It replaces the much more expensive flex shaft tool seen as standard equipment at most jeweler’s benches. It’s range of speeds from 5,000 to 35,000 RPM’s is more than adequite to get the job done right. The Dremel 400 Series comes with the flexable shaft attachment, circle cutter/strait line guide, garden tool sharpener attachment, 51 accessories (tips, wheels, cutters, sanders, etc), and the Dremel 400 Series XPR Storage Case which will hold every one of the Exclusive XPR system attachments. Add the foot pedal speed controler, available through Dremel’s website, and the 400 Series is as versitile as and of the expensive flexshaft machines. I got mine for Christmas and have not been able to put it down for more than 5 minutes. With all the accessories available this tool replaces a whole shop full of power tools. And ofcourse it also comes with Dremel’s 5 YEAR limited warranty. That’s quality and a great value. Look for them to start showing up on your jeweler’s bench soon.

Tags: Series XPR

Vermeil is an affordable substitute for gold! Vermeil is sterling silver electroplated with 22kt gold plating. Electroplating coats the sterling with a thin layer of gold. Vermeil items have the yellow brilliance of high karat gold at a fraction of the cost; yet, the product is of much higher quality than plated base metals since the Vermeil base is Sterling Silver.

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Polished Pewter

Polished Pewter is very shiny and smooth. It needs to be cleaned a couple of times a year.

TO CLEAN
Make paste with 1 tsp salt, 1 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup flour.
Apply to pewter
Let sit for 15 minutes to 1 hour
Then rinse and dry with soft cloth.

To take out fine scratches you can use a polish called “Mothers” that can be found at the hardware store. Apply a small amount and rub in a circular motion with a soft cloth. You must be careful as you rub it wil remove a fine layer of pewter.

Satin Pewter

Satin Pewter has a bit rougher appearance. It is not shiny and has a grain type finish.

TO CLEAN
Wash in warm water with mild detergent.
Dry thoroughly with soft cloth.

Every few years you may want to buff out or brush this kind of pewter. Use very fine steel wool that can be found at the hardware store. Rub in the direction of the grain and do not press hard.

Polish

Polish pewter with a paste made of rottenstone (decomposed limestone available at hardware stores) and boiled linseed oil. Rub in one direction. Then wash pewter in warm soapy water.  Do not use silver or brass polish. Rinse. Dry and then buff.  For a lustrous satin finish, rub in one direction with a paste of whiting and denatured alcohol. Then wash, rinse,dry and buff.  Use a commercial pewter cleaning product if desired. 

A Few Last Things
Never wash pewter in the diswasher
Pewter can be stained or corroded by acidic foods such as citrus juices.
Do not use an abrasive cleaner.
Some people use cabbage leaves to polish their pewter. Simply peel them off and use as scrubbers.

Brilliance describes how well a diamond reflects white light.

Carat is a unit of weight measurement used for weighing diamonds. One carat equals 0.2 grams or 200 milligrams. 142 carats equals one 1 avoirdupois ounce.

Clarity measures the degree of visibility of surface blemishes or internal inclusions of a diamond.

Cloud Minor inclusion appearing milky rather than dark or ash like, only minimally detracting from the stone’s appearance.

Color measures the tint or internal color of a diamond, ranging from colorless to light brown or yellow.

Crown refers to the upper domed surface above the girdle of a cut diamond. The angle of the crown between the girdle and the table is considered acceptable at between 30.0-37.0 degrees. Crown height is considered acceptable when between 11.0-16.2% of the girdle’s diameter.

CT or CTS Stands for total carat weight of singular stone.

CTW Indicates the total diamond carat weight of the jewelry item.

Culet is the end point of the pavilion, finer being considered better, however a sharp point is susceptible to chipping.
Cut refers the shape round, square, emerald, pear, oval, marquis, etc. and proportions of a cut diamond.

Depth is the vertical height of the diamond from the table to the cutlet. Considered acceptable when between 57.0 to 65.0% of the girdle’s diameter.

Eye Clean Diamond appears to be free of surface blemishes and inclusions to the naked eye. Diamonds graded SI-2 or better will appear to be eye clean.

Facets are the small polished plane surfaces of a cut gem stone. A brilliant round, full-cut diamond has 56 facets, while stones under 3 points can have as few as 16 single cut.

Finish Refers to the quality of the diamond’s polish and symmetry.

Fire Describes the intensity and diversity of the light spectrum rainbow colors emanating from a diamond.

Fluorescence Refers to the emission of photoluminescence by a diamond detectable under a black light. Blue fluorescence can enhance a diamonds color, but other colors are considered less desirable.

Girdle refers to the edge where the crown and pavilion of a cut diamond meet, marking the maximum diameter or width of the diamond. A girdle width of between 2.0-4.0% of the girdle’s diameter is considered acceptable. Too sharp or thin a girdle increases the likelihood of chipping.

Girdle Diameter is the diameter of the diamond at the point where the crown and pavilion meet. Other dimension characteristics of a cut diamond are expressed as a percentage of the girdle diameter.

Included refers to the internal defects of a diamond, appearing as ash like flakes, cracks, clouds, or other imperfections.

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Buffing Bobs AKA Felt Tips come with 1/8″ and 1/4″ shanks in various shapes like Cylinder, Cone, Bullet, Flat Top Cone AKA Christmas Tree, Pear, Mushroom and Ball.  Difference between Cone and Bullet is minor: Cone has rounded tip like the orange cones used by highway departments and Bullet has pointed tip like the bullet used in firearms.  Shanks are attached to Buffing Bobs during production and are very secure.  If the shank on a Buffing Bob is loose, do not use that Buffing Bob as it can separate from the felt during use and cause severe injuries.

Felt Tubes are seamless and made by hand which is a labor intensive process.  That is why they are expensive but last for a long time.  Felt Tubes look just like a pvc pipe and are able to polish large surface areas.

Felt Belts look like a rubber band and slip on a belt sander to polish large surface areas.  The edges are glued and then machine sewn for a secure fit.  Felt Belts come in 0.44 gm/c3 density.

Knife Edge Wheels look like flying saucers because they are thick in the middle with tapered edges making it easy to slip in grooves and crevices.

Felt Wheels are extensively used for knife sharpening whether they are kitchen knives, butcher knives, hunting knives, carving knives, etc.

Felt Rings are normally used on Glass Polishing/Beveling Machines where water based slurry (cerium oxide) is used.  Felt Rings WILL SWELL in water based solutions.  This is inherent characteristics of wool which cannot be avoided.

Felt Wheels, Felt Tubes, Knife Edge Wheels, Buffing Bobs are available in 5 densities: Extra Soft (0.40 gm/c3), Soft (0.50 gm/c3), Medium (0.60 gm/c3), Hard (0.70 g/c3) and Rock Hard (0.80 gm/c3).  Density is calculated as grams per sq. cm.

Extra Soft (0.40 gm/c3), Soft (0.50 gm/c3) and Medium (0.60 gm/c3) density Felt Wheels are used to apply polishing compound to polish and buff.  Hard (0.70 gm/c3) and Rock Hard (0.80 gm/c3) density Felt Wheels are used to remove scratches and deep gouges.

Facts about Felt: Felt cannot polish itself but is an efficient carrier of abrasive particles.  Felt Wheels have a reputation for out performing other polishing materials because they have the ability to accept all types of polishing compounds and slurries.  This in turn makes them an ideal friend of polishing materials.  Abrasive particles evenly get distributed in the capillaries of felt, thereby evenly polishing the required surface.  Sheep wool is considered to be one of the best resilient materials among natural fibers as it has the ability to hold desired edges and shape throughout the life of the wheel.  As felt wears, new surface has identical medium of polishing compound because felt surface does not get glazed.

Carbon felt is the highest grade 100% wool felt.  Carbon felt wheels and other products are used for precision polishing where even a minute scratch can make a difference.  That is the main reason Carbon felt items are more expensive.

Felt Wheels and Felt Rings are “trued” at the factory so your buffing and polishing will be even on any surface.  This process is similar to how tires are balanced before installation on vehicles.

With a little care, your Felt Wheels, Felt Tubes, Knife Edge Wheels and Buffing Bobs can last a long time.  At the end of your buffing and polishing, allow the felt wheel to continue to spin thru for several minutes so any remaining polishing compound residue can spit out.  Then let the felt wheel air dry before storing it to prevent molds.
Felt Wheels, Knife Edge Wheels, Buffing Bobs can be attached to name brand power tools like Black and Decker, Dremel, DeWalt, Makita and Ryobi.  Large Felt Wheels and Felt Tubes can be attached to any bench grinder.

Always practice safety when using power tools.  Wear eye protection, masks and gloves.  Keep children away from power tools.

I have not really been in eBay for a long time yet, just a little over a year. But I am pretty familiar with packing items because I am usually selling rather than buying.

I can only count a couple seller that I dealt with that packed their item very nicely, professionally and neatly. And most of them are the sellers that I have talked to usually in the eBay Blogs.

Anyway, sellers, when we will pack our items, no matter how small or big it is, let’s put it in our mind ALL the time that we are supposed to be a huge marketplace competing the big sellers online that has big names already. So, in respect to that, if we want the buyers to buy again from us, put in mind the way you’ll pack your items.

Here is my experience in receiving items when I did decided to buy something.

I had bought a pair of shoes and I really like the shoes in fairness to the seller. It was what had been described but the packaging! Ouch! VERY, VERY POOR! It’s worse than the picture above. It seems like they can’t find a good looking box that at least you know will protect your item. I don’t care if it’s not new, as long as it serve it’s purpose: “to protect the merchandise”.

Good thing the shoes were still intact the day it arrived in my doorstep. You should see how it looked like. But since that’s over, I can’t go back anymore. I still left a positive feedback since the item was in superb condition, only the packaging was not acceptable.

For sellers, here’s some tips.
If you have items like jewelries, always protect them with at least a simple case. If it does not come with a case, then bought a bunch of small ziplock sizes 4″x3″. It will help protect the item (prevent scratches whatsoever). Then put it in a bubble mailer.
One good tip: You might want to add business cards and/or personal thank you notes, aside from your packing list. Buyers usually appreciate the gesture and would likely think of coming back to your store or remember you in the future if you don’t have a store.
If you have a larger item than the jewelries, if you don’t want to get a FREE priority mail boxes in the Post Office or in eBay, save some of your own boxes that still looks good, not shabby looking.
If the item is not so big and there are a lot of space in the box, don’t leave it like that. Provide a cushion for your item(s). Put your item in the middle and if you don’t have some peanuts, shred some newspaper  or just have a crumpled manila paper around the item to protect it.
Now, in the exterior part, don’t just tape it lightly. Please be generous of any packaging tape. It is better safe than sorry.
If you have an old but very secure looking box with lots of writings, you can get a manila paper to cover it to look more neat and presentable.

Well, I hope this guide helps sellers as well as buyers. But sellers more preferably because I am one of them. And I know I always felt good everytime a buyer comments on how I packed my items. I hope all sellers will have their buyers’ satisfaction at all times in mind when packing merchandise.

If you think this guide is helpful enough, please press “YES”. It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

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and shudder when I see sellers’ descriptions for scrap gold - especially scrap dental gold. I consistently see nickle-chromium items being sold as “18K to 24K gold”, as well as other types of low-precious or semi-precious dental alloys, based upon acid testing results and/or “electronic gold tester” results.

Let me tell you the problem (Note: I am NOT accusing sellers of acting fraudulently when listing items, although that MAY occur. Not one in a hundred people dealing in precious metal scrap - even dental technicians - know these realities of dental gold testing!)  with these claims:

Determining actual gold content of any dental scrap is a very tricky process. This is due the the fact that these are usually very complex alloys, and frequently have small portions of platinum-group metals which render tesing acids and electronic testers invalid. As a matter of fact, even some of the nickle-chrome pieces will not react at all to testing acids or solutions utilized in gold analyses. I don’t doubt that someone has taken a piece of metal to a jeweler or scrap yard and been told that it is high-karat gold because they got no reaction when the acid touched the metal.

What you must realize is that electronic testing devices, touchstone and needles, and acids are meant for standardized karat gold jewelry, which has no platinum group constituents. Even a very small percentage of PGM (whether platinum, palladium, or rhodium) will give false results when using these methods to do a quantitative analysis on an unknown piece of metal. Also, many other completely non-precious metals will not present accurate results when tested this way. Yes, the alloy MIGHT be 16 to 18K, but there’s no way you can tell by looking at a picture online, or the results of a naive tester - even if they are a so-called professional.

Holding a piece in your hand, feeling its heft and weight, and being able to hit with a high-temperature torch, and seeing how it reacts to heat, are better indicators of its potential value. Combine this with the fact that gold items are extremely difficult to photograph accurately (due to their high reflectivity) for online presentation, and you have a market ripe for high-risk purchasing.

Bottom line: if you’re going to buy scrap dental gold online, you’d best know your business very, very well. If a seller is representing an item as high-karat, make sure they are offering a guarantee. If you see “all sales are final” in the listing, I’d think twice about bidding.

La Tausca Pearls

La Tausca Pearls was a trade name for high quality faux pearls used by three different companies: Maurice J. Karpeles, L. Heller & Son Inc and Martin Low & Taussig, Providence RI. This trade name was in use from around 1915 as it was first seen in a Albert Walker jewelry catalog. Then in 1956 it merged with Deltah Pearls and became Heller-Deltah. The La Tausca division was later bought by Arlan Jewelry Co.The main La Tausca store dealt in fine jewelry and was located on Fifth Avenue, New York City.

      La Tausca Pearls presentation box with green jewels, photo courtesy of tombraiderplayer.

These faux pearls were advertised as indestructible and often had 14kt gold filigree clasps that were marked La Tausca. In many instances these clasps also had a little genuine diamond chip. A gilt metal medallion was attached to all of the jewelry and can sometimes be found intact.

La Tausca Presentation box with amethyst jewels.

The high quality faux pearls were sold in filigree & jeweled gilt bronze or copper  finished brass presentation boxes (jewel caskets) in the 1915-1930s. I have also had the rare opportunity to see a few boxes with both a shell cameo and jewels on the lids. These boxes were lined in ivory colored silk and had La Tausca Pearls printed in gold lettering on the inside of the lid. This is usually worn away. I have seen various different shapes of these boxes from a square shape to a longer rectangular shape, also in an octagonal shape too. The colors of the jewels are emerald green, sapphire blue, garnet red, amber and/or amethyst purple glass jewels.
Presentation box with amber jewels for La Tausca Pearls,photo courtesy of daintydanas

Presentation box with sapphire blue jewels,photo courtesy of mummers_dance.

The pearls were generally given as presents to a bride to be to wear on her wedding day. I have seen several advertisements for the pearls showing brides wearing them with all of their wedding finery. The pearls were also advertised as a wonderful and unusual gifts for 30th wedding anniversaries.

Everyone loves the Gold & Silver Safekeeper Mirrored Jewelry Cabinet by Lori Greiner — it’s an ingenious space-saving marriage between a dressing mirror and a jewelry armoire, which is something most of us can use.  These are popular items on the #1 Home Shopping Channel & here on eBay.  But when you’re surfing through the listings for these you’ll notice that a lot of them have broken or cracked mirrors.  We get lots of questions from potential bidders on this subject, and usually the same two over and over:

So why all the broken mirrors?   And if I purchase one with a broken mirror, what - if anything - can I do to fix it? 

From our experience with these items, it’s pretty difficult - for both the shopping channel AND eBay sellers - to get this from Point A to Point B without the mirror breaking.  Whether this is due to rough handling by the shipping carriers or less-than-adequate packaging from the manufacturer (or both!), the mirrors can - and do - seem to get damaged easily.  (We normally add extra layers of packaging when we ship these, but we’ve still had 2 or 3 arrive damaged when we felt certain there was NO WAY it could happen!
So what can you do if your safekeeper has a broken mirror and you’d like to replace it?

We have plenty of conflicting stories from our customers on this issue.  Several have had them replaced for only $20 or $30 at their local glass shops with no problem.  Others have told us they couldn’t find anyone to do the job because they were afraid of damaging the wood and/or could not get the glue off the back of the mirror without a struggle.  A few were quoted ridiculous amounts to replace the mirror - more than it would cost to replace the entire piece!  And then we had one lady who replaced it herself and said it was a piece of cake…..

So our advice is this:   Since the “ease and expense” of repairing this item seems to be a highly subjective thing, you may want to call around and/or take a photo of the cabinet into your local glass shop(s) and get their opinion before you bid on a safekeeper with a broken mirror.  Having a ballpark figure for the repair in advance will be tremendously helpful in determining how much to bid.

Another possibility that would work well if you don’t necessarily need the mirror - or you’re planning to use it in a less formal environment - is to get rid of the mirror altogether and replace it with wallpaper, tiles, a collage of family photos, etc.  Several of our bidders have indicated they planned to do this and it sounds like a great idea!

We hope you’ll find this guide helpful if you’re considering purchasing a mirrored safekeeper with a broken mirror.   It may not answer all of your questions, but hopefully it’s a start!

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I have compiled a short list of terms used in gold descriptions.  The good news is that buying gold is much less complicated than you may think.  Unlike diamonds and gemstones, gold is very straightforward, as long as you familarize yourself with karatage.

Filigree: Thin gold wire strands interlaced into a pattern.
Gilt: Gold plating.
Gold Plated: A thin layer of gold applied to a base metal.
Gold Vermiel: Sterling Silver with a layer of gold fused to it.
Solid: Per US Stands, an item with atleast 10K gold content, which is 41.7 percent gold. Gold is often combined with other metals to strengthen it for daily wear.
Karatage: Karat refers to gold purity or the parts of gold used in a piece out of 24 parts. In Canada and Mexico, the minimum legal standard for gold is 9K and 8K
Rhodium: A metal in the platinum family. Many white gold pieces are often rhodium plated because it makes those items appear shinier and whiter.