|
Though it creates custom rings, earrings, and necklaces, global luxury jeweler Pandora Jewelry is most widely known for its eponymous custom charm bracelets. Established in Denmark in the early 1980's, the company was initially a wholesale designer and distributor. But it entered the retail market in 2000, with its introduction of a unique line of customized charm bracelets. Originally composed of a patented, threaded sterling silver bracelet, a large variety of charms composed of precious metals, precious and semi-precious stones and other baubles can be looped to the bracelet to create - in the words of the company - "a unique and personal style." The company has since introduced 14 and 18 karat gold threaded bracelets and charms to augment the silver line. The simple interchangeability design allows charms to be easily added, subtracted and rearranged at the owner's whim; and allows them to move freely along the thread instead of being permanently fixed. Today, women all over the world enjoy creating unique Pandora charm bracelet and necklace arrangements for different engagements, environments and moods. Based on enthusiastic market acceptance of these bracelets, Pandora Jewelry created sterling silver, 14 and 18 karat charm necklaces a few years later that mirrored is bracelets. They have also been warmly received. The company's slogan for both product lines remains the same from when the bracelet was introduced 14 years ago, "Make your own individual Pandora Statement." These charms commemorate the memorable events of the wearer: such as births, personal and social accomplishments, and other important milestones in their, and their families', lives. Since establishing its charm product line, Pandora Jewelry has created over 800 charms, though a number of them were "retired" several years after their introduction. This makes many of them collectables. Today, there is a thriving Pandora charm subculture; with many retired charms being sold online, often for prices that are higher than the original. As expected, the popularity of this product line, coupled with high resale values for many retired charms, has produced a large number of counterfeit items of the most popular items that carry a strong demand. Although Pandora Jewelry diligently makes certain its products are easy to identify, unwary consumers often have difficulty understanding which aftermarket items are genuine, and which are not. Unique markings are used to separate real Pandora products from copies, whose marks might appear similar. And though there are no guarantees, the first identifier is Pandora's "makers mark" stamp of authenticity. Makers mark is a unique U.S. jeweler term that refers to the origin of the piece. Pandora's is the letters "ALE." It stands for the father of Pandora's founder (Per Enevoldsen) Algot. Another way to determine if their products are genuine is to look for the "quality mark" of the jewelry or charm. It is an indicator of the metal's purity. Sterling silver is stamped with a capital "S," followed by its purity ("S93" means 93 percent silver). Gold is quality marked the same way ("G585" - 14 karat, 58.5 percent pure gold: "G750" - 18 karat, 75 percent pure gold). Since June 2011, the quality marks of Pandora jewelry contain both numbers and letters. Before that date, their quality marks only contained numbers. Looking for the latest Pandora jewelry, Midland, MI? We have the latest charms and some hard to find classics. For more information please visit our website at http://www.hermanhiss.net.
Related Articles -
pandora, jewelry, midland, mi,
|
