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About Us
All American Lapidary grew out of personal love of custom jewelry that Steve Booth
the owner has carried in his heart for as long as he can remember...Perhaps it is
the power of his birthstone, turquoise, that drove him to directly go to mines and mining locations.
He had always been involved in the crafting process.
Growing up in the summers in Iowa with his Grandmother Hortense Butler Heywood with
thousands of volumes of books to dream through. Or perhaps it was those tales of
folk stories that had smith's forging and hammering common things into beautiful jewelry.
It took more than a 1001 nights to create this website but the dream took place
slowly in a boys heart. Who grew up in a family that believed in fairy tales.
This belief in craft and those that create with their own hands created the vision for this site.
For others to wear and create led Steve to find many wonderful people that found or
found others that dug the earth and found the riches that only the romantics could understand.
His early travels lead to the four corners. Not of the globe but the area know as four corners.
Where turquoise was the tears of the gods. Where fine rugs were woven on clean dirt floors of hogans.
This blending of reality and the Persian fairytales was the road that keep him awake and traveling for years.
At one point to supply his jewelry stores. Later as a learning experience that led to
Bisbee, Morenche, Kingman, Number 8, Landers Blue, Blue Gem and also the trading stores that
sold to the craftsmen that made the southwestern jewelry. The indigenous peoples of the
southwest desert. Even their descendants had left pottery and petroglyphs as makers and
proof of the love of design and communication that these and all indigenous people had.
The traders were a central part of the history of how jewelry, and art in general was
facilitated by trading bartering collection and sale of component parts. Stone, shell,
leather, feather and seeds all play a central role in the creation.
Starting this journey in the 60"s had it's own story. Although I must admit many of the
facts were changed omitted or completely forgotten by the sheer thrill of being in the
middle of a craft's movement.
Before the sixties most of the component parts were European or from the East coast
jewelry suppliers. This is an important consideration in understanding the southwestern crafts movement.
One of the largest supplier of jewelry parts looked more like a subterranean car parts store than the huge retailer and wholesaler of today.
Magazines and the print media were just starting to feature handmade southwestern jewelry.
Instead of tiny parts kickpressed out there were hand forged parts or sawn parts.
The turquoise of this period was wonderful. But the highest quality which I now call
museum quality
was still rare and almost nonexistent. This site is for all indigenous people's to have the ability
find the "finest of he fine", without affiliations to organizations, membership to museums, and not
limited to the pretenders to the throne.
I welcome all to shop and enjoy my designs and the wonderful
specimens that are still rarely for sale today. Allamericanlapidary.com is the cyber answer to where
can I find that piece with zat. Now you can look to your own jewelry as you set or buy our gems and jewels we can all be those wonderful visions of yesterday's mythology and wear handmade jewelry just like the
characters in 1001 nights.
Thanks for visiting us come again soon.
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