Do You Have a Favorite Gold Designer?

[missy]

Haha @EllenS1 love the name Shadow. And I am very familiar with cats ruling the roost so to speak.

I am going to post an addition here too. Let's get this thread going again.

My 18K rose gold pink diamond band from Leibish...hope this is OK to post here though it's not yellow gold...will add a photo with my ER whose shank is 18K yellow gold.







and the Leibish rose gold band with the black opal.

 

[EllenS1]

Haha @EllenS1 love the name Shadow. And I am very familiar with cats ruling the roost so to speak.

I am going to post an addition here too. Let's get this thread going again.

My 18K rose gold pink diamond band from Leibish...hope this is OK to post here though it's not yellow gold...will add a photo with my ER whose shank is 18K yellow gold.







and the Leibish rose gold band with the black opal.

Just beautiful!!! All your gorgeous rings - that delicate rose gold band looks so pretty with the larger rings and that opal ring is out of this world! Thanks for sharing! And last but not least I love your wide eyed pretty kitty cat in your profile pic

 

[EllenS1]

I have a question please to all those who live in the States... has anyone bought from Mene jewellers ... I’m really keen to give it a try and get some charms as all their jewelry is 24k with certification their site says and they ship intl by fedex, please share any thoughts or experiences thanks!

 

[ksinger]

OK, I haven't been in here for a while, but I see that I should visit more often.

I've had these for a while now, and I'm sure I posted these elsewhere, but they really belong here, so here they will go for posterity. This is my set of black opals, all in 22K, again with the granulation I love.

 

[EllenS1]

OK, I haven't been in here for a while, but I see that I should visit more often.

I've had these for a while now, and I'm sure I posted these elsewhere, but they really belong here, so here they will go for posterity. This is my set of black opals, all in 22K, again with the granulation I love.

So beautifully made!

 

[ksinger]

So beautifully made!

Thank you! And yes, they are. And you can't see it in the pic, but the clasp on the pendant is an intricate handmade bit of work with moving parts and lots of wirework, since it opens to become a pearl-enhancer.

Sadly, the woman who actually executes that high-karat work, is retiring. There aren't there many jewelers in the US who can do that sort of work. I only know of a couple, but no more than that. So I feel very fortunate to have some of her work.

 

[strawrose]

I might as well add this. I have cool colored skin so the pair stays in the deposit box. Maybe I can pass this onto my niece in the future? Possibly 22k or more. They were heavy

 

[marionberry]

My first high carat solid gold piece, a 22k yellow gold pendant with alexandrite cat's eye and a Fijian keshi pearl. I am really happy with how that turned out!
So hard to photograph the green appearance of the gemstone but so much fun to watch. And in diffuse lights where the stone does not look its best, the pearl really shines and shows of all the colours, they really complement each other.

 

[marionberry]

What kind of necklace would you put it on? I still need to get one of the right length - and was thinking rolo/belcher oxidised silver maybe?
I feel delicate modern times gold would look odd with the unearthen-handmade-ancient look of this.

 

[pregcurious]

Well, then you should get one! I almost got the satin one I just mentioned from dianafinejewels on EBay, where I could have gotten one for a fraction of the cost of the one I am having made on Etsy. (I believe that my hammered gold ring was from one of the eBay vendors in Turkey.) The only reason I did not was that while I was corresponding with dianafinejewels I was not sure that they understood English well enough to give me the correct size. I probably underestimated them; after all a ring size isn't that hard to understand, but I was worried. (I had never used the relatively new dianafinejewels before.) I might have gotten the hammered ring from Atlantis (Turkish vendor selling on eBay) or maybe it's a Gurhan one I got from minata.

AGBF

The rings pictured below are from dianafinejewels and are sold on eBay.

Does anyone know what happened to Dianafinejewels on Ebay? Any recommendations for other Ebay vendors that carry high-carat pieces?

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Between errands and appointments, I visited an old haunt for gorgeous art and jewellery. I fell in love (again) with Gurhan and Armenta. I could have bought it ALL! This reminds me, I must get a pair of 22 or 24K gold hoops. I MUST!

https://www.armentacollection.com/shop/

https://gurhan.com/

cheers--Sharon

 

[gromit]

Seeing all these lovelies inspired me to look at this 18k yellow gold chain. Not up to the high standards of other posters but had a really lovely bright yellow tone. I normally wear white gold/platinum but something about this caught my eye. Wondering if anyone might have seen a similar design. Would love to find out more about its origin or even the maker. It is stamped 750 and 161 on the clasp. There was another mark but very hard to decipher. Thanks in advance

 

[higanbanya]

Future MIL just bought my customary gold bridal jewellery (Si Dian Jin). The 22k gold pieces surprisingly matched my fair skin more than I thought it would. So in love with the ring and the set!

