9/22/07 A Wasted Day

I had been planning to go back to Albuquerque for over a month ever since I first visited Sunwest Silver. With checkbook and tax certificates in hand, I ventured in to shop and carry out a bag of precious jewels. But as I walked through the inventory my enthusiasm faded then finally hit bottom at the earring section where I saw a certain pair offered for wholesale at a price above what I’m selling for retail. It was then that I quietly exited. I then went looking for chicken for lunch and on the way ran across the Indian Jewelers Supply which I later learned is a branch-off from the original store in Gallup. I like to get a sense of the price of the stones. I noted they use “enhanced” as opposed to “stabilized” in their descriptions of some the cabochons. For a fairly good descriptions of the differences see the article by Lee Anderson http://americana.net/jewelry_turquoise_types_article.html . If you are ever in Albuquerque a visit to the Turquoise Museum is a real treat.

All in all it was a fairly wasted day. I think the best thing was discovering more about claws so commonly use in Native American jewelry. The supply company offered ARTIFICIAL eagle, bear, and wolf claws along with real bear claws from Canada. I do not want to sell products made with real claws which violates the law in some states.

I’m looking forward to meeting with an old timer Silversmith on Monday, he wants me to represent his work. Perhaps I’ll supply the cabochons.