What’s the most interesting custom ring you’ve seen lately?
We restyle a lot of inherited rings. The ring might be yellow gold and we can actually convert it to platinum or white gold. Recently we worked on an old platinum and sapphire diamond bracelet that five daughters had inherited. We took it apart in sections and made two rings out of it and three different pendants.
Have you seen trends with gay weddings?
In the past we’ve seen couples wear the same plain bands without diamonds. Now we’ll see one female might want a diamond engagement ring, and the other female might want a band with diamonds going across the top. Couples are getting creative in expressing themselves.
Is anyone in Baltimore following the celeb trend of colored diamonds?
We do a bunch of different colors. Last year we sold a five-carat pink. It was absolutely gorgeous. Yellow tends to be the biggest trend that people ask for—and, since it’s less rare than the pink, you can get more yellow for your money.
What is the most expensive ring at Smyth?
That pink diamond was more than half a million, but we don’t really put a ceiling on it. We could sell a ring for $1 million.
Presuming most of your customers aren’t millionaires, what do you say to a gal who has a $25k dream ring but a $5k budget?
Usually women have a vision of the ring versus the diamond. She could either go with an extravagant ring with tons of detail or go with something basic and put the money into having a larger diamond.
Have you seen people who get divorced do anything interesting with their rings?
Absolutely. A lot of times guys will trade a woman’s ring in for a timepiece. If a female brings it in, we’ve done different things from putting it toward a different purchase to renouncing it with something they’ll wear on their right hand.
