Killiecrankie Diamonds in Hobart, Tasmania | Shopping & retail

Killiecrankie Diamonds

Locality: Hobart, Tasmania

Phone: +61 3 6223 3412

Address: Masons Studio Jewellers, 33 Salamanca Place, ground floor in Galleria Building. 7000 Hobart, TAS, Australia

Website: http://www.masonsjewellers.com.au

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25.01.2022 Some background on where the 'Killiecrankie Diamonds' come from, an exhibition and talk by Jane Giblin: 'I Shed My Skin, A Furneaux Islands Story'; this broad pano still cannot encompass the entirety of Jane's exhibition, currently at Moonah Arts Center; her three-year project in depicting her family's five-generation birding and island history, through pigment and ink on paper, lithographs, and photographs, is as deep and engaging as it is broad. [Yes, I'm her husband; and all the more reason that I admire and respect her; this exbn showing at MAC until Feb 1st; and Jane's giving a talk this Saturday, 25th, at 1:00pm at MAC; all welcome]

24.01.2022 SOLSTICE SALE: 25% OFF Today & Tomorrow (Sat) Dawn til Dusk...!! Masons annual Solstice Sale is now a tradition, celebrating the passing of the shortest day of the year; and aren't we pleased to put some darkness behind us this year! This year is special for local clientele, because there are no Dark MOFO tourists competing for your bargains... Pictured is a jade Bulla set with a 'Killiecrankie Diamond': the 'bulla' dates back to Etruscan times, and was typically a round pendant with an oversize tube bail to suspend it from; yellow gold and sterling silver.

24.01.2022 ICE-WHITE FRIDAY SALE: 25% OFF 'Killiecrankie Diamond' jewels. Yes, I'm jumping on that American Black Friday Sale Bandwagon this year, for the first and hopefully only time, although I have no idea what it's all about, other than the opportunity to boost cash-flow surviving, if not thriving, in the absence of tourists for eight months following lockdown, lockout, lockup, lockKeeper, and lockjaw... And, anyway, it's the final days of my November promotion to go into the draw to win return air tickets for two to Flinders Island from Hobart, so pop in, purse parted, and purchase a piece of 'Killiecrankie Diamond' jewellery, and go into the lockDraw...!! [there's another view of these oblique 'Circle-on-Square' earrings and pendant in the Comments below]

24.01.2022 I admire this ring, made by friend and peer, Sandro Donati, on Flinders Island. His is an interesting read, too. Sandro has a strongly developed sense of his own style: he is not derivative of anyone else, and doesn't churn out generic market appeasers... He's happy to explore, to play, and to take risks... And, once again, we see the legacy of the late Thelma Shaik, who was my mentor in matters of the 'Diamonds' of Killiecrankie, reaching out through the sands of time... I commend Sandro to you.

23.01.2022 'Ice and Snow': as we head into the heatwave, I summon the coolth of ice-white Flinders Island Topaz, and the snow-white of Tasmanian deep sea coral; with irony, I've set the 'Killiecrankie Diamond' in a restrained, cold, white gold sunburst motif, like a religious monstrance; the coral was an unintended by-product of historical trawling for Orange Roughy, and I was fortunate to save snagged branches of it in the 80's and 90's; it is extremely hard, and I have to work it with... diamond laps. I haven't made much use of the coral yet, but it looks handsome in combination with rich yellow gold, like this 22k bezel; the Renaissance goldsmiths loved this combination of white and yellow, and made extensive use of gold with white enameling; I think I'll have to do more with it... Meanwhile, we have a superb selection of glacial blue and ice-white 'Killiecrankie Diamonds' set to cool your gaze...!! See more

23.01.2022 My new Shopify online outlet: well, we're all hunkered down, but sometimes a pressie is still needed, so we now have a good online purchase outlet; it's early days for it, and I'm uploading more 'Killiekrankie Diamond' offerings daily. I've had my first purchase through it, which went seamlessly... Until told not to, I'm still going in to the studio/store, filling orders, but also taking this down-time to explore and play, and have fun designing; I'll share some of these special pieces for sale with you on the Shopify site in the immediate future, too... my best regards to you all; take all precautions... https://masons-studio.myshopify.com//killiecrankie-diamond

