Buying Silver Could Save Your Life

Silver is one of the main precious metals we work with besides gold and has recently become a sub-straight that more and more people are leaning towards when purchasing or designing a custom piece of jewelry. There is a certain quality that is only exuded in silver metal, a certain luster or glow. Someone once said that the glow that comes from silver is like the glow from the moon. Personally, I like this description because it is the truth.

Beyond it's unique beauty, Silver is far less expensive than gold. The reasons for the difference in the price of silver and gold are complicated and numerous, but this means that you, the consumer are able to reap benefits -beautiful, sculpted pieces of wearable, silver jewelry. Because of it's reduced prices, you may find a certain amount of freedom when designing your next piece. The jewelers here at Associates are skilled, talented and willing to work within your budget weather you are using gold or silver. Remember, jewelry can last forever, if you are going to put money into something, why not put money into something that lasts a lifetime and will hold value beyond the physical item itself -sentimental value.

Also, did you know that the purchase of silver could save your's or someone else's life someday? If you ever find your self stranded, with only dirty water to drink, you can place your silver jewelry inside of a glass of filthy water and it will naturally clean the water for you? When settlers moved across the American West, they would purify a container of water by putting a silver dollar in it overnight, and silver dollars were used to keep milk from spoiling. NASA is even using silver in space ships to recycle raw sewage to be use for drinking, cooking and washing.

Next time you go to buy jewelry, consider silver. If nothing else, it could save your life someday!

For your health!

How To Care For Your Precious Pearls

The earth has given Jewelers many materials to work with. We use gold, silver, diamonds, wood, gems and precious stones of all kinds. One Precious stone we love to work with is the Pearl.

A pearl is a delicate and beautiful, little, irritant. Irritating to the oyster that is (we love pearls). Typically when a pearl is made naturally, it starts with a little grain of sand. Somehow a grain of sand might get stuck inside of particular species of oyster. As a defense mechanism the oyster will start to secrete a fluid that hardens around the sand spec. After about 5-10 years, if the oyster was fortunate to live that long, it will have created a precious pearl.

Since Pearls are not created like many other precious gemstones, millions of years and thousands of pounds of pressure; they are often easier to damage than other stones. Due to the softer nature of Pearls, they are easier to scratch or be damaged in chemicals. If not cared for correctly, a pearl can quickly lose it’s luster or be lost forever.

Tricks and Techniques to care for your pearls:

Due to the nature of pearls you should always remove a pearl ring or bracelet when preparing food. Some foods contain acids that could eat away at your pearls. Also, if you are going to go swimming, we recommend removing your pearls so as not to be lost or damaged by the chlorine and chemicals in swimming pools.

If you have a pearl ring, we recommend you remove it by holding onto the band and not the pearl. The less contact made with the pearl the better, without being excessive. Remember, pearls are jewelry that was meant to be worn and loved on your body. After you remove your pearl jewelry it is always a good idea to wipe the pearl with a (wet or dry) soft cloth. Although your body oils can improve the look of your pearl you might not want the acid from your perspiration to remain on the pearl. If you perspire heavily, you may want to think of using different gems in your jewelry design.

If you have a string of pearls it is a good idea to get them restrung every 6 months. The worst pearl stories I hear are of women who lose half their pearls when their necklace breaks. A break can happen unexpectedly from tension, but it is best to try and prevent pearl loss from weak string.

Cleaning Pearl Jewelry:

As described above, Pearls are more delicate than other precious gems and so they take a different kind of care when cleaning them as well. Below I have created a little list that you may find useful when cleaning your pearl jewelry.

Wash hands before handling pearls to remove any perspiration
Never use chemicals on when cleaning jewelry. (chlorox, bleach, ammonia… etc.)
Clean your pearls with a mild soap.
Remove pearls when applying lotion or moisturizers.
wipe with a soft or damp cloth immediately after removal.
If soap and water do not clean your pearls to satisfaction, consider using a pearl cleaning solution.
Please, if you have any questions about pearls or pearl care do not hesitate to call us.

