To be honest, Sculpt, it seems like you've read a lot of my posts -- I guess I'm assuming too much but I actually thought you would know me better than this.
Of course it would be sweet if a guy presented a thoughtful gift of value early on, but my immediate reaction would be, "I bet he's doing this because he thinks or has experienced women only using him for money. Poor guy. He doesn't know me very well." And I would have to set the record straight.
I'm trying to think of a way to condense everything I want to say here but I'm not sure I can. First, I come from a very frugal family. Second, I haven't had many relationships but when I did, the guy was always overspending and I'd wind up paying his bills. So my first concern would be that he was taking adequate care of himself first before even thinking of spending any money on me. Also, the number one complaint I hear from men is that women just want a man as an ATM machine, but in my relationships, it was always the opposite. I was always doling out for something they couldn't pay for (because they were spending money on clothes, smokes, alcohol, games, etc.) and so I'd wind up paying for their responsibilities, such as, in one case, a man's legal fees to keep custody of his kids, as well as their daycare.
So it's very important to me that a man knows I can pay my own way. And as far as not knowing me very well -- I've always worked in retail, so my hands and arms are pretty beat up and littered with scars from box cutters, numerous cuts from cardboard boxes, and unfortunate run-ins with all kinds of metal shelving. I love to LOOK at pretty jewelry but it's not practical for my line of work or my war-torn limbs, lol. And I used to love rings, but when my husband left, he left his wedding ring behind on the counter as something to throw away into the trash, and it utterly broke my heart. I've never quite looked at rings the same ever since. Not that I couldn't ever love rings again, but in general, jewelry isn't the way to my heart.
I would gently tell the guy that I TRULY appreciate his kind gesture, but let's get to know more about each other and for a longer time before exchanging gifts on that level.
All I can say is that my answer was right there in my original post.
I have love languages that I gravitate towards naturally just like everyone else, but that gets overridden by the individual person and my relationship to them.
For instance, I have two friends who are never going to give a lot of words of affirmation because it's just not who they are. I can't expect something from them that they're not built to give! But for example, I've moved a lot over the years (always due to family situations,) and one friend has sent me some kind of care package to nearly every single location I've moved to. He knows how stressful it is for me and while he might not know the words to say, he always shows his support through something tangible (and usually delectably edible.)
So while Gifts might not be my primary love language, they are with him because I know that's how he shows he cares (and I know that's how he receives love, so I enjoy sending him surprises as well, even though that might not be my own "natural" love language.)
With people I get to spend a lot of time with, Quality Time falls to a lesser place on the list because I see them quite often.
But for the people I only get to see every few years or who are so busy that they literally never have any free time, then Quality Time definitely moves up to first place with that particular person.
I'm certainly not perfect at this but I think we have to learn to accept love in the forms that individual people are comfortable with giving. I know the Love Languages concept has been around for a very long time, and although I've never thoroughly studied it, there seems to be a lot of friction for people (especially within relationships and marriage) who can't accept the ways their partner gives love and would prefer, or even demand other ways.
I'm not sure how well I'd adapt to a permanent situation if I were married to someone who liked to give and get love in a different way from myself, but I know over the years I've learned to adapt to those I'm closest to.