23.01.2022 Last week, before Easter, Jane and I again attended the Flinders Island Food and Crayfish Festival, just as we did last year. This time it was held below the granite tors of Mount Strzelecki (see in the Comments below for a pano shot of the setting, and other pics, on the island where the 'Killiecrankie Diamonds' come from). They do it well...!! Chefs from Franklin Restaurant in Hobart, from Longsong Restaurant in Melbourne, from Three Blue Ducks in Sydney, from Biota in Bowral, from Oakridge Winery in Yarra Valley, from Etties in Hobart, cooked crays, wallabies, abalone, and mutton bird, and more, al fresco, whilst sommeliers from Etties decanted the matched wines... Same again next year, at a different site, shall suit me...!!

20.01.2022 A mini-arch in Killiecrankie Bay: here I am recently, wet-suit draped over my shoulders, sieves and 'Killiecrankie Diamonds' in backpack, leaving all the other gear behind momentarily, as I step out for a pic in front of this natural rock formation overlaying the granite [in the Comments below I attach another pic of me taken nearby half a lifetime ago, in about 1985, covered in notorious March flies - at least I had a head of hair protecting me back then... but fossicking for stones has never been a shoo-in, if that's not too convoluted a pun] The dramatic geology of Flinders Island has always attracted me; granite tors and boulders as big as houses, like scattered giants' marbles, are surreal in the landscape. I attach another pic of the bedded strata in the vicinity of this arch, in the Comments below.

19.01.2022 Step by Step Guide to Making a Ruby & 'Killiecrankie Diamond' Pendant from Scratch: Step 1, fossick for your Topaz and Ruby pebbles, and refine the gold alloys that you'll need; Step 2, make the pendant in your signature-style.

19.01.2022 Today, St. Valentine’s Day, the QVMAG shares this story of love about my wife’s, artist Jane Giblin’s, great grandparents on Flinders Island, from her 2019 exhibition ‘I Shed My Skin’ [I’ve posted a pic of Jane seated amidst the 91 works in that exhibition, in the Comments] QVMAG acquired her two paintings from the exhibition, and they now reside there, a perpetual testimony to Love, overcoming and flourishing. I am in love with my wife; I am lucky...

19.01.2022 Well, we can't travel overseas currently, but I've exhibited the 'Killiecrankie Diamonds' internationally many times formerly, and in many countries. This pic shows my inclusion in 'The Art of Adornment: Contemporary Australian Jewellery' in Seoul, South Korea, 1994. Having been invited to speak about my work to the Seoul Polytechnic, and flown over and accommodated, by arts funding bodies in Australia, I was courteously looked after by the embassy staff and the gallery staff..., two of whom you see here. In the Comments below I've attached a pic of three of these large brooches, in which I chose to feature not only big 'Killiecrankie Diamond' Topazes, but also 'Blackjack' Spinels from Derby. I welcomed the opportunity to promote Tasmanian gemstones, as an aside to the curatorial selection of our Australian design sensibility. Other countries, in which I exhibited multiple times using our Tasmanian gemstones last century, include Japan, the United States, and Germany. [An amusing side-story to this trip was that whilst over there in South Korea, I learned that the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum, the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design) was about to hold a blockbuster definitive exhibition of Faberge pieces, which was not to be missed. So, I paid for an extension to my airline ticket just to visit London for three days: on the first day I did nothing but join the queue to get a ticket, but then did not enter the exhibition; on the second day I sauntered past the queue, holding my ticket ahead of me, like Mr Bean, and entered the exhibition first, and had 'clear air' ahead of me throughout, and inspected each piece close-up, with the crowd constantly fifteen minutes behind me; on the third day I flew home...] See more

18.01.2022 'Cones of Stones': Instead of faceting these 'Killiecrankie Diamond' Topazes, and 'Blackjack' Spinels, I've been been lathing them, turning them into conical shapes, sometimes long, sometimes shallow, sometimes bi-conical; and then mounting them in complementary geometric gold settings of triangle, circle, square motifs. They're not about scintillation and sparkle, although they are eye-clean gems - the bigger bi-cone being 4.32 cts - but are instead about form, shape, and geometrical relationship. The black neoprene suits them.

