Mardon Jewelers at the Mission Inn

We've been working on an insurance appraisal for this wonderful platinum necklace with diamonds and jadeite from the 1920's and realized the piece has a lot to teach about grading and valuing jade. Jade is not well understood by many folks. If I told you that jade can be one of the most expensive of […]

We thought this would be a great post the week before Father's Day. Often at Mardon Jewelers, we're asked to perform an expert service by a client. Such was the case recently when we restored the ring that originally belonged to Robert M. Shipley, the founder of GIA. Early in his career, Mr. Shipley realized […]

Finally, after much hard work and thought, we've launched, or rather relaunched our Mardon Colored Stone Grading System. Last year we posted most of this system along with our Gallery of Gems, but were never really satisfied with the format. Our excellent local internet consultants, Frye/Wiles, suggested a more internet-friendly way of presenting the system […]

A service we offer is finding rare gemstones. One of my “quests” at Tucson 2010 was for an unusual stone for a client who owns a stable of Tennessee Walking Horses. One of his horses is a World Grand Champion, so he was interested in a ring he could wear that would bring attention to […]