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Good day to you.
I do not know who will be reading my letter but allow me to
thank you beforehand for even opening it. Allow me to introduce
myself. My name is Michael Fagen and I am an amateur writer.
Now why does that bring me to you you may come to ask. Well,
the main character in one of my stories is a Jeweler. Now there
is that old saying write about what you know. I am doing that
insofar as the story begins in New York City. Now I chose a
jeweler as his trade because I want him to be comfortable in
life, somewhat refined in his tastes, etc. All that I see a
jeweler would be…maybe I am totally wrong there, but then
again maybe I am not. Now why I come to you is simple. I know
nothing about the jeweler’s associations or skills or any such
thing…and so I come to you, whose site makes me think I may
get some help here and I ask for help. Is there any information
you could give me or even some direction you could point me in
that would aid my research on jewelers, the skills they possess
and the industry in which they work? Someone once asked me what
kind of jeweler…all i know is I want him to be well renowned
and that he deals in custom jewelery, among other things.
Brightest Blessings.
Michael C. Fagen
Address: 800 Sixsmith Street
Millville New Jersey 08332 USA
Email: @Michael_Craig_Fagen
Tel: (856) 825-3343
Michael, I can’t imagine a better way to find out about what
jewelers care about and talk about than lurking on our wonderful
forum here at Orchid. If you want to speed up your research, you can
search our archives. However, if you are writing a mystery novel in
which the “jeweler did it”, then you have come to the wrong place.
This community is one of the most caring and generous groups I’ve
ever had the pleasure to be part of.
Good luck,
Beverly Jones
Ha…There’s a rat in every close quatered environment… There
are unscrupulous individuals in all walks of life… I have a story
that begins with being thrust into the world at 15 by my fathers
suicide. Then being rejected by my siblings because i am a free
thinker and a selfmade man! My stepmother always hated me cause I
knew what she was! I have never achived worldwide sucess and i am
far from being monitarily weatlhy. But I enjoy a unique position of
being a one of a kind, custom jeweler and have a tremendously good
reputation! After 30 years of doing this i would have a hard time
considering anything else, Here I am in the great pacific northwest
and how many others can claim they have gone all the way in jewelry?
I have dredged the gold, dug the stone, smelted,polished and turned
out a finished piece worthy of a prize.
I Don’t claim to be the best at anything, but I have let little
stand in my way and now I am beating cancer with the same
conviction! Herbal meds and Collidahl silver are the way…besides
of coarse positive thinking! To put it in a nutshell, my life has
been one filled with tragedy but built with positivity and dogged
determination. peace
God Bless..John
Well Michael;
Sounds like the way Dick Francis sets up his novels. If you ever
want to know about the “shadier” side of this trade, drop me a line.
I’ve worked the sweatshops with illegal immigrants, worked for store
owners with “sideline” businesses that I didn’t want to know the
details of, worked for madmen, gamblers, you name it. I’ve known
jewelers who were drunks, drug addicts, and other sorts of
miscreants. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not of the criminal element.
I was just a naive young man in search of meaninful work and I moved
around a lot. Also, I lived in Detroit, a city with plenty of
"character" and plenty of “characters”. I’ve got a lot of strange
stories, but I can’t vouch for the veracity of all of it. It’s a
creative field, you know. Check out a book called “Kitchen
Confidential”. It’s not about jewelers, it’s about chefs, and if
there ever was a parellel to the lifestyle of the retail jeweler, a
chef’s life is it. Best of luck.
David L. Huffman, jeweler and, on occaission, bearer of tall tales.
Gerald A. Browne has written novels about the jewelry/gem trade:
(1) 11 Harrowhouse (1974 movie with Charles Grodin and Candice Bergman)
(2) Stone 588
I think he also wrote a novel about the emerald trade which was made
into a movie with Omar Shariff.
Donna Shimazu
Dear Michael,
47th Street in New York City has a lot of stories to tell. It is
also extremely fast paced (like a speeding train is my best way to
describe that street). Have you considered interviewing jewelers
that are right on 47th Street?
Diane Sadel
www.sweetgemstones.com