Mardon Jewelers at the Mission Inn

Our Grand Opening Sale will be Sept. 1 – 10 – Mark Your Calendar! Big discounts from 10 to 60% on our excellent Mardon inventory.

After twenty wonderful and productive years at our Mission Inn location, Mardon Jewelers is moving to the Canyon Crest Towne Centre. Our new shop at Suite # 14 will be located on the main parking lot at CCTC, opposite the Ralph’s Supermarket, between the Rite-Aid drug store and Migliore Gourmet Foods.

Contrary to any rumors you may have heard, Mardon is continuing under the same family ownership you’ve know for all these years.  Jim & Kaye Sweaney, Jenny Sweaney & Scott Christiansen, and Mary Smith are all on board to welcome you at the new digs!

The new shop will be twice as big as the Inn shop, 1440 sq. ft, and all on one level. We’ll have a spacious show room, a nice big workshop, a Gem Lab/Gem Room for gemological work and private consultations, and of course, an office for shop management. Additionally, we’ll have a restroom for customers that is ADA compliant, as well as an employee lounge and restroom.

Nathan Smelser, Clear Coat Painting and Development, is our primary contractor (local of course) and his wife Sara Cole Smelser, Cole Decor, has created a beautiful new environment. The new shop walls, ceiling and floor will be completely new, top to bottom, with a gorgeous new color scheme. We’ll be taking our beautiful solid oak cases with us– too tried and true to leave behind– and adding some new furniture for customer convenience.

We love the charm and homey feeling of the Canyon Crest Towne Centre and we like the local ownership, the Thompson family, who have been very welcoming and helpful.

At this point, the renovation is really rolling along. Next Saturday, July 29, all be our last day of business at the Inn. We’re targeting a soft opening for Tuesday, Aug. 16, with our Grand Opening Sale beginning Sept. 1 – 10.

Horse and jockey are flying full tilt down the home stretch! After 20 years in our current location, Mardon is moving! We’d like to announce our upcoming move to a new spot at the Canyon Crest Towne Centre, 5225 Canyon Crest Drive, Suite 14, Riverside, 92507. We hope to reopen by August 15 – stay tuned for updates on our progress. Meanwhile, you can still visit us Tuesday thru Saturday, 10 – 5:30 pm at the Mission Inn shop, 3640 Main, Downtown Riverside.

The new Mardon will be twice as big and you’ll have much easier access with convenient free parking right in front. Our prime location will be front and center on the main parking lot, next to the RiteAid drug store. You’ll be able to combine your visit to Mardon with all the convenience and amenities of the charming Canyon Crest Towne Centre.

Mardon will continue to offer the best in unique and unusual fine jewelry including our famous Raincross Collection. Our fabulous team will provide the wonderful custom jewelry we’re known for. Our highly trained Gemologists will offer expert appraisal services as well as fair and honest buying of estate jewelry, diamonds, and gold.

We just acquired this wonderful estate pin – it’s crafted from 18 karat yellow gold and diamonds. The jockey’s riding silks are enameled to show the colors of his stable. We wonder if anyone knows which stable the red and green jersey and cap represent?

A reminder–Tomorrow, June 3, is the last day to vote your choices for Best of the Inland Empire. Please vote your choices for the Best of Inland Empire 2016 Reader’s Choice survey. Vote by going online to pe.com/go/vote IE

There are five main categories– Places Go Do, Shopping & Services, Food & Drink, Home & Garden, and Hometown Favorites. Under each category, you’ll find lots of choices for your favorite businesses, restaurants, entertainments, places to go, etc– just remember you will need to place at least one vote in each of the five categories in order to submit your ballot.

We hope you’ll vote for Mardon Jewelers once more– we really appreciate you vote and your continuing support. We’ll see you in our new shop– watch for our Grand Opening Sale.

This unusual estate jewelry item turned out to be are a real surprise. We purchased it along with a large group of vintage pieces– sort of an after-thought, thrown into the lot at the last minute. We don’t buy a lot of silver jewelry, but this was just funky enough to be of interest. It went into my “Later” box where it’s been languishing for several months. Last week, I was going thru the box, decided to give it a try and priced it for the estate case.

