Neanderthal Jewelry.

Fancy cut orange sapphire in a platinum ring

I'm not sure I've ever posted a link to an article on something on my blog but I'm going to now.  If I ever have a need to feel like I work in an ancient and venerable craft this is what I would look at:

http://news.yahoo.com/neanderthals-shape-globes-first-jewellers-061126449.html


It's pretty amazing to think that even Neanderthals had their local jewelers.

What Do I Buy When I'm Traveling

Mokume gane earrings with emeralds

A customer of mine passed away recently.  He was a great musician, at one point a local merchant and a very sweet guy.  He was also, as it happens, my prime example for one particular question I get asked on a regular basis.  It's something I have been meaning to write about anyway so I figure it's as good a time as any and to, in some bizarre way, honor him.

The question I get asked always goes something like this:  I'm about to go overseas.  What gemstones should I buy while I'm over there?

The answer I always give goes something like this:  If it costs $100 or less buy whatever you want.  If it costs more than that, whatever you do, don't buy it. I know this sounds like a broad generalization but let me relate to you what happened to my customer (as well as a few others).

He was traveling to Thailand which has been a large gem cutting capital of the world for a number of years.  He did come in to see me before he went and asked me what he should buy.  I told him the same thing I tell everyone.  Don't try to buy anything. Needless to say that's not how the story ended.   While in Thailand he was (in what appeared to be a random fashion) approached by three different people/couples, none of them from Thailand, who all told him about a government sponsored store that he should go check out because he could get great deals on gemstones there. So he went and they proceeded to sell him $5000 worth of large sapphires, which they swore to him he could bring back to the States and resell for four or five times the amount of money he was paying for them.  When he came back to my store to show me the stones and ask if I had any interest in buying them, I had to give him the bad news that not only weren't they a good enough quality for me to buy but that no one in the States was going to pay him much, if anything, for them because of how bad the quality was. He made some attempts to sell them to other jewelers but was unable to find anyone willing to buy even one of them from him.

I have a friend whose father in law was a trader all of his life and had bought and sold diamonds on and off (along with just about anything else) and had made good money at it.  He took a trip to Brazil and ended up buying a number of colored stones, which I believe, he hoped to turn around and sell up here.  What did he come back with?  Some synthetics and a bunch of extremely poor quality examples of tourmalines and topaz. 

There have been plenty of other customers who have rolled through with gems and jewelry they bought overseas only to return to find out that what they thought they had was not at all what they actually had.

Here are the problems with buying something overseas today.  First of all, in today's gem market there are so many known treatments, synthetics mixed in with natural stones, and new treatments only just reaching the marketplace that it is hard for gemologists and gem dealers to be assured that what they are buying is what it is purported to be.  How could a layman possibly be expected to know when they are being sold a false bill of goods? Secondly, due to a lack of education and gemological knowledge, even honest overseas miners and dealers often are selling gemstones as one thing that is really another and they don't even realize it.  

But most importantly once you leave the country with your purchase in hand, you have absolutely no recourse.  If you buy something from a jeweler down the block from you and it turns out to be fake, you can go right back to his store and confront him.  If you live in Boston and buy something from a store in Thailand, you simply aren't going to be able to do that.

There are a few countries where you could feel fairly safe in buying some of their gem materials.  Australia is a great place to buy opals but don't expect to get any deals there.  Depending on the relationship of the Australian dollar and the American dollar, the opals may be as or more expensive than what you would find here and they also know the exact value of their product.  But you will have a wider selection there than anywhere else in the world.  Germany does a great deal of gem cutting and I would feel fairly safe buying something there in a legitimate jewelry store.  The Scandinavian countries, England, France and some of the other European countries are also a safe bet.  But these countries (except for Australia) are not the countries where the mining is done (or near where it's done) so there aren't going to be any "bargains" for the most part in them. Unfortunately the "bargains" in the other countries may often turn out not to be a bargain at all.

So, once again, if you are traveling overseas and it's $100 or less, go for it!   But if you're looking to buy a quality gemstone, stick a little closer to home.
 

Back in the Saddle Again

View in Big Sur

We got back from California two weeks ago and boy am I sorry I left!  The snow and cold has descended upon us with a fury and I was much happier in the 60-70 degree weather we had while away.  And speaking of snow, now that we have multiple feet on the ground and more on the way, parking in Cambridge has gotten even worse than it usually is.  So I wanted to remind you that we do have one parking space available most of the time we are open.  You just need to call ahead of time and I can tell you where it is and whether or not it is available.

Our trip however was quite wonderful.  We had perfect weather and for the first time in years it was actually green when we got out there thanks to a couple of large rainstorms they had.  Unfortunately California has had so many years of drought that they really need a lot more rain, but it was even more beautiful this year thanks to what they did get.  My younger son is living in California now and my older one came out to San Francisco for a friend's art opening so we had the entire family together for the first time in two years for a few days while we were there.

