Happy 39th Birthday NCPR!

I was listening to our local public radio station (North Country Public Radio) during their pledge drive today while making the custom order ruby earrings mentioned in the post below .. public radio is on most days - all day- around here .. and it occurred to me that another pair of ruby earrings would be perfect for a pledge donation. Especially since today, March 7, is NCPR's 39th birthday!

I went back and found the receipt for these stones .. I got them from an importer of precious and semi-precious stones in New York City (they sell strictly to the "trade"). I always try to jot down as much information as I can on these kinds of purchases, and my notes for the ruby strand says only: "hand cut, hand faceted graduated ovals". What this means is that they're rough cut .. one can easily tell the difference between hand and machine faceted stones. I have no idea how someone would "hand facet" a stone, but when you look at all the individual stones in this strand, discounting the "graduated" aspect, they do differ in girth and shape somewhat. But, while I love those gorgeous machine-faceted stones, these have an earthy quality to them .. more, I dunno ... organic.

I put these earrings on 14k leverbacks instead of posts, like the special order below, because they're a bit larger stones than the others .. and while I still struggled with getting the pair to stop moving (or to both face full front) for a decent photo, I think I actually got a better picture this time! Or maybe not ; ) I dunno. Anyway, comes with a nice gift box to the winner of the pledge value NCPR sets for them.

So NCPR .. these are for you! Happy Birthday .. and many more!!