The Emerald is truly coming into it’s own as this year’s spring season bursts forth. On the rise for several seasons, emerald green is fashion’s Color of the Year for 2013. Pantone traces the color’s current popularity back to Angelina Jolie, who wore striking emerald earrings and a gorgeous emerald ring to the 2009 Oscars. Besides [...]
We’ve recently added several fashionable vintage jewelry pieces to our Estate Department. This cameo was a real sleeper– it was literally so crusted over with years of accumulated crud (gemological term!) that we barely recognized it. Once we cleaned it, the real beauty shone forth. We had been attracted to the superb pierced work of the [...]
We’ve always loved the ultra rare variety of fancy sapphire known as the Padparadscha. Early in my career, working in the gem indentification labs of GIA, I had the opportunity to see a few good examples of the natural Padparadscha Sapphire and to learn the subtle distinctions that make this gem so desirable. Our informational blogs about this [...]
Filed in CAD/CAM, custom jewelry, Gemstones, Jewelry Making, Jewelry Services
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Tagged CAD/CAM, custom jewelry, gem trade., GIA, natural padparadscha, padparadscha, padparadsha, pink gold, rose gold
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We just delivered this beautiful 14K gold ring to a delighted customer. A new client, she had seen one of our custom ring samples over the Christmas holidays and had an idea– she loved cameos and had a particular affinity for the Three Graces of Greek and Roman mythology, the goddesses of beauty, creativity, and nature. Rather than [...]
Filed in CAD/CAM, custom jewelry, Jewelry Industry Information, Jewelry Making, Jewelry Services, Precious Metals
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Tagged bas-relief, Botticelli, CAD jewelry design, Cameo, Cameo Ring, custom jewelry, Primavera, Three Graces
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Wednesday, April 10, 2013
As usual, our annual pilgrimage to the Tucson Gem Shows in early February in search of the very best in colored gemstones was a fun mix of business and pleasure. On the drive over, we stopped at Quartzite, home of the Pow Wow, licked a few agates and found some rough boulder opal, stalactite and [...]
Friday, February 22, 2013
We just delivered this lovely pendant, set with the diamonds from several treasured family pieces, to a very happy client. Her son had us make the pendant to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary, so it was a very nice occasion to deliver the new piece– both son and mother loved the new piece and she left [...]
We’ve been working hard creating pieces based on our original designs and one-of-a-kind jewelry. So what’s the difference between a one-of-a-kind and a designer original? You’ll never see another jewel like this reversible diamond halo pendant featuring a stunning 6.71 ct. Australian crystal opal. We’ve owned and admired this opal for a number of years [...]
Thursday, November 22, 2012
One of the missions Robert M. Shipley defined when he created the Gemological Institute of America was to rectify incorrect practices in the jewelry and gem business. One of the most common of these is the use of trade names and misnomers for gemstones. Before the development of the gemological sciences, it was common for gem [...]
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
We just acquired this gorgeous crystal opal from Ethiopia. Full of fiery reds and oranges, as well as golds, greens and purples, this beauty will be the perfect drop of color for a magnificent necklace. While it’s been known for various unusual types of opal since the early 1990′s, Ethiopia burst onto the gem scene [...]
Saturday, October 27, 2012
We immediately fell in love with this sweet little opal and diamond pin of gold and platinum that was offered to us as part of an estate. A blend of Late Victorian, Art Nouveau, and Edwardian styling, the construction of fabricated platinum overlaid onto 14K yellow gold indicated the piece was made right around 1900. [...]
Filed in Estate Jewelry, Gemstones, Jewelry Industry Information, Jewelry Services
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Tagged Art Nouveau Jewelry, carved opal, crystal opal, Edwardian jewelry, Estate Jewelry buyers, jewelry restoration, opal pansy, platinum and gold jewelry, Victorian Jewelry, vintage jewelry
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