News

Cats Helping Cats - We want to help the Ionia County Animal Shelter July 11, 2023 15:54

Your purchase of a pair of Naughty Cat earrings in sterling silver will help feed real cats at the Ionia County Animal Shelter. We love a win-win situation.

Chimera Design has natural fancy yellow diamond rings. May 26, 2023 16:49

The Gemological Institute of America is the world's foremost authority on diamonds. GIA invented the Diamond Grading System after WWII when diamonds began to be available to regular people as a way of standardizing the language used to value diamonds across the US and around the world. Cliff earned his Diamonds Graduate diploma from GIA in 1998. :-)
The Four C's that GIA came up with are Cut, Clarity, Color, and Carat Weight. If you are familiar with the Color scale, you know that diamonds at the top of the scale (D,E,F) are considered colorless and are generally speaking more expensive than those further down the color scale. That is the case UNTIL you go far enough down the color scaled to get into fancy colors and then the price jumps up. The reason for this - it is all about rarity. Natural, fancy color diamonds make up less than .01% of all the diamonds mined from the earth. The come in red, pink, blue, orange, green, and yellow.
Of all the natural, fancy color diamonds yellow are the most affordable. (FYI - red and blue diamonds command insane prices!) Our favorite diamond supplier, Jason, has his office in the New York diamond district and he keeps a nice supply of natural fancy colored diamonds on hand.
Chimera Design is pleased to offer natural fancy yellow diamond rings to West Michigan. Every one of them comes with a Diamond Report from GIA that assures you that what you are purchasing is a natural fancy color diamond - the rarest of the rare.
Natural fancy yellow diamonds available at Chimera Design in Lowell.
The reason we mention the GIA documentation on our fancy yellows is because lab grown diamonds can be treated to turn colors. In fact, High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) treatments can also be used to turn white mined diamonds various colors as well. Reputable diamond sellers will inform you of the source of any colored diamonds they sell. We consider ourselves very reputable.
No other yellow gemstone can match the fire and sparkle of a yellow diamond. We really enjoy our relationship with Jason and our ability to offer natural fancy yellow diamond rings in our little shop.
Another natural fancy yellow diamond ring from Chimera Design.
Here are four examples of natural yellow diamonds that we have in our case. We would love it if you stopped in to see them in person - they are amazing.
Stop in Chimera Design to see natural fancy yellow diamond rings.

Custom Design or Help With Your Estate Jewelry By Appointment January 3, 2023 01:30

Things can get a hectic in our little store, so starting in 2023, we will be available to meet with you by appointment for engagement ring shopping, custom design or help going through the box of estate jewelry you just inherited.

We will schedule appointments with you between 10am to noon. So you can come in before the store opens at noon. This will allow us to focus all of our attention on you - without interruption.

Call us at 616-897-9480 to set up your appointment.

Or you can email Cliff - cliffy777(at)comcast.net

       (put the @ symbol where it belongs!)


Deal Of The Day - Jewelry on Sale at Chimera Design December 6, 2022 08:28

Check out the Deal of The Day from Chimera Design.

The Chimera Advantage - What it Means For YOU March 9, 2022 17:54

Learn about The #Chimera Advantage. We are celebrating our 20th year in Lowell. Part of that celebration is telling you all the advantages of doing business with Chimera Design.

We Just Added A Selection of Bracelets For Men March 2, 2022 16:07

Cliff started wearing bracelets way back before cell phones, the interweb, or electric motorcycles. (Nixon was president - see what I mean, long time ago.) 

Anyway, we have been getting requests for bracelets and we just added a couple dozen styles from Chisel. We have bracelets made of titanium, stainless steel, gemstone beads, and combination bracelets. They range in price from $45.00 to $149.00 and Cliff is pretty happy with the selection.

Stop in and get some coolness for your wrist today.

Cool bracelets for men at Chimera Design in Lowell.

 


Shop for Personalized Jewelry Online September 9, 2021 14:06

Design Personalized Jewelry Online - easy peasy!

Custom Made Heart Beat Ring or Rings Using Your Actual Heartbeat - Stackable June 26, 2021 13:08

We can make a ring or rings using your actual heartbeat. Working from a copy of your EKG, we can make a ring or set of rings in 14kt gold that are your heartbeat.

