In 1990 we developed a revolutionary design, The Lady Captain’s ring. It has Captain’s bars on either side of a bezel-set center gem. Women love this ring because it’s simple, low profile, solid, safe, and secure. It presents a gem in a unique, interesting, and highly wearable way.
1990 was 34 years ago. The Lady Captain’s ring is even more loved today than in the first year of its introduction. Visit our website to see many gems, and many colors set into our most loved ring…The Lady Captain’s ring.
The Lady Captain’s ring is the only piece of jewelry in our 115-year history that we know exactly when it was created. It was 8:30 in the morning, December 31. We had a store-wide futures meeting. When we got to the point where I said, “What do you hear customers asking for that we don’t yet have?”
Linda spoke up. She said, “I hear customers asking for a ring we don’t have. Nurses, in particular, are coming down from Maine Medical Center and asking to see rings that have the gem set low, close to the finger, comfortable, with no prongs to catch. They say they want a ring like this because they put rubber gloves on and take them off dozens of times a day, and prong-set rings catch and snag.”
Linda’s comments really sounded interesting. We made notes, and on the following Monday, we started designing a new collection. Our first ring in the collection was the Lady Captain’s ring.
Truly, in American history, this was a revolutionary design. Over the third of a century that we have made the Lady Captain’s ring, we have found good homes for hundreds of rings. The meeting of December 31, 1989, represented the birth of a new ring series that was specially made for daily wear. Women’s lives have changed, and we adapted right along with the changes.
We make the Lady Captain’s ring with all kinds of gems. The ring sits low, close, and comfortable. The gem is brilliant green and totally protected with a smooth halo rim surrounding the gem with captain’s bars both left and right. We have hundreds of people all across America who have chosen this design.
True Maine Amethyst Jewelry
Maine has been blessed with three major gem finds of amethyst. Unfortunately, the most popular sizes simply weren’t cut. Cutters tried for the biggest, best, record-setting gems. We set aside our urge to create jewelry and instead spent 35 years simply collecting the best of the best in sizes people love. We’ve recently given in and decided to set up the prettiest Maine amethyst we’ve collected over the last thirty-five. The result is a rare collection of hard-to-find gems. Our primary source of Maine amethyst was Maine Amethyst Mine #1. Read on for the story of this initial discovery and revelations at the mine.
This is a big slab of quartz covered in amethyst crystals
(note the size of the Cross pen)
A Mystical Gem Experience
Three Major Amethyst Discoveries in Maine in the Last 35 Years
Mine #1 Sweden, Maine Music Camp, Encore Coda. The music camp was located next to a small lake. The first time I visited, I could see kids with oboes and violins walking about. I could hear good, better, and best music coming from various buildings. I could see sunlight sparkling on the lake. It looked like a nice place to spend a couple of weeks of summer. I remember a fleeting feeling of wishing I’d spent more time focused on music in High School.
The Owner of the Music Camp Made a Wise Move
The owner of the music camp bought a corner property up the hill adjacent to his camp for proximity protection. He then discovered it had a layer of gravel. He wanted to build a ball field down by the lake to expand the appeal of his music camp. He hired a contractor who arrived with a front-end loader and trucks. It all started off nicely. Trucks arrived and dumped, arrived and dumped. The low-lying land next to the lake was building quickly. Then the trucks stopped coming. The owner waited awhile and then finally walked up to the site and was astounded to see purple crystals lying about and big chunks and slabs of amethyst crystals sitting at the edge of openings in the native rock. He sat down and waited.
Eventually, a truck appeared with the front-end loader guy. Apparently, the front-end loader cut through the shallow gravel, hit the ledge, flipped a piece of ledge over and it was covered with a thousand purple amethyst crystals. Reportedly, the worker yelled, “Eureka, Tourmaline!” and proceeded to load his truck with crystals to haul away. The music camp owner shut him down and immediately hired a professional gem mining company that came in and proceeded to mine the location seriously.
I visited the site three times; all three were during active mining. It was a view of pure white, milk-white quartz that ran diagonally through the corner lot. The quartz was 20 feet wide and laced like Swiss cheese with hundreds of pockets of amethyst.
When professional gem miner Phil called to tell me about this discovery, he said he’d never seen anything like it. He said they were lifting out huge plates of white quartz, one side covered with hundreds of purple amethyst crystals. I told him I couldn’t imagine. He said that up until this moment, he couldn’t have either.
My Invitation to Visit
He gave me an invitation for my first trip up to the mine. As mentioned earlier, I stopped at the music camp, and they sent me up the hill. The view of this amethyst mine, at first sight, was unimpressive. It looked like bare rock surrounded by gravel. Phil and his partner were doing a blast that day. I saw the rock, and gray mud pools, the drills, the drill holes, the yellow wires, and the dynamite. They told me to move my car. I was parked far away. I felt safe. They said, “Seriously, move it.” I did.
When it was blast time I asked if I could stand with the dynamite guy at the blast box. They said, “No. Go out into the woods and find a big tree. When you hear the blast make sure you’re standing behind the tree.” I said, “You’re kidding.” They both said, “No. Seriously, a big tree.”
I found my tree. I heard them yell, “Fire in the hole!” three times. Then the earth shook. I peeked out from behind the tree, and took a quick picture. Then I heard branches above me breaking, saw branches above me falling, and could hear rocks falling far out, beyond where I was standing. I was glad I moved my car.
I Walked Up to the Blast Site
This was when I started to feel astonished. We walked over to the blast area. I could smell the dynamite. I could smell broken rock, and I could smell the mud. Phil and his assistant appeared with long steel prybars and started pulling shattered rocks apart. It was all mud-covered rock. Phil sat down in his rubber boots in the mud-filled water. He and his assistant reached down into the mud and pulled out what to me looked like mud balls big ones, little ones, and tossed them into a cardboard box. I watched for a few minutes. Then I finally said, “What are you doing?” Phil tossed a mudball at me and said, “Wash this off.”
The mud was deep gray, thick, and clingy. As I scraped it and rinsed, I could feel angles and a point emerging out of the mud. It was a beautiful amethyst crystal. The point was purple, the color thinning as the eye moved down the length of the crystal. I admired it. I wondered if it was a gift. Phil wasted no time and said, “When you’re done admiring, toss it in the box.” They worked for a long time, fishing around the mud for chunks of anything. They would occasionally toss me a sample. I continued to find rich grape purple amethyst crystals.
It Was a Surreal Experience
Gem mining is a surreal experience. The mines are all different. Certain gems reveal themselves differently, and every layer, every level excavated, potentially requires morphing and adapting on-the-fly to new ways for gems to present or simply hide themselves from view. I would never have imagined mud balls found beneath a foot of water would contain a precious, beautiful gem. Mining, at times, is like an archeological dig. It felt like I was Mel Fisher finding Spanish gold doubloons on a coral reef.
Many who go to a gem mine, go to work. They come in old clothes and boots. They arrive with full knowledge; they are free help for a day and are ready for the privilege to carry rocks, move hoses, re-fill gas in the sump pump, and run a lunch errand. If you ever get invited, you’re expected to work, and if you don’t you don’t get invited back.
Cross’ Gem Buying Opportunity
As gems were cut, we had an early opportunity to review the best of choice gems. We sold many pieces of amethyst jewelry in the beginning. Over the years, we collected a treasure trove of Maine amethyst gems. Do we have all sizes and shapes? Not by a long shot. We do, however, have some of the very best colors of amethyst found here in Maine.
We have recently begun creating rings and jewelry again using Maine amethyst. We’ve amassed a best-of-class collection of fine gems and have started building designs around them.
