Black Hills gold really gets the blood pumping in Clara Bennett, Ida Barnes and Tara Sanchez of Riverside, California. This unique gold is usually crafted into traditional designs that features yellow, rose and green gold molded into leaves and grape clusters.
The Black Hills Goldrush
The Black Hills were part of the Sioux reservation. When gold was discovered there, people like Fred Manuel, F.L. Thorpe, Potato Creek Johnny, E.O. Lampinen, Ivan Landstrom and Samuel Fields rushed there, disregarding the treaty with the Sioux. The Black Hills Goldrush boom really started in 1874. At first, the gold miners found loose gold in the dirt and in the riverbeds that is known as placer gold, or gold that has eroded from somewhere else. Places like Custer and Ruby Basin rapidly became small cities. There were individuals who believed there had to be a mother lode went on a search for the location of the vein of gold running through the rock, and when they found it, they named the resulting mine the ?Homestake.? The Homestake mine produced an unbelievable amount of gold? perhaps even ten percent of the world?s gold supply. It ultimately closed in 2001.
The Unique Production of Black Hills Gold
The fashioning of Black Hills gold is as peculiar as its history. Utilizing bars of pure 24 karat gold, silver and copper, the only criteria for the resulting work to be called ?Black Hills Gold? is that the ring or bracelet be made in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The materials can be mined anywhere - even Afghanistan, Chad or Vanuatu.
The gold is united with copper to compose the 12 karat rose gold, and silver is compounded with the gold to produce the 12 karat green gold. The resulting colors of gold are then rolled to varying thicknesses to be made into different strains of jewelry. Each discrete piece is stamped from the thin sheet using dies. The discrete pieces are then primed to made into earrings using pre-cast bases.
The bases are first burnished, either by hand or tumbling. When the bases are polished to a nice shine, the individual parts are either hand-soldered onto the base or they are attached in a soldering oven with several other pieces at the same time. After soldering, the pieces are dipped into a mild acid bath before going through inspection to see if they meet the precise standards for Black Hills gold. When a piece passes inspection, it is electroplated with 24 karat gold. A process called wriggling is then employed to remove the electroplated gold from the rose and green colored parts. This makes a textured or frosty surface to the jewelry. Every leaf vein is then hand engraved so it catches the light.
After another round of shining, the finished piece is ready for use. If it needs a gemstone it is sent to the stone setter for mounting.
Traditional Styles
The traditional variety of Black Hills gold jewelry was made by French goldsmith, Henri LeBeau in the late 1800s. He stated he had dreamed of the pattern when he passed out from thirst and starvation. His designis a mixture of green and rose colored grape leaves, along with grapes and gold vines. Since he first designed this, the grape leaf design has adorned pendants, rings, bracelets and even watch bands in varying designs. It is such a memorable design that one only has to get a glimpse of it to see that it is a Black Hills gold design.
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