 

[MMtwo]

Si Dian Jin

I'm so glad you shared this post. Beautiful jewelry. I had to Google Si Dian Jin as I became curious to learn more about jewelry customs. That was a fun hour of exploration.

 

[EllenS1]

Two fabulous 22k gold chains from a Turkish jeweller; quite chunky and not something I thought I would have selected but I felt different when I wore them, I’ve never seen these kind of chains in 22k as they’re usually Italian made 18k

 

[higanbanya]

I'm so glad you shared this post. Beautiful jewelry. I had to Google Si Dian Jin as I became curious to learn more about jewelry customs. That was a fun hour of exploration.

Awww very honoured that the tradition would spark an interest in you! Thank you!

 

[ohwonder]

Ive been following this thread and enjoying everyone's beautiful pieces over the years. So here are a couple of my earrings:

22kt gold hoop earrings with dangles


22kt gold tiny hoops (great for second piercings) and another pair with cute flower dangles. I believe those just white stones, not diamonds.

 

[ohwonder]

A beautiful, slinky necklace from my mom. The beaded design catches the light in a lovely way and it has a nice weight to it. There was a time where I wore this a lot, but havent in recent years. I took it out recently and hope to wear it more.

 

[molecule]

Restumbled upon a jewelry designer that I had managed to trick my brain into forgetting- Marika.

 

[MarionC]

Restumbled upon a jewelry designer that I had managed to trick my brain into forgetting- Marika.

Oof! That is very pretty!

 

[AGBF]

I can't believe how long it has apparently been since I visited this thread. When I came here today I saw no posts from me after 2018 and I also saw many gorgeous pieces of jewelry that I did not remember ever having seen before.

I have not been wearing jewelry for a few years, and not buying any, either. I did not realize I had not even visited The Gold Thread, though. I am so glad I got to see the pieces I had missed. I am also the rest of you are still posting beautiful gold jewelry. (I adore the Marika gold cuff bracelet.)

 

[EllenS1]

My 22k bangles occasionally worn, there’s one with uncut diamonds...I love this gold thread and hope it’s kept alive, looking forward to new posts!

 

[AGBF]

@EllenS1-

All your jewelry is gorgeous. I almost posted about how buttery it looked a few minutes ago. But I couldn't stop by at this thread and fail to comment on the gold bangle with all the work on it. I do not know what one calls all the tiny beading and little balls, but I have always loved that. Your enormous bangle displays miles of that work.

Anyone would envy you a bangle made with diamonds (and I do), but I may envy you more for that fabulously worked huge gold bangle! Thank you for sharing!

Deb/AGBF

 

[EllenS1]

@EllenS1-

All your jewelry is gorgeous. I almost posted about how buttery it looked a few minutes ago. But I couldn't stop by at this thread and fail to comment on the gold bangle with all the work on it. I do not know what one calls all the tiny beading and little balls, but I have always loved that. Your enormous bangle displays miles of that work.

Anyone would envy you a bangle made with diamonds (and I do), but I may envy you more for that fabulously worked huge gold bangle! Thank you for sharing!

Deb/AGBF

Thank you so much! The tiny beads are actually polki diamonds I wish I had a better photo these really sparkle in the light - Polki are ‘uncut diamonds in their raw, pure form. Polki does not undergo chemical treatments, unlike other diamonds. It doesn't have a very clear colour giving it a very rustic look.’ A lot of Indian wedding jewelry is made of this.

the other bangle with all the little gold leaf type bits is an Arabic design and it jingles!

 

[AGBF]

AllAboardTheBlingTrail has posted about the different type of Indian bracelets in another Pricescope thread. I am hoping that she will join us here and tell us about them. I do not believe that anyone ever has. I know that I haunt South Asian (and Chinese) jewelry sites looking for high karat gold jewelry and I never know the difference by name.

Here is the thread to which I alluded:

Adjustable Gold Bangle Recommendations?

I'm looking for a bracelet like this but definitely higher quality and adult sized. I prefer solid gold but gold filled might work as well. Any suggestions? https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32969238438.html

www.pricescope.com

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

AllAboardTheBlingTrail has posted about the different type of Indian bracelets in another Pricescope thread. I am hoping that she will join us here and tell us about them. I do not believe that anyone ever has. I know that I haunt South Asian (and Chinese) jewelry sites looking for high karat gold jewelry and I never know the difference by name.

