Press Room: San Diego Luxury Pawn Shop Report

Welcome to the press room of the San Diego Luxury Pawn Shop Report. The following are links to some of our online media coverage:

Magazine Launch: San Diego Luxury Pawn Shop Report

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NAWCC Announces SW California Regional

The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) Chapter 59 today announced the dates for its 2008 Southwest California Regional: November 20 through 22 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

This annual event, which Chapter 59 manages every November with co-host Chapter 136, attracts watch and clock sellers and buyers from all over the world. Many antique dealers attend the Southwest California Regional to replenish their inventory of vintage clocks and watches, making it one of the few major events at which the average collector can discover true “wholesale” deals on collectible timepieces.

The venue in the Del Mar Fairgrounds’ Wyland Center holds more than 250 tables, each laden with items for sale. In addition to complete collectible watches and clocks, you can find parts and tools for restoration and repair, horological books from technical manuals to lavishly photographed coffee table tomes, hard-to-find watchstraps and bracelets, and good old-fashioned one-man’s-junk treasure dealers. Whether you need a correct set of weights for a Black Forest cuckoo clock, a new mainspring for an old-fashioned pocket watch, or a museum-quality antique mantel clock, you’ll probably find it at the 2008 Southwest California Regional.

As the date of the event approaches, registration forms will be available online. For the latest information about the Southwest California Regional, visit:

http://www.nawcc59.org/regional.html.

About NAWCC Chapter 59

The NAWCC is a non-profit organization, and Chapter 59 is the San Diego chapter of the NAWCC. Its members come from all over San Diego County. Visit NAWCC Chapter 59’s website to learn about monthly meeting times and member benefits.

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If you are in the San Diego pawn shop industry, then the following news will be of special interest to you: Pawns Shops May Benefit from Fall of Jewelry Giants.

Pawn Shops May Benefit from Fall of Jewelry Retailers Friedman’s & Whitehall

Local San Diego pawn shops stand to profit from having two less competitors in the crowded retail jewelry market. National Jeweler Magazine reports that Friedman’s Jewelers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, with Whitehall following suit in June. Read more

Advice For Dental Gold Sellers from San Diego Buyers

This Week’s Gold Seller Question:

What is a good price for dental gold scraps by the gram?

Answer From: San Diego Jewelry Buyers

Depending on the gold purity of your dental scraps, we would be paying you roughly between $10.00 and $20.00 per gram. Let me explain how that works: Dental gold scraps can vary in actual karat rating (gold purity) from between 40% gold content all the way up to as high as 80%. So, for example, if gold is trading on the market at $900 per troy ounce, and your scraps tested at 40% gold purity, then we would be paying you $9.83 per gram. If your scraps tested at 80% gold purity, then we would be paying you $19.67. These figures are calculated at 85% of gold’s current trading price, to leave room for operating and refining costs, and to cover risk of gold prices taking a sudden drop. These figures are based on the assumption that you have only a small quantity of gold (less than one ounce), but in case you have a lot of dental gold we sometimes pay higher for larger quantities.

We tell customers that the best thing to do is come into our office so that we can test the karat rating of their dental gold scraps, and let us make them an offer. There is no obligation to sell to us, and we offer this service free of charge. We’re available any time from 9:00 AM till 4:00 PM Monday through Friday, no appointment necessary. Our office is located at 861 Sixth Avenue (between E Street and F Street), in the Jewelers Exchange Building, downtown San Diego (in the Gaslamp District). We’re at the far right corner of the ground floor, suite number 125. Please ask for Carl Blackburn. You may call ahead if you’d like, to let us know what time you’ll be coming in, our telephone number is (619) 236-9603.

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Here at the San Diego Luxury Pawn Shop Report we are always looking for unusal news stories that jewelry lovers might be intrigued or surprised by. Here’s a good item: Lesotho Unearths 478 Carat Diamond!

Lesotho Unearths 478 Carat Diamond

Gem Diamonds said yesterday that it had recovered a 478-carat diamond from its mine in Lesotho – the 20th-largest rough diamond yet found. The gem had the potential to become one of the largest round-cut diamonds in the world.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the gem was discovered on September 8 at the Letseng mine in Lesotho, a small kingdom inside South Africa. The mine, which was owned by De Beers for many years, has already produced three of the world’s biggest diamonds. These are the 603-carat Lesotho Promise, the 493-carat Leteng Legacy and the 601-carat Lesotho Brown.

