I saw an ad in today's newspaper for a single strand of huge Mikimoto pearls. It kind of reminded me of the necklace that Wilma Flintstone used to wear (with that lovely off-the-shoulder dress). The price? $1,000,000. That's six zeros after the one. One million dollars.
Yikes.
Who gets that for Christmas? Who gives that for Christmas? Where do you wear such a necklace (well, Wilma never took hers off -- she even wore it when she was vacuuming the house with the baby elephant vacuum).
I'd never want one, no matter how much money I had to throw away. I just wouldn't feel anywhere close to deserving a million dollar necklace. And if I received one (yeah, I know, fat chance), I wouldn't be at all happy with the gift.
Who among you craves this necklace? C'mon. 'Fess up.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Not me, and it has nothing to do with feelings of worthiness. It's practicality for me. I'd break it, lose it, get it dirty, and I would rather have the money and pay off the mortgage and travel the world. Different priorities.
Posted by Starsnuffer (Member # 8116) on :
Indeed, having that necklace would be a supreme mis-allocation of funds... So many better things to buy or do with that money
Posted by Javert Hugo (Member # 3980) on :
That necklace does not fit my life. I couldn't afford the insurance on it and I have no place to wear it.
However, if I had a life where it did fit, I'd love it. The pearls are beautiful, and I can think of several outfits it would look gorgeous with. I like pretty things.
Having said that, it's way overpriced. You can get a similar rope from the Pearl Lady in DC for about $20,000, and a diamond clasp like that for about $10,000.
Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
People would kill for it.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Well I should think the objection to the necklace is that it costs 1,000,000 dollars. Were it far less money I'm sure many women folks would giggle with glee to wear such a necklace. I'd love to give something like that to my wife, but mostly because its a gorgeous necklace, not because it boasts a hefty price tag.
Having said that, Holy GUACAMOLE! That's expensive jewelry!
Posted by Launchywiggin (Member # 9116) on :
I think if you look at it from the right perspective, it's the same as a guy spending a couple thousand on a really nice piece of jewelry for an anniversary. That guy makes 80K a year, so the necklace is 1/40th of his income. Apply the same to a guy who makes 80 million a year, and it makes sense.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
I'd like to have the baby elephant vacuum.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
But what if it pooped on the rugs?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I'm with dkw.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
My pappy always used to say "I wish I had the money to buy an elephant. No, I wouldn't buy an elephant, it's just that they're quite expensive, and I wish I had that kind of money."
In the spirit of my pappy's snarkiness, I'll say that I'd love to have those pearls.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
dkw, I suppose you'll just have to settle for having the baby vacuum.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
I thought it was a baby mammoth, not an elephant.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
My wife has a thing for Flintstones, specifically Fred. So I think I'll be safe buying her a bowling ball and a buffalo helmet instead of the pearl necklace.
Yeah, that'll work...
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
I actually quite like pearls. They're beautiful and classy without being showy (I detest overly sparkly diamond-studded jewelry). They're also some of the most reasonably priced gemstones out there: Compare A Grade Pearl Strands with the same length of Garnets, or Sapphires, or Amethysts (priced PER BEAD!).
This necklace's value comes from the fact that they are an extremely rare AAA grade, a very large size, and are all perfectly matched with one another. While it's not quite my style or my taste (I actually prefer the B grade pearls that have inclusions and imperfections that catch the light), I can see the beauty and the value of this necklace. I think $1,000,000 is a suitable price for such a work of art.
Posted by porcelain girl (Member # 1080) on :
sarcasticmuppet has it on the mark. When you are paying for haute couture, you're paying for art. This includes fine jewelry.
Is it still ridiculous? Yes. Do I think there are better things to put your money into even if you are ridiculously wealthy? Yes, but I've also never been wealthy. Or financially secure. Aw.
They could just buy me a college education and pin the receipt to their cashmere cardigan. Talk about high class!
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
I think that I may buy it. How long do you think that it will be available? The price isn't too unreasonable.
Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
dana, you could just wrap John in swiffer cloth and have him roll around the house.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
It would be so bizarre owning something that 99% of people (including myself) couldn't tell apart from something worth 1% as much in a controlled test. Heck, even 0.1% might be a stretch.
Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :
I don't like the look of pearls, and I'm not fond of diamonds. I'm just strange, I guess. I love a lot of colored gems, though.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
If I bought that for my wife, I wouldn't allow her to wear it outside of the closet. I can't afford damage to something that's worth more than everything I've ever owned combined.
Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
Katarain, I mostly agree. I do love my engagement ring with its diamonds, but they have a somewhat unique design which gives it mroe interest for me. And I have this beautiful brooch from China that has pearls and jade in a very pretty pattern. But when I look at a jewelry store, I usually go for emeralds, opals, garnets, etc. Of course, I can't actually afford anything like that, but I do enjoy looking.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
I'll bet the fact that it's the only one of its kind in the world will drive the price beyond $1 million as the very wealthy fight to get it. You're paying for the exclusivity, not just the pearls.
