Signature Series – Volume 1

Joden Girl

Baubles, Bling and Quality Things

In our never-ending quest to find fresh pieces for social media and the website, Dana and I dig through hundreds of pieces.  We get ridiculously excited over new lots of estate jewelry and can’t wait to show each other all the best bits.  When something catches my eye, the first thing I do is go over it from top to bottom.  Loupe in hand, I eyeball every inch of it… are there any missing stones?  Does it need prong work?  Do the finishes and textures need touched up?  Is the karat weight of the gold stamped on the metal? 

Quality isn’t just something that you see with your eyes, you also feel it with your hands.  After nearly twenty years in the business, when you hold an exceptional piece in your hands, you just sense it.  You know.  Just last week, I picked up this seemingly simple ring.  

I was struck by the color of the emerald.  My first thought was “must be a synthetic stone”.  As I brought it up to my eye, my curiosity was peaked.  Under the magnification of my loupe, I could see a couple tiny marks within the bright green gemstone.  After showing it to Jay, he assured me that the emerald is genuine – and it’s a stunner.  The deep green color of the stone combined with the clean clarity grade is everything you want in an emerald.  It weighs approximately 1.01 carat.  Winking from each side of this stone are a pair of round brilliant diamonds that have a total weight of .10 carat.  

Looking inside the ring, it all becomes clear.  Right beside the 14K is a crisp maker’s mark… “BaumF”.  This stamp is the signature of a popular Mid Century Modern designer Baumstein and Feder.  The New York firm reigned from the 1940’s-1980’s, they were known for superior quality and spectacular gemstones.  Supreme quality is the mark of our signature series, each piece crafted by a well-known designer.  This beauty is on our site for $3,150.00.  Click on over to our site to see what all the fuss is about.

“You can go to a museum and look, or come to us and touch.”

Written by Carrie Martin

Photos by Dana Jerpe

What’s New – Volume Two

Joden Girl

Baubles, Bling, and The Latest Things

I almost hesitate to share this latest find… the last time we featured a similar piece, it created quite a stir.  It sold immediately…  but the inquiries about that particular ring were seemingly endless with a line of willing buyers if the initial sale fell through.  As you can imagine, the original buyer loved the ring and has treasured it ever since.  That was nearly a year ago…  meaning that it has taken us that long to uncover another ring as sweet as that one was.

Just a few days ago, the ring pictured on the dark background came out of our shop…  fresh from restoration.  Shown with it’s predecessor, the similarities are striking.  Both of these beauties are made from platinum in the early part of the 20th century.  Both also feature a three stone style, complete with one gem fine ruby and two older cut diamonds. 

New to us, this delicate darling is resplendent with a hand-pierced filigree design.  The pattern swirls and whorls around the gemstone trio in the center.  Weighing approximately .50 carat, this deep red ruby appears to be Burmese and is of fine quality.  It is flanked by a pair of Old Mine Cut diamonds that have a combined weight of approximately .55 carat.  Surrounding these stones and nestled deep within the dome-shaped ring are sixteen old cut diamonds that offer an additional .50 carat of brilliance.  

In pristine condition, this ring is practically perfect in every way.  Made in the heart of the Art Deco period, it’s priced at just $1,880.00.  Click the photos to view it live on our website.  If you love it as much as we do, do not hesitate to click the buy button.  If history repeats itself, it won’t last long. 

“You can go to a museum and look or come to us and touch.”

Written by Carrie Martin

Photos by Dana Jerpe

Pick of the Week – Volume 50

Joden Girl

Baubles and Bling with Unbelievable Pricing

One of the most common questions we hear is “Do you do custom work?”  And as you may have imagined, the answer (of course) is “Yes.”  But for me, I often find myself giving a hesitant response rather than a resounding one.  I think that customers can have a skewed perception of custom creations.  Designing a piece from scratch including every twist, turn and stone requires tremendous skill and vision.  In addition, the costs can be quite high.  

With more than fifty years of experience, Joe has an unmatched eye for re-imagining a piece or building something new and inventive from square one.  Trained by his father, he spent over half of his career at the bench.  To combine those finely honed skills with a Graduate Gemologist degree provides critical knowledge of both the “rocks and metal” aspects of fine custom jewelry.  Joe can often be found arranging and rearranging gemstones and diamonds in artful patterns, constantly striving to find the perfect position…  waiting for the magic to happen.

The staff at Joden boasts two world-class bench jewelers.  Now, it is their expert hands that bring Joe’s visions to reality.  Occasionally, we utilize other sources for precise talents like stone cutting and polishing, metal casting and molding.  The jewelry world is fairly small.  The world of handmade custom jewelry is much much smaller.  

The uniqueness of this ring does not reside in the style but rather in the rarity of the center stone.  The elongated shape of this Precious Topaz is elegant and breathtakingly beautiful.  Each line of this emerald cut stone is crisp and clean.  Displaying the peachy hue of an expensive champagne, this collectible gem weighs 12.50 carats.  It was Joe’s keen eye that conceived this simple modernistic ring.  The three stone concept is not new, but usually, the size differentiation between the center and the side stones is slight.  Here, the trillion diamonds measure just one third of the length of the topaz.  With a combined weight of 1.23 carats, these diamonds are truly just an accent to the star center stone.

This custom piece has been showcased on our site for quite awhile.  It has been admired and applauded but has yet to find a forever home.  This week, this beauty has been selected as a Pick of the Week.  Previously priced at $8,750.00, we are now offering it for the new and unbelievable price of $6,250.00.  If you are a seeker the unusual and rare, this ring is an outstanding statement piece.  Click the photos and check it out on our site now.

“You can go to a museum and look, or you can come to us and touch.”

Written by Carrie Martin

Photos by Dana Jerpe and Shelly Isacco

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