December – The Twelfth and Final Month of the Year

Well the snow is here and with it our plans for the holiday season get into full swing. The month of December is the time you can wear the biggest and the best. If you don’t use it now, when will you use it? This is the time for a more formal look: black, navy, red, silver, grey and gold. Just about any piece of jewellery you have can be worn at this time: bracelets, earrings, brooches, necklaces, pendants and rings. Each should be looked at as items to complete an outfit.

I find this time of the year is great to bring out pearls and diamonds as both of these items flatter all complexions and don’t get enough use. Both are available in a rainbow of colours, sizes and shapes making them very flexible and easy to wear. Our current stock of pearls has beautifully matched uniform strands in sizes from 6 mm and up and graduated strands of 15-19 mm. Baroque South Sea pearls come in a variety of sizes bigger. The colours range from white, cream, pink, mauve, black, grey, orange and yellow: a veritable rainbow. There are also strands of varied coloured pearls with a colour theme like white, grey and black or white, pink and mauve. All are worth a visit to our store.

There is a taste in the market now for rough diamonds, diamond slices and coloured diamonds in rough and faceted forms. Many of these stones are grey, red, orange, pink, black and are available as pendants, earrings or rings. We have an extensive stock of these stones made up, as well as a stock of unset stones which could be customized for you. Since we have our own designers on site and we manufacture all our pieces, we are not restrained by what is available from a third party.

At the moment, we also have a four strand necklace made of rounded rubies graduated from 4mm to 6mm which would look great for that little bit of red one wants at this season. There is also a strand of very attractive emeralds which would provide a bit of green if one wanted to go for that look at the holiday season.

The birthstones of December are the blue zircon, turquoise, and tanzanite. All are variants on the colour blue and each has different desirable qualities.

Blue zircon was a popular stone of the 1940’s and early 50’s but should not be underestimated as the stone is extremely brilliant and wears well. In jewellery of the Retro period, the stones frequently appear with diamonds to provide contrast. Because we appreciate these stones, we maintain them in stock. With diamonds, they make very attractive pieces of jewellery that are wearable all year round.

World supplies of very good quality light blue turquoise are very hard to acquire. Most of what one sees at the moment on the market has a strong green colour or is highly included (with a matrix). We have a few items of this stone which looks perfect in the summer with other pastels and in the winter with navy or a strong brown.

Lastly, tanzanite was discovered in the 1960’s in Tanzania as the name suggests not far from Mount Kilimanjaro. This stone has an attractive blue violet colour and was first introduced exclusively to the market by Tiffany’s who coined the name. The stone is used in many engagement rings, earrings and pendants. It is attractive on its own and accented with diamonds can be a very attractive jewellery item in anyone’s collection.

Come and see the other items written about above in our Studio. We'd love to see you!

Until next time, signing off,

- Richard MacDonald