The handmade badge is set with a 12 x 10 mm cabochon turquoise center and 5 really nice dark red pyrope garnets, each about 5.5 mm, round brilliant cut with lots of sparkle.

The front has the hand engraved inscription “City Marshall” and “Gallup New Mexico”. The back is hand engraved “P. J. Dugan”

It’s my habit to do a bit of research on interesting estate pieces, so I asked Mr. Google about P. J. Dugan. It turns out that P.J.Dugan was indeed  the City Marshall of Gallup from 1908 to 1911. Here’s his picture. Do you think he looks like a Wild West lawman?

Marshall Dugan

Read the oath he swore while New Mexico was still a territory. It attests to his duties on the election day when the new state constitution of New Mexico was on the ballot. I chuckled at his statement that the town was “exceedingly orderly”. Can’t you see Marshall Dugan walking around town in the bright New Mexico sun with the red garnets flashing on his silver star, checking to make sure all the saloons are  closed!

Supporting the provenance, we think the garnets are the famous Anthill Pyrope Garnets found on Garnet Ridge, in the Four Corners region near Dinnehotso, Apache County, Arizona. Garnet Ridge is just a hundred miles or so north of Gallup.These pyrope garnets have a high concentration of chromium which accounts for their beautiful bright red color.

They are so named Anthill garnets because the ants of the area haul up pebbles of garnet as they make new tunnels. As a result, the margins around their ant hills are dotted with little bright red gems.

For those who love and collect jewelry, it’s rare that we’re able to connect a jewelry item to the actual period, use and person to whom it belonged. It’s also rare to have the materials match the provenance so well. You can see this unusual item in our famous Estate Department Tuesday thru Saturday, 10 – 5:30 pm. Probably won’t last long because it’s so unique.

If you’ve enjoyed this blog, don’t forget to vote for Mardon as your favorite Inland Empire jeweler. We’re hoping to achieve 7 years in a row! You can vote online easily —  just go to pe.com/go/voteIE

You can vote for your favorite jeweler (Mardon) and all your favorite shopping, services, entertainments, and eateries. It really helps family businesses like Mardon survive and prosper.  Your vote matters!

Now showing at Mardon, this charming necklace is from the celebrated American jeweler, Sydney Mobell. Mobell is considered a modern master of the jewelers art. His shop in the Fairmont Hotel of San Francisco was famous for transforming everyday items into irreverant jeweled art, producing such items as a diamond studded Frisbee, an jewel encrusted toilet seat, and a gold and diamond monopoly set.

Mobell pieces on display at the Smithsonian National Museum include a mouse trap, a baby pacifier, a sardine can, and a cell phone, all of solid gold and diamonds! The whimsical Hourglass in one of his signature pieces–You can buy a new necklace of the same Hourglass design shown here from the Smithsonian Store for $3800.

Mobell made several versions of the diamond filled Hourglass, starting with a larger 2 carat size with twisted rope standards, finally perfecting the design in the form you see here. The trick was to get the shape of the glass just right so it would look like an hourglass and the diamonds would flow easily from top to bottom (see photos).

We think ours is early because while Mobell’s signature is correct, it’s not marked with the copyright mark or 18K mark of later pieces. Key pieces of evidence support the provenance of the piece. First, the style of the signature is correct—it uses his signature font and was engraved using a pantograph type engraver. It’s unlikely that anyone but Mobell would have the custom font templates required for a pantograph engraver.

Second, the chain is by Herco, a well known long established high end chain supplier located in– you guessed it — San Francisco.

Finally, you’ll notice the top and bottom gold discs are not perfectly parallel to each other– this indicates the piece was handmade, probably before they had all the bugs worked out of the design.

You’ll find fabulous collectible American art jewelry by Mobell, Angela Cummings at Tiffany, Gucci and others featured in our Estate Department, along with filigree engagement rings, fine Emeralds, Rubies, and Sapphires, famous name vintage watches like Rolex, Omega, Waltham, and all sorts of unusual fun items.

And please remember, Mardon is always interested in buying fine jewelry of all types and conditions. If you have items you are looking to sell, our gemologists will examine your pieces, give our expert opinion as to value and make a fair offer. We also handle high value items for auction. Give us a call, we’ll set up an appointment for you.

