OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO JEWELRY
MANUFACTURERS
DHF Employee Profile: Alice Sesmas
I
f David H. Fell & Company was a piece
of jewelry, Alice Sesmas would be the
solder holding all the different pieces
together. For 13 years she has been holding DHF Co. together by being the primary person that bills each and every
product order that comes through the
door. And more recently she has been promoted to Office Manager, which requires
her to handle even more responsibility.
“David H. Fell & Company decided
that Alice is the person to lead its efforts
to provide patient, understanding,
and friendly service to customers and
prospects because she has shown and
continues to show these qualities everyday
DHF Co. is open for business,” says DHF
Co. president, Larry Fell.
The attitude of keeping things
together is something Alice’s parents
instilled in her as a child, “One of the keys
to achieving excellent customer service is
to keep things together. And to do that
you need to make sure you know every-
Alice and Dave Fell.
thing. Knowing everything is one of my
goals at DHF Co. because the more I
know the better equipped I am to assist
the customers,” says Alice.
The quality that Alice likes about
David H. Fell & Company is that it is a
family owned company that values the
effort to serve the customer the best way
possible. She also enjoys the people that
she works with because of the relation-
ships she’s established with them.
For the future, Alice is excited
about the new computer developments
that will assist DHF Co. in serving the customer. “The task of giving the customer
the products and services they need in a
fast and informative manner is what my
staff and I work on every minute of every
day. With these systems, DHF Co. can
continue to provide the friendly experience of placing an order worthy of telling
everyone they know.”
If you need to place an order or
request any information about David H.
Fell & Company’s products and services
you can count on Alice and her staff.
Name: Alice Sesmas
Started: 1992
Title: Office Manager & Billing
Interests: Dancing, Watching Contact
Sports, Boxing
Metallurgy 101, Part 2: Gold and Its Alloys continued from front page
of the silver content, green gold has a
higher flow rate, which means a reduction
in the flask and casting temperatures.
Another benefit of green gold, when cast,
is it can be cooled either by quenching
from red heat, naturally air cooling, or
quenching from black heat.
Fabricating in green gold is superb
because the silver content makes sheet and
wire extremely malleable. With the silver
content, green gold is highly suitable for
reticulation.
Palladium (Pd)
Adding palladium to gold has been around
since the turn of the 20th century, but is
becoming more popular. The reasons for
palladium’s popularity are the white color,
its less expensive than platinum, and it is
very malleable. Like nickel, palladium
serves as the bleaching agent to achieve a
white gold color.
Adding palladium to gold has many
benefits but there are challenges. Casting
palladium white gold is very challenging
because it has extremely high flask and
melt temperatures. When casting palladium white gold we recommend using
platinum investment rather than the
normal gold investments.
When fabricating with palladium
white gold sheet or wire, again the challenge is to use a higher temperature.
Because of this challenge we recommend
using low temperature platinum solder
instead of karat white gold solders when
soldering.
Zinc (Zn)
Zinc isn’t often used as the primary con-
stituent in the alloy. It is used as an additive to counteract some of the negative
attributes of other metals. When zinc is
combined along with silver, copper, nickel, and or palladium it lowers the melting
temperatures of the alloys. Other qualities
of zinc are its ability to enhance the color
of low karat gold, increase the whiteness
of white gold, and act as a deoxidizer.
Typically, many karat gold alloys
will have some percentage of zinc in it.
If there is zinc in the alloy, reticulation will
not be possible. And if there is more than
2% in an alloy then enameling will not be
possible.
This concludes our series of
Metallurgy 101. We hope that you learned
something new or were reminded of
something that may help you in your
production of jewelry.
OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO PAWNBROKERS
Origins of the Pawnbroker Symbol
O
ne of the least known origins that
has been researched is the coin
known as the “Silver Shekel” or
“Shekel of Israel” which was issued in
A.D. 68 after a Jewish revolt against the
Romans. One side of the coin depicted
three pomegranates, with a common stalk.
The symbol of the three balls was
part of the coat of arms of the Medici family, who established the Medici trading
and banking empire in Florence, Italy. The
Medicis were a 15th century Italian family
of bankers and lenders, with considerable
fame and fortune. They became so well
known in the finance and lending profession that the other lenders, wanting to
share in their success, adopted similar
coats of arms, signs, shields and symbols,
with three golden balls being the most
popular. Once other merchants involved
in monetary dealing adopted the three
golden balls as their symbol, the three
balls came to symbolize the entire profession founded on the ethic of mutual trust.
Throughout the Middle ages you
can find many coats of arms bearing three
balls, orbs, plates, disks, coins, and more
as symbolic of monetary success.
When Italian bankers began to
open branches abroad, the symbol of the
three golden balls spread to European
West. It is known that there was pawn
broking in Spain because Queen Isabella
pawned some of her royal jewels to
finance Columbus’ long voyage to the
New World. I wonder if the pawnbroker
who made that loan knew just what he
was starting?
