George Walton’s Gold & Diamond Company

Mar 23

In their own words

“We have a 10 Carat Club for clients with over 10-carat center stones. If a club member is traveling and they want to have dinner at a certain place, we become concierge. We chartered a jet to take clients to New York for New Year’s Eve. They wanted to have reservations at one of William Gallagher’s restaurants with special seats so you could see the ball dropping. We arranged everything, including transportation. We look at ourselves more as, you might say, second marriage up—we’re not really in the starter kit business.”

-George Walton

Jason’s Interview with George

Jason

Today, we get to know George Walton from George Walton’s Gold & Diamond Company out in Anchorage. Tell us how you got into space.

George

I started out in New Jersey, Philadelphia, New York, and then moved to California and started my first business there and came up to Anchorage in 1975. We found it to be an extremely good business. We found that we had a niche dealing in Alaska. We do a lot of business outside of Alaska and we found it to be a great market for us.

We have extremely fine manufacturers. We also manufacture our own. I want to give a shout-out to Martin Flyer.

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Jason
I love their brand. Beautiful. They're really into the quality of the piece and always so on-trend. We've been doing business together for over 40 years.

Tell me about the services that you love.

George
We have a 10 Carat Club. We do a lot of catering in that club. We do shows, buys for them. A lot of things. If you're traveling and they want to have dinner at a certain place, we become a concierge. Whatever it takes to keep the client happy. We chartered a jet to take clients to New York for New Year's Eve. We arranged everything. We always do an anniversary party in the beginning of November. When you bring clients together, they enjoy seeing each other, they seeing what everybody else is wearing. We've been doing this party 40-some years.

Jason
Let's talk about one of the parties. What’s one of the most memorable?

George
We sold a 26-carat cushion cut. Had to fly to New York to make a mounting in two days and deliver the piece in California. That was definitely a memorable piece.

Jason
What's a piece that you're proud of?

George
We are working on a 15-carat diamond mount. We're designing around the stone at the moment.

Jason
What's your thought on eco-friendly jewelry?

George
If we're talking diamonds, that's been handled a long time now with De Beers. We can source from the mine to the store. We don't see a lot of issues in the color industry. You still have some issues in certain parts of the world, but you avoid that.

Jason
What are your thoughts on the current changes of buying?

George
One of the things that we have learned is that we can't be everything to everybody. We look at ourselves more as, you might say, second marriage up. We're not really in the starter kit business. We specialize in larger goods. My generation, they were collectors. They bought gold.

Jason
You do a lot for the community. Can you talk about that?

George
We support the Boys and Girls Club. We try to work with hospice, different organizations that help in our community.

Jason
What separates you from others?

Goerge
It's a passion, rather than anything else. I've never thought about doing something different. It makes it really interesting because when you wake up in the morning, you don't know who's going to call and say, “Hey, I found this stone.” Sometimes these things take six months to a year to put together. And you have to have a client that's willing to do that with you.

Jason
Why do you think your clients choose to do that with you?

George
I guarantee my results. And I always want to deliver better than they thought. Always exceed the expectations. You want a knowledgeable salesperson. You want someone that can explain to you why you're spending the money.