We recently completed the final step for our client Dan- we blogged about creating his engagement ring last November. After his fiance Ileana received her engagement ring, we made a matching wedding band, and soldered the rings together when they were married this spring. Notice how beautifully the rings fit together and how nicely the […]
Light has a very special role of gems- in diamonds, it can dance and twinkle, in rubies, it can simmer with vivid passion, or in other gems, it can play tricks. In gemology, we refer to these special gems that magic the light as the phenomenal gems. The soft bluish glow emanating from this beautiful […]
An article I noted in the current AGTA ePrism newsletter refers to the challenges facing the Japanese saltwater cultured pearl industry. Prior to my career with Mardon Jewelers, I worked with John Latendresse, the creator of the American Freshwater Cultured Pearl, and learned firsthand just how difficult, labor intensive and risky the pearl culturing business […]
Yesterday morning, we delivered this beautiful emerald and diamond ring to a delighted customer. We really have to thank this couple for their patience– the entire design took almost four months to complete! Our client, let’s call her Mrs. Green, had seen a platinum ring similar to this at a well known gallery in Santa […]
I was recently asked to appraise this topaz and a matching pair of 8 mm triangles. At first glance, the stones had a sort of attractive somewhat muted “teal” greenish blue color but something about the look of the stones was not quite right. A quick examination under our trusty gemological microscope revealed a surface […]
The pure grass green color of the Emerald has long been symbolic of serenity and virtue and is the primary reason why emeralds have been treasured and sought after for so many centuries. The qualities of beautiful color, rarity, and durability (see my blog on restoring damaged Emeralds) have traditionally earned the emerald the reputation […]
May 12–Sotheby’s achieved a hammer price of $10,498,000 swiss francs (~ 9.5 million US) for the fabulous 7.03 ct Fancy Vivid Blue Internally Flawless Cullinan Blue Diamond. Sotheby’s original presale estimate was 5.8 to 8.5 million US. “This is already a new world record price for a fancy vivid blue diamond and a new world […]
The classic emerald is a beautiful gemstone with a reputation for fragility. When you understand the rigors that emeralds undergo during their formation, you’ll see that this reputation is mostly undeserved. Colombian emeralds, for example, form when ocean sediments are compressed under tectonic plates and then are metamorphosed and uplifted to the top of the […]
My friend and gem dealer, Jack P., and I go way back, so he knows exactly how to push my buttons. He knows we really love emeralds– How could I not, being married to a red headed Taurus and the father of another red-headed Taurus gal. In fact, we at Mardon pride ourselves in being […]
from Rapaport The recent buzz about the 7.03 carat Cullinan Blue diamond to be offered at the upcoming Sotheby’s auction in Geneva has generated a lot of interest in colored diamonds. Because there is a lot of misinformation about these ultra-rare gems, we thought it would be helpful to our readers to describe and discuss […]