The symbol of the three golden
balls was brought to the United States
from England, where the pawnbrokers
still display the symbol to this day.
Upcoming Tradeshows
Why are metals shiny?
A
lthough rarely mentioned in metallurgy textbooks, metals have
interesting optical properties.
One of these is the property of metallic
luster, a characteristic that identifies a
material as a metal.
One of the physical properties that
causes this shiny condition is the absorption index. The absorption index is a
measure of a material’s reaction to incident
radiation, such as excitation of the electrons. The light that strikes a metal is
absorbed at all frequencies of the visible
spectrum, but it can penetrate only a few
hundred atoms into the surface, less than
a single wavelength. The absorbed electromagnetic wave transfers its energy to the
bonding electrons, which can jump up to
a broad band of energy levels that also
correspond to the full range of visible
frequencies.
The excited electrons then re-emit
the light as they fall to lower energy levels,
and the observer sees this as a strong,
bright reflection. The slight variation in
color among different metals and alloys
results from some variation in the absorption at different wavelengths.
The key difference between metals
and the more transparent materials, such
as glass, is that metals have a very large
absorption index. For example, polished
gold has an index of 1.59; aluminum,
5.23; and silver, 3.6. These absorption
rates for metals are a million times greater
than non-metals.
The larger absorption index of metals means that metal layers thicker than
about half the wavelength of visible light
are opaque, and also highly reflective.
AGTA* • Feb. 1 - 6
MJSA • March 12 - 14
Bench Jewelers Conference*
April 28 - 30
JCK Las Vegas* • June 2 - 7
*Visit DHF Co. at these tradeshows.
Average Metal Prices for
July - December 2005
Gold
Silver
Platinum
Palladium
$454.05
$7.55
$910.20
$208.24
David H. Fell & Company, Inc.
Precious Metals Refiner and Manufacturer of Quality Mill Products
Mailing Address
PO Box 910952
Los Angeles, CA 90091-0952
Daily Markets
Recorded—(213) 627-4653
On the Web—www.dhfco.com
Main Office
6009 Bandini Blvd.
City of Commerce, CA 90040
Toll free (800) 822-1996
(323) 722-9992 • Fax (323) 722-6567
E-mail: [email protected]
Winter 2006 • Vol. 16 • No. 1
Editor: Kevin Haras
E-mail: [email protected]
L.A. Annex
550 S. Hill St., Suite 560
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 623-1868 • Fax (213) 627-2987
DHF Report is a publication
of David H. Fell & Company, Inc.
Please address questions and
comments to our main office.
DHF Report
OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO MINERS
F
or many miners, the winter season is a time for much needed rest. DHF Co. would
like to help you relax by giving you this word search. Enjoy!
Do you want to
know more?
Please fill in and return
this coupon to us.
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Miners’ Word Search
Clues
Gold imbedded in clay, sand, gravel
Placer near the surface
Washing gravel and sands in a pan to detect gold
Wooden troughs used to carry water
Parcel of land a person is legally entitled to mine
Searching for ore
Silica crystal often associated with gold
Combining mercury with another metal
Stealing someone’s claim Hint: Claim “(Word)”
Belt of mineralized rock
Large piece of gold
Refuse material after ore has been crushed
Chemical procedure to determine gold percentage
Iron Pyrite
Neither animal or vegetable
Small rivers
W
ould you like to be on our
mailing list? Our regular customers are automatically included, so
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list. If you have not yet done business
with us, please take a moment to fill in
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Please tell us what you are
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❑ PATTERN SHEET Catalog (5th Ed.)
❑ PATTERN SHEET Projects
PGI’s Platinum Manufacturing
Processing
❑ CD-ROM (8 volumes of PGI’s series)
❑ Magazine format
❑ Please have a salesperson call
Best time: ❑ A.M. ❑ P.M.
Name
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Address
City
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Answers
Placer
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C1005
Savings for New and Current Customers!
Start 2006 with great savings from David H. Fell & Company.
Choose and send one of the following coupons to take advantage of DHF Co.’s great products and services.
DHF Savings Coupon
I want FREE shipping on my next product order*
Company Name ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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* Up to $1,000 of product
One voucher per customer
Offer Expires March 31, 2006
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Mail or fax this voucher with your purchase or refining
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David H. Fell & Company, Inc.
PO Box 910952
Los Angeles CA 90091- 0952
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
Designer Spotlight: James Binnion
J
ames Binnion of
James Binnion
Metalarts has
always loved the beauty
and superb workmanship of Japanese crafts. Coupling this
with his love of engineering and craftsmanship has led him to the study and
exploration of various metals techniques
from Japan. One such technique that
has caught James’ heart is Mokume
Gane.
