that the pictures truly do not do the rings justice. The ethereal, watery hue of green amethyst, the shocking pop of pink topaz and the hazel sparkle of smokey quartz make these unique gemstones something special.

Here are some of our favorite unique gemstone rings for your viewing pleasure. If you ever have the chance, check them out in person – you will not be disappointed.

Green Amethyst Ring

Green amethyst, like purple amethyst, is a member of the quartz family. One reason we love this gemstone so much is that its whispery green hue goes beautifully with Spring and Summer’s muted pastel color palette. If you love the shade too, consider the whopping 3.1 carat green amethyst ring. Set in white gold and accented with two little rows of diamonds, it’s a sparkling stunner that can be worn day and night.

Pink Topaz Ring

Though topaz is usually thought of as a blue gemstone, it actually comes in a rainbow of colors. Bright pink topaz is created by heat treating natural yellow or orange colored topaz. The resulting hue is a bright, cheery pink that would make Barbie herself proud. We love the emerald cut pink topaz ring (shown at top) set in in solid 14K white gold. The pink topaz is surrounded by a halo of brilliant diamonds that nicely compliment the stone.

Smokey Quartz Ring

Smokey quartz ranges in color from light brown to nearly black. Our favorite hue is the medium to light brown, since the color really reflects light for maximum sparkle. The lighter hued smokey quartz shines in our 1.75 carat oval cut ring set in an etched white gold band.  Diamonds line either side of the smokey quartz center stone to add a little extra pop to the piece.

Morganite Ring

Morganite is so sought-after thanks to its lovely pink hue. Like green amethyst, its quiet tones go well with the muted pastel fashions of Spring and Summer. Vintage lovers will enjoy the design of our morganite and white gold ring, which has intricate floral and filigree patterns on the band.  Read more about morganite and this lovely ring under our jewelry review section.

Pricing Gold Jewelry, An Insider’s POV

Keystone Pricing

Keystone pricing is taking the wholesale cost of a piece of jewelry and marking it up 100%.

Information site, About.Com, takes this a step further. They advise entrepreneurs:

“A simple formula when pricing for wholesale is to add up your costs (this includes labor, overhead, and supplies) and multiply by 2. For retail, do the same, but multiply by 2.5 to 3.”

In other words, they advise taking not only the cost of the jewelry into account, but also other variable business expenses to determine the net cost of jewelry and then to multiply by 2 to obtain a wholesale cost or 2.5  to 3 times to obtain a retail price.

Keystone refers to doubling the cost of jewelry, whereas triple keystone is tripling the cost of jewelry to determine the retail value (A staggering 300% Mark Up)!

This is not uncommon in the jewelry industry and some jewelers mark up jewelry even higher.

Apples of Gold Pricing Methodology

Where Apples of Gold Jewelry differs significantly from standard jewelry industry pricing is that at best we mark up our jewelry an average of 30% from the cost of the actual merchandise. On select designer pieces, we may mark up select items 40% – 50% (you can call this half-keystone, if you will).

Compare this to 100% to 300% markup of the traditional jeweler, and you will see why customers often call us to ask us how we are able to sell jewelry for so low.

This is where we stand apart from most traditional jewelers and even online jewelers. When comparing Apples of Gold to traditional jewelers we are usually 50% below retail and when comparing to online stores, Apples of Gold Jewelry is an average of 30% lower than most online jewelry competitors.

This leads us to our value-based pricing methodology.

Value Based Pricing

Apples of Gold strives to determine its jewelry prices based on the value that a piece of jewelry creates for our customers. We believe that this is more profitable for us in the long term–as we serve our customers and provide an affordable, quality product.

By selling with greater volume nationally across all U.S. States and internationally across Europe, Asia, Canada, and other parts of the globe, and by limiting overhead, and very significantly not having the huge burden of stocking every jewelry item in-house, we are able to sell at vastly lower prices than most jewelers, while providing a fair valuation of our gold jewelry.

Additionally, we combine our value-based pricing with a “fair pricing” method. “Sometimes it simply doesn’t matter what the value of the product is, even if you don’t have any direct competition. There is simply a limit to what consumers perceive as ‘fair’. If it’s obvious that your product only cost $20 to manufacture, even if it delivered $10,000 in value, you’d have a hard time charging two or three thousand dollars for it — people would just feel like they were being gouged” (entrepreneurs.about.com).

The Bottom Line

Most jewelers have to charge anywhere from 100-300% to maintain a profitable business. With large overhead, shifting gold and metals prices, employee costs, and most costly–expensive inventory–they cannot survive on smaller than keystone margins.

The difference with online jewelers–and especially those who have deep and mutually beneficial relationships with manufacturers and wholesalers, the markup on jewelry will be significantly less, usually not breaching 30%-50%.

At Apples of Gold, we recently were in talks with one of our major suppliers to get lower prices to obtain a 40-50% margin on products that they supply us, and the idea was quickly dismissed–because both we and our suppliers understood that to be competitive in the online environment, such a mark-up is difficult to achieve. We finally settled on a 29.5% margin on items that we purchase from them. So an item that cost us $300, we are selling for about $385.00. A traditional jeweler would normally sell an item obtained at wholesale for $300 for $600 (keystone), or possibly $900 (triple keystone).

