Happy Stories From our customers

At our jewelry store in Scottsdale, we gets a wide array of requests when it comes to custom jewelry. But interestingly, traditional wedding and engagement rings still remain the top choice among couples. Even more so than ever before.

Why, we ask? Perhaps it’s because people don’t want to take chances with their wedding or engagement rings; they want to play it safe with a tried and true design. But we think it goes beyond that.

When you choose a traditional engagement ring, you are choosing generations worth of smart choices. You want to rely on the heritage of those before you, in love and married for life. Tradition runs deep and carries us all with it. We want that historical undercurrent when we make a purchase. We want the history of love!

….she said yes!

I can’t begin to say thank you enough for everything that you both did to make last Saturday night incredible.  When Amy and I first began looking around I told her that I want to find an engagement ring that would take her breath away, make her speechless, and make her cry tears of joy.  The beautiful ring that you designed accomplished all three.

When I pulled the ring out and popped the question Amy gasped so loud that people turned to look to see what was going on.  She then covered he mouth with both hands and shook her head yes as her eyes filled with tears.  We hugged for what seemed like an hour and then I slipped the ring on her finger.  As I was still kneeling in front of her two ladies who had been watching the whole thing from across the veranda came over and thanked us for allowing them to be a part of something so beautiful and surreal.  The attached picture was taken by them just minutes after I proposed – I was still kneeling.  I don’t think Amy has taken her eyes off of the ring since.  I regularly catch her just staring at it with this amazing smile on her face.

She is looking forward to seeing the designs for the wedding bands.

Joe and Beth – thank you again from the bottom of my heart.

Dave

PS – Amy wants you to discontinue offering rose gold in her ring style.  J

Gold, Jasper and Carnelian - A box of gold and semiprecious stones by Johann Christian Neuber, from around 1770-75, is in this show at the Frick Collection.

If you need a little box to hide a precious piece of jewelry, you pretty much can’t beat this. (Though it was originally used for snuff.)

Above is one of the gemstone snuffboxes created by the German goldsmith Johann Christian Neuber (1736-1808), working in Dresden, the cosmopolitan capital of Saxony. Nearly 30 of these boxes, generally no larger than the palm of a hand, dominate “Gold, Jasper and Carnelian: Johann Christian Neuber at the Saxon Court,” on view at the Frick Collection.

Check out some other amazing pieces at the New York  Times.

Reading this over coffee today, I couldn’t help but see how someone with a jewelry background could make the move into the world of psychology. We are our own kind of psychologists. Jewelers don’t just make a product; we create jewelry based on our client’s deepest dreams and wishes surrounding love. You couldn’t ask for a bigger psychological connection than that!

I couldn’t find an image of Cybil’s ring yet but wanted to share this interesting “love found again” story:

CYBILL SHEPHERD will become a therapist’s bride when she’s done playing a politician’s wife. “I’m engaged,” the 62-year-old actress, who is starring in “The Best Man” on Broadway, exclusively told the News’ theater critic Joe Dziemianowicz. “He was a jeweler. Now, he’s a psychologist. He’s Serbian.”

Shepard’s “he” is Andrei Nikolajevic, who still knows his gems, judging by the gorgeous sparkler set in white gold on her left hand. But she said no one has questioned her new jewelry as of yet. “It’s not my job to tell them,” she says. Shepherd, whose ex-husbands include David Ford and Bruce Oppenheim, adds Nikolajevic popped the question a couple weeks ago here in NYC. “It was very romantic and on one knee,” she says of her fiancé, whom she met through friends. “I never thought I’d get married again.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/cybill-shepherd-reveals-engaged-a-jeweler-gave-a-gorgeous-sparkler-a-gem-article-1.1119768#ixzz21XznLido

We can’t say we were surprised when we saw this article. At our Scottsdale studio, we’ve seen a substantial increase in non-traditional engagement ring purchases. This article attributes it to celebrities who have thought outside of the box when it comes to engagement rings, but we also see that more modern couples naturally gravitate toward an engagement ring that speaks to their particular aesthetic. Whatever the reason, we carry gorgeous non-traditional engagement rings, including a collection of Barkev rings, mentioned in this piece:

 

A nontraditional engagement ring from Barkev’s (Photo according to Barkev’s)

Diamonds may be forever, but the traditional diamond engagement ring is not for everyone.

Jennifer Lopez made headlines back in 2002 when she wore a pink diamond engagement ring from then fiancé Ben Affleck, inspiring others to copy the trend. In a recent rom-com, The Five-Year Engagement, Jason Segel’s character proposes to his girlfriend with an antique ruby ring.

Even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg chose a simple ruby stunner for his bride, Priscilla Chan, following in the footsteps of football player Eric Johnson, who proposed to Jessica Simpson last fall with a Neil Lane engagement ring centered on a cushion-cut ruby flanked by diamond accents.

In part because of these celebrity ring choices, nontraditional engagement rings have risen in popularity. “While about 95 percent of people come in looking for classic diamonds, there is always that 5 percent that go for something different,” Bob Swanson, owner of Swanson Jewelers in Arlington, Mass., says. “Sapphires and rubies have been popular recently.”

Read on…

Take a look at a few of our our non-traditional engagement rings below or view our full collection here.

Style 10702 Barkev’s Cathedral Style Solitaire Engagement Ring Starting from $1,385.00 Style 10703 Barkev’s Solitaire Engagement Ring Starting from $1,129.00 Style 10733 Barkev Split Shank Engagement Ring With Diamond Side Stones Starting from $2,155.00 Style 10752 Barkev Engagement Ring With Diamond Side Stones Starting from $2,649.00 Style 10764 Barkev Channel Set Engagement Ring With Round Side Diamonds Starting from $1,699.00 Style 10759 Barkev Prong Set Engagement Ring With Diamonds And Matching Plain Wedding Band Starting from $1,999.00 Style 10736 Barkev Engagement Ring With Round Diamond Side Stones Starting from $2,225.00 Style 10780 Barkev Four Prong Solitaire Engagement Ring Starting from $979.00 Style 10795 Barkev Curved Design Four Prong Solitaire Engagement Ring Starting from $715.00