St Thomas Jewelry: Larimar

[Ronn452]

Greetings All!

 

Recently surfing the net, I found jewelry crafted with a stone only found in the Caribbean; Larimar. It appears to be shades of blue and white. My question, Does anyone have knowledge of it's availability in St. Thomas? If so, where and are the prices varied from shop to shop. It appears not to be expensive; but it looks to be colors reflective of the Caribbean sea. Any information would be greatly appreciate.

 

Thanks!

 

Captain Ronn

[Ms411]

Captain Ronn, larimar is a stone found only on the island of the Dominican Republic, and since St Thomas is the jewelry capital of the Caribbean, some stores offer larimar, mostly set in sterling silver, for purchase.

 

Since each stone is visibly different, the blue color varies from stone to stone, with some stones kind of green (and not as attractive), and some stones having some bits of a dark red color in addition to the white.

 

Prices for a small pendant on sterling silver chain can start at around $20 at stores like Captain's Corner, and go to a few hundred for necklaces/bracelets with multiple, large stones. For men, sometimes the stores may have a natural polished stone on a black cord, but those come rarely, and are probably around $20, too.

 

You can find larimar in earrings, necklaces, link bracelets, and they're also very popular in Caribbean hook bracelets.

 

Larimar is nice jewelry that adds color without being too "blingy," I think.

[Ronn452]

MS411,

 

Thank you for the information. My wife and I cruised the eastern Caribbean on our honeymoon on the Sun Viking (boy, that dates us). We were hooked and planned to cruise regularly. As the years rolled by and we raised four sons, the cruises never materialized. One Christmas, I gave my wife a Blue Topaz ring that matched the color of the shallow waters of the Caribbean. While not the most expensive jewelry she now owns, it is one of her favorites.

 

Our sons are all adults now and we resumed our cruises about eight years ago. I saw this stone and thought it might be something to mark our "new" life of cruising. We dive and she loves it when we venture upon a sea turtle. If I can find a pendant that has a sea turtle with a Larimar shell, I'll definitely purchase it.

 

Again, thank you for your information.

 

Captain Ronn

[Ronn452]

MS411,

 

Thank you for the information. My wife and I cruised the eastern Caribbean on our honeymoon on the Sun Viking (boy, that dates us). We were hooked and planned to cruise regularly. As the years rolled by and we raised four sons, the cruises never materialized. One Christmas, I gave my wife a Blue Topaz ring that matched the color of the shallow waters of the Caribbean. While not the most expensive jewelry she now owns, it is one of her favorites.

 

Our sons are all adults now and we resumed our cruises about eight years ago. I saw this stone and thought it might be something to mark our "new" life of cruising. We dive and she loves it when we venture upon a sea turtle. If I can find a pendant that has a sea turtle with a Larimar shell, I'll definitely purchase it.

 

Again, thank you for your information.

 

Captain Ronn

[Irish708]

I shopped around and got some lovely pieces at the open air market last week, and the prices were considerably cheaper than the stores I looked at. I will say, I had to look, as some of the vendors had very poor quality of stones. I love my jewelry, and a friend also bought from the same vendor I did, and was happy with her purchases.

[FishPunkin]

When in the Domincan Republic last year, I bought a pair of larimar earrings and a necklace set in silver. Very inexpensive stone. Very unique. Mine is a light blue -- looks good with jeans. I think I paid about $15 for the earrings and about $10 for the necklace. I even bought a pendant for my stepmother who watched the kids while we were gone -- $6 I think. The store gave me a card about the stone. I'll have to see if I can find it and scan in a pic of my jewelry.

[K8sMom]

I purchased earrings and a pendant with a large larimar stone set in silver on our stop in St. Thomas in August and a smaller pendant and earrings for my daughter. I bought them at the Tradewinds Shop on the waterfront. They have a web site - http://www.thetradewindsshop.com - if you want to see the type of pieces they have and the prices. The pendant was $155 and the earrings were $45. At that thme they were having a sale of 15 or 20% off so the cost was a bit less. I really like the pieces I bought and plan to purchase a bracelet when I am in St. T. in December.

 

They had a few pieces set in gold, but most were in silver.

 

Most of the pieces at the open air market had lighter colored stones that I did not like as well as the more vibrant colored stones in the jewelry sold in the stores.

[winemistress45]

Did anyone read that this is supposed to be a healing stone?

 

I was wondering what the history is behind this.

[Ms411]

I've heard stories about larimar being a healing stone. If I can find the story again, I'll post it.

 

I'm glad the poster mentioned the light colors found in some of the open markets. Those are generally the ones the stores reject, because the stores prefer a certain look and quality, because the store's reputation is based on what they sell. It pays to look around.

 

The Tradewinds Store has a good selection of larger pieces, whereas Captain's Corner has more small pieces, and both stores carry excellent quality.

 

For larimar with sea turtle - that's not easily found, but I'll look around. When are you coming?????

[Ronn452]

Ms411,

 

Sorry for the delay in responding, I have been TDY for the past few days and without my laptop.

 

We will be in St. Thomas on either the 23rd or 24th of October. Thanks so much for the assistance!

 

Captain Ronn

[Ms411]

In "The Book of Stones" by Robert Simmons, he mentions healing qualities for many stones including larimar.

 

In short, it's supposed to aid communication, and calm the wearer (kind of like the sea's ability to calm, I guess). Most of the information sheets given by the stores in St Thomas focus on where the stone was found and how it got its name.

 

Capt Ronn, happy larimar hunting, and please enjoy your visit to St Thomas.