Posted: Thu, 7 May 2009 07:00 AM - 11,949 Readers
By: Marques G. Harper
A gold party in Lakeway yields memories for guests as well as money for the March of Dimes of Austin.The gated, cliffside Mediterranean-style mansion with its edgeless pool, miniature donkeys and horses, and separate party facility overlooking Lake Travis is more than mesmerizing.
Will one of the "Real Housewives of Orange County" or Donatella Versace answer the door?
Instead, I meet the energetic host, Ronda Gray, an Austin native, University of Texas graduate and former school teacher who runs a field trip camp for teens called Camp on the Move. She invites me in to join her and a few of her closest girlfriends for a midday party, which includes Togarashi seared beef tenderloin with wasabi mayonnaise on black pepper biscuits, seaweed salad, eel rolls and chocolate-dipped strawberries from Pink Avocado.
Food isn't our main agenda, though.
We gather for one of the hottest girlfriend events to take root in this turbulent economy, the gold party. This one is through Red Swan, the Narberth, Pa.-based division of Lippincott LLC. (For nearly 20 years, Lippincott has offered customers a way to sell gold, platinum and fine jewelry items). Gray heard about Red Swan through her sister and was intrigued.
By this point, you've likely heard about the growing popularity of gold parties throughout the country. They are this moment's Tupperware party, and a chance for us to gather instead of having to dodge our neighbors on the way to one of Austin's numerous pawn shops for a fast payday. All of those late-night commercials and advertisements have been telling us to sift through our dresser drawers for long-forgotten gold chains, tennis bracelets, fillings, heirloom brooches and first marriage wedding rings.
What's different about this gold party, as opposed to many I've heard about in recent months, is that this one isn't about making some fast loot for a BMW payment. It's about raising money for charity. In this case, money made from Gray's gold party will be donated to the March of Dimes. Gray and her friends want to show the women of Dallas that Austin can single-handedly raise more money for the March of Dimes, even if it's one gold bracelet at a time.
"Can you imagine if everyone opened their drawers?" says Gray, who is the co-chairwoman of this year's March of Dimes' Signature Chefs event, which is scheduled for Nov. 1.
Oh, the potential treasure we'd find.
Before we start, Daniel Buerk, vice president of Red Swan, warns us that retail prices for jewelry are often 900 or 1,000 times the pieces' value. He's fresh from a stop in Sarasota, Fla., where he was interviewed for a "Today" show segment.
He flew to Austin especially for Gray's party, a special event for Red Swan. (The company usually doesn't send appraisers to everyone's party.) Most customers call Red Swan at 888-309-7926 or sign up online and receive a box to ship their goods to Red Swan. Appraisers examine the jewelry, and a check is sent to the customer based on the value of the jewelry. A customer then has 10 days from the date on the check to decided if they will accept the offer or have their pieces returned. Buerk tells me more people are starting to send gold to Red Swan and donating the money to charities, which, in some cases, aren't getting as many donations in this recession.
To get the action going, we're sitting in Gray's living room among Gray's friends. Stacy Mock, Mindy Bakker, Jenny Palmieri — a former Miss Georgia, Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Texas titleholder — and Cindy Mokry (who's vying for the Mrs. Texas title in June) are sitting close on the couch and in chairs.
Let the gold games begin. First up: Gray's engagement ring from a former squeeze.
When he proposed for the first time, he gave her a talk about how important it was not to lose the ring because it was so valuable. After they broke up, he never asked for the ring back. Gray wonders why not, especially when they got back together a second time and he proposed with a different ring, which he did ask to have returned after they broke up again.
"That has got to be a fake," she says. "I want to know."
Buerk examines the piece with a jewelry loop. We pause in anticipation of his findings.
"It's a C.Z.," he says for the cubic zirconia ring.
Laughter fills the room.
"I knew it," Gray says.
"The band is 14-karat," he says. "It's real gold. It's about $30."
"That's why he never asked for it back when we broke up," Gray says.
And really, that's the thrill of a gold party. It has everything to do with the anticipation of hearing what something's really worth.
Here come the Duncan & Boyd earrings that Gray was excited to win in a charity raffle. She says she was told they were valued at $6,000.
Buerk gets to work. He tells her the news: "They probably would be $200," and that's only because they're from a recognizable jewelry house.
Austinite Bobbi Topfer, who is an honorary chairwoman of the March of Dimes' Signature Chefs this year, isn't at the lunch, but she offers a nongold necklace she bought in Beverly Hills. It brought in $700. Bakker ponies up a ring sans diamond from an ex-husband. Among the day's offerings are other pieces from Gray, including a gold bracelet she got in high school. The bracelet's gold value is estimated at $60 by Buerk.
"It's cool to see what it's worth and give it to charity," says Gray, who plans to recommend gold parties to other charities. "All of this has been stuffed in my drawer. I don't feel a loss at all."
"No loss," Palmieri confirms.
Later, I find out the women's jewelry purge raised more than $2,000 for the March of Dimes. Not bad for a lunch gathering in this economy.
Contact the AuthorEmail:
mharper@statesman.comPhone: 512-445-3974
