Chris and Allison’s 5th wedding anniversary was coming up. Chris came into our store about a month before with an idea of what to buy for Allison. [FYI, you can come in months ahead or on the actual day of an event, and we'll still have your back!] Chris’s wanted a diamond wedding band to add to and stack up next to Allison’s original band. I showed Chris what we had in stock and what we could create for him. We had a ring that fit the bill right there in the store. I just needed Allison’s finger size. [Yes, I know I should have a data base with customers' pertinent information, but instead ..read more

Ferdinand Jewelers is OFFICIALLY REOPENING THIS TUESDAY, MAY 19th for sales, repairs and pickups! Our hours remain the same as before the pandemic: Tuesday through Friday 10:00-5:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00. We are closed on Sundays and Mondays. As per the State mandate, our services will be rendered via curbside and parking lot pickup only at this time. Please call our store at 908-665-2250 to make any arrangements or let us know you are in our parking lot. You can either come to our door or we'll come to your car. We plan on bending over backwards and doing our best to make this work for everyo ..read more

Welcome to Chris Talk. I plan on sharing interesting tidbits about jewelry and the industry as well as some of my favorite jewelry picks of the day. My first “Pick Of The Day” today is a wonderful pair of Victorian earrings from the late 1800s. The earrings are 14kt white gold and measure about an inch and a half in overall length. The hand engraving around the drop is so sweet. My personal favorite kind of jewelry is something I can wear with either blue jeans or a little black dress. Even after 130 years, these earrings are perfect... although the dress code in Victorian times was certainly ..read more

Before the holidays, a couple came in asking if we could recreate a cherished sapphire and diamond cross the wife had lost. They traveled all the way from Pennsylvania because nobody could help them locally and they recalled, 25 years ago when they lived in New Jersey, how accommodating Ferdinand Jewelers had been. Of course, we accepted the challenge and went straight to work building the cross together. The couple described the cross and Bill sketched out an intricate design composed of 12 sapphires, 12 diamonds and a 13th diamond in the center. Along the bars would lay 12 princess cut sapp ..read more

As a family jeweler serving a community for nearly 40 years, we are privileged to share many beautiful stories while building lifelong relationships with our customers. Here’s Rachael's story. Pictured above is Rachael’s mother Wendy on her first Mother's Day 23 years ago! Rachael is a quadruplet, one of two girls and two boys. They are an ER nurse, a social worker, an electrician, and a tool and die machinist. All are healthy, full grown and amazing young people who I have watched grow up from birth as the family jeweler. Rachael’s story: Chris and I met in February 2021 on the dating app Hi ..read more

I'm handing this Diamond Month blog over to my partner in marriage and business, Bill, as he is our diamond expert. Take it Bill! When a client comes in for a diamond ring, I sit them down and we go over what is known in the jewelry industry as the 4 Cs - cut, color, clarity, and carat weight. These are the factors that come together to determine a diamond’s overall quality. But here at Ferdinand Jewelers, we add a 5th C… cost. Because a ring’s 4 Cs cannot be determined without careful attention to the budget! We want you to be “over the moon” when you put that ring on your finger or your part ..read more

Today, I’ve invited guest blogger Bill Ferdinand to talk about rhodium. Yup! The topic is rhodium and it’s a hot topic these days, so stay with us. You all know Bill – my partner in biz, in marriage, and in the running of our foundation, Operation Bling… …shameless plug, purchase your Operation Bling 2021 Mystery Box and attend the Reveal Party in-person or virtually on Nov 5! Back to Rhodium. Take it Bill! Resizing rings is a service Ferdinand Jewelers likes to offer to our clients with little fanfare and little expense. It’s like replacing a watch battery or cleaning jewelry (which brings u ..read more

A customer came in the other day with a watch that had stopped working many years ago and asked if we could rejuvenate it. We are finding during COVID times that more people are finding keepsakes stashed away long ago and asking us to bring them back to life. Why is that? Comfort "food" during difficult times? Or does hunkering down at home give us more time to clean out those closets? I’ll do some noodling and get back to you in another blog. The watch was a Bercona wristwatch which, in the customer’s words, was “not a valuable piece. But it has great sentimental value. It was a gift from my ..read more

We are so happy to be allowed to reopen our store, Ferdinand Jewelers, this past week after the mandated closing of non-essential businesses! But at the same time, we were fraught with anxiety. The feelings surprised me and reminded of worries I had as a grade school student returning to school after summer vacation. “Will my new teacher be nice?” “Will my friends be in my class?” “Why do we have to go a full day on the first day?” “What will my new routine be like?” In reality, the new routine was, back then and now, my biggest worry. Our COVID-19 routine is curbside pickup at our door or in ..read more