Imitation jewelry

[Cinderella]

Dear Gentlemen,

Can you please enlighten me.  Is it a custom in America to give imitation jewelry to their girlfriends for St. Valentines Day?

For example, in Russia an imitation jewelry can only be presented to a little girl not to a woman.  Women usually get solid gold and real stones.

Well to me, it is better not to give anything if you can't afford precious metals than to give imitated ones.  What do you think?  

Interested to know your opinion.

[BubbaGump]

... in response to Imitation jewelry, posted by Cinderella on Mar 13, 2002

Women in the USA do get a lot of costume jewelry for necklaces and earrings.  It is considered acceptable.  A lot of nice jewelry in the US is not expensive.  The silver jewelry Zink was talking about looks very nice and is under $100.  

What is expensive are larger diamond rings.  Some men by cheap imitations that look like diamonds and I would not tell the woman that it is a diamond when it is not.  That is not acceptable jewelry to me because you are trying to look like you are rich when you are not.  

When I was married a lot of women would stare at my wife's ring because it had such a perfect stone which would reflect a lot of light.  That is what you want in a diamond.  A large stone that doesn't reflect light is does not look any better than a fake.

[BrianN]

... in response to It varies, posted by BubbaGump on Mar 14, 2002

Lol... had to say that.

Tell ya what... if my woman knows the budget, and is shopping for it herself, then... there won't be a problem, and nobody gets called a cheapskate.

(got an airport question for you btw.. email me when you get the chance).

tia,
bd.

[BubbaGump]

... in response to well heck... you suk bubba, posted by BrianN on Mar 14, 2002

Sorry, I meant to say sucky fake rings are perfectly acceptable in the USA.  His heart was in the right place.  A woman in the US would be thrilled to get a large cubic zirconian.

[BrianN]

... in response to Imitation jewelry, posted by Cinderella on Mar 13, 2002

[micha1]

... in response to Imitation jewelry, posted by Cinderella on Mar 13, 2002

Cindy, there is a distinction to be made between an imitation and junk jewlery.
Wearing a lot of gold or big stone are an invitation for thieves.
People that can afford it, do not show it.  That way you do not invite people to steal from you and perhaps hurt
you in the process.
For the average person, the thousands of dollars needed to buy jewlery can certainly be put to better use, to do
ameliorate their everyday life.
As far as I am concern, only old broads and idiots, flash big stones and gold in our days and age.

[Quasimoto]

... in response to Imitation jewelry, posted by Cinderella on Mar 13, 2002

Only a guy who is on a tight budget, or is cheap!!!!! would do such a thing. Which is it?

Steve

[Tootsie]

... in response to Imitation jewelry, posted by Cinderella on Mar 13, 2002

The easiest way to win a girl’s heart is to give her a good expensive gift, natural jewelry, for example. It is much easier than to use brain, charm, sense of humor etc.  So I would be very careful and suspicious if a boyfriend did it. Husband is husband, fiancee is fiancee and boyfriend is boyfriend. So probably fake jewelry for a certain event is not a bad sign at all (both in Russia and the US). Also, if a girl accepts expensive gift she can feel “obliged” to this man. And as for me I would prefer “freedom”.

I know that Moscow girls differ from girls from other cities. Perhaps not better, not worse, just different. It is considered to be a bad taste in Moscow to wear expensive jewelry and especially diamonds somewhere except with party dress at night parties (clubs, restaurants etc.).  

Fake jewelry can be both cheap and tasteless and very expensive, tasteful and fashionable. Good fake jewelry is more expensive than the same gold jewelry.  I have enough gold and diamonds but still prefer jewelry imitation. You can wear it anywhere, it is fashionable and in summer you can choose the color that fits to the clothing.

Maybe I’m crazy but I would prefer that my boyfriend gave me jewelry imitation instead of natural jewelry.

My 2 roubles,

Tootsie

[Zink]

... in response to Imitation jewelry, posted by Cinderella on Mar 13, 2002

Where I'm from it's traditional to give cards, chocolates, flowers or stuffed animals on St Valentines day. It is rare to give jewelry. And when we do give jewelry it tends to be nice even if not overly expensive.

As for gifts I have given, my ex-girlfriend in Russia liked a bracelet I gave her best of all. It was siver with gold, brass and copper highlights. It was south western style made by Montana Silversmiths. It cost $100 CAD(about $60-65 USD). She almost never took it of for a month.