18.01.2022 Pod Ring: two of Tasmania's most iconic gemstones set in hemisphere domes. To replicate the form of the rose-cut 'Blackjack' Spinel, I've faceted the crown of the 'Killiecrankie Diamond' Topaz with the same mediæval rose-cut, but still given it a brilliant pavilion for scintillation (see pic of the gemstone in Comments below; and also one of the ring photographed from above). Over the years, I've made pod rings to play with various aspect of combining gemstones, including one in which I combined four garnets of different colours, all angled out in different directions. 18k yellow gold on sterling silver; gems 9mm and 11mm diameter, so a real statement piece...!!

18.01.2022 'Killiecrankie Pebble': when I get these perfect pebbles of 'Killiecrankie Diamond', which is not often, I put them aside and set them uncut, with their natural waterworn surface, once a year, during November Topaz BirthStone month; I set these in 18k gold, but on a substantial Sterling Silver shank, just like my 'entry level' Killiecrankie rings, to keep the prices down, starting at $450...

18.01.2022 Checkered Lenses: MASONS on SALAMANCA. I've cut these stones for different reasons, not for scintillation and sparkle, but for pattern and profile; our mainland client who ordered them wanted a ring with a decent-sized stone - a few carats - but sitting low to the finger, and liked the lenses that I've faceted in other stones; with ear studs to match; and set simply framed, unadorned, but open and airy. The effect is of flashing digital checks, with no metal structure showing behind them. [Despite a welcome and inexplicable upsurge of interest in our Mason Signature Style use of 'Killiecrankie Diamonds' recently, we are just managing to keep up with demand, of both one-of-a-kind pieces in stock, and bespoke orders, and our range of pieces on offer is still healthy. Thankyou, Friends and Followers, for your patronage.]

17.01.2022 Blue Bottles: we’re on furlough in the Furneaux, for the Valentine’s Day weekend, and apart from looking for Glacial Blue ‘Killiecrankie Diamond’ Topaz, we’re finding toxic blue bottles; the ones on the beach are plentiful, but the scarce glass ones I uncovered when digging a hole for planting an apple tree in the yard of our cottage at Lady Barron, which was my wife, Jane’s family home in the time of her Great Great Grandmother, so these bottles have direct sentimental connection. Coincidentally, Jane’s Great Grandfather, was named Valentine, so for us, the cottage is a romantic place...

16.01.2022 Concern was expressed that I didn't notify Followers of this Page about my last Sale, so, 'Killiecrankie Diamonders' take advantage of THE GRAND RENOVATION ENCORE SALE: 25% 0FF, Fri 30 & Sat 31...!! Lighter, brighter, cleaner, wider-appearing: we're encouraging you to promenade and passeggiatta on our new limestone paving... See Captions in Comments. [N.B. This SALE is in lieu of the Spring Equinox Sale, held in past years in September; there shall be no Equinox Sale this year! I can't afford to do both... ]

16.01.2022 'Big Blue': I cut this 15.25 carats as a cushioned square, and Tyrus has fabricated a superb ring for it from scratch, in 18k white gold, setting it obliquely, which is the most flattering orientation for a square stone; the superstructure of the ring underneath the stone echoes the form and the facets, whilst keeping such a king-stone as low to the finger as it is possible. Accented with two black diamonds, it is perfection... Such a gem...!!

