So on my lunch break today I went and updated my earrings (17 pair listed in past three days) to include shipping to Canada. A warning came up on all my gold-filled earrings to tell me that it is not fine jewellery unless they contain a fine gemstone. But sterling silver stuff is fine jewellery.
So this is what I think (I know it doesn't make sense, but I find it interesting):
- Larimar $3 a bead on gold fill - fashion jewellery (which to me suggests not very high end... but Larimar is expensive!)
- Emeralds - I paid $3 for a strand of chips (yes they are real, that's one stone I know very well), and I added gold-fill to make a bracelet - due to the fact it's emeralds it's fine jewellery. I would have paid $10 for the emeralds as I fished out all the good ones for my product.
- Sterling silver earrings with a little glass kitty cat are considered fine jewellery because I made them with sterling silver... even though it's a stupid glass cat that I paid $1 each for.
Other stones that I'm not sure why they are fashion and not fine... Russian Amazonite (that was $48 a strand which is the same price as the Sapphires and Rubies, which are fine stones). Onyx, this is a cheap enough stone but my mom paid $1200 for an Onyx necklace because the Onyx was carved... that doesn't suggest "cheap fashion" to me. Only the dyed stuff is junk and to the best of my knowledge, my supplier did not sell the dyed stones.
I checked my list twice (which I turned into a desktop sticky so I'd know which template to use) does not have pearls listed. Those aren't "stones" but to me they are "fine pieces". My pearl earrings have amethyst which saves me, despite the fact they are gold-fill.
I decided to list all my "fashion" stuff in the handcrafted artisan category since I make all my jewellery by hand, this is definitely appropriate. It's also a good category for my woven bead bracelets that don't have any fine metals or stones at all.
C.
