Buying gems in person is safer than online

Mark Broder of Broder

Jewelry Design brings a personal approach to jewelry, especially for couples who come in for advice when planning their wedding.

He tells them to search around online to get some idea of what styles and gems they are partial to. For example, “what size of diamond they are considering,” is a good starting point.

“But the financial budget is a big decider,” Broder said recently. “It’s not the romantic part of the process,” he admits.

Broder says he tries to steer his customers to a reliable diamond source, the Gemological Institute of America. The GIA website describes itself, established in 1931, as “the world’s foremost authority on diamonds, colored stones, and pearls.”

“Start with their website and start educating yourself on gem quality standards, sizes, cuts, colors and more,” Broder said.

He also cautions his customers to be wary of purchasing gems, particularly diamonds, online. “This is one exercise that requires you to actually see the gem with your own naked eyes,” he said recently. “Otherwise, all you’ve got to inspect is a piece of paper.”

He also noted that a lot of ring designs were not put together by jewelers. “A computer design doesn’t mean it can be built by an artist,” he said.

The jeweler admitted that his business suffered through the COVID-19 pandemic but survived by switching to a by-appointment sales approach at his shop at 640 Harvest Park Drive in Brentwood. “But jewelry repairs and rebuilds kept us afloat,” he said.

“In fact, last year was one of our busiest years ever,” he added. “We specialize in unique designs.”

Broder has been hand-crafting fine jewelry for 32 years. He is a second-generation jeweler, apprenticing for his father in a small shop in San Francisco in 1983. He later worked for a custom jeweler in Walnut Creek for 17 years where he became a master stone setter and hand engraver.

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