14.01.2022 Akoya Pearls and Killiecrankie KingStone, from the archive: I cut this 20+ carat 'Killiecrankie Diamond', from the seabed of Killiecrankie Bay, many years ago and set it in this 18k white gold aureola suspended by Japanese white sea pearls, like a maritime monstrance, which seems an appropriate way to venerate our revered Tasmanian gem... I don't often facet such large stones, it taking so long to polish each facet, and they being scarce in the large size needed - a 60 or 70 ...ct quality pebble being required to start with... Gold-soldering the setting demands absolute mindfulness too; the tiniest gold shot granules which I make are half a millimetre in diameter, and even capillary action, when the gold solder reaches fluxus and flows, can dislodge the line-up (and try correcting THAT...!!)... in all modesty, true mastery of goldsmithing is necessary to hand-fabricate such a demanding piece... [the piece of mine which was acquired by the Australian National Gallery in the 90's was also a celebration of gold soldering, with over 100 assorted gold elements - wires and granules - soldered together to make my 'Finger Tiara'; see in Comments below...] See more

14.01.2022 Dallying with Discs: textured and set with a smooth, opaque black spinel cone; versus bright-polished and set with a multi-faceted 'Killiecrankie Diamond' well of light... I've played with contrasting these discs for decades, ever since I first displayed them at the Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art Expos (SOFA) in Chicago in the early 1990's. This pendant was commissioned recently, to go with a textured ring from earlier (see in Comments for an example), and was inspired by a brooch which the client had seen from a decade ago (also see in the Comments, below). I love heavy texturing silver by hand, and framing it in gold, and combining discs of various sizes and profiles, and varying finishes; sort of Celtic and Spacey at the same time...

14.01.2022 I've got the Glacial Blues...!! Last weekend I spent my BirthDay on Flinders Island: it hailed overnight, but Jane and I didn't realise it until discovering this deposit from the downpipe, mid next morning. Normally 'Killicrankie Diamond' Topaz is Ice-White, but some fine, scarce, natural Glacial Blue Topaz hails from Flinders as well, and I've returned to the Hobart studio/store and cut some...

13.01.2022 Fans of our famous 'Killiecrankie Diamonds', this is a Post from yesterday on one of my other Pages [Phill Mason: studio jeweller] Just a reassurance that we have your wellbeing at heart, as well as our own... Kindest Regards, Phill and Tyrus.

12.01.2022 'Killiecrankie Solitaire' Rings: MASONS on SALAMANCA, still hand-fabricating from scratch, nearly four decades on, in a marriage of metals combining 18k gold settings with either Sterling Silver shank (left) or Platinum/Palladium gold alloy (right). Each of these rings is truly unique because they are not mass-produced. I am still an anomaly goldsmith of the 'old school', one of the very few who also personally cuts his own gems in-house, and fabricates by hand at the bench,... preferring to make one-of-a-kind pieces, even of our classic designs: I am a maker, not a manager; an artisan rather than a shop assistant... Under the mentorship of the late Thelma Shaik, who was renowned for her tiny gem shop on the verandah of the Interstate Hotel in Whitemark in the 1980's, I was the only studio-jeweller in Hobart promoting and using 'Killiecrankie Diamonds' back last century. The stones were hard to procure, because they are fossicked for, not mined commercially, and so they were not offered by gemstone wholesalers. Thelma favoured me, and supplied me with gemstones, that she had cut for her in Germany, on consignment, until I started cutting the stones for myself (eventually twice coming Second Place worldwide in 'The Gemmys' international faceting competition held in the United States). Nowadays the 'Killiecrankie Diamond has become very popular, and there are many jewellers who work with them, some even with mass-produced designs, like castings, and CAD-CAM... a far cry from the 1980's. Thelma would be very pleased at their increasing popularity... I am gratified to have helped the stone's recognition and acceptance, prompted by her... These rings, being a mixture of white and coloured metals, allow a wearer to cross-over between silver and gold. The stone set on a horizontal gallery, in Mason Signature Style, allows it to be seen fully in elevation, and yet it is set as low to the shank as possible. The setting, sitting proud of the shank, allows another band to sit adjacent without having to be 'fitted' to it. And we size them free of charge! And we supply them cheaper than castings, prices starting at $495...!! And that's the labour of love for what we do, rather than just running a business... My thanks and gratitude for my loyal clientele over the years: our customers become patrons; their children become clients... Thankyou... Phill and Tyrus (father and son). See more

12.01.2022 'Uplifted Pixelated Scintillation': my goldsmithing son, Tyrus, and I frequently match each other in outdoing one another... Here, I've faceted a 6.5ct 'Killiecrankie Diamond' Topaz as a radiant rectangle (meaning that the pavilion is a perfect cone) with a tiled crown, resulting in checkerboard brilliance; Tyrus has then designed and hand-fabricated this girded setting from scratch, subtly angling the orientation of the stone on the wearer's chest so that it faces up fully to a viewer. Tasmania is fortunate to have these stones, but it's what you do with what you've got, that holds the interest for us...