I gave her a variety of jewelry in the 3 months that I was in Russia. I liked to surpise her with new gifts occasionally. I never spent more than aproximately $150 USD on any one gift. And most were less expensive than that. I did give her a costume ring once. But she picked it out because it caught her eye that day. I wouldn't have bought it if she didn't want it.

And the gifts that the ladies in my family liked best was the amber and silver jewelry that I brought back from Russia. Not expensive either. But it was something unique that we don't have much of here.

[Clay]

... in response to Imitation jewelry, posted by Cinderella on Mar 13, 2002

Well I personally have very simple rules when it comes to giving jewelry to women.

1)  Don't give them any jewelry until AFTER you marry them.  Seen way too many friends have the love of their life depart, and she sure doesn't give back the $500 Tennis bracelet when she goes...

2)  DO NOT skimp on the wedding ring!  This is a life-long symbol of your commitment to each other, so the bigger the ring the bigger the symbol (After all Diamonds are a girl's best friend).  Spend more on the rings, and less on the ceremonies!!  Know a few people who didn't have the bucks when they got married, but seemed to regret getting what they could afford, and not what they really wanted...  Regrets suck.

3)  Never buy fake stuff!  It don't gotta be flashy and expensive, but for God's sake it CANNOT BE FAKE!!

Jewelry is a heap-o-lovin', and should be reserved for those truly special occasions when you want to say 'I Love You' in a BIG way...   If I were serious enough about a woman to want to buy her some jewelry, I wouldn't be thinking about buying anything fake...  C'mon it's JEWELRY, not a scarf, or a tool set, or a blender!!  It's the one item that comes from the heart, where a person WILL feel slighted if it's fake, and actually has a right to in my book!

You can say "I love you" with roses and small gifts - the thought is truly from the heart - and it's the thought that counts!

But when you buy jewelry, and it's fake, the message is still "I love you", but now you've said "I love you, but not enough to get the real stuff, baby.  Yur worthy of jewelry, but only cubic-sirkonian worthy"... ICK....

Stick to the smaller things to say I love you if you wanna avoid the conditionality of jewelry.  Otherwise suck it up and go the extra mile....  

IE: "Well to me, it is better not to give anything if you can't afford precious metals than to give imitated ones." - Right on Sister...

.02 - Just remember you asked ;-)

And - no, I would not call it customary to give imitation jewelry in America.  Only customary of low class clowns to give imitation jewelry...

Clay

[BubbaGump]

... in response to Re: Imitation jewelry, posted by Clay on Mar 13, 2002

=:-)

[BubbaGump]

... in response to Some girl is gonna like your attitude, posted by BubbaGump on Mar 13, 2002

=:0

[Natalya]

... in response to Imitation jewelry, posted by Cinderella on Mar 13, 2002

IMHO good quality and nice costume jewelry is as popular as fine jewelry in Russia. Cinderella should clarify what kind of jewelry she call "immitation".Well if we talking here cheap imitation of golden jewelry ( pair of earrings for 5 $) ,then yes I agree with her it is humiliating to give it to RW as gift. If she calls "imitation jewelry" any jewelry that is not made from gold then I strongly disagree with her.I have number of pieces of costume jewelry. Starting from simple chokers (you can't find them in gold or it will be too expensive), brooches and finishing with expensive piece of art costume jewelry.Great quality and look costume jewelry popular everywhere so please don't think that RW would be only happy to receive golden jewelry with diamonds preferably .I'd rather have nice piece of costume jewelry then 30$ 10k ring from K-Mart.So to make story short my advice to you don't buy jewelry for gifts unless it is nice solid expensive piece.RW have great taste in golden jewelry and hardly will be impressed with jewelry from K-Mart and Wal-Mart.

[hockeybrain]

... in response to Imitation jewelry, posted by Cinderella on Mar 13, 2002

If a man is giving a girl jewelry it is an insult for her to receive anything but real jewelry from him.  Women in the US often have their real jewelry copied into fake so they wear that everyday and bring out the real stuff for special occasions.  Robbery is a real fear.

[Stevo]

... in response to Imitation jewelry, posted by Cinderella on Mar 13, 2002

the jewelry should be real.  That doesn't mean it has to be expensive.  Real gold and real gem stones.  Don't give your lady a cubic zirconium (unless she is the one who wants it!).  Most women would be very upset to find out they have received 'fake' jewelry.  It appears to me that womenin Russia dream of 'golden' rings on their fingers, but gem stones aren't really something they think about or care about too much.

Stevo