about us:

  Debbie had four years of Art classes in High School, and one of those classes was a jewelry class, including jewelry fabrication and lost wax casting.  She has since continued her education by taking various jewelry classes at the prestigious Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts in San Francisco, CA and Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, NV at Lake Tahoe.  The line drawing techniques she uses for their mountain scene lines are unique and mostly self-taught.  Debbie and Ken share in the preliminary design phases and then Debbie designs the work in wax or fabricates the work in metal. They then utilize the lost wax process of jewelry casting. From there, Ken does most of the preliminary polishing and solder work, and Debbie sets the stones and puts on a final polish. Ken is the retailer at the gallery. Working together, they complement each others’ talents. They also have shared their love of gold mining...see the accompanying story!

Ken & Debbie in 1995 at their home

jewelry studio in Truckee, California

A personal History:  Ken & Debbie mining for gold

Everyone’s favorite picture; mining partner and Debbie’s brother Jim and Precious the burro with Debbie and Ken in 1981

    Since 1965 when Ken was 13, he has been going to what was then his grandfather’s mining claim in what is now the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area in Northwestern California.  His grandfather purchased the original claim in 1934 for $350.00, which included a cabin, shed and outhouse on 20 acres.

    Ken & Debbie met in December of 1976 and were married in August of 1979, just upriver from the cabin. They started dredge mining for gold that summer along with Debbie’s brother, Jim. Ken really loved the back-to-the-land lifestyle of living on the river and in the wilderness, and he longed for a way to be there full-time.  This really fit the bill - Jim had used a dredge before, so they all put their funds together, bought a gold dredge and started mining. “We’re going to be rich!!!” they all thought out-loud as Debbie recalls, it was so exciting.  Ken and Jim, two years previous, had staked mining claims above and below Ken’s family mining claim that has a cabin and barn ‘blacksmith shop’ on it built in the 1880’s.                                                

These claims are rich in mining history.  Forty-some years later, Ken and Debbie continue mining on these claims...they have even patented the original family mining claim.

    With the gold they find, Debbie and Ken handcraft their beautiful, award-winning jewelry creations in gold or silver. They also incorporate rare Gold in Quartz and other precious and semi-precious gems into their original design work. A purchase from The Gold Rush is truly an investment in living history.

Our pets and beasts of burden

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