10.01.2022 'Circle Cubed'. I faceted this 'Killiecrankie Diamond' complexly: below the girdle, the pavilion of the stone is almost a right-angled cone, but the crown above is a dome; this unique combination refracts both the scarce, natural glacial blue, and the snow whiteness of this 'cube of ice'. Both hues are seen, depending on the movement of the stone; cutting it like this was an optical experiment, which I only intuitively thought would work. Of course, cutting it thus also enabl...ed me to play with 'cubing the sphere', the 3-D extension of 'squaring the circle'; the abstracted interplay of angles and curves, which Friends and Followers over the decades shall know is a leitmotif preoccupation of mine. In hand-fabricating the white gold ring for this stone, I've explored that interplay, using a setting of both stirrup and vee, at right angles to one another; a composite image that I've attached in the Comments below shows these aspects better than the main image shot obliquely, which I reduced to black and white to simplify. Side benefits to this unusual cut are that the glacial blue is more saturated, and the carat weight return from the rough is maximised, resulting in a 5ct gem, 13mm across; and, of course, it has resulted in a light and airy jewel; a truly one-of-a-kind unique work deserving of the discerning. And for me, the satisfaction of designing in a studio, of being a studio-jeweller... See more

08.01.2022 RightOh, then: who wants to be my first Afterpay customer...?? Instore only at the moment... I've always offered lay-by, wherein you pay interest-free over time and enjoy later, but now offering Afterpay you may also enjoy now, and pay interest-free later...

08.01.2022 EQUINOX SALE: 25% OFF Fri 18th & Sat 19th. Don't miss this Sale, because I didn't have one in 2019, having been in Germany at this time; no traveling this year, though, so a grateful thankyou to my loyal local clientele who got us through Lockdown, Isolation, Closed Borders, and Distancing... [pictured are some of the range of 'Killiecrankie Diamond' earrings we hand-make from scratch, in the Mason Signature Style; no casting nor mass-production involved, with stones that I cut in-house, set in different coloured gold marriage-of-metals. Others emulate, but do not surpass, since 1983... Thankyou.]

07.01.2022 Triangle, Circle, Square: MASONS on SALAMANCA; 18k settings 'en plein air'*, allowing the stone to be seen in elevation. I've always set gemstones like this, light and airy, but as close to the finger as the depth of the stone will allow. I first developed this aspect of Masons Signature Style over 35 years ago, and this open horizontal setting was considered innovative, a bit 'out there' even, but it has worn Time well... See how the rings stack together on the finger. That'...s my hand, by the way, obviously not a model's, but the hand of the 70-year-old maker, resting on my black apron. The rings shall look much better on your fingers, dear Friends and Followers. These rings are 18k settings on Sterling Silver shanks, but we make them all gold as well - it just bumps the price up. The new silver alloys contain less copper than the traditional Sterling, replaced by rare earths, and tarnish resistant, but still 925 parts silver. Prices in this series range from $495 through $690, depending on stone size, shape (including oval and oblong), and design complexity. Kind Regards, Phill Mason, and Tyrus Mason. [ *'en plein air' is artists' terminology for working with immediacy, directly in the landscape, inspired by the source, rather than afterward and removed from the source of inspiration; I borrow it here as a metalsmith for the first time, and apply it because I work directly in metal, hand-fabricating from scratch in the first instance, not secondarily casting into metal after working wax. My rings are wrought, hammered, tough, resilient, not full of brittle granular structure like mass-produced castings are, and they last, and last. They are first, and last... ] I've attached another pic of the rings in the Comments below... See more

07.01.2022 'Diurnal Pendant' Two of Tasmania's top gemstones, the 'Killiecrankie Diamond' Topaz, and the 'BlackJack' Spinel, go together so well: opaque and transparent; black and white; faceted and turned; square and circle; my stone-cutting and Tyrus' (my son's) gold-setting... We've combined these two to play off each other in Masons signature style for many years now, in rings and pendants especially; and of course, here are two views of the same piece necessary to get the full picture... [in stock and available now, but only one can own it; not two...]

