To: Rob LeVine who wrote (127 ) 7/21/1998 9:52:00 AM From: Leslie S. Feinberg Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Rob; While there are no doubt lots of folks who buy their future family heirlooms at Sears, that is not the business plan of the company. I spoke to four or five jewelers in Florida and Georgia, two of whom were with small chains and a couple of independent shopowners who were certified gemnologists. All felt that moissanite would be extremely successful in high quality jewelry. They are talking about pieces in gold or platinum that $60K/yr people couldn't buy in diamond, but which are affordable in moissanite, pieces you wouldn't think of producing in CZ or any other previous simulant due to poor quality. There is a tendency for some to try to envision the future through the jaded lens of previous experience and your friend may be locked into that mode. Moissanite, unlike CZ has proprietary technology protection through two patents. Still, for several years CZ was quite profitable. Moissanite, vastly superior to CZ as a product, also has the benefit of this patent protection which means that there is a window of what, 5 to 6 years at least where C3 should have a wild run of profitability. Also, the jewelers I spoke to were impressed by C3's scrutiny of prospective retailers. They don't want Sears, they don't even want Zales at this point. They are signing good shops. The jewelers recognize that there is better profit potential in moissanite compared to diamond. Finally, my point of view on moissanite vs diamond is that arbitrarily valuing diamond at a high level is old thinking, like the gold standard it just doesn't make sense anymore. From any efficient, functional point of view diamond doesn't make sense. The only thing that makes diamond more valuable than moissanite is a cock and bull story from DeBeers. I don't think that cuts it in today's world. I think people with a reasonable amount of dough will embrace moissanite as way more bang for the buck. No one buys jewelry for investment purposes. When have you heard of anyone selling a one or two carat diamond at a profit? No, I think C3 is going to go through the roof in the short run and that in the medium long run this will be a $200/share stock in 3 years.
