00:00What's good? It's me, Gene, and Shannon Renee from the all-new Morning Bounce, and Project Proposal is in full swing.
00:06We're going to give somebody the ultimate proposal live on the air, and we are here at Motor City Pawn Brokers in Roseville.
00:12Yeah, and today we're here with the owner and diamond expert, Mark Aubrey.
00:16And, Mark, I think some people may be hesitant to come and get a ring, an engagement ring here at a pawn shop.
00:21They may think it's, like, broke or it's not real, but, like, looking around here, this couldn't be further from the truth.
00:26You know, from time to time, I've heard that over the years, but mainly it came from first-time customers.
00:33And what I've heard, after their first shopping experience, or maybe their second, is the exact opposite, that they'll never go anywhere else.
00:39They'll never shop anywhere else, and for a couple reasons.
00:42One, the savings is immense. You know, they're paying half of what they would retail.
00:47The other reason is that perception they had of that old-school pawn shop, after they shop here, it goes away.
00:54Because they realize that's not the case.
00:57Okay, so talk to us a little bit about the process when somebody does bring a ring in that you guys kind of go through to make sure that it's authentic
01:02and make sure that the customer is getting, you know, something quality.
01:05Well, I have a jewelry background, so all of the management and all of the stores, it's mandatory that they actually go through diamond school,
01:12which is what I did years ago.
01:13Also, there are plenty of tools, as you can see that we have a lot of tools here.
01:22We use all of these, and that's part of the whole process, to make sure that the items are real.
01:27All right, Mark, so now that we've seen some of the rings that they could possibly choose from,
01:30can you do me a favor and just, like, put a little pen on it and show them it's real?
01:34Sure, yeah.
01:34Yeah, so what we have here, we have actually a good assortment of stones that look like diamonds and, obviously, natural diamonds.
01:41So we'll take a natural one first.
01:42All right.
01:43Okay, and we'll use this little diamond tester we have here, and as you press down, you'll see it jump on a scale and go to diamond.
01:52Whereas, if you take a stone that looks like a diamond, or it's made, it's a different type of stone, a real stone, but it's not.
01:58Yeah.
01:59It's made to look like a diamond.
02:00So we'll start with the cubic zirconia, and you won't see anything happen on this tester as I push down.
02:05Mm-hmm.
02:06Okay, but then you jump to something a little bit more harder that's closer to a diamond, like a moissanite.
02:11Okay, and you'll see it jump to moissanite there.
02:13Mm-hmm.
02:15So the third and the last one, this is a lab-grown diamond.
02:18Technically, it is a diamond.
02:20It has all the same qualities.
02:21So even on a tester, there.
02:23So even on a tester, it goes to diamond.
02:25Okay.
02:26How can you tell whether it's lab-grown or if it's a mined diamond?
02:29So that's where it gets a little tricky, and that's where this nice, fancy machine comes into play.
02:33Okay.
02:33So I'll show you.
02:34We'll open it up here.
02:35Mm-hmm.
02:36Put the lab-grown diamond ring in there.
02:45Simple as hitting one button.
02:46Mm-hmm.
02:47And now on here, you'll see different colors.
02:49And we know that a natural mined diamond color is a bright blue color.
02:54Okay.
02:54As you see on here, it's all red.
02:56Yeah.
02:56So a red color on here indicates that it's a lab-grown stone.
03:00And you make sure that it'll fit and all that kind of stuff as well when they choose to ring up, correct?
03:03Correct.
03:04We have jewelers here.
03:05We get size rings, solders, do simple repairs, stuff like that.
03:08So we make sure everything is right before the customer leaves.
03:10That's super exciting.
03:11I know it's an exciting time for both the guy picking it out, you know, one of them, like, nervous, making sure it's the right ring for their person.