06.01.2022 Drawing the winner: Lois Ireland, Proprietor of the classic general store, Bowman and Co, in Whitemark, obliged me by drawing the winning ticket from the hat, for my recent promotional giveaway of two return tickets from Hobart to Flinders Island for anyone purchasing a piece of jewellery set with a 'Killiecrankie Diamond' Topaz during November: the winning entry was ticket Blue A65, won by Brenda Larter, who was wearing her 'Killiecrankie Diamond' Pendant when I phoned her w...ith the good news...!! I'm very pleased to promote Flinders Island, a place I love, and where some of my wife's, artist Jane Giblin's ancestors, grew up (see her recently published book, 'I Shed My Skin', A Furneaux Islands Story'). And of course it is famous for the clean, ice-white and glacial blue Topaz which I cut and set. We are lucky that Sharp Airlines is now flying direct from Hobart to Whitemark, so cutting out the drive to Launceston and parking at the airport there; the flight only takes about 50 minutes. Lois' General Store is one of the pillars of Flinders Island, and is wonderfully redolent of rural Australia of yesteryear, with its walls of shelves and back storerooms packed with all the necessities and essentials, from gumboots and thongs up... And Lois provides accommodation for visitors as well; see the business card in the Comments below. Thankyou for drawing the winner, Lois. And congratulations, Brenda...!! See more

06.01.2022 'Glacial Blue', has always been my description of the scarce natural blue Topaz from Flinders Island: in naming it, I'd been influenced by my time in Antarctica, and in Iceland and Patagonia, where an ethereal blue glows from within icebergs and glaciers - see the similarity. The purity of Tasmanian Topaz has always been acknowledged: the colour of Topaz internationally is commonly yellow through brown, but our 'Killiecrankie Diamond' Topaz is brightly ice-white; the hint of ...blue in it makes it super white, like using laundry bluing in the wash. We never get the common brown Topaz in Tasmania. This stone pictured is typical of our rare, natural Glacial Blue: I cut this 16ct gem a decade ago, with 224 facets, and it is one of the darkest natural blues that I've had the privilege of faceting. I get very few Glacial Blues, and always use them sparingly and judiciously, reserving them for special jewels. See more

05.01.2022 MASONS SOLSTICE SALE is on again, 25% OFF this Saturday 22nd Dawn til Dusk...!! And, Ryoji Ikeda's vertical column of light, 'Spectra', illuminates the Hobart heavens again tonight onwards: this table-piece, which I cut from a 'Killiecrankie Diamond' pebble, into a 21ct gemstone, was the commemorative piece which I made for Spectra's first showing, during the first Dark MOFO, six years ago; the parallel vertical facets reference the searchlight columns, and the natural, uncut top of the stone emulates where the lights hit the cloud cover during the first nights of illumination. Enjoy 'Spectra', Friends and Followers, and snaffle a bargain 'Killicrankie Diamond' jewel this Saturday (or Friday 21st for Followers if you can't get in Saturday) More pics in Comments...

