Archive for April, 2011
Saturday, April 30th, 2011
These gorgeous perfectly matched solid black opal earrings illustrate the global reach of the gem trade. We acquired the stones a few years back from an Aussie opal cutter in Lightning Ridge, Australia, then sent them to Nepal last year. Each leg of their journey was about 8,000 miles, so these opals have traveled the […]
Tags: black opal, blue spinel, cat's eye chrysoberyl, chrome diopside, fire opal, Himalaya mountains, Kathmandu, Nepal, red spinel, spectrolite, star sapphire, Tanzanite
Posted in Custom Jewelry, Gemstones, Jewelry Services, Mardon Exclusive Jewelry | Comments Off on New Shangri-La Jewelry Shines at Mardon
Saturday, April 23rd, 2011
This beautiful 18K gold ring we had made in the high Himalaya Mountains of Nepal shows the true magic of the Cat's Eye gem. Cat's Eye is an optical phenomenon seen in many different gems, including emerald, aquamarine, and tourmaline, to name a few, but the classic Cat's Eye effect is best exhibited in the […]
Tags: Cat's Eye, chatoyance, chrysoberyl cat's eye, Himalaya mountains, Nepal
Posted in Gemstones, Jewelry Facts, Jewelry Services, Mardon Exclusive Jewelry | Comments Off on Milk and Honey from the Land of Shangri-La
Saturday, April 16th, 2011
Earlier this week, we delivered this nice 14K rose gold custom gent’s wedding band to a very happy client. It was made as a replacement for the original wedding ring belonging to her husband, to be presented at their upcoming anniversary. From what our client told us, two uncles had combined their gold jewelry, one […]
Tags: Custom Jewelry, gold refiners, karat gold alloys, old gold
Posted in Custom Jewelry, Featured Post, Jewelry Facts, Jewelry Services, Mardon Happenings | Comments Off on The Problems in Making Jewelry from Old Gold
Saturday, April 9th, 2011
We made this grand gent’s ring about 20 years ago, of platinum set with a stunning oval Tanzanite weighing 5.36 cts. It was interesting to see just how the platinum mounting and the Tanzanite were holding up– Our client Bill is a race-car driver by avocation, so we’re sure the piece got plenty of banging […]
Tags: Custom Jewelry, gem durability, gem hardness, men's jewelry, Moh's Scale, platinum, Tanzanite, zoisite
Posted in Custom Jewelry, Gemstones, Jewelry Facts, Jewelry Services | Comments Off on Man’s Custom Ring, 100,000 mile checkup
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
When we buy estate jewelry, some pieces need repair or restoration. The keys to a successful jewelry restoration are to use similar materials for replacements, to keep the original finish and patina intact, and to retain as much of the original design as possible We just finished putting this lovely late Victorian “Swag” necklace back […]
Tags: American Freshwater Natural Pearl, Art Nouveau Jewelry, Precious Coral, Victorian Jewelry
Posted in Estate Jewelry, Featured Post, Jewelry Facts, Jewelry Services | 1 Comment »