We hope you’ll remember to vote in the Press Enterprise 2016 Reader’s Choice. Vote for your favorite jeweler (Mardon!) and other hard working small independent businesses here in the Inland Empire– it really helps us little guys!

Reader’s Choice voting is early the year, ends June 3, 2016.  Voting online is so easy– just go to pe.com/go/voteIE  Your vote matters!

Once again, we’re asking you to vote Mardon Jewelers as the Best Jeweler in the Inland Empire. Our customers have voted us Press Enterprise Reader’s Choice Best Jeweler for 7 years in a row- we thank you and truly appreciate your patronage and confidence in us.

Your votes matter– small family businesses like ours have to scramble to survive in today’s hyper-competitive world. The recognition your votes provide goes a long way- please vote Mardon!

Mardon has worked hard to build a brand known for quality, creativity and integrity. Over the next month, we’ll be posting articles that highlight some of the new jewelry we’re making and new arrivals in our estate department, as well as information about the expert services we offer– stay in touch.

Voting for the 2016 Press Enterprise Reader’s Choice survey starts Sunday, May 1 continuing thru the month, ending June 1. You’ll be able to vote via the PE.com website– we’ll post the address/URL shortly– and the Press will be publishing a mail-in ballot as well.

With the unfortunate passing of Prince, I’ve been watching some of the tributes and interviews with and about the Purple One. The Saturday Night Live tribute last week was a hoot, showing some of his past performances on SNL, as well as several hilarious sketches called “The Prince Show” featuring Fred Armisen as Prince and Maya Rudolf as Beyonce Knowles. The highlight of the SNL show was a never before shown clip of Prince improvising during the SNL 40th anniversary afterparty– be sure to see this if you missed it.

I’m a true fan of unusual and rare gemstones and remembered a very short blog about Prince’s purple diamonds that I posted April 16, 2009. Ultra-rare purple diamonds accented his “Love Symbol” on the cover of the artPod. I’m not sure how to find the original Luxist post, but here’s the essence of the blog.

“From Luxist

Musician Prince reinvents himself one more time with this latest “artPod”, an iPod Touch entitled “Prince Opus Number One” that features extremely rare purple diamonds.
…”

While I’m more of the Beatles generation, I love good music of all genres. In all the tributes and clips of his performances, I was struck by how good a musician he really was and by the love and admiration people have for Prince– not only his fans, but also his peers.

One of the impressive things about Prince was his skill and integrity as an artist. While he probably could have made more money by signing with big record labels and companies that would promote him for the big bucks, he insisted on control of his brand and his music. This wasn’t the easy way to fame and fortune, but it was his way.

In our own way, we at Mardon have chosen the path less taken. We make much of what we sell and brand it with our maker’s trademark. Making jewelry on a professional level is much more difficult than simply buying and selling jewelry. It requires effort, discipline and creativity, but it’s also very fulfilling and satisfying when people buy your creations. We learn and grow with each item we create, and think our best pieces are yet to come.

Most of our pieces are made right here in our community using local craftsmen. Our clients really appreciate our unique hands-on approach to our business. We do lot’s of custom designs as well as superb one-of-a-kind designer pieces. Stop by our shop Tuesday thru Saturday, 10 am to 5:30 pm– you can see some of our fine original works and we’ll be happy to discuss the custom piece you’ve always wanted.

Paraiba-type Cuprian Tourmaline with rose gold and diamonds.

Our Paraiba-type Tourmaline & Diamond 14 Karat Rose & White Gold Ring is truly one-of-a-kind. The centerpiece of the design is a gorgeous oval brilliant cut Cuprian Tourmaline. It measures ~10.70 x 7.13 x 5.24 mm and weighs 2.56 carats. The gem is perfectly cut and exhibits a delicate light mint green.

Clarity is eye clean with very light inclusions

Cuprian Tourmalines are a rare variety of Tourmaline that was first discovered in the 1990’s in the Paraiba province of Brazil. The tourmaline crystals from the mine were attractive dark purple and magenta colors. It was common practice to heat red tourmalines in Brazil to intensify the color. When these crystals were heated, some were transformed into exquisite vivid blues and greens. The gems with intense bright blue and green colors electrified the gem world, evoking such descriptive names as “Windex Blue” and “Neon Green”.

