by Brittney Wright
After you’ve watched your last sunset over the water and ordered your last Mad Martha’s ice cream cone, you’ll most likely feel those inevitable end of vacation blues start to creep in. You can’t stay forever, but what if you could bring a piece of Martha’s Vineyard home with you?
Before you board your ferry home, visit the harbor-side Dockside Jewelers to choose from an incredible selection of island-related pieces that allow you to bring that piece of Martha’s Vineyard home with you. From island wampum jewelry to hand-made silver or gold island charms, This Week spoke with professional jeweler Steve Davidian about his incredible selection of island treasures.
This Week: What do you consider Dockside Jewelers’ specialty to be?
Steve Davidian: Friendly service, island charms, island jewelry, fair prices, and no pressure shopping. I make all of my island charms, and the other charms I go to different shows, even in different countries, to find at the best price.
TW: How do you make the island charms?
SD: Well luckily you only have to make one, and then you cast it. You make an original charm, then make a mold of it, and then you cast it. You either carve them or use an acid etching process. The island charms I carved, including charms of the [Ocean Park] gazebo and the tabernacle [in Trinity Park].
TW: What is the one item you can’t leave Dockside Jewelers without?
SD: It depends what people are looking for, there’s so much in here! Of course the island charms sell the best, along with the island-related jewelry.
TW: You do offer engagement and wedding rings, heard any cool engagement or wedding stories?
SD: I hear all sorts of stories. Sad stories, happy stories… I’ve got people who come in and need wedding bands the day before their weddings. You also hear about people who get their houses broken into, and steal all their jewelry, so I hear replacements stories too. It’s sort of like being a bartender, you hear a lot of people’s stories who stay to talk!
TW: What’s the best thing about being a professional jeweler?
SD: It’s something you can do forever. It’s a ‘want’ business, it makes people happy to leave the store. They get a gift for themselves, for somebody else. People go to mechanics because they have to, they go to the dentist because they have to, but they come here because they want to. And it makes me happy to be here everyday.
TW: What makes Dockside Jewelers different than any other island jeweler?
SD: The variety and the selection, and keeping the prices fair. We try to be as helpful as possible, and if people want something we try to have everything they could think of wanting.
