We completed a most beautiful engagement ring a while back but weren’t able to post this blog till now. It was one of the most challenging projects we’ve ever done! Our clients Megan and Mike, big fans of antique and period jewelry, fell in love with a 1920’s Art Deco platinum ring in our estate […]
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 […]
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 […]
For a very special gift for Father’s Day or perhaps an anniversary, consider this striking one-of-a-kind man’s ring, set with a gorgeous gold in quartz gemstone from the Eldorado Mine in Gympie, Queensland, Australia. You can easily see the dramatic eruption of pure gold in the white quartz matrix– simply stunning! I picked this gem […]
A couple of weeks ago, I did a gemological consultation for a young man who had purchased a diamond solitaire from a diamond merchant’s Ebay site. He was able to win a diamond auction and wanted my opinion of the stone. I looked over the stone first before asking him about the price paid, the […]
My mission this year at Tucson included re-establishing some of my connections to the fire agate community– last year I finished this fire agate ring which has been drawing major compliments, so I figured it's time to try a few new pieces in our market. Over my three decades in the gem business, it's been […]
Last Fall, we were contacted by a long time customer whose daughter had a real problem. Her daughter, Kirstyn, was engaged to be married September 2010. Kirstyn and fiance Alastair, a British citizen, were working in the Cayman Islands where they had a local jeweler make a custom engagement ring using her one carat family […]
Relating to our recent post about our quest for an unheated Pigeon’s Blood ruby entitled “A Seinfeld Holiday, Episode 2” , we just received this very nice testimonial. “Jim, thank you for your hard work and dedication in finding the perfect engagement stone for my fiancé – it has been a pleasure to do business […]
Every year for the first two weeks in February, gem dealers and buyers from all over the world converge on the small desert city of Tucson, Arizona. The annual Tucson event has become the Mecca of colored stones, fossils and gem minerals where dealers display such sophisticated and extremely valuable gems like this matched suite […]
