topic Re: Where is America West Jewelry made? in Jewelry

Where is America West Jewelry made?

Bellini13 — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 22:21:24 GMT

I noticed the American West Jewelry says “designed” in New Mexico but it does not say made in the U S . Now I’m wondering where manufactured.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

patbz — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 22:22:48 GMT

The company said their jewelry is now made in India.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

Bellini13 — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 22:32:48 GMT

@patbz. Thank you.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

AuntMame — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 01:08:09 GMT

@patbz I think the silver portions have probably been cast in India for a while, with the final assembly of pieces done in New Mexico so they could still claim the U.S.-made label. The silver in some of the American West pieces I've bought in the past year hasn't been as good as the silver in older pieces. It turns dark yellow and heavily tarnishes very quickly even when properly stored. Something off in the alloy. India-made silver jewelry often does that. Older pieces I have from the brand never did that. They remain sparkling for years.

The company has been forthright about the fact that they've bought their stones and beads from overseas for years because there aren't any stone-cutters left in the U.S.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

phoenixbrd — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 10:26:00 GMT

They have sold their company. I will be happy with past purchases or purchasing still available old stock.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

hwhited — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 23:32:49 GMT

I guess QVC computer has now been program for American West jewelry to be classified as "imported". This is a ring I purchased last year:

J415908

Designed in New Mexico, USA
Imported

Fritz's owl

Designed and crafted in the USA

I am also not interested in purchasing "out sourced" American Western/Native American jewelry.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

alice87 — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 00:29:01 GMT

It is sad, I will keep looking, but I am not inclinced to continue to buy it if is not made in USA. The whole atrractiveness to line to me was the fact it was made in USA.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

Marciirene — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 02:06:00 GMT

@hwhited. I agree with you. I won't be buying any more American West. JTV's line is all composite turquoise and made in the Philippines. I won't buy that either.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

Venezia — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 02:24:12 GMT

I have a lot of older American West jewelry and it's all good quality.

However, I won't be buying anymore. I knew when they said that QVC was taking over the brand and would have it manufactured by an "established" company (or something like that) that it would be moved overseas.

Seeing it presented on the 4th of July shows seems rather hollow to me.

(Personally, I think Carolyn should've stuck with her and Bill's original intention to retire and close the company.)

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

AuntMame — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 02:42:18 GMT

I see that most of the inventory of America West jewelry is now described as "Imported" including several pieces I've purchased in the past few months. Wonder if they intentionally waited until after July 4th to make that change in the descriptions.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

hwhited — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 04:35:57 GMT

I just went back furture to a purchase I made July 2022, the dragon fly enchancer. imported.

I am wondering if it wasn't easier to just label EVERYTHING as imported in the computers data base instead of picking out older jewelry?

Again Fritz's doesn't have the imported label.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

hwhited — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 04:58:59 GMT

So far I am not seeing a country of origin imprinted somewhere if they are truely imported, ie Joan Rivers always has the word China on the underside of her bee pins.

These new items should have India on them somewhere.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

beach-mom — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 05:12:46 GMT

I watch or DVR every show Carolyn does. She said she is going to continue designing the jewelry. I'm fine with it being manufactured elsewhere, as long as she is the designer.

If I like it I will buy it! I have plenty of authentic pieces going back to when I was a child.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

AuntMame — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 05:51:36 GMT

@hwhited wrote:
So far I am not seeing a country of origin imprinted somewhere if they are truely imported, ie Joan Rivers always has the word China on the underside of her bee pins.

These new items should have India on them somewhere.

Until recently India didn't have any laws requiring mandatory hallmarking of jewelry. That made it easy for manufacturers to make knock-offs of American Indian jewelry in India. India also didn't have any laws requiring hallmarking of metal content. For instance you often find on ebay and etsy India-made jewelry marked 925 but it's not actually sterling, and some sellers acknowledge that. It's also never stamped "India."

About two years ago India did pass laws implementing mandatory jewelry hallmarking for gold and sterling. But I don't think the laws are nationwide and they exempt small manufacturers. And whether India has the capacity to enforce hallmarking is another issue.

Also India's jewelry hallmarks are mostly numbers and letters, signifying the jeweler's mark, the date of manufacturer, and the Bureau of Indian Standards logo. Nothing that explicitly states made in "India."

Many other countries don't require hallmarks on jewelry.

I guess the bottom line is that the new America West jewelry might not have any country hallmark on it. We'll only know that it is imported from the QVC description.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

songbird — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 11:08:15 GMT

By coincidence, Gem Shopping had a Native American show also. Theirs were authentic. They were advertised as well. They were (for the most part) masculine as men wore them much more then women were even allowed to wear. They were made by Naive Americans. The metal was silver. But many pieces were 50 grams up. Some pieces were 150 grams. Obviously for men to wear. So they were kind of expensive, but not remotely what gold is in price. I think they most expensive as in the $4,000-5,000 range. Because I dislike that kind of jewelry, I didn't watch very long. Some were quite old as the condition of the silver showed. Even though they polish up estate pieces.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

Venezia — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 14:20:19 GMT

@patbz wrote:
The company said their jewelry is now made in India.

@patbz - Where did you see this announcement? I've looked on their website and on here and can't find anything referencing where it's now made.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

Venezia — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 14:23:27 GMT

As to jewelry made in India - I collected a lot of Nicky Butler jewelry and he had it made in India from the start. He would always show photos and videos from the craftsmen he worked with.

The difference to me is that Nicky was hands on; he spent a lot of time in India and he controlled the design and manufacture. The pieces I have from his line are beautiful even years on.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

depglass — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 14:55:54 GMT

Rats, rats, rats. I bought a "farewell" piece and just checked the description. Imported. Now it's truly farewell forever.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

patbz — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 15:51:14 GMT

A company rep sent an announcement to a Sincerely American West users group, of which I'm A member, last week.

Re: Where is America West Jewelry made?

Venezia — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 16:10:36 GMT

Thank you, @patbz . I suppose QVC had something to do with Carolyn and Bill not posting that information directly on their website. They were probably afraid it would hurt future sales.