04.01.2022 '80 Facet Hemisphere': I haven't cut 'Killiecrankie Diamond' Topaz into half-orbs like this before, but the downtime of isolation currently is enabling me time to play in new labour-intensive ways, and such a big gem takes quite a while to cut; here are two views of this big 25ct Glacial Blue stone, one on a reflective surface to show its scintillation, and one on a matt surface to better show the colour. Did you know that I've installed a Shopify site...? It's linked to my o...ther FB Page [Phill Mason: studio jeweller] because only one Page can be linked to Shopify, and my other Page has almost twice as many Friends and Followers as this one; I have quite a few pieces for sale on it, although it's early days yet, and I've never really tried offering pieces for purchase online before, but the isolating times demand it. The store hasn't been open for a few weeks now, but I'm still here in the studio in Salamanca Place daily, working...Once I've made a setting for this gem, I'll post it on my other Page, and also on my Shopify site linked to that Page; too large for a ring, I have a pendant design in mind for it... See more

04.01.2022 Like a fob-watch for a Time Lord, this big 10 carat stone pendant can rotate light around its dial. I cut the ‘Killiecrankie Diamond’ in a new design which I hadn’t invented before, so that scintillation swirls around, like a vortex in a vial. I’ve set the stone as minimally as I can, so that no decoration detracts from it; simply captured in a 22k bezel on an 18k bearer, with a receding backing of one of my triangular annuluses to accommodate the depth of the stone, in sterling silver to keep the price down [see the pic in the Comments]. A timeless piece...!!

04.01.2022 EQUINOX SALE EXTENDED: by popular demand, the 25% OFF SALE for 'Killiecrankie Diamond' jewellery resumes Moonday, 21st only, for the Vernal Equinox. I was so busily engaged in the mechanics of the Sale on SaturnDay, that I barely got off the phone, or off the internet, or off the floor serving, and didn't even get out of the studio/store all day for a toilet break, :D and so consequently didn't catch up with some clients' enquiries... So I'm continuing it for one more day, Mo...nday... It's Equinox, so don't equivocate; keep equidistant; equip yourself with equipoise; and increase your equity in Tasmania's renowned gemstone...!! Sale Prices start from $371...!! [Pictured are more examples of the earrings in Masons Signature Style, further to that shown in the last Post: all entirely hand-fabricated from scratch in a marriage of yellow and white golds, letting you cross over between what metals you wear; stones faceted in-house by me; goldsmithing in-house by son Tyrus or me... Now serving the third generation since 1983] See more

02.01.2022 SALE...!! A THIRD OFF. 33% OFF, TOMORROW, THURSDAY 19TH. 6AM - 6PM. For the last few years we've had a Spring Equinox Sale [25% off], but this year we're bringing it forward to the Autumn Equinox, for the twelve hours of daylight, and discounting deeper. No Stockpiling: strictly two items max per customer [I'm sharing this from my Page, Phill Mason: Studio Jeweller's Post, today... What's this photo of...?? This is an early work, one of my Halley's Comet series, from about ...1987, found recently in my garage, yet to be restored, after being lost and trodden on years ago, amongst boxes of agate. Ever since 1986, when I had a solo exhibition commemorating Halley's, one of the themes of my work has been exploring the dichotomy of 'head' and 'tail', and many of my brooches have explored this relationship; this is one of the series where I was deconstructing these elements, in titanium, gold-riveted onto a quadrant of silver; I made many totally different versions at the time. The late eighties reminds me also of another of the many times of hardship we've endured in business over the decades, during the Pilot's Dispute in 1989, the most expensive and dramatic industrial action in Australia's history, dragging on for months, with tourism and travel within Australia knocked for six, and people flying in RAAF Hercules transports, etc. And since then, there have been many annual disruptions to business, ranging from the demise of the 'two-airline-policy' and the collapse of Ansett and drop-off in fly-drive tourists; through the uncertainty of 9/11 and the Gulf Wars; to the tourism disruptions from SARS and MERS... Meanwhile, it's still relatively early days on the cusp here in Tassie: schools are still open; cinemas are still screening; markets (Salamanca and Farmers') have not been closed; the TMAG is still open; auction houses are still accepting; restaurants are feeding and cafes are espressing... 33% OFF is a deep discount for me; as you know, dear Friends and Followers, we don't just put generic mass-produced stock out with a markup... So take advantage now, with our blessing, and our sanitising... It'll be nice and quiet, equivocating in our Equinox Sale... I do look forward to having some down-time to restore this brooch, though: to re-flatten and re-polish the trodden silver, to clean and re-rivet the titanium motifs; to present it to Jane, my beloved wife... See more