Wally Anderson

Wally Anderson is a business that is also owned by Associate Jewelers, Inc. and has been a valuable part of our success.

“Our 13 person team ships pendants, rings, and custom pieces to hundreds of fine jewelry stores around the country. The materials we use for all our jewelry are of the highest quality, hand-picked gems and purest metals we can buy. We are proud to offer what we feel is one of the finest collections of personal jewelry you can find.” -Wally Anderson Website

On this website you can find numerous pictures and descriptions of our designs. We have Pendants, Rings, Wildlife collection and more.

If you have any questions about how Wally Anderson relates to Associate Jewelers, send us a little email, or check back here on the blog soon.

Communication Is Key To Success

We have recently touched on this a bit on our website, but we thought it would be a great idea to reiterate again here in our blog. Associate Jewelers, Inc. has a very large customer base which is comprised of many different components. We have the walk in customers who grace us with surprise visits. We have many different clients that are wholesalers and many who ship us damaged jewelry that needs repair. Overall, each component is equally important. It is in our ability to be flexible that we pride ourselves.

Unfortunately and fortunately, we are one of the only jewelry businesses that let’s third parties write instructions about repairs. This being said, we would like to stress how important clear communication is to our success. On occasion we will have clients that have written poor instructions about an item that needs repair. When this happens we are chagrined to say that we may be forced to do repairs that are not what the customer of our clients wants.

Help Us Help You

To prevent errors in repairs do to miscommunication we would like to encourage each of our clients to take extra care when writing out repair instructions. As much as we would like to be, we are not mind readers. Our work starts by looking at your instructions and should your instructions have strange symbols or sloppy hand writing it could make deciphering the text hard. Please take your time when writing instructions. Bulleted or numbered lists are often the most efficient means of communicating these types of instructions.

1. Repair filigree on both sides of ring. Must match exactly. $300 k

2. Supply and set two matching sapphires. $50 k

3. Remove old white gold tips and repairs. $55k

4. Retip (laser) platinum tips. $65k

5. Repair places where the old repairs were. $67k

6. New shank, size 8, make shank round $135k

This would be a great list because it not only has mention of what you need to have done, but also the keystone price that you have given the customer. If these numbers don’t match ours then we know that we need to work out different arrangements. We understand that you are here to make a profit, information like this is helpful for us to give you the best service possible.

INDIAN WEDDINGS: GOLD PRICES INCREASE YEARLY

Every year the price of gold gets higher and higher. There are many factors for this; inflation, the economy, civil unrest in major gold producing areas, natural disasters and Indian Wedding Season. Yes, it's a fact, Indian jewelers buy up as much gold as they think they will need for the upcoming wedding season which in turn makes gold prices spike globally. The upcoming season goes from November to December. Because of the time it takes to manufacture the intricate wedding jewelry, statues and garments traditionally worn in Indian weddings we are seeing the spike now.

Actually, it's quite incredible how much gold India buys each year. It is well known that over 20% of all gold purchased annually is purchased by India. Even more impressive, it is thought that 12% of all Gold refined in the history of the world is in the households of India. Over the past decade, gold has risen by an average of 10.1 percent from September through to December.


To understand why India has such a love affair with gold, one would have to delve deep into India's illustrious history and pick apart religious beliefs and texts.

Here is what the Bombay Times has to say about the matter:
"In India, it always was and still is, much more than just a precious metal. It is part of the fabric of our culture and an inseparable part of our belief system. It is the essence from which the universe was created. In a dark and lifeless universe, the Creator deposited a seed in the waters he had made from his own body. The seed became a golden egg, bright and radiant as the sun. From this cosmic egg of gold was born the incarnation of the Creator Himself - Brahma. From the root word Hri meaning imperishable, comes Hiranya, the ancient name for gold. Brahma is referred to as Hiranyagarbha - the one born of gold" -Bombay Times

No-matter the reason their love of jewelry, their insatiable need for gold is both a bless and a burden on the worlds jewelry culture. The beautiful things they create are some of the many wonders of the world and have been inspiration for many of our jewelry designs. On the other hand, the effect they have on gold prices touches every single person who goes to buy jewelry.

