P.S. I am just one of your many fans here on P-G, who admire your gorgeous one of a kind jewelry, design work and goldsmithing.

[Heidi]

Hello Marc -

Thank you for your thoughtful post. I should have specified in my original comment that all the appraisals I have are for insurance purposes and specify the retail replacement value. It's good to keep in mind that there are other specific reasons for an appraisal.

I, too, am a fan of your work and see a very high value in custom designed and created jewelery, not to mention a great advantage over big chain pricing. I love knowing who created a piece and that my investment supports them as directly as possible.

Thankyou Marc for responding to the comments that you are sure to get 100% fleeced if you buy or have made a piece of jewelry by an artisan. I tend not to rise to the occasion , as you have, when someone makes such blanketing, ill thought out, and as you said insulting comments about my profession of the last 30 years.

Thanks again

DFrey, by the way, I am an artisan myself. An expensive and excellent one, doing very fine work. Maybe you should re-read my post again. Maybe you will then realize that I am not insulting artisans in the least. But if you and J Marcus want to think so, I cannot help that.

Slraep

[Pearl_dreams]

A sense of humor is a good thing...playful posts like Slraep's ought not to be taken seriously.

playful posts like Slraep's ought not to be taken seriously.

Usually not an issue for the regular readers/posters, but could be misinterpreted by someone looking for serious info about pearl appraisals and now that info is included too

[J Marcus]

Slraep,

In re-reading your posting I can see that it was probably meant as humor. However, I'm afraid that I got hung up on the statement that the crafts person: "...deserves to be overpaid..." It seems to me to imply that, all humor aside, the artisan is still overpaid. I found this to be a logical disconnect that seemed to counter the humor part of the post. I apologise if I mistook your intention and must admit that after over 30 years of listening to people dismiss and devalue the worth of craftspeoples' efforts I'm just a tad touchy about the subject.

_________________
Marc

[aggiep]

Marc, I get the overpriced bit all the time. The one that really irked me was about a month ago. A lady had her approx. 8 y/o son come over to my table while I was demoing my craft. He loudly asked, "Do you give free samples?" I told him no. His mother came up and was angry stating, "We come from Vegas and there kids get things free!" I retorted, "When we lived there my kids had to pay their way for everything. I doubt it has changed." The kid didn't give up all night, but whined incessently that I was to give him some free samples, not just one. I never did.

Other times I have people asking enough questions that it is obvious they want to duplicate what i do for themseleves. You usually over hear their conversations as they leave about how over priced I am. If I priced most of what I do with time spent at minimum wage, my prices would be much higher. But there are just as many who come by who think I am selling below market value. I get a balance.

[Pearl_dreams]

That child was out of line in persisting, and I can't imagine what the mother was thinking by letting him do so.

As to free samples, at our local mineral shows there are sometimes free mineral specimens, such as rocks or mica, but never anything of any real value.

Originally Posted by J Marcus

Slraep,

In re-reading your posting I can see that it was probably meant as humor. However, I'm afraid that I got hung up on the statement that the crafts person: "...deserves to be overpaid..." It seems to me to imply that, all humor aside, the artisan is still overpaid. I found this to be a logical disconnect that seemed to counter the humor part of the post. I apologise if I mistook your intention and must admit that after over 30 years of listening to people dismiss and devalue the worth of craftspeoples' efforts I'm just a tad touchy about the subject.

_________________
Marc

Awww, Marc. You've got me almost teary eyed here.

Yes, I did try hard to make it humourous. I thought I was picking on the buyer, though! You can't imagine(oh yes you can)the stuff I've had to bear from some interesting characters wanting custom made pieces resembling that $65,000.00 Cartier job on a "budget".

Behind the humour, I really meant to imply that the modern day artisan deserves to be overpaid--only because we do a damn good job! Ever-so-better than the job on all the generic crap out there. The "overpayment" bit was really started by Louis XIV of France you know. I'm just continuing the tradition. Back then, he overpaid all artisans and all overpaid artisans gave their ultimate best. There was nothing quite like it to follow in history. I guess the words "he's an overpaid artisan" are just an archaic way of saying that that guy's work is fit for a king.

I'm sorry you've had to endure thirty years or so of disparaging babble about artisans. It's a bit of a dying art, as Aggie said. There are not many people left who have the patience of Job either to make art or to appreciate it's painstaking making.

Slraep

[Sueki]

"Madam, five pounds to do the work, fifty pounds for knowing how" is how I used to deal with those who would dismiss and devalue my skills in my previous, full time, occupation....

Originally Posted by Sueki

"Madam, five pounds to do the work, fifty pounds for knowing how" is how I used to deal with those who would dismiss and devalue my skills in my previous, full time, occupation....

Sueki! You hit it on the nose! The "fifty pounds for knowing how" is the supposed ethereal part most buyers find they "overpaid" for. Even though the buyer would have to pay loads more money and time, in lessons and experience(not counting their ability to learn), to do it themselves, and that's only if they were born with a naturally good eye for design too.

Slraep

[CarolK]

Originally Posted by Sueki

"Madam, five pounds to do the work, fifty pounds for knowing how" is how I used to deal with those who would dismiss and devalue my skills in my previous, full time, occupation....

Right on!!! Many things of real human value--of soul--are under appreciated today. "Pearls before swine." The soul cannot be encapsulated in an appraisal.

When I hear an orchestra performance, I often think of the thousands of years' worth of expertise required for one hour of my enjoyment. Daily practice hours over many years by each orchestra member, plus the daily practice of the crafting and maintenance of the instruments themselves.

Just think of the kind of audience the child from Aggie.P's post will become when he is older. It makes me shudder--a greedy little culturally deprived Babbitt and Philistine in the making.

The thing that blows my mind about Vincent Van Gogh is not so much his unique artistic vision, nor his talent, nor the volume of his output, but mostly that he persisted as long as he did despite the wet circus tent inexorably bearing down upon him.

Everyone seriously practicing a craft today (and this includes the art of growing things) is nothing less than a hero--keeping human *civilization* alive during the cultural Dark Age in which we live.

CarolK

[Miriam Reed]

Originally Posted by Sueki

"Madam, five pounds to do the work, fifty pounds for knowing how" is how I used to deal with those who would dismiss and devalue my skills in my previous, full time, occupation....

Well put! Years of practice to develop the skills necessary to produce a work of art should not be undervalued.
Marcus, if you're creating custom-made jewelry for the price of mass produced stuff, I'm coming to visit you!

[Nathan Reed]

Originally Posted by J Marcus

When one has a piece hand made, the piece is being crafted according to your personal specifications by a craftsperson, who, if they are good, has undergone years of study and training and practice, practice, practice to get to the point that they can faithfully create this piece for you just the way you want it. It's not just an "off the rack" casting.

A craftsman can truly be called a modern Michelangelo. They invest not only their time, energy and resources into creating a piece of art unlike any other, but they also use the rarest gift of all… an artistic soul. What they make can never be priced by the same standards as what is mass produced. Both the craftsman and his work are worth their weight in gold.

I’m sorry that some “people dismiss and devalue the worth of craftspeoples' efforts”. I hope none of us would intentionally do so.