The Classifieds: Truly epic, real-life jewelcrafter creates Horde pendant
by Michael Gray 
Jun 1st 2011 at 8:00PM
Reader Mike wrote in with this following tale of epic jewelcrafting:
We wanted a fine piece of jewelery that would reflect on who we were. Since our entire family played WoW and almost all of our friends were part of or met in game we knew the theme had to be Horde. I went to a family friend (master jeweler) and gave him a picture of the horde emblem then picked out an exquisite museum grade 4 ct. trillion cut Tanzanite. The detail work and setting was left up to Nick(jeweler and friend). After several weeks of research and design Nick showed me what the piece would look like on his 3D software and we went forward. Finally Nick called for us to see our creation. Nick is a third generation master jeweler with extended family also being jewel crafters. We were awe struck when he unveiled the pendant.
The main structure has a full ounce of white gold making up the Horde emblem, and bringing the details even larger than life was a carat of beautiful diamond pave'(which Nick sent off for his uncle to do as that is his specialty). Finally in the center of the emblem lay an amazingly brilliant fiery Tanzanite.
One thing I commented to Nick about was that the Horde emblem was upside down, he explained that he had tried everything but due to the weight and shape it kept flipping over. He opted to hang the pendent this way rather than modify the piece. He was wise, this is very elegant and worthy of its heritage. btw it was also worthy of its price tag...almost 10k at the time.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
dj.clayden Jun 1st 2011 8:14PM
Just wow.
I hope Nick got a skill-up for that.
Candina@WH Jun 2nd 2011 8:25AM
Sadly, no. All of his Tanzanite recipes were green. Now he is off to mine several more tons of Unobtainium......
Persephanie Jun 1st 2011 8:26PM
That necklace is nice but... Why a blue stone in the middle? blue is alliance colors. Why not a ruby or garnet? Really nice, but the whole blue thing just throws me off. Not to mention the fact that it is upside down. Its almost like the upside down was intentional, like the JC was actually secretly alliance and tried to sabotage the idea for the pendant. Just joking of course but its kinda funny.
Draol Jun 1st 2011 8:38PM
Maybe they just needed more Hit Rating.
Rubitard Jun 1st 2011 9:10PM
Agreed. What little OCD I have is being tweaked by this otherwise fascinating piece of jewelry.
Katherine Jun 1st 2011 9:14PM
Because tanzanite is awesome, duh. It's not like they just put a sapphire in there for no good reason.
gewalt Jun 1st 2011 9:40PM
I'm in shock that someone paid 10k to have something made wrong.
cannot fathom.
Noyou Jun 1st 2011 11:51PM
It is a very nice piece but I must say it really doesn't look a lot like a horde symbol. I would have thought as someone as die hard as the OP was, once it was flipped upside down he would have scrapped it. The stone color should have been red (and diamond shaped). The thing that bothers me most is the horde symbol is not symmetrical. This is. I play alliance and I didn't spend time or money on this. It is pretty cool but to use all those resources because you want to reflect something then have it come out like that is just kind of a shame. It almost looks like someone got a picture of something and made up the story to be honest.
Skyrei Jun 2nd 2011 2:09AM
The jewelery is beautiful!
Its shape makes me want to puke.
Skyrei Jun 2nd 2011 2:10AM
Oops. One too many e's.
Sythe Jun 2nd 2011 6:47AM
I'm going to have to agree with the various other comments, if I was going to pay that sort of money for something, I wouldn't except the wrong colour or it being upside down.
Of course the other alternative is that this is a family that 10k means very little to .
Tribunal Jun 2nd 2011 11:31AM
Tanzanite is more affordable and very popular/very sold especially in the Caribbean is probably part of it. You can actually get stones that large (and much larger) at a reasonable rate if you're smart. They are being over-priced due to popularity a lot though.
You could get a lab ruby, but lab rubies are not the greatest looking at times, they tend to skew pink (as do low-grade natural rubies).
Red stones aren't as popular in general, as well.
That being said, I hope a decent portion of that 10k was the pave and just the *custom* price tag, because that stone alone isn't worth that, nice as it is.
Teni Jun 2nd 2011 3:19PM
@Persephanie -- Those were my thoughts exactly! I mean, if you wanted a star-shaped pendant but the crafter turned it upside down, some people would say that was a pentagram. Can you imagine what people would think if a person wore a Christian cross... upside down? Eek! If the insignia doesn't balance right, then do something besides hang it upside down. It's like an effigy. Sheesh.
But most of all, that using blue was completely wrong. As a died-in-the-wool Horde player, I'd be pretty embarrassed to wear that. It's like getting a tattoo that said "FOR THE HOARD!" or something.
$10,000? That hurts. I agree with others who have joked that the jeweler is actually an Alliance player.
avahnel Jun 1st 2011 8:42PM
I would have wanted a garnet or a ruby I think, just because the Horde "color" is red. But it is stunning :D
astianax Jun 1st 2011 8:43PM
It is nice and all but if I was going to pay 10K for a necklace it better look right. The fact that it's upside down and as someone said is alliance colors really throws it off. Now it just looks like a really gaudy necklace.
ISA Jun 1st 2011 10:37PM
Its gaudy because its yet another fan made work featuring the over used horde symbol.
Eirik Jun 2nd 2011 2:12PM
Note that it was 10k for the friend of the jeweler. I'm betting that it would cost significantly more for, say, one of us to have one constructed. (And insured and shipped, yadda yadda)
Ametrine Jun 1st 2011 9:03PM
Epic piece... Bonus points for using Tanzanite - it's one of the rarest gems in the world.
shadcroly Jun 1st 2011 10:15PM
... Yeah. I can see how that would jump the price up.
Scott Jun 1st 2011 9:14PM
Fabulous piece of jewelry, and a nice tale, but one glaring question in my mind:
WHY was the piece commissioned? Was it a gift? A Commemorative of some sort? Who is wearing it (or is it just locked up in some safe)? And is it ever worn in public?
And what about Naomi?