Rare Earth sells gems and world of jewelry
Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber, WA
By Susan Riemer
Sep 20 2006
Each stone has a story, Christine Manfredi says.
Cleopatra used ground lapis as eye shadow; Vikings were the first sailors to navigate on cloudy days with the help of iolite; Romans put amethyst in their alcohol, believing it would help keep them sober.
Manfredi, one of the co-owners of Rare Earth Gems and Jewelry enjoys passing on those stories to customers in the new store. The shop, tucked into the former office of O’Neill Escrow, sells gemstones, semi-precious and precious stones as well as agates and jaspers — earthy polished stones — in jewelry and as loose gems.
The store offers “a world view of jewelry,†according to Manfredi, who sells items from as far away as Bali, Tibet and Thailand, along with pieces made from her own gems. Most of the jewelry in the store is one of a kind, she says, so that when people purchase a piece there, it is truly their own.
The jewelry they sell would not be possible though, if it were not for the stones themselves.
Christine and her husband and partner in the business Charles Manfredi both came to love stones as children. Christine remembers hunting for turquoise in Arizona, and Charlie found morganite, which Christine says is a “big deal to find,†in California.
Their curiosity about gems grew from those early days, and now the couple has an enormous collection of both rare and common stones. They have not figured out how to display them at the store yet, but the stones are there for the asking.
The shop carries all the different gems in all their different colors. Sapphires, for example, are not just blue, as many people think, but come in all the colors of the rainbow. They also carry gems across the grading spectrum. “You can come in here and spend $5,†Christine says, “or you can spend thousands.†Prices at the store are also significantly lower than in other retail stores, the couple says. “We make a point of making gem stones and jewelry available to all people,†Christine says. “Gemstones are a timeless moment of the earth’s beauty that enhance the wearer’s beauty,†she adds.
Like the jewelry in the store, the gems come from all over the world: chrome diopside (brilliant green) from Russia, paraiba tourmaline (medium green and more rare than a flawless diamond) from Brazil, Burmese ruby (the world class ruby), originally from Burma, Ametrine (combination of amethyst and citrine) from Bolivia, and, for good measure stones from outer space — with Moldavite, from a meteor that crashed into what is now the Czech Republic 15 million years ago.
Many stones are said to have specific healing properties to them, and the Manfredis can offer information in that regard, but mostly the stones are there for their own beauty and to be made into jewelry. “If you buy the stone and then have it set, you will save yourself a ton of money,†Christine says. To help in this regard, the Manfredis are looking to add a jeweler to the store to help with design and setting the stones.
The summer before last the Manfredis sold their gems and a few pieces of jewelry at the Farmers’ Market. The response was great. “Almost everyone has a personal connection to a stone of some kind,†Charlie says.
Last Halloween, Christine set up a table on the street and began selling jewelry — just a few pieces. The response over the months was tremendous, she says, and when the new space became available, Charlie rented it in an effort to get her out of the elements, and the business has expanded again. They had not intended to open until later in September, but people kept coming in, so they have been setting up shop while tending to customers — and telling stories about stones.