Clifford Elphick, Gem Diamonds’ chief executive, said: “Preliminary examination of this remarkable diamond indicates that it will yield a record-breaking polished stone of the very best colour and clarity.” The diamond, which has not yet been named, has the potential to yield a 150-carat polished stone. That would dwarf the 105-carat round-cut Koh-i-Noor diamond seized by Britain from India in the 19th century and now part of the Crown Jewels. It would still only be a fraction of the size, however, of the Cullinan diamond, which was discovered in 1905.

This huge gemstone was 3,106 carats when recovered and yielded a teardrop-shaped diamond of 530 carats – the Great Star of Africa. The Letseng mine is owned by a mining company that is 70pc-owned by Gem Diamonds, with the remaining 30pc held by the Lesotho government. Mr Elphick added: “Letseng continues to reward its shareholders with the production of these significant diamonds and to confirm its position as one of the great mines in the diamond industry.

“With a further 45 years of life remaining, we expect Letseng to make history for many years to come.”

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We at the San Diego Luxury Pawn Shop Report have a special affection and respect for fine mechanical watches, seeing them as a perfect blend of beauty and precision. Thus we were happy to read the following news: New Auction House to Sell Masterpiece Watches.

New Auction House to Sell Masterpiece Watches

Patrizzi and Co. Auctioneers, a new auction house founded by former Antiquorum chairman Osvaldo Patrizzi, has announced its first-ever auction.

The National Jeweler Network reports that the sale of watchmaking masterpieces will take place on Nov. 18 at the Hotel Richemond in Geneva, with collectors also participating via the Internet.

A trio of Breguet timepieces are among the lots to be auctioned off, with Breguet No. 2807, an 18-karat gold and enamel astronomical, equation-of-time pocket watch, among the offerings. The watch was one of an edition of three created by Breguet, but No. 2807 is the earliest of the three and the only one known to still be in its original condition. The watch features mean and true solar time, manual perpetual calendar and phases of the moon. The watch was sold to General Yermoloff in 1817 and is expected to sell between $1,400,000 and $1,850,000.

Breguet No. 2396 is a fine and extremely rare 18-karat gold watch with a “Garde Temps” four-minute tourbillon regulator. The timepiece’s regulator features constant force escapement that has been converted, as well as independent seconds, a 36-hour power-reserve indicator and fast-frequency balance. The watch was also sold to General Yermoloff in 1815 and is expected to fetch between $550,000 and $850,000.

The Breguet and Fils “Horlogers de la Marine Royal,” Breguet No. 3787, is one of three of the world’s first “Garde Temps” deck chronometers with double barrels known to have survived. Made in silver, the watch is one of the first practical deck watches ever made. It is estimated between $160,000 and $180,000.

Additional highlights of the sale include a Vacheron Constantin extra flat minute repeater and a Patek Philippe Ref. 1518, each expected to realize between $180,000 and $360,000.

For highlights and more information, visit the Patrizzi and Co. Web site, PatrizziAuction.com.

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If masterpiece watches are not your style but hip hop jewelry is, then the following article from the San Diego Luxury Pawn Shop Report is right up your alley: Hip Hop Bling Goes to Auction.

Hip Hop Bling Goes to Auction

There are some kinds of jewelry your likely to never find in the cases of your neighborhood pawn shop in San Diego. Like those huge rocks you see being worn by today’s hip hop stars. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get yourself some of that expensive ice.

Some flashy “Bling” will soon be up for auction. Phillips de Pury & Co., which describes itself as the young collectors’ auction house, is planning on presenting “Hip Hop’s Crown Jewels,” a sale of 70 jewelry pieces estimated to raise $3 million. The sale, which is scheduled for Oct. 1, is billed by Phillips de Pury as the first for hip-hop jewelry. The New York preview, scheduled for Sept. 22-30, is open to the public.

The auction house’s Swiss chairman, Simon de Pury, came up with the idea for the auction. Part of the proceeds will benefit charities. The auction house announced that it will make a donation to the National Museum of American History’s initiative to establish a permanent hip-hop exhibition.

Some of the jewelry was presented to the auction by the performers themselves. Other pieces have come from the estates of rappers, such as a diamond and ruby crown-shaped ring owned by the late rapper Tupac Shakur.