Is Growing Jewelry the next big "Green" fashion trend?

"Growing Jewelry is a redefinition of modern values. It is a clash of jewelry and gardening; couture and organism. The collection of this hand jewelry is designed for people in metropolitan cities and is an experiment in drawing nature toward man, as nature being the presupposition of life."

Growing Jewelry could be the next new and exciting niche in the jewelry fashion world and Hafsteinn Juliusson is the creative mind behind the idea. Juliusson is a creative engineer of Icelandic origins who wanted to bring something special to all of us who live inside of the city, a little nature.

By combining stainless steel and a specific Icelandic moss, Juliusson has created something completely out of the standard jewelry box and into a new realm of "Green" fashion. By taking micro gardening to a wearable level, he has breached the gap many fashionistas have with the whole green movement. When a client who may not appreciate gems like diamonds or sapphires wants somethings other than the standard inlays, they may jump at the chance to purchase Growing Jewelry.



Growing Jewelry, like all living things, needs water and a possible trim once in a while. The moss will live for an average of 6 months, but I have not heard anything about replacement moss.



The jewelry is on display at Reykjavik Art Museum, where it is watered and kept alive with the help of grow lights.

A Little About Burins

Burin is a french word meaning "cold chisel", people may use the word when referring to the most used engraving tool (pictured below).
An engraving burin is mostly used by engravers, but is implemented in other professions, like print making. Burins usually are shaped like a pencil with an exaggerated eraser. The larger, "eraser head" fits snugly into the palm of an engraver's hand while the sharper metal end is used to carve lines, shapes and designs into metals.

There are an infinite amount of shapes that an engraver can turn their burins into. The large variety of shapes give the engraver the ability to find a tool for every use.

• A tint burin consists of a square face with teeth, enabling the creation of many fine, closely spaced lines.

• A stipple tool allows for the creation of fine dots.

• A flat burin consists of a rectangular face, and is used for cutting away large portions of material at a time.

840-pound emerald back in court

Right now in the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department sits one of the largest emeralds known to man. The Boulder sized gem has been held prisoner here as a legal dispute over who actually owns the gem is hashed out in court.

The 840-Pound gem was first discovered back in 2001, in Brazil. It was here that a man named Thomas is claiming to have purchased the Gem for $60,00o dollars. The stone is actually valued at $400,000,000 dollars. If Thoma's story is accurate then he made quite the shrewd investment.

Like in most things there is at least on other side to this story. Kit Morrison, Todd Armstrong and Jerry Ferrara and their companies Market Link Inc. and FM Holdings Inc.--claims that in 2008 they purchased the gem and have a valid legal title to back up their claim. They say they purchased the gem for a seven figure price and are willing provide any documentation to prove it. The Gem has been rumored to have traveled through New Orleans, Idaho and Las Vegas before being seized by authorities.

After hearing opening arguments on the case the judge dismissed the court until July 30 at 8:30 a.m.

How To Spot a Fugazi Gemstone

There are lots of fake gemstones in the world. Unfortunately, the ability to make money on fake or edited gemstones is easier than one would hope. Because it takes a keen eye or even a professional opinion to tell if a gem is real, it can be very easy to be fooled by a fugazi. In the hopes of keeping you from making a bad purchase we have made a little list of common things that jewelers do to gemstones that make them look real/better than they are.

Assembled Stones: An assembled stone is a stone that has been pieced together from two or more parts of a stone. Sometimes a gem is pieced together by two complete gems and fitted together to make it look like it is a much larger stone of a much higher value. Other times a jeweler may take a gemstone that has been broken and piece the chunks of stone together so that it looks complete again. If you see a Sapphire or Ruby that looks to be pieced together you are most likely dealing with a shady jeweler because those stones are often assembled to deceive consumers. Opals, on the other hand are often assembled and may not be considered a shady practice especially when the jeweler discloses that he has done so. (Definition of Assembled Stones)

Foil Backing: Foil backing was a common practice in the past, lots of closed backed settings were "enhanced" by placing foil behind the gem. Common foil colors were gold and silver but other colors are used as well. Jewelers will place foil behind gems to increase their depth and color.

