Whatever your jewelry needs may be, The Gem Mine probably has a solution.
At this Westwood store there are crystals, gems and tools with which you can make your own jewelry. There is ready-made jewelry, both modern and vintage. You can also bring in your old jewelry and turn it into something new.
But if none of these options is appealing, there's even another option: Bring a wild idea and have a piece of jewelry custom-designed.
"You are only limited by your own imagination -- that's what I always tell my customers," says Thea Day, who runs the shop with her mother, Mary Rossi.
The Gem Mine sells jewelry, lapidary and jewelry-making tools and equipment, as well as various minerals and crystals.
The store was started in 1970 by Day's father, who had a love of rocks and minerals and shells and in the past offered lapidary and silversmithing classes.
The Gem Mine settled in its current Westwood location in 1995 and attracts jewelry makers and design students from as far as Montclair and Rockland County for various supplies, Rossi says. They come for gems like suglite, ametrine and tanzanite.
"It's a very eclectic mix of things, but we never really got away from what we started out doing," Day says.
The store is known for its decorative pieces carved from various minerals, including a mahogany obsidian egg for $40 and an amethyst geode for $110.
The Gem Mine's collection of vintage jewelry includes a 14K gold lapel watch with diamonds for $550 and a 14K yellow and white gold and 0.2K diamond ring for $475, both from the 1940s.
Among the contemporary pieces are Denis Matthews' sterling silver and 14K gold necklace for $48 and matching earrings for $58. Clover earrings by Michael Michaud, who is known for making botanically correct jewelry, cost $48, and a tea rose necklace costs $98.
"We try not to go with the trendy stuff because anyone can do that," Day says. "We try to find the unusual, artistic-looking things."
Day also creates some jewelry herself. Recently she was wearing a handmade silver lariat necklace with kyanite and Swarovski crystals, priced at $75.
Customers looking for pieces with specific designs or for special occasions like weddings and bat mitzvahs can get jewelry custom-made. Often they bring in a dress with which they plan to wear the jewelry, and Day helps come up with a design. Cost varies on material and design.
The Gem Mine also does repairs and resettings. And unlike some jewelers, no customer gets turned away because the jewelry piece is of small monetary value, Day says.
"We do everything from costume to platinum," she says. "If somebody has something they really want to wear – it has sentimental value or whatever – I'll do what I can for them."
Source: northjersey
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