We’ve been working on an insurance appraisal for this wonderful platinum necklace with diamonds and jadeite from the 1920’s and realized the piece has a lot to teach about grading and valuing jade. Jade is not well understood by many folks. If I told you that jade can be one of the most expensive of […]
We thought this would be a great post the week after Father’s Day. Often at Mardon Jewelers, we’re asked to perform an expert service by a client. Such was the case recently when we restored the ring that originally belonged to Robert M. Shipley, the founder of GIA. Early in his career, Mr. Shipley realized […]
A service we offer is finding rare gemstones. One of my “quests” at Tucson 2010 was for an unusual stone for a client who owns a stable of Tennessee Walking Horses. One of his horses is a World Grand Champion, so he was interested in a ring he could wear that would bring attention to […]
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Saturday, January 16, 2010
Check out our blog for this post about gold buying, “Gold Parties Pay Cheap Prices for Gold”, where we present anecdotal evidence of what happens at gold parties. In our example, our client was offered $600 for the gold lot we would have willingly bought for $1000. In these hard times, that difference could have […]
Saturday, September 19, 2009
In the latest Mardon blog, we discuss the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the jewelry it gave rise to. Forty-Niner goldsmiths and jewelers settled in San Francisco and created the classic gold in quartz styles. The best examples of vintage gold in quartz jewelry were made beginning 1850 and ending 1906, when the great […]
Saturday, August 29, 2009
One crucial skill in dealing with colored gemstones is to know the range of color each gem specie can display. I firmly believe many folks “don’t like peridot” because they’ve only seen commercial grade material or the more “chartreuse” rather brassy colors. Many jewelers sell the peridot short by only stocking lower grade material. I’ve […]
The jeweler who hears a statement like this should take up the challenge— be prepared to show a beautiful peridot like this one. People who haven’t seen a good peridot will appreciate the experience. It’s a gem you can stock in top quality and good size for not a lot of money. Great stones are […]
A gem dealer and friend sent me this photograph of what he says is the largest Russian Alexandrite of quality currently on the market. His excuse for the quality of the photo is that it was taken with a cell phone camera in the lunch area outside the GJX show during this year’s Tucson gem […]
The best rubies from Burma have long been designated as Pigeon’s Blood red, a rather poetic descriptive term that has come to be an actual grading term, signifying the most sought after color in ruby. Below are photos of some other Pigeon’s Blood stones we have known! In the second of several blogs on the […]
We sold this fine and rare 4 ct. Burma ruby, documented by the GRS lab in Switzerland as Pigeon’s Blood Red- it’s value has increased about 50% in 4 years, even in today’s turbulent economy. Great stones like this are now very difficult to find- not only are they increasingly rare in nature, but mining […]