These days, we buy a lot of jewelry, used as well as new. Today, I worked with a young lady, a bit down on her luck and on the rebound from a relationship that didn’t work out. She was looking to sell her white gold solitaire ring that was set with the one carat round […]
We follow the gold market pretty carefully these days since we buy gold on a daily basis. One of our resources is Kitco, a company that sells all forms of metals, and also offers daily market prices and other infomation and commentary about the metals market. Today’s posts at the Kitco website included this excellent […]
It’s a real privilege to make gifts that have true significance in the lives of our clients. We made this gold pendant for our client as a special Christmas gift for his wife, a riding enthusiast who loves performing in the competitive sport of reining. Sometimes described as a Western form of dressage, reining involves […]
Just in time for Veteran's Day, we completed this great looking setting for a dog-tag. Our client's husband rarely wears jewelry, but she heard him remark about a dog-tag he saw David Hasselhoff wearing on TV. She brought us his original dog-tag from his military service days and asked us to make a nice piece […]
We'd like to thank all of you who voted Mardon the Best Jeweler in Riverside for the second year in a row! Your support and patronage makes our work most enjoyable and enriches our lives in many ways. Look for the Press Enterprise Reader's Choice magazine in the Thursday, November 11 issue. We like to […]
Every now and then, we see something that really excites us. Today, while working with a client on her new custom ring, we were discussing what to do with some pieces of jewelry that she doesn't use anymore. We buy cast off and damaged jewelry to recycle, as well as consigning resalable pieces. As a […]
Daughter Jenny Sweaney and I are attending a 2 day ArtCam User Group session in Las Vegas. We will be getting the latest info on our CAD technology– ArtCam released the 2010 version of JewelSmith in August, so we’ll get a chance to discuss the new features and troubleshoot with crack DelCam staff– DelCam is […]
This tale of woe illustrates some of the risks and challenges we jewelers face in our fascinating business. Last year, I had seen this lovely and large reddish purple tourmaline several times. Gem dealer Jack had tried mightily to tempt me with it, an unheated stone from the country of Mozambique in East Africa, an […]
Our old friend and former colleague at GIA, Gary Roskin, has published an absolutely fascinating account of a major event at the pinnacle of the gem world. Under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institute, the most famous of all gems, the Hope Diamond, was brought together for the first time with the Wittelsbach Blue, now […]
These two sapphires are both from the island of Sri Lanka, both are heat enhanced, both are from the same vendor, both weigh about the same. Here's another photograph, same stones, same photographer (myself), same camera, same photo stage, similar macro lens, slightly different lighting. Can you guess which one costs more?