It was quickly determined that the tourmalines from Paraiba had an unusual chemical makeup in that they had copper as one of their components.  The copper is responsible for the bright colors.

The original Paraiba source was a small deposit that was quickly mined out. Once people realized how rare these gems were, the values for Paraiba tourmalines skyrocketed, generating intense interest from collectors around the world. Soon after the original Brazilian discoveries, two new sources of copper bearing tourmalines were discovered in Africa, first in Nigeria and then in Mozambique.

Like the Paraiba Tourmalines, these African stones were various shades of purple and magenta when mined. Like the Paraiba material, some of these responded to gentle heating by turning into vivid blues and greens. Unlike the Paraiba source, these mines produced much more material and much larger crystals. The colors can be similar, but the rarity factor is not as important.

Because of their extreme rarity, copper bearing Tourmalines that can be documented to be the original Paraiba material can bring astronomical prices if their color and quality is Extra Fine. Two carat Extra Fine Tourmalines certified to be from the Paraiba source by qualified gemological laboratories can start around $30,000 per carat wholesale! A two carat Extra Fine Cuprian Tourmaline from Africa starts around $8000 per carat wholesale– still very valuable and rare, but not like the Paraiba stones.

Because of the extreme values of the Paraiba material, it’s been a controversy within the gem trade over the naming of the African material. The consensus is that the African stones can be called Cuprian Tourmalines (preferred) or Paraiba-type Tourmalines.

We have assumed that our gem is African and have not had it tested by a gemological laboratory. We purchased the stone along with three others from a person who bought a box at a storage unit auction. The cuts were very ordinary and somewhat heavy, so we had the stones recut for brilliance and beauty.

4 Cuprian Tourmalines, after recut. Stone in ring at lower left

The stone in our ring has a light color that is not as vivid as some of the colors we’ve seen, but is unusual and lovely.  Even though the cut and clarity are excellent, we grade it at the low end of Good, 5 on a scale of 10, with a current wholesale value of $1500 per carat.

The ring is a new original work designed by Jim and Jenny Sweaney, handcrafted and finished by the Mardon team. The design has elements of the Art Deco style. We think you can compare our craftsmanship with any of the top designer.

The ring is cast from 14 karat Rose and White gold, and is marked 14K along with our makers mark. It weighs a substantial 7.3 grams.

The white gold center section is bead set with 42 round brilliant diamonds ranging from 1.5 to 1.0 mm. The diamonds are of VS clarity, F to G color, excellent cut .

The rose gold ring shank is our patented Mardon shank– the wide bottom adds comfort and wearability by counter balancing the top so the ring won’t spin, and the extra gold adds sturdiness and years of wear to the piece.

This ring is a fine example of the unique original one-of-a-kind jewelry Mardon is noted for. We use our design and jewelry making skills to make pieces for our showroom stock and for custom pieces. Stop by our shop and browse- we have a fine collection of gems ready for setting. We’ll be happy to show you how the magic happens!

The holiday season is just a whirlwind of joy and stress — we’re all busy juggling our day to day life and getting ready for the Thanksgiving Feast, then Christmas with family, then New Year’s Eve. Into this mix of busy, we need to find gifts for loved ones, old friends, and business associates.

At Mardon, we’ll help you get through the season by offering not only our superb jewelry, but also online shopping, free giftwrap and free shipping on your Mardon purchases. Our famous Raincross Collection, our Mardon Exclusives and One-of-a-Kinds, and our fabulous Estate and Vintage Jewelry are available for simple one click purchasing through PayPal.

If you’re local to our area, avoid the crush that comes every year with the Festival of Lights. If you’re not local, but can’t resist our jewelry, famous for uniqueness and quality, shop Online at www.mardonjewelers.com. Just find your favorite item and click the Buy Now button- you’ll be guided to PayPal with it’s easy pay options and purchase protection.

Questions or comments, just give us a call– we’ll be happy to assist as your personal shopper.

