This heirloom design is a truly hand-hammered hinged locket box pendant, style # 698 of our online design selection catalog. You may choose the approximate size. The face of the box can be any array of gems that you like from a ‘plain Jane’ to an elegantly well dressed look. This piece has a heart shaped center gem that is securely mounted with a full bezel while the accent gems in the halo around the center are bead set. The barrel hinge doubles as the bail and has a 5.5 mm opening. The front tip has two ridges for simple opening by ones fingernails. The fit at the rim is tight enough to securely hold the box closed while being worn.
This array is made from a handsome Spessartite Garnet gemstone in a well saturated dark Fanta orange color surrounded by a halo of Fanta orange Spessartites. The center stone measures 9.2 x 7.3 x 3.8 and weighs 2.07 carat. It is a well faceted heart with SI1 near eye clean clarity. The 15 accents are 2.2 mm diamond cut rounds with VS eye clean clarity. All 16 of these gems have had no treatments at all and originated in Africa. Spessartite Garnet is a 7 on Moh’s scale plus is tough and suitable for wear in many jewelry items.
Garnet is the birthstone for January.
Our Sterling silver is made by melting down fine silver and pure copper to create an ingot of 93% silver alloy. Consequentially our alloys are a little on the rich side of .925 Sterling. Copper alone is the remaining 7%, no base metal is used.
Our 18K gold alloy is made in our shop with 76% fine gold, 12% silver and 12% pure copper to create an ingot of 76% alloy of gold, a little on the rich side of 18k. No base metal was used for the alloy, less chance for any allergic reaction.
This hand crafted piece weighs over 36 grams, not light or dainty! It measures over 46 mm tall, 41 mm wide and over 12 mm thick.
All of our jewelry is made with the old fashioned hand hammered technique. We start by alloying an ingot then proceed with hammering, rolling, filing, sawing, soldering, drilling, sanding and polishing. We do not sell castings and never use glue in our heirloom quality jewelry.
Being a gemologist in Thailand makes providing you with the right gemstones a snap. Furthermore, the gem markets here are nothing short of amazing! We shop in four different gem districts across the country and the variety is world class. Additionally, a precision gem cutter is working for our operation. Of course, we also source fine gemstone rough with our worldwide network of contacts in the mining business.
Since I love to travel and shop for gemstones, I do act as a buyer’s guide to the gem markets for any visitor that would like assistance. Often I can meet you at a gem market or even pick you up at the airport to get our adventure started.
An essential part of our service is custom gemstone cutting. You may supply rough stones for us to have precision faceted or cabbed into the shapes that you desire. In addition, many gemstones that are already native cut will be improved in clarity and light return by a new precision cut.
Custom orders on gemstone cutting are normally ready in just two to three weeks. Message me with details of your gemstone requirements. I will provide the address along with special instructions on shipping stones to us.
Select gemstones from our site or send us yours for your own LEE jewelry piece. You may select the main stone plus the exact number of accent stones from right here. Please ask if you do not see exactly the gemstones you are looking for. In addition to our listed gemstones we have thousands more in stock that are ready yet are unlisted.
Please note that we are happy to work with your personal stones but do not have any insurance to protect them. Consequently, the stones will be at your risk only. When we use stones from our store for your custom order we back them for the purchase price. We do not guarantee or insure a stone that we did not sell. That said, it is not common that one breaks or is damaged in setting.
We are happy to make you a custom piece of jewelry with Sterling 925 silver or 18K yellow gold. You may also request that we use 999 silver or 965 yellow gold. Furthermore, you may decide on a combination of our metals such as a gold bezel in a silver ring.
Select your own style by browsing our online selection catalog with over 500 designs that we have previously created. As an alternative to our catalog you may send photos or even a picture of your sketches about your idea. A custom ordered piece is normally ready for shipping in 15 to 30 days. We will enter your special piece into the queue as soon as we have your stone selection and you have made your payment. Contact us with your ideas for a fast quote.