Mardon Jewelers at the Mission Inn

Humans have always tinkered with natural gem materials and tried to make them better, either by polishing, carving, faceting, coloring, clarifying etc. It’s our nature to try to make things better, to improve on nature, to want more. Some gem treatments are tricks meant to deceive, some are meant to delight.

The actual materials that form a gemstone such as a diamond or ruby are most often naturally occurring rocks, pebbles or mineral crystals. Just like native gold and silver, some of these are beautiful in their own right and can stand on their own merits as an object of beauty—the first “gem enhancement” was probably just a really good washing.

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I just had a very interesting conversation this morning with Paul Levin, one of my best gem dealers, just returned from a buying trip to the Orient.  He’s always willing to talk freely and really knows the colored gem market. Paul was in Bangkok where he saw a vast scarcity of material, in particular fine ruby and sapphire (which is all he buys).   Many jewelry and gem firms have closed their doors, their workers returning to the countryside and farms, mainly because the worldwide business slowdown has created a severe drop-off in the market for lower quality gemstones.  The whole key to gem mining is being able to sell the lower quality—when that market dries up, the miners just can’t afford to mine anything.  The high grade is always a small percentage of the overall production, so the normal shortage for fine material is exacerbated.  As a result, prices for fine material are substantially higher for the small quantity of goods available.  1 ct.+ rubies I saw from Paul last year at $3700 per carat are now $4500 per carat.   More and more dollars are chasing fewer and fewer goods.

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We recently acquired this striking coral cameo brooch, depicting Diana, the Roman goddess of the Moon- you  can see the crescent moon in her hair.  Diana was synonymous with Artemis of the Greek pantheon.

The style of the brooch is similar to other Mid Victorian “Etruscan Revival” pieces we have seen, with very delicate twisted wire ornamentation and richly colored gold, so we think the piece probably dates from the mid 1800’s, perhaps 1860-70.

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Recently we created this beautiful sapphire and diamonds engagement ring for a young couple.  Several things are noteworthy about the ring.  First, it’s a classic 3 stone design that has been enhanced with additional micro-pave’ diamonds down the shank, as well as the delicate leaf and vine decoration on the sides—the customer’s idea.  Jenny and Jim collaborated in developing and executing the design via our CAD/CAM system, and Scott beautifully finished and set the ring, while the client cheered us on!

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