Diamonds Grown in Laboratories - We Like Them and Sell Them - January 19, 2021 10:05

Diamonds grown in laboratories offer the beauty and durability of mined diamonds at a fraction of the price.

What To Know About Buying/Selling Estate Jewelry January 22, 2020 12:24

 

Selling Your Estate Jewelry

The first thing we tell anyone who inherits jewelry - be it a little or a lot - DO NOT TOSS ANYTHING OUT! We have seen too many instances where people mistake the real thing for costume jewelry and vice versa. Take all the items to a trusted professional with experience, test equipment and a solid reputation. Let them tell you what you have.

The second most important thing to know is that generally speaking, Estate jewelry is like any other used item - it is not going to sell for the replacement cost or any where near the cost of a new piece. There ARE exceptions, but a general rule of thumb for a sales price if the item is in good, very good or excellent condition is 50% of the cost of a similar new item. 

Exceptions might include Rolex watches, designer pieces, collectible items - signed pieces, etc. 

A popular misconception is that diamonds and diamond jewelry appreciate in value. Some of this is because of misunderstanding appraisal value. For example, say I do an appraisal on a 1.00 ct G color SI1 clarity round diamond mounted in a 14kt white gold solitaire for someone today. I might advise them to insure the ring for $6,700.00 as a replacement value. Should Ms X pass away tomorrow, will her family be able to sell the diamond ring for $6,700? NO, not even close. I am advising them with the appraisal that in my professional opinion based on 23 years in the business that if they lost the ring, $6,700 would be enough to replace it with a similar ring. Who in their right mind would buy something used for the price of the same item new?

Think about it - pick any item you own that might be covered by insurance. A musical instrument, your car, electronic equipment, smart phone, etc. If your house burned most insurance policies will cover replacement cost (the good policies anyway), but would you use that as a tool to sell your used car, TV, phone, or guitar? No, because no one is going to pay you the same amount for a used whatever as they would for a NEW one. They would be silly. The same principle applies to Aunt Susie's diamond tennis bracelet that she had insured for $7,000. It is used, so expecting it to sell for the price of a new one is not realistic. (Exception, it was a Tiffany piece made in the 1920s in mint condition.....then MAYBE.)

People like to think that this process somehow means jewelry prices are super inflated or fake or what ever. Simply not true. The replacement or new value of ANY ITEM is generally considerably more than what you can sell the used item for. People want to hold used jewelry to a different standard some how and I do not understand it.

We have 20 years experience in the jewelry business and we also have test equipment that helps us find the gold and diamonds in the midst of costume jewelry.

So - what does this help cost? Well, if you will allow us to buy the silver and gold, we don't charge you to look for it. If you just need a general evaluation and to separate out the fine jewelry from the rest, we work on an hourly basis (Cliff is pretty darn fast at this, too) We charge $40 an hour.

If we find some really nice pieces, we can sell them for you on consignment here in our store OR we have a network of people we work with in NYC, Chicago, Dallas, and LA who buy big, estate pieces. We have been able to help people realize more money in their pockets by this networking.


A Sample Of New Jewelry Made Here At Chimera Design June 28, 2019 13:34

90 second video of some of the latest handmade jewelry at Chimera Design from the bench of Julie Claire DeVoe.

 


Just What She Had In Mind - New Jewelry From Old June 27, 2019 17:51

Sue had three rings containing nine diamonds that she was not wearing any longer. She had an idea in her head for all the gold and diamonds to be combined into a single ring.

She wanted it to be 10-11mm wide at the top and taper down. She wanted the diamonds to be set as low as possible. We can do that! We sent a quick sketch to Jere (at first she had 7 diamonds, then found a pair of earrings so the sketch shows 7).

Early sketch of custom ring design

 

Jere took my lovely (!) sketch and sent me back several CAD images for Sue to look at. 

CAD image of a custom ring at Chimera Design

Sue approved the CAD image, so we cut the wax. Sue took at look at it and said, "That is exactly what I had in mind." Next step was melting down her old gold, casting the ring, setting all the diamonds and polishing everything up. The result was this:

Custom ring made from old rings and diamonds from them at Chimera Design.

 

Well, Sue was beside herself when she picked up the ring. One of the things we love about our "job" is helping people bring a piece of jewelry from thought to reality. Sue let me get my phone and capture some of her happiness: