Sphene is a rare and inspiring gemstone. It flashes green, red, orange, and white when it moves in the light. With every movement, colors dance tirelessly through the stone.

Sphene Stone

Sometimes called titanite because of its high titanium content, the sphene gemstone possesses a unique optical effect called trichroism. When viewed from different angles, the stone refracts light in multiple spectra, including colorless, green, yellow, or red. Sphene has incredibly high dispersion. When light strikes the stone, it separates into wavelengths. This creates a dazzling display of light and color in a well-cut stone. In the very best cut stones, the color bounces against the lower facets of the stone, creating a brilliant show for the viewer.

Sphene is mined all over the world in limited qualities. Because it is relatively soft, this stone is seldom made into jewelry and should never be worn in rings. Most fine sphene is kept in collections and out of public sight. However, we do not believe gemstones should be hidden away. Though sphene is generally collected and not worn, we believe these stones should be worn and loved. The Intrepid Wendell loves to share your joy – and the rare beauty of this uncommon gemstone.

Sphene Jewelry from The Intrepid Wendell

We currently have a small collection of museum-quality sphene and are preparing them for bespoke pendants. If you would like to view these unique stones, or possibly add one to your jewelry collection, come by our office and take a look at our show-stopping suite of stones.

We love to share our beautiful gems with you. And we love to share your joy.

The elegance and luster of pearl captivate the eye and the imagination.

It is said that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. But I believe that pearls are a woman’s — or a man’s — best treasure. Queen Elizabeth I of England loved pearls so much that she had them sewn into her sheets. Queen Elizabeth II was married in 1947 in a wedding dress decorated with 10,000 seed pearls. World War II had just ended, and the dress was paid for using ration coupons.

It isn’t just women who have fallen under the allure of the pearl. Mexican diver Kino, in John Steinbeck’s The Pearl, finds one so grand that he calls it “The Pearl of the World.” The Maharaja of India powerfully wore a series of pearl ropes from the Arabian Sea.

The lavish Edward IV of England possessed a toothpick made of gold, decorated with diamond, ruby, and pearl. King James I of England and VI of Scotland wore a hat pin called “The Mirror of Great Britain” to represent his hope for a United Kingdom, which included massive diamonds and two large pearls.

Pearls are entirely organic in nature and are made of aragonite and conchiolin. The luster that makes pearls beautiful is produced when light is reflected off aragonite and conchiolin. Aragonite and conchiolin are secreted by the animal to surround a foreign body that has entered the pearl. In natural pearls, usually they are secreted to wall off a parasite that has entered the animal through its shell. In the case of cultured pearl, the secreted wall surrounds a bead nucleus that is inserted by hand into the animal.

Many animals produce pearls. Even snails and periwinkles can produce pearls. The three most common saltwater pearls on the market today are “Akoya,” “Tahitian,” and “South Sea.” They come from three different varieties of oyster. Freshwater pearls are also very common and are cultured to grow inside farmed mussels.

Akoya pearls are typically about 7~ to 9~ mm in size and are white, cream, or pinkish in color. They grow inside the pinctata fucata oyster. The first successfully cultured oysters were the Akoya, and the vast majority of them are farmed in Japan, although Korea and Vietnam produce them as well.

Tahitian pearls are normally larger than Akoya pearls, measuring between 8~ and 11~ mm and grow in the pinctata margarifitera oyster. These pearls come in many different hues, from black and silver to blues and greens. Some Tahitian pearls, called “peacock” in the trade, have orient in multiple hues. Grown all across the Pacific Ocean, from Mexico to the Philippines, these pearls are often strung together in mixed colors strands.

The largest commonly worn pearl is the elegant South Sea pearl. Much larger than either the Akoya or the Tahitian pearl, the South Sea pearl comes from the pinctata maxima oyster, which is about the size of a dinner plate! Billowy and luxurious in white or gold, these pearls are the mark of sophistication.

The Intrepid Wendell is a merchant of fine pearls of all types. We would love to share our knowledge of this treasure with you.

“The Elliot Clef”

This year, I had the great joy of meeting and becoming friends with the conductor of the Longmont (Colorado) Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Elliot Moore.  I met Elliot with my parents over a memorable meal of Colorado buffalo and Italian wine.

I liked Elliot immediately.  His enthusiasm for music, his vision for music as service to the world, and his charm were impressive.  We sat together breaking bread and sharing joy for four hours.  I asked Elliot if I could make a piece of jewelry for him to wear as my personal salute to his artistic vision.