Posted by SC Carver (Member # 8173) on :
I find it interesting that diamonds, even high grade jewelry diamonds are not really very rare. Sapphires and emeralds are actually much more rare. The Diamond industry, mainly DeBeers, has so much control over how many diamonds they release a year they have artificially inflated up the prices. They also spend millions in advertising convincing women they must have diamonds, not a stone that is actually rare.
I don't know about pearls.
Posted by porcelain girl (Member # 1080) on :
I'm not much for pearls either - except black pearls, those are pretty neato.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I would love to buy black pearls some day.
Posted by porcelain girl (Member # 1080) on :
Kind of neat looking. I wish you could enlarge it.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Cultured pearls are the opposite of rare. Ya make as many as ya want, as large as ya want. If ya wanna make 'em really on the cheap, ya just implant a marble-sized seed/irritant into the oyster.
[ December 17, 2007, 06:32 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
I can't ever see myself buying a $1,000,000 necklace, but that's not necessarily because I don't feel it's worth the money. If I were a multi-billionaire--say, along the lines of Sergey Larry--I could see myself spending a measly million on a necklace.
Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
If I had a ridiculous amount of money, I would probably use porcelin girl's idea and pay her college tuition and call the reciept a boach. I guess being pretty poor right now, I can see so many uses for money that I can't see blowing it on a necklace.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
I'm totally with Tante on this one. I'd never want one no matter how much money I had. Heck, it if cost only 0.1% of a million dollars ($1000) I wouldn't want one.
Not only are the pearls so big that they are gaudy, but how could anyone ever feel comfortable wearing something around there neck that cost $1,000,000. Its not that I would feel unworthy, just that it would feel so foolish and decadent. What if the clasp broke and it fell off? Wouldn't wearing it invite crime? I'm sure there is no shortage of people who'd be willing to kill me to get the million dollar necklace I had on.
So I suspect that who ever buys this will just keep it in a safe 99.9% of the time. So this necklace that cost enough money to put over 400 African children through 12 years of private school will spend almost all of its time locked away in a safe where no one can even see it so that once every three years its owner can wear it to some glamorous event with other obscenely weathly people engaged in conspicous consumption. And maybe someday they will sell making a substantial profit which they will no doubt squander in some comparably obscene purchase.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
quote:Originally posted by erosomniac: I can't ever see myself buying a $1,000,000 necklace, but that's not necessarily because I don't feel it's worth the money. If I were a multi-billionaire--say, along the lines of Sergey Larry--I could see myself spending a measly million on a necklace.
If I were a billionaire I wouldn't buy a $1M necklace.
I'd spend $1.4M on a Bugatti Veyron in a heartbeat, though.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
My inclinations align with The Rabbit and Tatiana, and for similar reasons.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
quote:Originally posted by aspectre: Cultured pearls are the opposite of rare. Ya make as many as ya want, as large as ya want. If ya wanna make 'em really on the cheap, ya just implant a marble-sized seed/irritant into the oyster.
Not really. Even Cultured pearls can't guarantee that AAA quality. All the process really does is provide a mass of various-quality pearls that need to be sorted through and graded (Like what I linked to previous). Some oysters might be held over year after year in order to try to get a bigger pearl, but it's not a sure thing. This necklace probably used cultured pearls, but according to the website, it took 10 years to collect a necklace's worth of pearls of high enough quality to justify that price tag. It's an attempt to regulate mother nature, which always has its high and low points.
There was a time when any pearl was *incredibly* expensive, which overlapped slightly with the technology of culturing pearls. I heard an urban legend once that the Tiffany Company bought their first building with a strand of perfectly matched pearls, just before the value of pearls went down with the knowledge of cultured pearls.
Plus remember to factor in the price of that diamond clasp--which in my opinion is completely unnecessary--probably ups the price a bit more than it would have.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
If I were a multi-billionaire, I still wouldn't spend a million on a necklace. Any necklace. I don't like necklaces to begin with. And I don't want to buy diamonds (except old ones.) If I had a million dollars of "mad money" and was debt-free and had plenty more to live off of already wisely invested, I'd probably spend the whole million giving kids in third world countries life-saving or -changing surgeries and supporting organizations like Heifer Int'l. that promote self-sufficiency, knowledge, and community cooperation as means to end world hunger.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
*shrug*. Of course there are much better uses for that money. But I can think of plenty of things I put money toward now, as a poor college graduate, that could probably be much better served helping the poor and disadvantaged. I like gourmet cheese. I fence. I do various art and crafty things. I like to travel when it's convenient and visit my friends and family. I pay my tithing and try to give to charity when I can, but I am a pretty selfish person, and as such I'm not going to judge someone with a much larger base of funds than I for *not* doing what I also *don't* do.
The original question was "Who craves that necklace?". I admit that the part of me that loves beautiful things appreciates that fact that it exists, price tag not withstanding.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
I guess being pretty poor right now, I can see so many uses for money that I can't see blowing it on a necklace.