Here are some of our newest Mardon Original creations and Estate acquisitions-

Mardon Original by Jenny Sweaney, Holly Blue Agate in Sterling Silver, I-25368, $495

Mardon Original Amethyst Necklace & Earrings by Kaye Sweaney, I-24808 & I- 24815, $250 & $125

Mardon Original by Jenny Sweaney, Benitoite & Diamond Ring in White Gold, I-25351, $1995. Our State Gemstone!

Mardon Original, Cuprian Tourmaline & Diamond in Rose & White Gold, I-25361, $4995

Art Deco Enameled Ring, Carnelian in 14K White Gold, I-25390, $195

Modern Pendant, 2.68 ct Tanzanite & Diamonds in 14K Yellow Gold, I-25394, $1950 & 4MM Omega Necklace, 10K Yellow Gold, I-25389, $495

Fabulous Turn of The Century Antique Platinum Ring, 3.63 ct Diamond, GIA Certified, I-25127 Inquire for Price

Shop online at www.mardonjewelers.com

Brass Machine Gun Shell & Silver Ring

Recently, we had a gentleman stop by to purchase one of our Raincross pendants. He proudly showed us this ring he had made after his service as a soldier in a Special Forces unit in Afghanistan.

The ring is made from the brass casing of a machine gun shell. The jeweler cut the shell into strap that could be soldered onto a silver band. He finished it off with a rhinestone set into the primer opening. We think the design is very effective– simple, straighforward, gets the job done.

Solder’s Ring construction detail

A High Caliber Ring!

Thank you to all the brave men and women serving and who’ve served in our Armed Forces. The difficult work, the sacrifices made in behalf of our great country are truly noble.

Custom Ring, Opals and Sapphires in Platinum with Hand Engraving

In today’s world, some things change rapidly and some stay the same. Just in the last 20 years or so, jewelry making has changed radically. Previously we used labor intensive processes like carving wax models by hand to create our original designs and master models. We now use technological marvels like computer aided design and modeling (CAD/CAM) and 3d printing as a mainstay to make jewelry. Yet for all the efficiency of these new manufacturing methods, we still rely on centuries old technologies like hand engraving to add the final touch to our finest pieces.

Hand engraving is a decorative art form where designs are carved into the surfaces of jewelry, housewares, knives, guns and other objects. Hand engraving is also used to create the metal plates used to print paper currency and other legal documents.

Hand Engraved portrait of Lincoln

Almost anything can be depicted by a skilled hand engraver. The finished product is a product of the engraver’s design sense, imagination and skill level. Hand engravers spend years perfecting their skills– some specialize in decorative engravings, some work mainly in lettering and inscriptions.

Exquisite Hand Engraving on William Henry folding knife

The main tools the engraver uses are very sharp tiny steel chisels called gravers. For jewelry, the engraver uses different shaped gravers to create various designs and patterns of leaves, flowers, curls and swirls .

The beauty of hand engraving lies in its crisp detail and brightness. Unlike engraving for currency where ultra-fine lines make up the design, the jewelry engraver adds wide grooves and notches to reflect light and brighten the surface and the gems. His gravers are sharpened on a diamond hone and polished to a mirror brightness so that the cut surfaces are bright and shiny.

We recently created a custom ring for a client featuring the diamonds from her original wedding ring. She wanted a new look with white gold instead of yellow and she liked classic vintage styles. Engagement rings of the late 19th and early 20th century often featured lots of beautiful hand engraving. Here’s her ring, before engraving and after.

Custom Ring, Before and After Hand Engraving

We think the hand engraving really transformed the ring into something special

Hand Engraved Custom Ring

Some jewelry makers have tried to add a hand engraved look to their mass produced products. They use CAD/CAM to decorate the surface of their master model, then make a mold to make reproductions of the original. In our opinion, this look really doesn’t have the class and elegance of real hand engraving.

Faux Engraving- Cast

At Mardon, you’ll find the real thing, on both our original creations and our custom designs. We use traditional surface decorations like hand engraving and jewelry enameling to enhance our one of a kind jewelry and our custom designing.

Mardon Ruby & Diamond Ring with Hand Engraving

As full service jewelers, we work daily with the dedicated artisans who keep these timeless skills alive. Stop by the shop to see what a difference these traditional techniques can make in our hand crafted jewelry.