Inspiration for the piece wasn’t hard to come by: Elliot loves Bach and so do I.  Elliot sent me a handwritten note after our dinner.  His penmanship immediately reminded me of a special signature by our favorite musician.

Bach’s Signature

J.S. Bach was a profound musical geek who had a clever way of signing his name. Other musicians reading this can decode the image into a name by turning the picture ninety degrees at a time. As the staff ligature changes, the letter of the note on the clef changes from B to A to C and finally to H. Quite a signature.

Back at Wendell’s office, using the magic of technology and our idea of making a signature lapel pin, we took Elliot’s signature and placed it on a staff.  However, unlike Bach’s name, which revolved around the four existing clefs, we decided that Elliot’s name should become its own clef.  Completing the design is a breve on the staff after Elliot’s signature.  The breve is a marking for a double whole note, which is the longest duration of note for which there is a standard notation.  The piece is made in 18-karat cast white and yellow gold and attaches to a garment with two 14-karat gold straight pins.

Only Elliot can define how that note will sound on his own clef.  But it is my great hope that I will learn – over many years of growth and friendship together – how Elliot’s clef sounds.  And it is with great joy that we at The Intrepid Wendell can share our playful adaptation of Elliot’s signature with him.

We have had a wonderful and joyful year at The Intrepid Wendell and have made many new friends along the way.  We look forward to a prosperous and joyful 2019.

Jewelry has been around for a long time. Humans have been adorning themselves with gemstones throughout recorded history. Nowadays, stones are used to guide the airplanes we travel on, keep time, treat sickness, and do many other awe-inspiring things. I believe that almost all of them make things better and more beautiful.

Today, I had the profound joy of joining a group of friends, family, and parishioners to send Wagdi Hanna to the next stop in his celestial journey. The men and women of St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church in New Orleans prayed, chanted in English and Coptic, remembered, perfumed the air with incense, and wept. They shouted names and tasted the moment when this dearest man met death and began his next life.

The congregants at the funeral wore their finest gems and jewelry to say goodbye to Wagdi.  The jewels also remind us that we are still alive: that we are still here and our bodies are still beautiful, strong, vibrant, and asking for adornment.

Wagdi’s body lay in a coffin at the base of a golden and jeweled iconostasis. Pearls, the historic Egyptian symbol of accomplishment and power, hung around many necks. Even the priest mentioned his special white robe, which was fine and embroidered in gold and gemstones.

Many Americans think of a wedding ring as the quintessential piece of jewelry. However, doing so forgets all of the other gems and jewelry that are around us every day.

We need and use jewels for many reasons. Often, the gems speak for us when we don’t have words.

R.I.P. Wagdi.

Wendell is frequently on the road.

Last year, we counted hundreds of thousands of miles on jets, propellers, helicopters, floatplanes, trains, subways, busses, cars, vans, three-wheelers, and rickshaws.

We do this because the best things rarely come knocking on the door. We know that, in order to truly give our clients an experience that matches the joy they share, we have to go find the pulse of humanity for ourselves and bring it home.

This week, we found ourselves in frozen Tallinn, Estonia. Estonia is celebrating 100 years of independence but has been ruled by other sovereign crowns over much of the past 1000 years. Their own language of Estonian has been supplanted by Swedish, Russian, German, Finnish, and now English as the language of convenience. Today, the Estonian spirit is thriving and has found itself as a member of the European Union and NATO.

In the cold and dark of 60 degrees north latitude, we shared in a private and fearless jewelers’ scene. With the knowledge and information, we have gathered here, our own work can acknowledge the inspiration of the Estonians who were casting gold in the centuries before the Christian Era and the artists who work today.

In America, we have no formal royalty. Nevertheless, this post is about one young American princess. Her name is Clarissa Capuano.

Clarissa is a wonderful young lady who was born with a different array of chromosomes than most of us were. The medical community says she lives with Down Syndrome. Anyone who knows her personally knows that she lives with a special joy that she can’t help spreading to everyone she meets.

The Intrepid Wendell had its first chance to host Clarissa in its offices in the summer of 2017. On first sight, we knew we had a princess of the most special sort. The obvious outcome to any jewelry design for Clarissa was to build her a tiara.

This tiara, which we call Candyland, hit the runway with Clarissa at the 2017 Global Down Foundation’s Be Beautiful Be Yourself ball. The precious gems and metals were shaped to evoke thoughts of real lollipops and candies.

Yes, she is upstaging Joe Mangianello. And he clearly loves it.