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Local Jewelry Store Designer - Louisiana Artist Award

Louisiana Artist Award

Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne with jewelry artist Anne Dale

Mandeville jewelry designer Anne Dale receives Louisiana Artist Award from Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne Office of Cultural Development.

The event was at the Louisiana State Museum in Baton Rouge also in attendance was Gaye Hamilton of the Louisiana Cultural Economy Initiative Program Manager and Aimee Smallwood CEO Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation.

New Orleans based jeweler Anne Dale discovered a new gemstone called LaPearlite® which is derived from Louisiana oysters.

Louisiana State Representative Scott Simon authored a bill that would make the material the new Official Louisiana State Gemstone in 2011.

Mandeville Jeweler Washington

Antonio Bonanno, Anne Dale, Antoinette Matlins (Bonanno’s daughter) Tom and Dianna Chatham

In the 1985 a chance encounter at a jewelry trade show would have Anne Dale leave her beloved New Orleans relocating to Washington DC to study the science of gemstones.

She would do an apprenticeship under world renowned gemologist Antonio Bonanno working in his lab (during the day) while attending the Columbia School of Gemology at night.

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from the December 2011 Issue - The Jewelry Appraiser -
A Publication of The National Association of Jewelry Appraisers

To NAJA Jewelry Appraiser

Jewelry Appraiser

I have great pleasure in supporting the proposal, that lapidary work, utilising the shell derived from the Crassostrea Virginica Mollusc shell, has every right to the descriptive term “gemstone”, and its proposed gemstone name: LaPearlite, a well conceived idea.

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