Here is the thread to which I alluded:

Adjustable Gold Bangle Recommendations?

I'm looking for a bracelet like this but definitely higher quality and adult sized. I prefer solid gold but gold filled might work as well. Any suggestions? https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32969238438.html

www.pricescope.com

Hi @AGBF and thanks for the shout out! I want to just clarify up front that I’m not really an expert haha but I am South Asian so this is just really from my own experiences growing up I’m going to use “indian” as a catch all term for South Asian in my post if that’s alright.

I think everyone knows that gold is synonymous with Indian culture pretty much, I think i heard somewhere that indian housewives hold something like 11% of the world’s gold! As a category they basically surpass several nations. The most ubiquitous accessory (aside from the mangalsutra of course, mangalsutra being the necklace that is a symbol of a married woman) is probably the bangle. Traditionally Indian women wore a lot of bangles, of glass and of gold. Nowadays I would say they are less ubiquitous at least in my generation and big city upbringing, but people still do wear them with traditional outfits. I think, but I’m not sure, that they are also a more popular accessory in the south than in the north, also because in the south people tend to wear a lot more solid gold than in the north (or at least the plains, where jewelry is usually studded with stones. I don’t think my mom owns a single plain gold churi for example. She has a couple plain gold (filigree) kadas in the South Indian temple jewelry style though).

So the way I always think of bangles is the slip on variety, these are round bangles. I would say these are usually solid gold (22kt is the most common I would say), can be studded with gemstones or pearls too. Of course you can get gold filled or gold plated ones as well. Solid gold Bangles in general are usually bought by gold weight as labour is cheap and a small fraction of the price. If they’re solid gold you can basically sell them at any jeweler for spot price as well. The word that I would use for this style would be “churi” - that is a Hindi word (plural churiyan or churi’s if you want to anglicise it as Indians frequently do). The punjabi word is chooda and another word I can offhand think that would describe this style is kangan. These are all words just for “bangle” not gold bangle specifically btw you can and do use these also for glass. There’s no hard and fast rule btw but this is what I would think of it. Traditionally Indian women would wear matching pairs on each wrist and several of them (so one of a pair on each wrist). In my experience the stone studded variety are more popular in the north and filigree in the south, plain is popular everywhere. Glass bangles are still very common and worn traditionally as well. Brides usually wear glass bangles on their wedding day interspersed with gold bangles (thin or thick) and several inches of your arm can get covered by these bangles.

Kada is a thicker bangle, usually round but it can be a stiff oval shape and with a closure (often a screw closure) and hinge. These are rarely just plain solid gold I think. I mean they’re also full gold, also commonly 22kt, but I usually see them with filigree or stones (eg polki or other gemstones). I would normally see someone wear a single kada or a pair (one each wrist or two on one wrist) but not like a stack of kadas (not that you can’t). You can wear a bunch of churis and then a single kada though, that works. Again a popular bridal look. Again you can buy these at any indian jeweler and there’s a ton of designs. You can get these gold filled and plated too ofc but I usually see them solid.

Disclaimer: this is just my experience, and given the vastness of the subcontinent I think others can have extremely different experiences! So not trying to speak for other Desi’s cultural experiences

 

[AGBF]

Hi @AGBF and thanks for the shout out! I want to just clarify up front that I’m not really an expert haha but I am South Asian so this is just really from my own experiences growing up I’m going to use “indian” as a catch all term for South Asian in my post if that’s alright.

I think everyone knows that gold is synonymous with Indian culture pretty much, I think i heard somewhere that indian housewives hold something like 11% of the world’s gold! As a category they basically surpass several nations. The most ubiquitous accessory (aside from the mangalsutra of course, mangalsutra being the necklace that is a symbol of a married woman) is probably the bangle. Traditionally Indian women wore a lot of bangles, of glass and of gold. Nowadays I would say they are less ubiquitous at least in my generation and big city upbringing, but people still do wear them with traditional outfits. I think, but I’m not sure, that they are also a more popular accessory in the south than in the north, also because in the south people tend to wear a lot more solid gold than in the north (or at least the plains, where jewelry is usually studded with stones. I don’t think my mom owns a single plain gold churi for example. She has a couple plain gold (filigree) kadas in the South Indian temple jewelry style though).

