Mary M Designs at Curtis Miller Inc.

These are some of the unique designs by Mary M designs. Most of her pieces are done on commission, and she is available to work with you by appointment. Mary also specalizes in working with customers own stones, to give them a one of a kind new life.

Curtis Miller Has been in the jewelry business in the World Trade Center in Dallas for 30 years. Let’s put that into perspective.

These are just some of the events that happened in the last 30 years:

The MAC computer

The fall of the Berlin Wall

Windows 3.0

The Internet

USSR is disolved

Starbucks

Ebay

The Euro

Facebook

The IPod and IPhone

YouTube

Thirty Years is a long time to be in business, especially when you think of how the world has changed.  It is nice to know that there is someone that will be there for all of your fine jewelry needs.

As all of you know by seeing Mary Margaret’s designs on our web-site, she specializes in using a variety of colored stones to make spectacular jewelry. I recommended that she write today’s blog and tell you her philosophy in designing a piece of jewelry for “MMM Designs“.

She writes:

I’m continuously awed by the width and breath and range of what nature has created in the world of colored stones.  From the most humble of stones to the most rare, I find them all fascinating.

For jewelry purposes, I look at a stone and evaluate it based on the 4 C’s, just like diamonds. Color, clarity, carat, and cut.  The first three are all acts of nature.  Cut, though, is controlled by man. It is what can elevate a stone from ordinary to extraordinary. It can turn plain quartz into a marvel.

Because of escalating prices on fine gem stones like emeralds, sapphire, ruby and diamond, fine Jewelry designers have embraced the enduring and intrinsic beauty of natures many varied colored stones.

I prefer to work in color. Fine color lends itself to multitudes of application to add interest and allure to  jewelry. My favorite pieces to create are rings because the viewer and the wearer get to enjoy the results equally. I like to work with larger stones that really make a statement.

My inspiration for a piece usually comes from the main stone.  When I’m doing a commissioned piece the client tells me what their “vision” is and what they would be comfortable wearing. Factors to be considered are size, color and type of metal and what other colors and shapes of stones to compliment the main stone that will be used. Then the creative process begins.

I begin drawing the primary stone I am working with and then draw the details of the ring around the stone. Top view, side view, shape of shank are all taken into consideration. I will designate color stones and diamonds for accents that compliment the primary stone and show where I want the placement to be. I choose either yellow gold, white gold, or platinum depending on the center stone color and the preference of the client. I like to make my designs pleasing to the observer as well as the wearer.  If you notice, my rings have interest from the top as well as well as all around.

After I diagram how I want the ring to look and what materials I want to use, I take all the details to my jewelry artisan. The two of us will discuss all aspects of the piece. His questions will further define how the piece is going to look. I communicate what I want and he tells me what is possible. Many of my designs push the limits of what he considers possible. I always have faith in his capabilities, and sometimes actually end up expanding his limits as to what is possible. What is produced in the end is a beautiful and spectacular piece of wearable art.  

                   Here is the design for this ring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again I would like to address “value” verses “price” when purchasing a diamond. From reading our web site, all of you are aware that Curtis Miller Inc. is one of 20 dealers in the world that carry Infinity Diamonds. He is the only dealer in North Texas. Here are the “value added” items that you get when you purchase an Infinity Diamond from Curtis Miller Inc.

• Free insurance for a year on the diamond and on the mounting that it is in.  This could save you as much as $500 depending on the cost of the diamond and of the jewelry.
• American Gemological Society certification. The AGS laboratory is the most stringent of laboratories regarding Cut standards. Infinity Diamonds are uniformly given the “000″ grade on cut from AGS, the highest possible grade. They are amongst the finest Precision Cut Diamonds in the world.
• Every Infinity Diamond is laser inscribed with the certification number and Infinity logo. The inscription is invisible to the naked eye and even hard to find with a 10X loop. It is there though and if your diamond is lost or stolen, the inscription serves as definitive identification of your stone.
• Once a year Curtis Miller Inc. has a party where you, as a buyer of an Infinity Diamond, are invited to meet the cutter of your stone. Seriously, how many people do you know who have met the person who cut their diamond?
• This is the best part. If ever you want to trade up your diamond to one that is better in quality or in size, Curtis Miller Inc. and Infinity Diamonds will apply the purchase price of your diamond to a larger more valuable stone. Regardless of whether the price of diamonds has fallen, he will still honor the upgrade for you. That is money in the bank.

So, now you are saying to yourself, “gee, if there are that many “value added” items to buying an Infinity Diamond, they must be more expensive than a diamond that is not an Infinity. Not at all. The very first reason is that Curtis Miller Inc.  deals directly with the cutter of the diamond. There are no middle men. The stones go directly from the rough, to the cutter, to Curtis Miller, Inc. They do not pass through the system where one or more extra dealers are all making their income off the same diamond. The second reason is, because of the remarkable cut of an Infinity Diamond a stone that is slightly down in color or clarity will look as just good, and even larger, than a stone that is graded higher.

We invite you to come see for yourself. At Curtis Miller Inc. we have a very good selection of Infinity Diamonds, and can draw upon the entire worldwide inventory of Infinity Diamonds at no expense to you. Call us for an appointment so we can be sure that we have the size, quality and price that you are looking for at 214-741-3333.

Lately I have had conversations with people about where the find “good deals” on jewelry. One person found a “good deal” at an antique show. Another was looking somewhere else. Ask yourself, what do you want when you are buying a fine piece of jewelry?  Certainly we all want to feel that we got a “good deal”.  In other words, a good value for our money.  But, what else are you buying when you purchase a fine piece of jewelry? Let me answer that for you.  You are buying confidence in your jeweler. You want to know that the person that you bought your valuable adornment from will be there to service you tomorrow and the next day. etc. You want to know that the piece you bought is exactly what he said it was. For instance, the diamond should have a certification from a reputable laboratory. You should know that if the dealer says that the stone, which might already be mounted, is a certain size and quality that it really is that size and quality. An extra value when purchasing a diamond is knowing that if, later on in life, you should want a larger size or better quality diamond that you can trade your diamond “up” to one that is bigger or better. Curtis Miller will give you full amount of what you paid for an “Infinity Diamond” that you purchase from him should you decide later on that you want to upgrade. Regardless of whether the market value of that diamond went down, he will still give you the price you paid for it to apply to another stone. You don’t get that at the antique show.

This year Curtis Miller celebrates his 30th year in the jewelry business in the World Trade Center in Dallas. Now tell me, who would you rather purchase your valuable piece of jewelry from? Would you rather put your faith in a dealer at an antique show that comes through town or a store that may not be around tomorrow? Wouldn’t you rather know that after your purchase you can rely on Curtis Miller to be there for you today, tomorrow and in the future for all your jewelry needs?

The intrinsic properties of a the crystalline structure of a diamond are such that when a diamond is cut properly it will emit the maximum light to the eye. The image to the left is the pattern of such a diamond as seen through a Hearts and Arrows viewer. The arrows are just one of two patterns that one looks for when searching for a precision cut diamond. Infinity Diamonds are the cream of the crop when referring to precision cut diamonds. Infinity is a boutique cutter in Antwerp, Belgium, cutting about 300 diamonds a year.  What makes them so special is that their diamonds are cut better than 99% of the diamonds in the world. Curtis Miller Inc. is one of only 20 dealers in the world that comprise the Infinity Diamonds family.