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Just because you like hip hop doesn’t been you can’t go green and recycle your gold. Check out what SDJB is doing in: San Diego Jewelry Buyers Sees Gold Rush Going Green.

SDJB Sees Gold Rush Going Green

California (and the entire country) has seen a gold rush over the past year—with consumers cashing in on exploding gold prices to sell their outdated and unwanted gold jewelry to ease the burden at the pump, take a holiday, or modernize their fine jewelry boxes. But San Diego Jewelry Buyers reports that it is not just $900+ dollar spot prices for gold that is sending customers through their doors. They say that shoppers desire to “go green” is also a driving factor.

“The internet has made jewelry customers tremendously more informed,” says SDJB spokesperson Alan Blyler. “Not only do they know more about the 4 Cs of diamond quality and the intricacies of fine millgraining and filigree, they increasingly are aware of the ways that gold and diamond mining impact the environment. Today, many people come to us because they are looking to do their part toward recycling precious resources.”

The impact to Mother Earth in creating a single piece of jewelry is truly astounding. The production of one 18k gold ring is said to generate 20 tons of mine waste, while it takes another 250 tons of mine waste to process a single one carat diamond. The environment is also at risk from the cyanide used to separate the gold from the ore—which if not carefully disposed can make its way into streams, rivers, and groundwater.

The smelting process that removes gold impurities is another culprit. According to the Worldwatch Institute, an independent research center dedicated to environmentally sustainable living, the world’s smelters release more than 140 million tons of sulfur dioxide (13 percent of global emissions) into the atmosphere every year.

By selling unwanted gold jewelry (and platinum jewelry) which can either be melted down, refashioned, or resold to an interested buyer, consumers can help reduce the need to expand mining activity around the globe, especially in developing areas which often lack the safeguards for environmental protection. “With the burgeoning wealth of countries like China and India, there are millions of more shoppers seeking fine jewelry, which is putting added pressure on the gold and diamond mines,” says Blyler. “When customers sell their old jewelry, they can help relieve that pressure, and take us another small step toward a healthy planet.”

With only about 15% of gold consumption recycled each year, there is undoubtedly much more waiting to be refashioned again into exquisite jewels. To learn more about how you can resell and recycle your fine gold jewelry, platinum jewelry, and silver jewelry, please visit SanDiegoJewelryBuyers.com.

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Gold lovers will surely enjoy the gold jewelry of master goldsmith Gurhan Orhan. Check out our profile of this extraordinary designer at: Gurhan Orhan: 24K Gold Master Craftsman.

Gurhan Orhan: 24K Gold Master Craftsman

When you are looking through your jewelry box for items that you might like to pawn at a San Diego pawn shop, 18k gold jewelry will usually bring you a higher cash loan than 14k jewelry will. But 24k gold jewelry (100% pure gold) will probably bring you even more. The only problem is that you aren’t likely to find any 24k gold items in your jewelry box, whether it’s filled with vintage pieces, estate jewelry, or modern items. The reason is that very few designers (past or present) make jewelry in 24k gold because it is so soft and hard to work with.

One contemporary designer who has made a name for himself in the realm of 24k jewelry is Gurhan Orhan. Based in the Big Apple and Istanbul, Gurhan is an unusually case among fine jewelry designers, not only because he works in 24k gold but because he is entirely self-taught. Gurhan’s fans though certainly don’t complain about his lack of formal training. The designer’s sensual jewelry has won adoring admirers around the globe, and his craftsmanship as a goldsmith is extraordinary.

In fact, Gurhan sees himself as a reincarnation of the ancient goldsmith, channeling the art for today’s fine jewelry lovers. The luxury online jeweler Pearlman’s Jewelers has an excellent selection of Gurhan Orhan’s gold earrings, rings, necklaces, and bracelets. Check them out by clicking here.

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Do you have fine jewelry or a rare timepiece that you are looking to sell? Before you choose a San Diego buyer be sure to read: SDJB’s Selling and Loan Guide.

Selling & Loan Guide For Consumers: Jewelry, Diamonds, Gold, & Watches

**The United States has over 12,000 businesses that buy and sell used jewelry, watches, and diamonds. Not all are the same. When deciding on whom to entrust with your fine jewelry transaction, be selective, do research, and choose only those businesses that specialize and understand the current jewelry market. Read more

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