A Tiffany & Co. subsidiary is suing the wholesale retailer Costco for selling fake "Tiffany's" rings. Tiffany says that perhaps thousands of people bought engagement rings at Costco that they really, truly thought were Tiffany engagement rings (??!!). Naturally, the rings were not Tiffany rings but, er, Costco rings. Who fell for this nonsense??!!

The investigation started after an alert customer told Tiffany that a Costco in Huntington Beach, California was selling what it terms "Tiffany" rings to customers -- who thought they were getting a great deal on the notoriously pricey upscale rings. Says Tiffany's lawyer:

We now know that there are at least hundreds if not thousands of Costco members who think they bought a Tiffany engagement ring at Costco, which they didn't.

You have to wonder why anyone would believe that a Tiffany ring at Costco is a real Tiffany ring. Maybe it referred to a Tiffany setting -- but even that isn't a genuine Tiffany setting. At least Tiffany would like you to think it's not, even if it looks the same. But this sounds like they're talking about the entire ring -- diamond and all.

I'll be the first one to say no one has to feel obliged to buy a Tiffany engagement ring. But I'll also be the first to admit I wouldn't want to be given a ring from a big wholesaler. I've already given my reasons, so I'm not going to go into that again.

But people who buy a "Tiffany" ring at Costco are just fooling themselves. Yeah, like I was when I bought that blue "Opal" ring for $100 in Mexico. Turned out it was blue "Opal plastic." Not even glass, people. Plastic!

Buyer be warned, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. And, fellas, if you're trying to get away with giving your gal a Tiffany ring at a vastly reduced price, that's just lame. Just tell her it's from Costco. Apparently a lot of women don't care about that stuff.

Would you buy a Tiffany ring from Costco?


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