Park City Jewelers' Owner Ken Whipple has a knack for getting people excited about gemstones. He has so many fascinating stories to tell. His enthusiasm is infectious!
We got Ken & Jen (also a gem nerd) to talk about Malachite Azurite on camera. This crazy beautiful stone will knock your socks off! Press play and be prepared to be blown away:
Transcript:
- Hi, friends, I'm Jen.
- I'm Ken.
- And we're bringing you an episode of "Gem Nerds," from Park City Jewelers. Today, we're talking about malachite azurite.
- It's one of my favorite gems, I was on the way to work today, and couldn't get it out of my mind, we were talking about what gem to do, and this is it. I've been collecting it now for about 20 years. The best comes from a mine down in Arizona, it's called the Morenci Mine, it's a copper mine, and one day before Christmas they were digging around in the mine, and they found this seam, about a foot thick, of this malachite and azurite, and just freaked out, it was so rare to find that much of it together.
In copper mines, which this material is high in copper, once in a while they find some malachite and once in a while they find azurite, and a lot of times they'll just find kind of blue-y green rocks, and that's what they get the copper out of. But in this particular mine they get both. The thing that makes this mine so incredible, is if you can see in the rough specimen, you can see all the holes down in there. But this particular mine, they got it to where it formed together so closely they were actually able to cut and polish it.
The gems we have here from the Morenci, Arizona mine. They haven't been treated at all. This is just a solid, thick seam of malachite and azurite, that's just been polished. Some of them are incredible. This one here looks like a picture almost, with a frame around the outside, with the little green sun in there. Just amazing, and the bubbles in it are incredible. The green in it goes from a sea foam green, to like a deep forest green, and then the blues in it, go from like a Caribbean blue clear up to a midnight blue, it's just incredible colors, and solid. You can see how the pattern goes all the way through on these pieces. They are just amazing. And again, I've been collecting them for about 20 years. We don't have a lot of them made up in jewelry right now, but the gemstones are here, we can make anything you want. It's super, super rare to find them.
- Yeah, they're fascinating. They're so unique, each one is a one of a kind, too.
- Totally. And the price has gone up about 10 times from when I first started collecting it. We've got great, great prices on it. I heard that the mine has totally run out of it. They might find more down the road, they might not. It's just a really great gem. There's some that come from different places. Morocco, Brazil, but this quality, the only place is one little mine in Arizona, so, it's pretty cool stuff.
- So that's how you get the color variation, and it was just the really close pockets of the gemstone formations.
- Close pockets, yeah, you have the, the malachite that kind of formed first, and then the azurite came and formed around it, and just bonded exactly. It's really cool, some of these pieces, if you put this under the microscope, you'll see these just incredible, incredible blue microscopic little crystals in there. It is just a beautiful piece, and this is a piece of rock that came from there.
- Fascinating.
- Wouldn't that be fun, out in Miami, finding something like this? It's pretty cool. If you ever get to Park City, I've got some maps of some really fun places that you can go digging different gems in Park City, but this is one of my favorites, this is awesome. Come and get it quick, I don't have a lot of the really, really good gems left.
- And don't forget to get a homemade ginger snap cookie.
- Grandma's recipe, she was quite a cook. Take care, see ya.
Meteorite
When you shop at Park City Jewelers you know that you’re going to see unique jewelry designed and crafted by us. This gives you a chance to own jewelry that is like none other, made with the highest level of craftsmanship.
Although we make most of the jewelry we sell, we occasionally partner with a designer and sell their pieces in the store. This doesn’t happen often, but when we find a designer that blows us away with their unique pieces and quality, we proudly offer these to our customers.
Bellarri is one such designer. She is known as one of the world's finest luxury jewelry designers, and we’ve admired her award-winning pieces over the years as we’ve attended the annual JCK Jewelry Conference.
This year, we proudly announce that Bellarri is the newest designer at Park City Jewelers. Her pieces feature bold designs and vibrant colored gemstones that are simply breathtaking.
Designer - Bellarri Aldeman
Bellarri jewelry is “designed for a woman, by a woman,” and her signature style pushes the envelope to create masterpieces of design. She states, "A true artist should capture the eyes, the soul, and the heart with every creation."
The Bellarri style is delicate art combined with uniquely cut gemstones, and each design tells its own story. Bellarri jewelry is meant to stand out from the pack, and conformity is not in the vocabulary. These pieces are tailored to the individually minded who value the unique.
In her own words, “My customer is an independent thinking self-purchaser who understands we design for her lifestyle. She’s not necessarily waiting for anyone to buy for her.”
The big, bold, and beautiful pieces are sure to make an impression when you wear them, and many celebrities have worn her designs to stand out on the red carpet.
Gemstones
It’s no secret that we love color, and Bellarri uses some of the most beautiful colored gemstones in their pieces. As you look through the collection you’ll notice the striking combinations of bright colors from gemstones like peridot, tsavorite garnet, amethyst, blue topaz, ametrine, and iolite, to name a few.
Bellarri also has a reputation for some of the very best gemstone color matching in the jewelry industry. This can be easily seen in their gradient and rainbow designs. Light blue topaz slowly shifts to deep London blue topaz in a stunning seamless transition. The rainbow designs move through all the colors of the rainbow in breathtaking beauty.
Another hallmark of Bellari jewelry is the way the gemstones are cut and faceted. They laser cut and facet each gemstone using patented techniques not found in any other jewelry in the world. This gives the gemstones incredible brilliance and enables them to produce their unique designs.
Settings
Settings are featured in 14K and 18K gold. You’ll notice a distinct lack of prongs in most of the settings, as one of the hallmarks of Beillari design is channel set gemstones. Each gemstone is precision cut to fit each piece and placed together to create each unique design. This gives the impression that the gemstones grew organically out of the setting - that they belong together.
A great example of jewelry “made by a woman, for a woman” is the Bellarri earrings. They are designed to be worn with or without piercings. The earring post has a hinge that folds down so it can be worn as a clip-on, which is an awesome feature.
Conclusion
The Bellarri brand is synonymous with luxury, integrity, elegance, and cutting-edge design, and they have been family owned and operated for 42 years. We are proud to feature their collection online and in-store and hope that each piece will capture your imagination the same way it has ours.