Mary-Anne

 

 

Eighteen and one half years ago, Patrice Grandin brought her twenty years of experience in the jewellery industry and a true passion for selling jewellery, to Royal City Jewellers and Loans Ltd.  Her primary aim has always been to make each customer feel special.  She did this by providing great customer service.

As Sales Manager, Patrice ensured that our customers enjoyed their shopping experience and that the experience was a truly rewarding one.  Estate jewellery is priced at wholesale or less, guaranteed to appraise elsewhere for at least double, and new jewellery is priced at 20% to 25% lower than any other retail store in Canada.  Yes, a truly rewarding experience.

Eighteen and one half years later, Patrice is retiring.  She will be greatly missed by her many customers, her staff, and by the management of Royal City Jewellers Ltd.

We all wish her a VERY HAPPY RETIREMENT.

Royal City Jewellers & Loans Ltd. is into the spirit of summer.  It has always been our policy to provide our customers with a little extra.  This summer, besides GREAT PRICES and EXCELLENT SERVICE, we are also giving away inflatable beach balls.

 

You may find them in the parks, at events, or you may find them in our store.  Kids love them, and adults love them even more.

Royal City Jewellers & Loans Ltd. is proud to announce that our 19th Annual Tie Day Event finale will take place on November 28, 2015.  Our celebrity ties will be on auction throughout the month of November, both in store and on the web.

 

Presented to Royal City Jewellers & Loans Ltd. by  The Greater Vancouver Food Bank

This will be our 19th year of supporting the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, a non-profit organization established in 1982.    The Food Bank provides assistance to over 28,000 people located in Vancouver, Burnaby,  New Westminster and North Vancouver, every week.

For us, this is a year long process of contacting celebrities, sending out requests, getting ties signed, and turning the signed tie into a piece of art work.  This year, already, we have acquired some very exciting signatures.  For example, we have two of the Dr. Whos, Peter Capaldi and Tom Baker, just to name two.

The final day, November 28, we hold a Tie Day Event wrap up party in our store at 515 Columbia Street in New Westminster.  Refreshments will be served, games will be played, items will be auctioned, and the winners of our month long Tie Auction will pick up their winnings.

Please mark your calendar, November 28th is the DAY.

Royal City Jewellers & Loans Ltd. has acquired a Simpson custom racing suit that was made specifically for Jason Priestley.  Simpson custom racing suits are made to specification at their state-of-the-art suit manufacturing facility in Harbor City, California.  Racing requires top level safety performance of a fire retardant suit.  Simpson offers SF1 to SF1.20 certified suits in both custom and standard models.

Jason Priestly, a Canadian-American actor and director, was born in Vancouver, B. C. on August 28, 1969 and graduated from Argyle Secondary School in North Vancouver.  His hobbies include race car driving.  He rallied a Toyota Celica All-Tac ST185 in the SCCA Pro Rally Series during the early to mid-1990s.  He provided commentary and interviews of racers for ABC’s TV coverage of Indy Car racing. In 1999, he participated in the first Gumball 3000 rally, driving a Lotus Esprit V-8.  On August 11, 2002, he was seriously injured during a practice run at the Kentucky Speedway when his pro series car crashed into a wall at 180 mph.

In 2008,  Priestley became a joint owner in a new Indy Car Series team, Rubicon Race.  The car was entered in the 2008 Indianapolis 500 but, despite the teams enthusiasm, it suffered a crash during the second weekend of qualification rounds, thus failing to qualify for the race.  Priestley was also one of the owners of FAZZT Race Team, which competed in the Indy Car Series in 2010. ¹

 

 

This custom made Jason Priestley racing suit is on display at Royal City Jewellers & Loans Ltd., along with his autographed racing shirt.  The autograph is dated 2012.

 

1.  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jason-priestley

 

When I first started writing this blog, I promised to keep you updated on some of the weird and wonderful items that cross my desk.  The staff and management of ROYAL CITY JEWELLERS & LOANS LTD. are always on the lookout for just such items.

Recently a pair of original ‘ Rocky’  Lifespar boxing gloves was brought to my attention.  These gloves are hand signed by Sylvester Stallone and come with a certificate of authenticity.

 

 

 

You may remember, ‘Rocky’ was the 1976 Oscar winner for Best Picture and is still considered one of the most inspirational movies of all time.  Rocky Balboa’s rise from the gritty gyms of Philadelphia to his climatic title fight with champ Apollo Creed has become an iconic root-for-the- underdog story.

These original hand signed “Rocky” Boxing Gloves with its certificate of authenticity would make a great keapsake for any Rocky fan.

Native Art is very popular at Royal City Jewellers & Loans Ltd.  We carry a large variety of items, but recently we have acquired two Native Button Blankets, one called My Dad’s Bear and the other called Falling Feathers.  A Button Blanket, a creation of the Northwest Coastal Tribes, is a wool blanket embellished with mother-of-pearl buttons.

 

My Dad’s Bear	Falling Feathers

Ceremonial robes and their associated regalia have been among the most spectacular creations of the Indian people of the Northwest Coast of North America.  For generations, these robes have served as insignia of family and clan histories, duties, rights, and privileges, and they are beginning to mark, as well, a determined presence in contemporary Canadian society.  These robes are powerful statements of identity and, donning them, people become in a real sense what they wear.¹

Rather than for sleeping, the blankets are used as capes and gifts at ceremonial dances.

 

1. en.wikipedia.org

Saint Nicholas is the Patron Saint of pawnbrokers.

Carrying out  Saint Nicholas’ spirit of compassion, generosity, and hope, Royal City Jewellers & Loans Ltd. has just completed our 18th Annual Tie Auction in support of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.  The proceeds from this auction garnered in excess of $10,000.00 for the Food Bank.

Saint Nicholas of  Myra is famed for his generosity to the poor and his penchant for secretly leaving gifts for people in need.  Historians often recount how he saved a poor man’s daughter from being sold into servitude by throwing three bags of gold into the father’s window at night.  Saint Nicholas, recognized in North America as Santa Claus, is the Patron Saint of pawnbroking and his three bags of gold have always been the international symbol of pawn brokers.

www.stnicholascenter.org

As you saw in our previous blog, our 18th Annual Tie Day Auction at www.tieday.ca is up and receiving bids.  The past year has been great fun tracking down celebrities and encouraging them to autograph a tie.  Some are easier to get than others and sometimes, special items just fall into our lap.

Oliver Queen Productions called urgently requiring a gents black onyx pinky finger ring in a size 81/2 for a scene in the TV series Arrow.  A lovely lady from the props department arrived, loved the ring we selected for her, called the set, gets their agreement, all the while, carrying on a very fun and informative conversation.  Part of the conversation revolved around the ties that we have amassed and the ties that Arrow very kindly signed for us.

 

 

During the conversation, this lovely lady tells us that she makes jewellery from the arrowheads and gun shells used on the set of Arrow.  She also, was excited to support the Greater Vancouver Food Bank and volunteered to donate a pendant and earring set and a money clip for use as a prize or auction item for our 18th Annual Tie Day Event, which happens on November 29th, at 2:30 pm. at 515 Columbia Street, New Westminster, B. C.

Royal City Jewellers & Loans Ltd. and the Greater Vancouver Food Bank would like to extend our thanks to Patricia.