Chicago

I spent yesterday afternoon in Nordstrom's and Saks amazed at the jewelry selection. What was really amazing to me however, was how much of it:

• resembled the artisan work my colleagues and I are doing
• seems to be of a poorer quality than the artisan work
• how most of it is extremely overpriced--and priced at more than the one-of-a-kind pieces that so many of the members of the International Jewelers' Guild are creating

At one time, I could have pointed out perhaps that presentation might be the answer, but most artisan jewelry designers now have their own labels, boxes, logos, etc that are unique to their companies.
When examining some of the pieces I found that:

• most of the pieces were not necessarily sterling silver or gold-filled--but base metal gold-tone or silver-tone, some were plated.
  
• jump rings were flimsy; some already had visible openings where they had pulled apart
• what appeared to be weak metal
• in some cases, stones that looked acrylic, rather than glass
• too much plastic

This is not to say that many of the pieces weren't beautiful--many were--and some I would like to have (although not at those prices). And of course, these pieces were not "one-of-a-kind."