Painting: Like foil backing, paint or another substance can be placed behind a gem to "improve" it's color and depth. Placing a tiny dot of paint in an exact place behind a cut diamond can reflect that color throughout the entire stone.

Cracking: This is the practice of blasting a synthetic gem with extreme heat in the hopes of cracking it to make it look more like the real thing. Synthetic gems tend to have less blemishes and so cracking them is defiantly a way to deceive a consumer.

All in all, none of these practices are considered illegal or wrong as long as the person purchasing the gem has been informed by the sales person. Painting and Assembling can be done in the hopes of fixing a damaged ring, painting could have been done at the request of a consumer. Remember that the best and safest way to purchase a gemstone is to go to a dealer you trust. Associate Jewelers, Inc. has been dealing gemstones since it's creation without complaint. We would be happy to walk you through the gemstone purchasing experience.

Read a little bit more about Gem Identification here: Gem Identification Made Easy

Big Summer Giveaway!!

In honor of the beautiful weather that we are having, Associate Jewelers would like to give you the perfect opportunity to pop "The Question" in one of the most magical places not on earth. We have set up a huge summer giveaway where we will give one lucky winner a free ring repair and a hot air balloon ride for two.

Do you have or plan to find an older ring which will be used when you ask the person you love to marry you? Maybe you just have an old ring that needs repair and you have always wanted to ride on a hot air balloon? If so, you may be interested to know that we here at Associate Jewelers, inc. are going to give a lucky person the opportunity of a life time.

Take a minute to type out a quick little blurb about your jewelry that needs repair. Tell us where you got your ring and a little bit of the story behind it. Maybe the ring was your grandmothers old wedding ring that had a broken setting. Maybe your father gave you a ring when you were young and it has since been tarnished and warped? Whatever your story we are interested to know, it's the stories which give life to the ring. After you type of a quick blurb, send us a picture and tell us how your ring was damaged. If you don't know how it was damaged that is okay too.

All entries will receive a free estimate on the repairs so be sure to include your address and a phone number. If you win we will do all the repairs on your ring for free! If you do not win, you can still be entered to win the balloon ride by completing a repair here at Associates.

If you don't happen to have a damaged ring but still wish to have a chance to win the balloon ride, purchase a custom ring by August 13th and you will entered to win the balloon ride for two!

Submit entries here:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/AssociateJewelers

Twitter: http://twitter.com/AssociateJewel

Fax: 503-226-6787

Email: Christina@AssociateJewelers.com

Snail Mail/Walk in:

534 SW 3rd Ave. Suite 604

Portland, OR. 97204

All entries must be received by 8/13/2010 and will be subject to review. We will announce the winner of the ring repair on August 27th and will be announcing the Balloon ride on September 1st.

Maximilian Diamond.

In 1860 Emperor Maximilian went on a journey to Brazil with the hopes of discovering botanical mysteries. On this trip Maximilian purchased a 41.94 carat diamond which he was said to wear around his neck in a small pouch. At the request of Napoleon III, he stayed in Brazil where he became the emperor of Mexico for a time. When Napoleon withdrew his troops from the area in 1876 Maximilian was captured and executed. The pouch that contained the 41.94 carat diamond was not removed from his body until after his remain were sent back to his wife in Austria. Upon arrival in Austria, the diamond was given to his wife, Princess Charlotte.

The Maximilian Diamond went missing for a number of years after his death. There were no reports of it anywhere until it was purchased by Ferdinand Holtz in 1919. The diamond Stayed with Mr. Holtz, a gem collector until his death when it was sold to an unnamed collector. The collector who purchased the diamond had it set inside of a ring. The Maximilian Diamond changed hands a few more times before it was cut to it's original size of 39.55 carats and sold at auction in April.

This sale was one of the most expensive diamond sales ever recorded.

