Kaye meets Napoleon
Kaye Sweaney, co-owner of Mardon Jewelers, loves birds and was thrilled to met Napoleon II, the blue and gold macaw and his buddy Joseph II, the scarlet macaw. Bird aficionado and handler Ron Tallent takes the birds on periodic walks about the newly renovated Main Street Mall. Read the rest of this entry »
Whew, it’s been busy and hectic the last few days, so much so that I published information about the new enameled Technicolor Raincross without double checking with our enameler, Mr. Fusager of Magick. When he saw the last two posts, he found these mistakes.
First, the new piece will be enameled on fine silver (100% pure silver), not sterling silver (traditionally 92.5% silver, 7.5% copper). Sterling silver, with it’s small portion of copper, can oxidize during the heat of enameling and “stain” the colors. Because of the purity of fine silver, the enamels retain their ultra bright color. The bail of the new pendant will be sterling silver, a new sterling alloy made with a small amount of argentium, for minimal oxidizing.
And, alas, the piece will not be available in karat gold– for similar reasons– the colors won’t be bright enough on karat gold. We will be working to create a Vermeil version for those who like the color of gold rather than silver. Vermeil is a heavy gold plating over a silver base.
Technicolor Raincross Design
Last Saturday morning, after all the hectic activity of the previous day and night for our Christmas on Main Street event, we held the drawing to award the free Technicolor Raincross. Son-in-law Scott, brilliant as always, suggested we do a double blind method to choose the winner.
In Scott’s word’s, “Once we had collected all the entries from the basket, we picked them out at random and wrote a number on the outside of the folded slips (without looking at the names inside).
Drawing Entries
The Annual Christmas on Main Street party took place last night, and a good time was had by all! Main Street merchants stayed open up and down the Mall til 9 pm, serving refreshments and previewing new goods for the upcoming holiday. Two shops, Mrs. Tigglywinkles and Delight & Invites provided nightlong entertainment with live music by the country band Old Brown Shoe. The evening was enhanced by holiday lights, good wine and food, music, and lots of happy folks– and a touch of winter cool!
Alice Bell and wife Kaye created an absolutely captivating holiday display for our front window. The stage is set as the curtains open on the story of the Nutcracker, complete with jeweled ballerinas floating thru the air, amidst the Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The ballerina pendants were designed for the New York Ballet by Eichorn, a Californian jewelry designer who specializes in fine colored stone jewelry. Sorry, I wasn’t able to get a good photo in the hubbub of the day, so look for it to follow soon.
At Mardon, we were busy all evening, showing and telling, and just all around socializing.
The Flier's Wall Ring
In honor of Veteran's Day, I thought posting this blog would be appropriate! We just completed a challenging assignment– to build a unique ring that would celebrate the famous aviators of the Flier's Wall at the Mission Inn. Our client, who grew up in Riverside and is a great fan of things relating to the Mission Inn, is planning to get his pilot's license. What better way to display his wings than on his finger! Read the rest of this entry »
Custom Platinum Filigree Ring with Alexandrite
With Filigree styles so popular, it’s really nice to see people choosing to create their own custom versions of these classic expressions of jewelry art.
Our client, call her Christie, had admired a very nice pear shaped natural alexandrite from our Gallery of Gems. This clean bright beauty has a good color change and pleasing shape that caught her eye and her imagination. Just what a gemstone should do!
Initially, she thought to have a ring made by Lucie Campbell, a jewelry designer from London. She had admired the the delicacy and flow of the intricate filigree work of this designer, but after thinking it over, she decided on having us make her a custom one-of-a-kind ring. Her exact quote was “I realized that I recognized some of Lucie Campbell’s designs as coming “from the same mould” and I really would like this ring to be a one-of-a-kind.”
Our approach in doing custom work is to listen very carefully to our clients. Their input is often the key to making the design really sing.
Flash Patterns in Lightning Ridge Opal, I-14753
What makes opal such a fascinating gemstone? When asked what opal looks like, most people would probably first think of the typical white base opal with little sprinkles and twinkles of color.
White Opal with Pinfire/Chaff Pattern Play of Color
This unique display of color is a phenomenon correctly known as play of color, not fire as it is sometimes referred to. Any opal with play of color is commonly called precious opal .
The truly amazing thing about precious opal is the rich variety of patterns and color groupings we see. Within the gem community, we classify these patterns with descriptive terms, the three basic groups of which are Pinfire, Flash, and Harlequin. Many precious opals display several patterns.
The most common pattern is called pinfire, also referred to as chaff, twinkle, and straw, often seen in white opal and in opal fossils, such as this opalized clam shell.
Pinfire in Opalized Clam Fossil
Other types of precious opal, such as black opal and boulder opal, display their play of color against a dark background. Since the appearance is much more dramatic, these types of opal are more sought after. Read the rest of this entry »
Madonna in Opal
A jeweler in Cabo San Lucas sold this Mexican matrix opal pendant to my client. He was very proud of the “Madonna” within the precious opal center. The white rhyolite matrix even has a “halo” or “glory” hovering over the figure!
I was very interested in the inclusions, never having seen “fish scales” in opal before. Or you could call them “fingerprint” inclusions, like what we often see in ruby and sapphire. I’ve sent a copy of the photo above to my friend John Koivula, gemologist jefe at GIA- we’ll let you know if he has anything to add.
The opal was tricky to photograph– the color flashes were elusive and difficult to capture– just the slightest variation changed the picture dramatically. Not the greatest opal in terms of play of color but certainly one of the most unusual and interesting stones we’ve seen in a while!
Last week, the thought occurred to me that it was time to do an anniversary blog– looking back thru the archive, turns out I had missed the anniversary by a month– our first blog was posted September 18, 2008!
We started the Mardon blog with the mission of consumer protection and education. The focus of our blog has been and will continue to be beauty and useful information.
We want our clients to know and appreciate fine gemstones and to understand what goes into creating beautiful jewelry. We try to alert them with useful information about pitfalls they may encounter as consumers, such as the recent gold buying scams that have sprung up like poison mushrooms. Read the rest of this entry »
Pure Gold
The warm rich allure of gold has always attracted mankind, so much so that we seek it avidly and value it greatly. This precious metal is never thrown away, and always has value anywhere on planet Earth. Mardon Jewelers buys gold to recycle and uses recycled Harmony gold in all the products we make.
Recent record prices for gold have many people considering selling gold they own, so the question is how to get the best price. Before taking action, it’s always wise to research and educate yourself.
Before you recycle your gold, be aware of these facts about gold. Read the rest of this entry »