Monthly Archives: January 2015

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New Collection and a Question About Gold Mountings

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jade, jade jewelry, estate, vintage jade, vintage jewelry, alohamemorabilia.com, alohamemorabiliacompany, sandy watanabe, gold mounts, valueingold,

A question came up about figuring out the amount of gold  that a jewelry piece has in it’s mount.

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Gold Mount in Jade Pendant 3

While working on a collection, four pieces of jade pendants came into question.

We thought it best to post the information we uncovered,

since there seems to be a calculated error in figuring the percentage of gold per pendant.

Jade pendants and other type of jewelry pieces can be deceiving in gold weights only due to the

actual weights of the stone are much heavier than normal estimations in the jewelry piece.

Jade Pendant, Actual Weight gold, vintage jade, estate jade, alohamemorabilia.com, alohamemorabiliacompany, sandywatanabe,

Jade Pendant Actual Weight of Mount 4

The metal content is not the only thing that figures significantly in the value of the jewelry piece.

Rather its one of the key components that we use to figure on the valuation.

Other factors we consider are the stone, workmanship,  age and the condition of the jewelry piece.

Here are some examples of the actual gold mount weights and entire jewelry piece.

To arrive at the actual gold weights we asked our gemologist to remove the gold, weigh each mount,

then had the goldsmith reattach the gold mounts back onto the jade pieces.

Surprising information since we work with similar jewelry pieces on a regular basis.

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Gold Weight from Jade Pendant

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Jade Pendant Actual Weight of Mount 2

This is great information for our clients who are planning to sell their pieces only for the gold value.

It’s also a reminder that there are also other things to consider in the valuation of a vintage piece.

The Rule of Thumb Here: The gold value isn’t the only component for valuation.

 

Happy Treasure Hunting!

Sandy and Craig Watanabe

Aloha Memorabilia Company

alohamemorabilia.com

 

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Reuse Repurpose?

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Sometimes when an estate comes in for acquisition, we need to look at items that can be repurposed before declaring the item as unusable or unsaleable.

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Vintage Estate Carved Lavender Green Jadeite Bangle Bracelet

In this recent acquisition, there was a carved lavender jade bangle bracelet.

Wonderfully carved, with good translucency, the bracelet had met up with prior accident.

We can only speculate that the owner fell and fractured this wonderful bracelet.

The jade bracelet contains three fractures.

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Vintage Estate Carved Lavender Jadeite Bangle Bracelet

One Fracture went right through the jade bracelet, the other two seem to be partial fractures.

The bracelet in my opinion was a beautiful bracelet.

Too beautiful to just throw out.

The decision was to hinge the bracelet to stabilize the fracture.

Upon consultation with our gemologist the decision was made to possibly hinge

the jade piece.

In a couple of weeks we will find out if the bracelet would be fitted with a new hinge.

Is the bracelet worth saving?

Yes!

Happy Treasure Hunting!

(Please Don’t forget to Repurpose)

Sandy and Craig Watanabe

Aloha Memorabilia Company

Alohamemorabilia.com

 

 

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Estate Piece From Someone We All Knew

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Growing up,  we watched a ton of movies that had Asians roles portraited by many many actors througb the years.

We acquired these Menuki Cufflinks that were custom made for someone who was in the film acting industry.

The Menuki pieces were set on 14K Gold Cufflink Mounts.

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Menuki Cufflinks. Menuki Set on 14K Gold Mounting

 

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Menuki Cufflinks, Menuki,14K Gold Mounting

 

The Menuki pieces were finished with a gold overlay for visual appearances.

So what are Menuki?

The menuki are ornaments on the tsuka (generally under the tsuka-ito); to fit into the palm for grip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_sword_mountings

Menuki was wrapped in the sword hilt normally to cover the peg in the hilt and for grips.

These particular Cufflinks have the Immortals as the Design work.

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Menuki Cufflinks, Menuki,14K Gold Mounting ,

The Cufflinks are a special Asian set and gift made for that special someone.

Sandy and Craig Watanabe

Aloha Memorabilia Company

alohamemorabilia.com

 

 

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Ming’s of Honolulu Carved Jadeite Brooch

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We had the opportunity to purchase an unusual Ming’s of Honolulu Carved Jadeite Brooch.

The brooch is a beautiful carved piece and the owner felt that the brooch belonged in our collection.

We are glad the owner felt this way and we were able to acquire it.

The Jade Piece is significantly older than the actual brooch and not the “normal” jade that Ming’s typically used in their jewelry.

The Jade is carved with a (convex) curve upward the way  the jade piece is mounted.

Beautiful little flowers, leaves and vines embellish the jade piece.

The Signature Goldsmithing of Ming’s is evident in the brooch leaf work.

The Piece is also prominently marked with the impressed Ming’s mark.

From the conversation that we had with the owner several questions did come up,

Was that if this was a production piece that Ming’s sold in their retail stores?

Or

Was this a piece that was custom designed for a customer by Ming’s since they often did custom jewelry pieces?

More questions arise about Ming’s Jewelry and the pieces that Ming’s produced.

Many of the custom pieces contained no Ming’s mark.

Was Ming’s inconsistent with marking their pieces?

Or were custom pieces left unmarked to distinguish store inventory and custom designed pieces?

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Ming’s of Honolulu Carved Jadeite Brooch with Signature Gold Work

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Ming’s of Honolulu, Carved Jadeite Brooch, 

Ming’s also had a collection of older jade pieces, including their Nephrite jewelry pieces which makes this  jade piece a possible production piece.

The Owner mentioned that this may have been once owned by one of the family members of Mings.

More questions about the history of this brooch.

We love a good mystery story!

This makes our work even more interesting and fun!

 

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Ming’s of Honolulu Carved Jadeite Brooch with Signature Gold Work

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Ming’s of Honolulu, Carved Jadeite Brooch, 

Happy Treasure Hunting!

Sandy and Craig Watanabe

Aloha Memorabilia Company

alohamemorabilia.com

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New Collection Old Collection

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Estate Jade Jewelry , jade, jadeite, vintage jade, estate jade, alohamemorabilia.com, alohamemorabiliacompany, sandywatanabe, jade ring, jadebrooch, jadebracelet, jade pendant, water jade, oldjade, chinatowngoldsmiths,

As we start the New Year, we find that we are called by various estates for acquisition.

The last estate contained some interesting older jade jewelry pieces.

More later on other acquisitions.

Best to you!

Sandy and Craig Watanabe

Alohamemorabilia.com

Aloha Memorabilia Company