How To Remove A Stubborn Ring

It has happened to all of us at one time or another. We have put someone else's ring on our finger and when we went to take it off, realized it was stuck. Do to the specific shape of some finger joints, it may be easier to get a ring on than off.

I can remember a time as a child when I went snooping through my mother's bathroom, upon finding a small ring that looked like it would fit my finger, I stupidly slipped it on. After only a second, I went to take the ring off and realized that it was stuck. getting caught trespassing in my mother's bathroom was one thing but getting busted wearing her jewelry was not going to be good. After numerous attempts at pulling the ring off my finger I did what anyone does in this situation. I went into panic mode. Pulling and yanking on the ring only left me sore, exhausted and even more distressed. I had pulled my finger raw and placed it in my mouth because it hurt so bad, little did I know that this would be my salvation. When I went to pull the finger out of my mouth, the ring just slipped off onto my tongue.

Now that I am grown, I thought I would impart some knowledge to those who find themselves in similar situations.

• Don't Panic: If you panic you are going to increase your heart rate and your fingers may swell. If you are in a state of panic, you will be unable to think clearly.
• Relax and Breath: In your state of calm you can think of a plan of action, maybe pulling up this blog to read a quick tip or two.
• Lubricate and Rock the Ring: Use saliva or soap and begin to rock the ring back and forth on the finger. Pushing the ring from the bottom and then the top repeatedly should help you work the ring off your finger.
• Be Gentle: If you are gentle you will have better chances of removing the ring. When you are aggressive you stimulate blood flow and cause the finger to swell.

If you are not having any luck removing the ring after you have followed the steps above, I recommend that you hold your hand above your heart and place a cool ice pack around your hand. Both these actions will decrease the amount of blood and fluid inside the hand. After 20 or so minutes of this, try removing the ring using the above mentioned steps.

At this time, if you are still not having any luck removing the ring, you should seek medical attention. Don't panic, a ring can be easily removed by a doctor with little to no discomfort and a ring can be easily mended by a good jeweler. Never let a jeweler try to cut a ring from your finger as their tools and skills are not suited for this task.

Best of luck to you and your fingers!

Communication is Key

We have recently touched on this a bit on our website, but we thought it would be a great idea to reiterate again here in our blog. Associate Jewelers, Inc. has a very large customer base which is comprised of many different components. We have the walk in customers who grace us with surprise visits. We have many different clients that are wholesalers and many who ship us damaged jewelry that needs repair. Overall, each component is equally important. It is in our ability to be flexible that we pride ourselves.

Unfortunately and fortunately, we are one of the only jewelry businesses that let's third parties write instructions about repairs. This being said, we would like to stress how important clear communication is to our success. On occasion we will have clients that have written poor instructions about an item that needs repair. When this happens we are chagrined to say that we may be forced to do repairs that are not what the customer of our clients wants.

Help Us Help You

To prevent errors in repairs do to miscommunication we would like to encourage each of our clients to take extra care when writing out repair instructions. As much as we would like to be, we are not mind readers. Our work starts by looking at your instructions and should your instructions have strange symbols or sloppy hand writing it could make deciphering the text hard. Please take your time when writing instructions. Bulleted or numbered lists are often the most efficient means of communicating these types of instructions.

1. Repair filigree on both sides of ring. Must match exactly. $300 k

2. Supply and set two matching sapphires. $50 k

3. Remove old white gold tips and repairs. $55k

4. Retip (laser) platinum tips. $65k

5. Repair places where the old repairs were. $67k

6. New shank, size 8, make shank round $135k

This would be a great list because it not only has mention of what you need to have done, but also the keystone price that you have given the customer. If these numbers don't match ours then we know that we need to work out different arrangements. We understand that you are here to make a profit, information like this is helpful for us to give you the best service possible.

Why We Love Laser Beam Welding

I would like to talk about lasers for a while if you don't mind. Remember when lasers were really cool? For a while, our technology was driven by lasers. CD players revolutionized how we listen to music. They were put in everything from super market scanners to eye surgeon's hands. Lasers even became the favorite weapon of advanced civilizations in outer space, thanks to movies like Star Wars and Star Trek. But if I had to pick a favorite movie with lasers? It would be "Laser Beam Welder".

