Tuesday, November 12, Phyllis Holmes from The Family Jewel Box spoke to the Kiwanis club. They belong to a buying group for independent jewelry stores and went on a buying trip to Germany; Antwerp, Belgium and London. 

There was a lot of work for her on the trip but there was also free time. In Idar-Oberstein, Germany, they went to a small family business (Rolf Muller) which collects stones worldwide then cuts and sells them. They only sell colored stones, no diamonds. Phyllis sees them twice a year at their shows in the States. In Germany their show room is in a castle. The people who work in this company are mostly family. 

Phyllis passed around pictures of the places that they visited. She passed around stones that she had purchased. Some of these stones were already spoken for and will be made into something for that person. Some of them were still available. Antwerp, Belgium, is where they saw diamonds. They were invited to an event by De Beers which is a South African-British corporation that specializes in diamonds, from mining all the way to retail. 

A question was asked about what was considered a large stone.  Her answer was a diamond that is more than half carat.

This was a very interesting program about something most of us know very little about.