As always the Big Sur scenery is amazing (the picture above is one I took when I walked up the mountain road behind our inn) and one customer in particular is benefiting from my trip as he had ordered one of my Big Sur rings just before I left and I re-sketched some of my favorite mountains while I was out there and used one of the sketches for his ring. I once again would like to recommend that any of you who are looking to travel in the Big Sur area check out the inn we stay at: Ventana.  If you're more into camping, Ventana has a beautiful campground as well. Besides the wonderful accommodations and surrounding views the staff is always quite wonderful and helpful. 

In the meanwhile, I am back at my bench.  Valentine's Day is coming and I'm starting to work on one of my Valentine's Day pins (an almost annual tradition here).  The pendant below is a custom piece I made up this past Christmas that had a wonderful piece of jadeite in it.  I don't often get requests for jade and the reality is that very small pieces of fine jade can be hugely expensive (perhaps one of the reasons I don't get more requests).  This piece that I found for the customer had a wonderful luminous quality to it that was quite exceptional. 

Jade Pendant in 18k Yellow Gold

If you're new to my blog please make sure you check out my blog directory that you can find a link to on the right of the page here.  I believe my next article is going to be about tourmalines, one of my favorite gemstones. 

Happy New Year

18k yellow gold pendant with tourmaline and diamonds

I'm in recovery mode right now.  That six week period leading up to Christmas without any days off always wears me out a bit.  And then to only get one day off before you have to go back to work is never any fun.  I always prefer Christmas to fall on a Saturday so I can get a three day weekend.  No such luck this year.  But it was nice that we had a busy season and when I'm working on the weekends I get a chance to do thing I love most and be creative on the bench.  This seemed to be a big year for necklaces.  The ruby beads I posted a picture of here sold almost immediately and all of my gold necklaces that I had out also sold.  One lucky woman also got a beautiful strand of South Sea pearls.  If you weren't lucky enough to get anything this year you needn't worry.  I believe that there are any number of holidays that are good gift giving excuses.  For example in February there is  Chinese New Year and Flag Day.  In March there is Daylight Savings Time ends day and the first day of Spring.  These are all huge gift giving holidays around here.  Of course there is also January 25.  Why you might ask?  Well because it's the only January 25th we're going to have this year!  What better reason do you need?

I am making my annual trip to California this month and I am looking forward to the break and the inspiration that always comes from being in Big Sur.  We will be open some of the time I am away and we have some workmen in and out of here during the period to take care of some things in the workshop, but please call if you aren't sure if we're in or not.

In this article I talked about a customer who had taken twenty years to purchase a ring from me.  They came into my store this past week and we had a wonderful time getting to know one another better.  We couldn't resist getting some pictures of us so I have posted them below.

I'm looking for topics some of my readers might like to hear.  If any of you have any interests in particular stones or topics please send them my way.  I always love to hear from any of you so any comments are appreciated.

If you're a new reader please remember to check out my blog directory on the right side of the page.  It breaks down many (although not all) of my articles by topic.

The pendant above is one I custom made for a customer this Christmas.  It has a magnificent tourmaline in it as well as some of my sparkly diamonds.



I hope everyone had a happy New Year and I will be writing again upon my return from California. 

Happy Holidays!

18k and 22k yellow gold ring with boulder opal

My lack of writing new articles here is because I have been so busy with custom work this season.  The pictures here are of a new boulder opal ring that I designed up for a customer.  The opal is an absolutely stunning stone.  This piece was made up for a woman with small hands and I spent quite some time pondering ideas for an approach.   I had started in one direction with it but wasn't pleased so I put it aside for a bit.  One morning I woke up at about 5 am and it came to me what I was going to do with it to both make it wearable and beautiful. 

One side view of opal ring

The other side!

I did however also want to bring up another topic this morning as it is that season when people tend to come in at the last minute looking for presents.  I often get people in who look at what I have out and ask if I have a lot more jewelry put away in the back.  Or I get someone in who saw something on the website, or previously saw something in the store and it's been sold and they want to know if I have a few more pieces just like it.

I do wish I could magically conjure up new pieces at the drop of a hat.  But the reality is that I hand make my own product here in my shop.  I don't have a shop in Asia somewhere producing hundreds or thousands of my designs daily that can just be shipped here and pulled out of the box in back to replace a piece when I sell it.  I don't have any machines that magically reproduce my designs by the hundreds. I do repeat my designs but I still have to actually physically make them up.  That is one of the things that make my product so unique.  I understand that it is contrary to the way people want to shop now where they just push a button on a computer and voila! a new toy is on the way to you.  However it is just the way I like to do things.  I may be a merchant but, more importantly, I am someone who believes in hand crafting a unique product meant to salve the soul.   I've written before about how much I like to actually make jewelry.  I like to make it because of the satisfaction it brings to me both in the process of creation, but also in the knowledge that someone will take a piece of me with them when they leave my shop with one of my creations.

So if you come into my shop, I'm always happy to make something up for you if I don't have quite what you are looking for.  But I do have many designs out at all times that all allow you to take a small piece of me home with you.   

I hope everyone has a great holiday this year.  If you didn't find something from me under the tree at Christmas (or under the candles at Chanukah), I think New Year's is a great time to gift yourself!!