Since the dawn of man, gold has been a very important commodity in financial, spiritual and cultural transactions. Gold, however, is difficult to extract from the earth, and modern mining techniques use deadly toxins like mercury, arsenic and cyanide to separate the gold from the surrounding rock. The amazing part? Gold mining is completely unnecessary, especially for jewelry.
(Platinum and diamond ring from BrilliantEarth.com; BrilliantEarth.com’s renewed gold statement)
2000 tonnes of gold mined annually goes into jewelery, according to greenKarat.com. Yet there is enough gold that’s already been mined to serve the jewelry industry for the next 50 years, much of that gold is unused jewelry sitting in bank vaults.
Buying old gold and repurposing it is a very responsible move. Jewelers can melt down the gold and craft it into a unique custom designs, often for less than store-bought mass produced pieces.
Check out estate auctions, eBay and even pawn shops and the family collection for unused pieces of jewelry that can be reused. It reduces our reliance on slave labor, environmental toxins and strip mining.
April 26th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Have you heard of Todd Reed? He uses Recycled gold and raw diamonds..and his pieces are beautiful! He has a rose cut series with recycled rose cut diamonds..and those have got to be the most beautiful rings I have ever seen. They are different but elegant and they have so much personality. If you’re into the green-thing, check him out. alteredspacegallery.com
April 26th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
@Leila - Wow, I just checked out the site, and Todd’s stuff is great! The raw diamonds add a really neat touch. Everyone, check it out: http://alteredspacegallery.com/toddreed
April 30th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
i knew you’d like it!!
May 7th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Thanks for the tip. I am in Los Angeles so I went to Altered Space Gallery in Venice and saw those Todd Reed rings inperson. Amazing, so different and so beautiful! We ordered my engagement ring and our wedding rings to match. kool staff there. We are getting married on Martha’s vineyard so they are shipping the wedding rings there. They said they ship all over. Thanks again for the tip. Oh Altered Space Gallery’s website is http://www.AlteredSpaceGallery.com. Then go to the Todd Reed page.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:41 am
hmmm, I left the website but it does not seem to be working. Try again: http://alteredspacegallery.com.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:25 am
i wanted to give the people at altered space credit but my link isn’t working. sorry.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
@shoshanna - here’s the link: http://alteredspacegallery.com/toddreed
I’m glad you got the rings - they sound great!
July 13th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
We ordered our rings from Altered Space (They are in Venice, CA and we are in NYC) and it worked out great. My wife’s (still feels wierd saying “wife”) rings stop people in their tracks. These were the first rings we both agreed on. and the people at Altered Space were great. Here’s their website and Todd Reed - http://www.alteredspacegallery.com/toddreed. Nice experience. Thanks, Joe C. New york
July 17th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Hi all - I finally have the Todd Reed posting up. Check it out here: http://www.blueplanetwedding.com/blog/2008/07/14/amazing-wedding-rings-using-raw-diamonds/
Thanks for the heads-up!