Premier Jewelry: A PeaceBang Review

HI LADY PASTORS!

While I was in St. Pete’s Beach, Florida I made friends with a traveling heterosexual couple from Missouri*. You know how that is – you sit next to each other over dinner and the next thing you know you’re agreeing to meet the next morning for coffee at the same restaurant and then you’re talking religion and the next thing you know you’re pulling out your iPad and finding a local congregation for them to visit because they have never heard of a religion like yours, and they’re psyched to see what it’s all about. And we call that evangelism, kids! BAM!
Score for them, and score for any congregation lucky enough to welcome them.

Anyway, the lovely woman was wearing beautiful silver jewelry that I loved and so of course I commented on it. As it turns out, she sells the line and gave me some catalogs to peruse. I absolutely loved the product (she showed me some of the actual pieces, too, so I could see how quality they are) and said, “Wow. This is the kind of striking, really beautiful, professionally appropriate jewelry I would totally recommend to my readers. And at $20-$50 for a typical piece, it’s right in the clergy price point! I would sell this line through BTFM, I like it so much.”

Unfortunately, I can’t. It turns out that the president of the company is absolutely devoted to person-to-person sales and believes in building relationships through the product . I’m all for that, but I think he’s missing a huge potential clientele by opting not to make the line available on the internet. I think it’s a generational thing: I assume that he does not think it’s possible to create real relationships through internet sales.

I wish I could say that the website gives you any sense at all of the beauty of this line, but the blunt truth is that I’m not attracted to the pieces that the company shows on their site. They don’t include any of the many gorgeous, affordable items that I’m in love with. I don’t want to violate Premier’s business model by posting images here, although I really wish I could because I think a lot of you would go bananas and want to contact a representative (they’re called Independent Distributors) and order some. The thing is, what if there’s no Premier Jeweler anywhere near you? BUMMER.

Let me describe a few of my favorite items for you:
Rings:
Odyssey antique rhodium plated round ring with a crystal in the middle. $49

Modern Day antique matted silver plated ring with crystals in a spiral design. WANT! $32 There’s a matching necklace that is also gorgeous. The detail of these pieces are so beautiful — like what I always wish Chico’s jewelry would look like, but it just misses the mark. The necklace is on an open link chain with a round silver extender piece and the crystal spiral piece hangs off that. I’m so in love with these two I’m going to order them, probably.

The whole Urban Chic collection is AWESOME. Hematite plated trip chain necklace “Urbanite” is SO sharp! $42
They sell an antique silver plated five-strand necklace called “Harmony” that’s so beautiful and you can wear it several different ways. It has lovely little beads and small danglies — hard to describe but maybe I’ll get permission to post photos. $54

Another collection called “Beautiful” mixes antique rhodium plated chain with faux pearls and it’s just so pretty. I’m obviously a sucker for rhodium, which they use a lot, and for antique silver and gold looks, which are the 2012-2013 catalog’s hallmark. They also do a great job with silver/gold combo pieces and I think that can so easily look cheap.

“Upscale” earrings are antique matted gold and silver plated drop hoops. They’re gorgeous. $44 This collection looks like something that Brighton would try to do but not manage to design as well.

I’m also in love with the items on page 53 that are big silver plated links (necklace, earrings and bracelet — I don’t do matchy-matchy so I would never get more than one piece of this, but I could never decide which one!) that are set in with a bit of blingy crystal. It’s just done SO WELL!

Honestly? I just need to beg the company for permission to post some photos. I could go on and on. Like, you know how my whole holiday ministry look is “Black and Bling?” This catalog is full of pieces that I would happily take out year after year and wear all Advent and Christmas. There are a couple of brooches that are swoon-worthy. And I only wear brushed gold when I wear gold at all, and they have a whole collection of matte gold plate pieces that I love.

I know I want to order some pieces from Amy, the woman I met, but I swear I cannot make up my mind to save my life.

There’s an analogy to church life here, dears. If we resist changing models of participation and insist that everyone interface with church in the only way WE believe has value, not only do we not reach those who aren’t going to visit our brick-and-mortar structures, we are actually rejecting them without being aware of doing so. What a shame. And yet, how inconsistent with the way that Jesus himself gathered the community, promising us that even when he was long gone from our physical presence, he would still be with us whenever two or three were gathered in his name. Likewise, we have no trouble organizing our ecclesiology around letters sent by a man who has been dead for close to two thousand years, and of course I’m talking about Uncle Saul of Tarsus.

Here I am in a little town in Massachusetts with readers all over the world, many of with whom I have a genuine friendship from afar but never having met. I have talked on the phone with you, Skyped with you, consulted with you via e-mail where all I could see of you was through photos, and exchanged Facebook messages and images with you. Via those electronic methods, I have successfully advised you about your image and attire without ever being in the same room with you. If and when we do meet in person, we hug each other on the neck as true friends and siblings in ministry without any need for a getting-to-know-you period. If that isn’t real, what is?

The company is based in Dallas and you can go to their website to see if there’s a Premier Jeweler near you. And if you’re in the Edwardsville, Illinois vicinity (very close to St. Louis, MO), do call on Amy Stapleton. If you get in touch with me I will be happy to send her number to you.

Dear Mr. Horner, please consider opening up your business to online retail. Sincerely yours, PeaceBang

*I realized today that when I see the word “couple” I no longer see a man and woman in my mind’s eye. And that is called a seismic shift, my friends. And that is called gratitude for God’s abundant love and getting to witness so much change in my own lifetime.