Below is a video of laser beam welding in action:

Laser Beam Welding and Associate Jewelers:

For the last few years Associates has been one of the few jewelers in the NW to own a laser beam welder (LBW). We made the investment because the benefits were numerous. When working with traditional torch and solder, it is difficult to make all the precision welds one wants, without risking damaging the surrounding metals or gems. And although torch tip technology has progressed since we have been in the business, it is still impossible to do more advanced welding without total control of what is being heated and how long it is hot. Laser beam welding gives us that control.

Because a laser beam by nature is extremely focused, when we use an LBW, we are only going to be heating the exact spot that we wish to weld. Yes, the surrounding metals get hot through conduction, but it is by far less intense than if we were using a traditional torch. Also, when doing repairs on jewelry that was created using a LBW, it is sometimes necessary for us to use our lasers because the original work is so precise. Another great advantage to using a LBW is that the effected metals do not stay hot for as long. However, if the metal being worked on is carbon steel, LBWs should not be used, as the short heat time will cause them to crack.

Obviously we still use the original torch and solder method when making our jewelry, but we are fortunate enough to have two lasers on site, to use at our (or your) discretion. If you have projects that require the precision of a laser beam welder, please do not hesitate to give us a call for a quote.

How to care for your precious pearls.

The earth has given Jewelers many materials to work with. We use gold, silver, diamonds, wood, gems and precious stones of all kinds. One Precious stone we love to work with is the Pearl.

A pearl is a delicate and beautiful, little, irritant. Irritating to the oyster that is (we love pearls). Typically when a pearl is made naturally, it starts with a little grain of sand. Somehow a grain of sand might get stuck inside of particular species of oyster. As a defense mechanism the oyster will start to secrete a fluid that hardens around the sand spec. After about 5-10 years, if the oyster was fortunate to live that long, it will have created a precious pearl.

Since Pearls are not created like many other precious gemstones, millions of years and thousands of pounds of pressure; they are often easier to damage than other stones. Due to the softer nature of Pearls, they are easier to scratch or be damaged in chemicals. If not cared for correctly, a pearl can quickly lose it’s luster or be lost forever.

Tricks and Techniques to care for your pearls:

Due to the nature of pearls you should always remove a pearl ring or bracelet when preparing food. Some foods contain acids that could eat away at your pearls. Also, if you are going to go swimming, we recommend removing your pearls so as not to be lost or damaged by the chlorine and chemicals in swimming pools.

If you have a pearl ring, we recommend you remove it by holding onto the band and not the pearl. The less contact made with the pearl the better, without being excessive. Remember, pearls are jewelry that was meant to be worn and loved on your body. After you remove your pearl jewelry it is always a good idea to wipe the pearl with a (wet or dry) soft cloth. Although your body oils can improve the look of your pearl you might not want the acid from your perspiration to remain on the pearl. If you perspire heavily, you may want to think of using different gems in your jewelry design.

If you have a string of pearls it is a good idea to get them restrung every 6 months. The worst pearl stories I hear are of women who lose half their pearls when their necklace breaks. A break can happen unexpectedly from tension, but it is best to try and prevent pearl loss from weak string.

Cleaning Pearl Jewelry:

As described above, Pearls are more delicate than other precious gems and so they take a different kind of care when cleaning them as well. Below I have created a little list that you may find useful when cleaning your pearl jewelry.

• Wash hands before handling pearls to remove any perspiration
• Never use chemicals on when cleaning jewelry. (chlorox, bleach, ammonia… etc.)
• Clean your pearls with a mild soap.
• Remove pearls when applying lotion or moisturizers.
• wipe with a soft or damp cloth immediately after removal.
• If soap and water do not clean your pearls to satisfaction, consider using a pearl cleaning solution.

Please, if you have any questions about pearls or pearl care do not hesitate to call us.

Diamond and Pearl Earrings for Free!!

Today is the day! We will are excited to announce all the details of our first jewelry giveaway via social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Lucky you!

