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Bitter diamond
A diamond may be forever, but love and marriage sure isn’t. With an estimated 50 percent of all marriages ending in divorce, a new Web site, "I Do, Now I Don't" is looking to capitalize on this more cynical side...
A diamond may be forever, but love and marriage sure isn’t.
With an estimated 50 percent of all marriages ending in divorce, a new Web site, "I Do, Now I Don't" is looking to capitalize on this more cynical side of diamonds.
Founder and CEO Joshua Opperman came up with the idea after his fiancée abruptly called it quits.
He explains:
"A few months into our engagement, I came home from a tough day at work only to find that my apartment was completely empty. All of her stuff was gone, and all that was left was the engagement ring lying on my table."
Ouch.
Rather then hopefully saving it for another woman, he went on an epic quest to "toss the ring back into the fiery chasm from whence it came." (OK, perhaps not, but I couldn't resist a Lord of the Rings reference.) Actually, he went back to the jeweler where he'd bought it three months earlier, but found he could only get 32 percent of its original cost.
What's a jilted guy to do? Turn his pain into profit, naturally.
Opperman created "I Do, Now I Don't" to help others unload their bitter reminders and offer a good deal to those who still believe in love. It's like eBay for the "take this ring and shove it" set. Engagement rings are posted, bid on and then sold to the highest bidder. Only rings with GIA, AGS or EGL grading reports are accepted for auction and the site pockets 5 percent of the final sale.
I'm not so sure a proposal that includes "Oh, and I got a great deal because the last owner of this ring was dumped" will go over well, but maybe he can put a positive spin on it. After all, actress Ellen Barkin recently proved that ex-jewelry can be trendy to the tune of $20 million.
One can only hope that the new ring bearers will have better luck.
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