That is why Apples of Gold rightly advertises our products are approx. 50% below standard retail (and that is a conservative estimate).

Learn more about Apples of Gold Jewelry and our value-based pricing methodology.

Featured Products in this Post

Men’s 14K Gold Angular Link Bracelet

Sea-Foam Green Amethyst and Diamond Ring

Art Deco 1/4 Carat Diamond Ring

Caedmon Celtic Wedding Band

Featured on ApplesofGold.Com.

Jewelry Hot List

Last was the year of new jewelry for Apples of Gold, with the addition of over 600 new, unique jewelry pieces. Below are some of the “hot seller” highlights from our newest fine jewelry pieces:

Black Diamond Rings became a hit for Apples of Gold with our Art Deco Black Diamond Ring and so we added several new designer pieces to our popular black diamond jewelry collection, including a Benchmark Black and White Diamond Eternity Band, 1 Carat Black and White Diamond Cross Pendant, as well as our all black diamond solid gold cross pendant for men.

Of course, we love our blue diamond jewelry too!

By far, our best selling blue diamond ring was our 0.93 Carat Blue and White Diamond Swirl Ring. Our popular blue diamond jewelry pieces was expanded to include our best selling 0.93 Carat blue and white diamond swirl ring. We added many other blue diamond rings to our blue diamond jewelry collection as well that turned quite a few heads.

Wedding Bands have always been at the heart of our jewelry line and Paisley Wedding Bands have always been at the top of our list. Our Paisley Collection was expanded with a new deeply engraved paisley wedding band in 14k white gold, 14k yellow gold, and our most popular paisley release: the 14k rose gold paisley wedding band.

It was our goal to added many new unique personalized jewelry pieces to our collection, and we met our initial goals!   The most popular being our Personalized Gemstone Circle Pendant, the Engravable Boy Gemstone Pendant and Engravable Girl Gemstone Pendant, our Personalized Gemstone Baby Shoe Pendant, and Personalized Gemstone Heart Pendant.

We also introduced a new line of Personalized Disney Jewelry, and new gold name pendants.

Benchmark Wedding Bands - A high-end wedding ring brand which includes a Lifetime Warranty and Lifetime Re-Sizing Policy. We plan on adding many new Benchmark styles in 2009.

Official Disney Jewelry – featuring popular Disney characters such as Tinkerbell Jewelry, Mickey Mouse Jewelry, Winnie the Pooh Jewelry, and more! Our Personalized Disney Jewelry collection also proved very popular and all very affordable!

Read more about our Disney Jewelry line: Disney Jewelry for an Imaginative Holiday, A Man Named Walt, and our official Disney Jewelry Release.

We plan on adding more popular Disney characters in 2009.

Apples of Gold’s most popular cross, The Polished Solid Gold Cross Pendant also saw a new addition, including: 18K Gold Cross Pendant, an 18K White Gold Cross Pendant,  and a Men’s Platinum Cross Pendant.

This cross is fully solid gold and finished on both sides (not hollow), measuring approx. 1 1/4″ tall x 1″ across and 2.5mm thick. Although originally crafted for men, both men and women enjoy this beautiful, expression of Christian faith.

This amazing cross was followed by the release of our 18K Gold Onyx Cross Pendant.

What is better than your own writing or the handwriting of your beloved, engraved onto a wedding band? Apples of Gold Jewelry created the concept of engraving your own writing onto a gold band with our new Personalized Handwritten Wedding Bands in 14k gold yellow, 14k white gold, and 14k rose gold.

Simply scan your handwriting onto your computer and email it to us! We’ll do the rest!

Our unique Victorian-Style Three Stone Diamond Ring became a hot seller in 2008 and as platinum prices dropped, we decided it was the perfect time to offer a Victorian-Style 1 Carat Three Stone Diamond Ring in Platinum also. Also available as a three stone 1 carat diamond engagement ring in 14k white gold or a 1/2 Carat Platinum Three Stone Diamond Engagement Ring.

We look forward to 2009 as we expect to add more items than we did in 2008! We expect to double our production in 2009, with 500 new jewelry pieces being added in the 1st Quarter alone. Yes, we plan on keeping the Apples of Gold Jewelry elves very busy through 2009!

Share your Real-Life Jewelry Story

We loving hearing real-life stories from Apples of Gold Jewelry customers!

Have a story to share about your experience at Apples of Gold? Did something interesting happen that involved your jewelry? Have a must-tell wedding story?

Email your Story to share@applesofgold.com. Email us a pic to use also and we may post it on our jewelry blog!

We love simple stories or complex, creative ones, from the serious and beautiful to the ridiculous!

Read our first real-life jewelry story about a husband who lost his original wedding ring as he struggled to stay alive after a tragic hiking accident at the Elliot State Forest in Oregon–and why replacing that ring was so important to one family.