Archive for February, 2009

What is the True Padparadscha?

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

Early in my career as a gemologist, while working the gem identification counter at the GIA Gem Trade Laboratory in Santa Monica, I fell in love with Padparadscha—a gemstone, not a girl. The privilege of seeing and handling a few magnificent specimens of this magical sapphire with the glorious sunset orange and pink color was […]

New Mardon Exclusive Designs

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

While Jim is our usual blogger and general font of wisdom, once in a while I’ll have some exciting (?) site news for everyone.  Today we’ve got four new inventory items up for your perusal, including three from Jenny Sweaney, the hot new designer taking Riverside by storm.

Three Good Reasons Not to Wear a Flawless Diamond

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

Recently, I re-appraised a beautiful diamond ring and had some unsettling news for my client. We had appraised this ring several years back, as is, with no documentation from the client.  At the time, I could see no inclusions whatsoever at 10x in our GIA DL microscope, and the nice high color 3 ct. round […]

Our New Gallery of Gems is online!

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

Fine Gems, Full and Complete Grading, Great Photos—Easy Shopping for the Gem Connoisseur After months of hard work and much thought, we’re proud to introduce the Gallery of Gems, our unique catalog of colored gemstones. This initial posting is just a few items from our inventory— more to follow after the Tucson Gem Shows and […]

Which diamond grading certificate is the best?

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

We posted this about a year ago–with the tough economy, this insider information is more pertinent than ever, so we’ve tweaked the original post a bit and reposted. In their quest for the best value, consumers looking to buy a diamond often make the mistake of giving equal weight to diamond grading certificates. Diamond grading […]

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