One of a handful of artists,
James Binnion has completed extensive
research on this ancient technique, and
has developed his own method for making mokume gane using modern equipment and materials. Unlike the Japanese
craftsman of the 1800’s, the lamination
process James has developed involves
clamping many layers between steel
blocks and heating the resulting stack in
a kiln. With carefully controlled conditions the combination of heat, pressure,
and protective atmosphere allow the
layers to fuse but not melt. The resulting fused stack of metal is then forged
and rolled to reduce its thickness.
James creates the unique patterns by
hand carving down through the layers
in the laminated stack and then forging
the carved laminate to flatten it out.
The process of carving and rolling is
repeated many times to create the finished pattern. The patterns
formed in this manner are
almost like a topographic
map, showing the depth of
the carving into the original
laminate.
The majority of James
work is in wedding, engagement and commitment
rings. He also has a complete
line of jewelry including earrings, necklaces, bracelets, cuff links and tie tacks.
“I am one of the few goldsmiths
in the world who works in this
demanding technique. I make all of the
mokume gane laminates and create
these unique patterns and textures by
hand in my studio. With DHF Co. I get
metal that is of a consistently high quality every time. I’m able to focus on the
task of lamination and not worry about
the materials,” said James.
If you would like to
see James fascinating pieces
you may go to
www.mokume-gane.com.
If you would like to learn
to create Mokume you can
sign up for James’ class at
the Revere Jewelry
Academy during April 1721, 2006.
© 2006 David H. Fell & Company, Inc.
David H.Fell & Company, Inc.
R E P O RT
Winter 2006 • Volume 16 • Number 1
WE’LL SUPPLY THE METAL, YOU SUPPLY THE TALENT
Metallurgy 101, Part 2: Gold and Its Alloys
L
ike a cook in a restaurant, precious
metal manufacturers add a touch of
this-and-that to create the variety
of gold colors available to jewelry manufacturers today. There are literally hundreds of recipes for making karat gold
because each one will have a specific
purpose for its creation. Establishing this
purpose (casting, fabrication, etc.) will
determine the percentage of metals added
to fulfill the recipe.
The primary ingredients in karat
gold recipes are copper, nickel, silver,
palladium, and zinc. These metals are
combined to make an alloy, which when
combined with gold, make karat gold.
Below we’ve provided a brief summary
of these primary ingredients and some
common characteristics when casting or
fabricating with them.
we recommend you quench the metal
from a red heat. This is recommended to
maximize ductility. Also red gold has a
slower flow rate because of the copper
content. Therefore we advise that you
create more sprue gates to the pieces.
color is of the gold.
Nickel provides a bright white
color, but it creates quite a challenge when
casting or fabricating. When casting nickel-white gold, be aware that much higher
flask and cast temperatures are required.
To make fabrication easier, nickelwhite alloys should be work hardened
completely. You must also be careful when
bending wire and sheet because this
changes the grain structure, reducing the
grain boundaries, causing invisible cracks.
To assure the metal is as malleable as possible we recommend annealing the piece
by heating it to 615 F for a few seconds.
If you are casting or fabricating the
metal you will need to cool the piece to a
black heat.
In recent years the alloy has created
some havoc for retailers and manufacturers. Last year a task force was created to
develop levels of whiteness for white-gold
that retailers could use to check for quality
and preferred whiteness. Also, because of
European Union jewelry standards, all
nickel alloys must pass a nickel release test
before they can be used for jewelry sold in
Europe.
Copper (Cu)
When copper is added to gold the result is
a rich reddish color. This color of gold,
“Red Gold”, can vary because of the
amount of copper contained in an ounce
of 10K, 14K, 18K and 22K. For instance
Nickel (Ni)
one ounce of 10K “Red Gold” could conWhen nickel is added to gold in sufficient
tain approximately 48% copper, 10% silquantities the result is white gold. This
Silver (Ag)
ver, and 42% gold; while 14K “Red Gold”
alloy serves as the bleaching agent to the
When silver is added to gold in sufficient
could contain approximately 32% copper,
gold. Like the copper, the higher the
quantities the result is a greenish gold.
10% silver, and 58% gold. Given the difnickel content, the brighter the white
Like the other metals, the higher
ference in the copper percentage
the silver content, the greener
between 10K and 14K, one can
the gold is.
see that 10K Red Gold will have
AGTA booth #2201 is SWEET!
Compared to Red and
more redness than that of 14K.
Visit David H. Fell & Company in the Arena to enjoy
White karat gold alloys. Green
Copper makes a beautiful
a delicious, sweet snack while you view our
gold alloys have many casting
karat gold color, but its manunew products and services.
and fabrication benefits. Because
facturing capabilities take a little
continued on page 2
extra care and concern. When
Colored Gold
New Patterns of PATTERN SHEET
casting or fabricating red gold
Refining services