The Schooner SparHawk Maine Tourmaline & Diamond Ring

The Schooner,

Goddess of the Sea

SparHawk Maine Tourmaline & Diamond Ring

From Cross’s Clipper Ship Trade Wind Collection

We had sail boats and motor boats, never one this big. They had mahogany decks, mast, lines, sails. I remember age six, coming home from a day of sailing. Sun low in the sky, the wind strong, the waves bigger than in this photo, the cool fresh breeze, salt spray, the taste of salt, the boat leaning close to the water. This is where the blood in your veins is replaced by salt water. This is where the blue of the sea becomes the color of life. This is where you swear without actually saying anything, you will always be near the sea…always.

Working together

An Awesome Day of Sailing

A dozen times a summer I’m out working on the land, I look up and there is a schooner 500 feet off shore. Not three or four miles out, but right there sailing by. It’s a gift of grace, beauty and harmony that this goddess of the sea with its white sails as free as the wind is sailing by. Who knows the destination of all onboard? Who knows what hopes, wishes, dreams and desires will be fulfilled on this voyage. Who knows what adventures await?

Goddess of the Sea

The Gems

SparHawk Maine Tourmaline – SparHawk Mint Green Teal Tourmaline is a rare color of green, the result of a unique chemistry of rock in Poland, Maine. This chemistry has created the brightest, most brilliant gemmy green tourmaline we’ve ever had the privilege to offer.

Diamonds – world sourced, cut in Belgium. Well-cut with a full complement of 58 facets, rating a 3 on our quality cut scale. Nice white color, beautifully matched. Hardness 10.

Gem Find of a Lifetime Video

World Famous Discoveries

Treasure Trove of Gems

I’ve always dreamed of a gem find like this. To have this mine be so close to home, just 28 miles north of our store in the mountains of western Maine, is amazing. Gems so fine, so pure, with colors so vivid. It’s important someone documents this historic gem find here in Maine, because it’s a history-making discovery in the world of gems.

The video above is 1:43. It gives you a good idea of the excitement we feel for the gems we are discovering here in Maine.

Maine has been world-famous for the tourmaline gems mined here for over 200 years. The geology in our western mountains has yielded a treasure trove of world class gems. Cross Jewelers has been the Maine state leader, bringing fine Maine tourmaline jewelry to all of America for over 100 years.

We have over 200 pieces of Maine tourmaline jewelry from both the SparHawk mine and other Maine mines.

Two options for deeper Maine gem mine understanding:

A.) The 32-page written story of the 2013 gem mining season at the SparHawk mine.

b.) A collection of gem mining videos at the SparHawk mine.

About the Trade Wind Collection:

Where does inspiration come from? Where do the creative sparks for design begin? For Cross’ new Trade Wind Jewelry Collection, we find ourselves drawn into the story of Captain John Henry Drew, from Gardiner, Maine. Born in 1834, he grew up the son of a Ship’s Carver, and went to sea at the age of 15, eventually becoming Captain of a series of clipper ships, and traveling from New York to China and back home, when that voyage took more than seventeen months.

Instead of carving or knotting or other hobbies that were characteristic of sailors, this mostly self-educated man read books, memorized details from newspapers, and wrote about his journey—his literal and his inner journey. His hand-written and personally illustrated journals tell us of his longing for Maine, for his family, and for “making something of himself”. He is very much like you and me, and it makes his story that much more compelling. He savors apples from home, as tasting better than apples from anywhere else. He imagines the scene he might see looking in the window at home, where his family sits, and he chastises himself for not getting more done at home when he was there.

The jewelry in our Trade Wind Collection is made by his great-great-great grandson, Keith. This young man went to sea as well, at age 18. As part of his service to the US Navy, his travels took him to many of the same places his great-great-great grandfather’s clipper ships visited. Keith also had a hobby unconventional for sailors— he had a fascination for gems and he studied gemology. He studied so that when his service was completed, he could become a jeweler. As Keith traveled the world, he collected exquisite gems, and after leaving the service and returning home, he mastered the art of fine jewelry making.

It is now decades later. We met Keith for the first time in March, 2014. We were impressed with his jewelry, and as we talked further, discovered he had a clipper ship sea captain ancestor and became intrigued with the parallels of his journey in life with that of his sea captain forebear.

The parallels in the two stories are expressed in the jewelry itself—the exotic colors, the flow of the designs, the attention to detail which is something passed down in this family—whether it is to protect the ship, its cargo and its crew, or to create a design that will last and protect its valuable gems, giving the wearer the same pleasure we experience when a ship at full sail goes by. You can’t help but stop and exclaim, “Isn’t that beautiful?”

We were hooked by this story, and by the jewelry. We think you will be too. In fact, we’re posting pages from Captain Drew’s journals from the Voyage of the Franklin in 1868. Take a few minutes to join in the journey, and think of those you love most, and rejoice if they are right there with you.

Read the Captain’s
Clipper Ship Journal Entries

Read Keith’s Gem Expedition Dispatches