So the way I always think of bangles is the slip on variety, these are round bangles. I would say these are usually solid gold (22kt is the most common I would say), can be studded with gemstones or pearls too. Of course you can get gold filled or gold plated ones as well. Solid gold Bangles in general are usually bought by gold weight as labour is cheap and a small fraction of the price. If they’re solid gold you can basically sell them at any jeweler for spot price as well. The word that I would use for this style would be “churi” - that is a Hindi word (plural churiyan or churi’s if you want to anglicise it as Indians frequently do). The punjabi word is chooda and another word I can offhand think that would describe this style is kangan. These are all words just for “bangle” not gold bangle specifically btw you can and do use these also for glass. There’s no hard and fast rule btw but this is what I would think of it. Traditionally Indian women would wear matching pairs on each wrist and several of them (so one of a pair on each wrist). In my experience the stone studded variety are more popular in the north and filigree in the south, plain is popular everywhere. Glass bangles are still very common and worn traditionally as well. Brides usually wear glass bangles on their wedding day interspersed with gold bangles (thin or thick) and several inches of your arm can get covered by these bangles.

Kada is a thicker bangle, usually round but it can be a stiff oval shape and with a closure (often a screw closure) and hinge. These are rarely just plain solid gold I think. I mean they’re also full gold, also commonly 22kt, but I usually see them with filigree or stones (eg polki or other gemstones). I would normally see someone wear a single kada or a pair (one each wrist or two on one wrist) but not like a stack of kadas (not that you can’t). You can wear a bunch of churis and then a single kada though, that works. Again a popular bridal look. Again you can buy these at any indian jeweler and there’s a ton of designs. You can get these gold filled and plated too ofc but I usually see them solid.

Disclaimer: this is just my experience, and given the vastness of the subcontinent I think others can have extremely different experiences! So not trying to speak for other Desi’s cultural experiences

Wow! There is so much to take in within your posting, @AllAboardTheBlingTrain! I do not believe I even heard the word "mangalsutra" before, let alone know that it was the symbol of the married woman! (Is it a specific kind of necklace or do women in Indian culture only wear necklaces after marriage?) I cannot believe I have loved this jewelry for so many years, yet known so little about it.

And you are also mentioning "polki" which I just learned about from EllenS1 a few days ago. I wish someone had given me some Indian wedding jewelry! (I have a Pakistani friend whom I met years ago when our daughters were in pre-school together. I saw her wedding album and her gold wedding jewelry and delicate henna painting were out of this world, too.)

Please keep the postings coming!

Deb

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Wow! There is so much to take in within your posting, @AllAboardTheBlingTrain! I do not believe I even heard the word "mangalsutra" before, let alone know that it was the symbol of the married woman! (Is it a specific kind of necklace or do women in Indian culture only wear necklaces after marriage?) I cannot believe I have loved this jewelry for so many years, yet known so little about it.

And you are also mentioning "polki" which I just learned about from EllenS1 a few days ago. I wish someone had given me some Indian wedding jewelry! (I have a Pakistani friend whom I met years ago when our daughters were in pre-school together. I saw her wedding album and her gold wedding jewelry and delicate henna painting were out of this world, too.)

Please keep the postings coming!

Deb

A mangalsutra is a specific necklace that is worn after a woman is married, kind of like how people wear wedding rings in the West I suppose. I mean Indians do rings now too but that’s more of a cultural/social thing than a traditional thing like the mangalsutra It’s basically a necklace of black beads and can (usually does I think) have some sort of pendant with gold or diamond or polki or gemstones. You're supposed to wear it every single day, but a lot of women nowadays don’t (ofc a lot do!)

There’s a looooot to learn about indian jewelry since it’s so varied also depending on what part of the subcontinent you’re from! And I’m not an expert either, just an enthusiast haha.

You know if you’re interested these indian wedding blogs (Wedmegood is probably the most famous one, or maybe Shaadi Saga) have tons and tons of articles and pictures which will maybe give you more of an idea of what kind of stuff is actually worn in India, they have some explanatory stuff and some inspiration stuff. They also have articles of where you can buy gold plated or costume versions of the very traditional stuff if you just want to indulge for fun

 

[oobiecoo]

Future MIL just bought my customary gold bridal jewellery (Si Dian Jin). The 22k gold pieces surprisingly matched my fair skin more than I thought it would. So in love with the ring and the set!

Beautiful! I am looking for a similar bracelet! Does this jeweler happen to have a website?

 

[higanbanya]

Beautiful! I am looking for a similar bracelet! Does this jeweler happen to have a website?

Thank you! We bought it from a local boutique called Goldheart in Singapore, but on the website they don't have the same model as the one we got, the closest sold on the website is this one https://shop.goldheart.com/fine-jewellery/bangles/bold-bangle-1.html

All the best for your search!