Year: 2012

Mandeville Jewelers

Anne Dale has been known for her jewelry creations, especially benefiting local charities and most recently for the discovery of Louisiana’s gemstone, LaPearlite®.

This Mandeville Jewelers latest venture, however, have made her creations more affordable and have captured the dichotomy of the south Louisiana culture, where one goes to a crawfish boil in the afternoon and a formal Mardi Gras ball in the evening. It’s called Second Line jewelry.

Made of 316L stainless steel, the highest grade of stainless steel available and used in the medical profession, the new creations fill a void the Mandeville jewelers business for a lesser-priced line.

The Second Line collection features four collections: I Love New Orleans, Who Dat, Saints (which is licensed by the NFL) and A Way-of-Life. The fleur de lis collection is included in the I love New Orleans category and jewelry showcasing the seafood industry, such as the shrimp boot jewelry and oysters, are in the way of life category. The new line offers many opportunities, including traveling to seafood festivals and shows. The use of the new metal also has several advantages, including the fact that they are hypoallergenic, being of the same type of metal used for pins and implants in the medical profession. The highly polished items are indicative of silver, but without the price tag. It’s also harder and less likely to bend.

Men’s gifts includes money clips, cuff links and key chains while women can revel in necklaces, earrings, anklets and bracelets.

Sunday, December 2, 2012 By Debbie Glover St. Tammany News

Classy oyster shells may be bumping the agate as the state’s official gemstone. But all would not be lost for agate found in Louisiana gravel, a legislative committee decided Wednesday. It would be the state’s newly designated official mineral.

The House Judiciary Committee approved House Bill 246 by Rep. Scott Simon, R-Abita Springs, sending it forward for more debate.

The agate would be replaced as the official gemstone by the cabochon-cut gemstone, which Simon said is derived from the shell of a species of oyster found off the Louisiana coast.

Simon’s bill originally sought to designate LaPearlite as the state gemstone, but he said that is a trademarked name and cannot be used. He amended the bill to designate the specific mollusk shell — from the species of Crassostrea virginica — for the honor.

Anne Dale, a gemologist who lives in the Mandeville portion of Simon’s district, said that she was impressed by the beauty of the oyster shell as a material to make jewelry.

“This could be a big positive for our seafood industry” at a time when the industry is still hurting nationally, Simon said. He pointed out that during the past decade, “the seafood industry has suffered from the perfect storm,” including several hurricanes, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and river water being diverted from the Bonnet Carre and Morganza spillways to relieve Mississippi River flooding.