Diamond Engagement Rings End Up In Pawn Shops
The effects of the financial crisis are beginning to be felt, especially in the US. In Oregon, you’ll find people driving up to the pawn shops to hand over their jewellery like diamond rings and other pieces so that they can pay their electricity bills or make sure they have enough gas in their tanks to drive around for the rest of the week or the month.
It’s not just jewellery that people are pawning – it’s happening with items like TVs and golf kits as well.
The women come in with their jewellery and their eyes full of tears. Sometimes they have diamond rings that have been passed down a few generations and it’s hard to hand them over. The pawn shop owners sometimes share their pain. The only consolation for these people is the fact that if they do manage to work and get some money, they can come and get their jewellery back. They wouldn’t be able to do that if they sold their valuables.
One such pawnshop called Silver Lining in Oregon trains its employees to be sensitive to people who come in with their valuables. The owner asks them to put themselves in the other person’s shoes when they deal with them. It’s heartbreaking for anyone to part with their personal possessions and people like these would never do that unless they had to. Yet, there’s hope when they leave their jewellery and other valuables in a pawn shop that one day they can come and get them back. It is this hope that keeps them going.
Tags: diamond engagement rings, Diamonds
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I believe that my husband stole the engagement ring he gave me just 2 years ago..don’t know why …he wants me to think I lost it, but I KNOW where it was and no one else has been in the house…
I’ve been told he could take it to a “jeweler he knows” and could get cash for it, and hide the cash. Otherwise, if he had gotten a check, I could find that amount posted to one of his stocks…
So you see, I need some advice. What are the rules of pawn shops or jewelers when they bring in a diamond to sell and say that it is their own personal diamond ring.??help? broken hearted woman
January 15th, 2009 at 7:15 am
I had to pawn my wedding/engagement rings to buy grocries for my family. I’ve never had to do that before and it hurt like hell. My daughter thinks it is at the jewler getting resized. I am getting it out tomorrow and I can’t wait!