Pictured below is a pair of diamond and pearl post earrings that we will be giving away to one lucky Associate Jewelers follower. The rules are simple and only require a little bit of social savvy on your part.

To have a chance at winning the earrings, all you have to do is this:

• be the first to get 20 of your friends to follow/like Associate Jewelers on Twitter or Facebook.
• Have at least 20 of your friends leave a comment on our feed or wall saying you should win the earrings.
• Thats it!

A little description of the prize:

• 12 points total weight in diamonds.
• 2x10mm Grey Pearls.
• 14k white gold pierced posts.
• $400.00 retail price.

Make sure you get your friends to follow and like us. Make sure to get your friends to leave a comment saying you personally should win the earrings. don't wait to win the earrings.

Their comments might look something like this:

• My friend @___ _____ wants to win your earrings.
• @_____ _____ wants @AssociateJewel 's earrings.
• @AssociateJewel should give my friend @_____ ______ earrings for free.

Twitter: http://Twitter.com/AssociateJewel

Facebook: http://Facebook.com/AssociateJewelers.com

Good luck!

Protect Your Valuables

I'm always amazed at how many jewelry news stories focus on theft. Like everything, this could be for several different reasons. Perhaps it's because jewelry is a very common thing to be stolen. Being so beautiful, worth so much and being made of precious metals may make them a very coveted item for a thief. On the other hand, there seems to be an added element of drama and suspense to stories about jewelry theft, and they can't help but catch they eye and imagination of many readers. Or maybe the reason there are so many of these stories is because we simply find jewelry heists interesting. No matter the reason, the fact is jewelry theft is very real. Protecting your investments is one of the smartest things you can do to ensure the life, value and ownership of your treasures.

Below is a list of ways you could protect your jewelry investments:

Home Security: More and more homes are equipped with home alarm systems every year. Having a system that alerts the police to a potential break-in can be crucial in ensuring your items are not stolen. In the case of theft, seconds matter and can be the difference between catching a criminal and returning your items to your possession.

Home Safe: A safe is highly recommended if you have small items you want to protect but don't want to keep your house locked down like a fortress. By locking an item into a safe, you can be sure your items will be secure even if you cant keep tabs on every person who enters your home or office. It is important that you secure your safe to something so that it can not be removed and opened in a different location. Most safe companies will provide instructions on how to secure a safe to a floor or wall.

Secret Hiding Places: If you do not have a safe or security system yet, there are tried and true methods of protecting your valuables from being stolen. There are shaving gels with false bottoms or even secret compartments behind electrical outlets. Some people will carve out a book and place their items in there, while others have entire secret rooms in their houses. The options are endless for hiding valuables, but choose wisely and make sure that wherever you hide your items, you can remember how to find them!

Staying Within Budget.

Each project we work on has it's own depth of difficulty, so naturally each project also has it's own budget. Some projects are simple refinishing work while others are more advanced jewelry design, but in the end the budget is determined by the details. Beyond our pricing schema, there are other costs to consider when planning a jewelry project.

1. The customer budget- how much are they willing to spend?

2. Your budget- how much can you spend and still make a profit on the work, even after it is sent to us (time, postage, materials are all costs to consider).

3. Our budget- we also need to make a small profit and have our costs/materials covered.

If your budget equals out to be less than the total costs of the work that must be done, Associates can help you finish the job. We also know times are hard, we are always willing to re-think the work that must be done and the materials that should be used. Another option is to finish a portion of the work that needs to be done and wait to finish the rest of the repairs when the customer has enough money.

It is really a good idea to communicate your budget and your customer's budget with us here at Associates, that way all parties involved know what we are getting into before the actual work starts. This will ensure happy customers and happy employees.

If you have questions about how exactly to plan for a project with Associates, just give us a ring.

Shirley Bassey Sings "Diamonds Are Forever"

Diamonds are forever and Shirley Bassey knows it. Her voice is so powerful, it's hard to imagine she doesn't believe every word she is singing.

