Mardon Jewelers at the Mission Inn

We recently completed a fun project for Riverside Poly High School’s championship women’s water polo team. One of the mother’s in the booster club showed us a printed foil logo and wanted large pendant/charms made for each of the team members. The award ceremony was to be held about a month away.

Foil Logo from Stationery

Our client wanted the items to have a gold logo on a silver background, enameled in the school colors of orange and green with the bear and frame sculpted out into three-dimensions. She also wanted the word “Riverside” changed to “Water Polo.” Since she was representing the booster club, she was very anxious for the item to be a hit with the girls and to be affordable for the parents. Here is her sketch—

Client's Sketch

As the initial design consultation progressed, it became clear that her design, while possible with all the features she had in mind, would cost much more than her budget allowed. Our immediate task as designers was to show her what was feasible and desirable within her dollar and time constraints. Read the rest of this entry »

I always look forward to mid spring—my favorite flower, the Matilija Poppy unfolds its annual show. An indigenous Southern California wildflower, Romneya coulteri, the Matilija is just spectacular. Borne on head-high stems of beautiful silvery-green leaves, these six inch blooms of purest white parchment-like petals with a puff center of intense golden yellow are intensely fragrant when found in the wild, a heady natural perfume that seems to me somewhere between Opium and Obsession.

Inspired by its beautiful form, we created our Matilija Collection of jewels to celebrate the exuberance of nature and our Old California heritage.  We love the effect of two tones, rich 18K yellow gold, yellow diamonds or sapphires combined with platinum or white gold.

Matilija Flower with Diamonds, Pendant

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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 of being “precious”, a designation for the upper echelon of gems based on their high value.  While some people still label gems as “precious” and “semi-precious”, this distinction has become obsolete because so many of our new gems are very rare and valuable—witness the enormous sums paid for fine collector stones, like this $100,000 plus Paraiba tourmaline.

Museum Quality 10 ct Paraiba Tourmaline

Today, with extensive gem prospecting world wide yielding exciting new finds, we have wonderful gemstones that rival the beauty of the emerald, are equally rare and are similar in their physical durability, but are much more affordable than Emeralds.
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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 record per carat for any gemstone (at auction),” chief auctioneer David Bennett told reporters.”It is fantastic in this market and shows that these rare things are very much in demand,” he said.

The final price includes a commission paid by the buyer to the auction house. The stone sets a record price per carat for any gemstone sold at auction of $1,349,752, Sotheby’s said.

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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 Andes Mountains.  When you think about the tremendous heat and pressure they are subjected to, it’s easy to see why  emeralds typically have the internal inclusions and fissures known as “jardin”.

The results of several emerald re-cuts and repairs done by Mardon experts demonstrate that emeralds can truly take a lot of punishment, and that with the right skills, a damaged gem can be restored to it’s full beauty.

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An article on 60 Minutes about Alice Waters of ChezPanisse fame reminded me of my early days of making jewelry. Watching the piece on Alice and the Slow Food movement, I had an epiphany and realized that for most of my career, I’ve been making “Slow Jewelry”.

Bug Ring 1 1973

Sterling silver ring, set with “Beggar Bead” agate cabochon from India

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Today we have 35 new samples from Jim, Jenny, and Kaye in the new custom designs section. Most of these we’ve made in the past 6 months or so, but a few are older pieces that clients brought in for an appraisal update. We’re always happy to see that people are still enjoying the jewelry that we’ve made for them!

We really enjoy designing custom rings for our clients but our initial efforts aren’t always successful.  The key is always patience and communication—this Mother’s ring is an example of how a jeweler must really listen carefully to hear what his client really wants in order to make that ring that “sings”.

Our clients, let’s call them Mr. and Mrs. Heart, came to us via referral for a Mother’s ring. Mother’s rings are often difficult to design because the family birthstones don’t always complement each other.  Fortunately, Mrs. Heart had some specific design ideas that gave us an opportunity to create something beautiful and unique.

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The Frog Boatman

Ever so often in this business, we see something that makes us truly humble and amazed at the accomplishments of our fellow artisans.  The Frog Boatman tells it all when you realize that this panel is less than an inch high. We recently had the privilege of working with this wonderful Japanese bracelet– we think Meiji period or a little later.  We’ve seen this level of metal work on old Samurai swords, etc, but never on jewelry.

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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 emerald specialists.

I just had to buy it. In this difficult economy, the rule of thumb for retail businesses is to carefully match inventory with demand. Haven’t had any specific calls for extra fine 2 carat emeralds lately and cash is hard to come by, so everyone cringed when I told Jack “You got me!” But I learned early on in the gem business that when you see a stone that is truly outstanding and a great value, you only get one opportunity to buy– if you hesitate, you won’t see it again.

This wonderful natural Colombian emerald weighs 1.73 cts. but faces up like 2 cts because of the excellent cut. The color is bright and vivid, not quite medium dark — I gave it a color grade of 8 extra fine. The clarity is slightly included with typical three-phase inclusions that prove Colombian origin. The stone has slight traces of oil/resin enhancement that you expect to see in Colombian stones. The excellent transparency of the crystal is immediately apparent. All in all, a perfect ring stone, great size, pleasing cut,  crisp vivid color, and outstanding brightness.

Right now, it’s in my private collection, but look for it soon in our Gallery of Gems!