Pebble Mine Boycott Over Fish

The Pebble Mine in Anchorage, Alaska seems to be having a hard time getting started. The development is located on one of the world's only sockeye salmon streams. Because of this location, the mining company is looking at an uphill battle before breaking ground. Environmental protection agencies and the mines potential customers are joining forces in an unlikely partnership against the mining company. Even Zale Corp. has announced that they would be boycotting all metals that are mined from the Pebble Mine.

You can read an in-depth article from huffingtonpost.com

Do you think it is a good thing to protect the fish over the mining of precious metals?

Have Your Jewelry Purchases Examined

There is a lot of fake fine jewelry in the world. Imitations are watches, rings, necklaces...etc. that were made to look like the real thing. Sometimes a forger can do a pretty good job imitating their targets.

Recently Tareq Salahi, (crashed the presidents party with his wife) paid his gardener with a watch that a jeweler has determined fake. The gardener was given a Patek Philippe watch which can cost around $15,000. The gardener was not a professional jeweler and so was in no place to asses the quality or integrity of his payment. One of the first things Salahi's gardener did was take his watch to his jeweler for inspection. Upon examination of the watch, the jeweler declared it a fake. Mike Dunbar (the gardener) is now taking legal action against Salahi to correct this wrong.

Knowing a good jeweler whom you trust is very important when purchasing any jewelry, including something as complicated as a watch. If you are not familiar with a specific time piece, you could be easily fooled.

If you need a second opinion, bring your jewelry by Associates and let us take a look. If you are sold a fake item there are actions you can take against the person who sold it to you.

Don't be fooled by a crafty sales person, let Associate Jewelers, Inc. evaluate your jewelry purchases.

Dog eats diamond, makes me think.

I was browsing the web for interesting news about jewelry, when I came across a story about a jeweler who's dog ate a $20,000 diamond. As the story goes, the jeweler often brought his dog to do business with him. One day while meeting with a dealer, a 3-carat diamond dropped on the floor. Right before their eyes Sollie (the dog) reached out and swallowed the diamond. I couldn't help but giggle at the thought of 3 beautiful carats going right down the gullet of a dog.

The story reminded me of this ring that we lost years and years ago. We were just finishing the ring for a customer when it got caught on the polisher and was tossed across the room, never to be seen again. I had to wonder, had any dogs come through the shop since it was lost...?

Whenever we move a piece of furniture or have a big cleaning party, we keep our eyes peeled for this ring. Someday it will show it, I have a feeling.

Insofu Emerald

On February 22nd there was an astounding discovery in Zambia. Gemfields announced that they had unearthed a 6,225 carat rough cut emerald. This has to be one of the larger rough emeralds ever discovered in the world. Speaking of large, it is no wonder that Gemfields discovered this emerald, as it is one of the largest gemstone mining companies in the world. They have mining fields in most of the major gemstone locations worldwide.

Gemfields said that after examining the internal structure of the emerald, they feel it will "yield a number of cut gems of significant size".

Diamond Cutting

This is a video I found on Youtube which shows part of the process for cutting and shaping a diamond. Since diamonds are so hard, one needs to actually use diamond dust to cut these gems.

A diamond truly gains its value when it is cut and placed into jewelry, made by a jeweler who excels at his trade.

Our First Blogger Post!

Here at Associate Jewelers, Inc. we have been trying to strengthen our bonds with our clients and peers in the jewelry business. We have been making bold moves and embracing new marketing techniques, like using Facebook, Twitter, Buzz, Linkedin, Tumblr and Blogger to communicate more effectively and consistently with our whole network. Our goal in using social networks is not necessarily a move to grow our customer base, we like to think of it as a way to involve everyone in what we do here at Associates.

We used to have our blog up on Tumblr.com, but are now going to be use Google's Blogger to write about interesting industry news, happenings here at Associates, highlights of employees and exciting projects we are working on.

We encourage you to check back in the near future because we will be talking about our thoughts on the way the gold market is going, highlighting Ben Sipp and giving details about the ring we use as our profile picture on our social networks.

Also, check the links above and follow us on our social networks.

Thanks for reading and being a part of what we do here at Associate Jewelers.