u/ChampionshipIll4942

I purchased these Sapphires a few years ago from an auction on whim. It has several different sizes and cuts (total is about 20 carats) with the largest being an oval cut around 5.5 carats. The larger stones are darker blue with a green tint under normal light but appear to be natural (when held over a flashlight you can see the silk lines). My question is, I have a 10 year anniversary coming up and wanted to make some custom jewelry for my loved one. Are the large stones too dark to use and still look nice? She really likes white gold and I was thinking about having a pendant, ring and possibly earrings made. Since I want to make a set, I wanted to possibly use these unless it would detract from the gift. I really appreciate the advice!!

I own these three silver Japanese boxes; 1 is pure silver and made by Mitsukoshi and the other 2 are silver and wood for either cigarettes or jewelry (one by Wako and one unidentified). The pure silver box is tarnishing spotty and appears it was cleaned by a previous owner improperly. Also one of the smaller boxes has warped on the inside and will not shut fully. I am considering cleaning and possibly attempting to restore the small box so it shuts but wanted opinions on if I should leave it as is. I also included a picture of what the items looks like when purchased about 3-4 years ago. Thank you in advance for the advice!

Made between 1900-1910 in Germany by Martin Mayer in 925 silver with purple guilloché enamel on a sunburst pattern with a vermile interior. It has a hefty weight just over 2.5 ozt including the enamel and a hinged lid with marks indicating it was imported to London for sale in 1912 by Erich Kellerman. A really beautiful piece with an interesting history - just wanted to share!

For week 5 I made 6 asiago bagels and 3 onion and 3 plain with some salt. I also used the Asiago bagels for sandwiches which were delicious! This week I switched back to 6 sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan and 3 onion 3 plain with salt. I also included a photo of the dough for the sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan after the cold proof before the boil since it looked really good!

I purchased these in an auction - won all 5 (there are 2 of the frog) for just under $150. I love how whimsical they are and the detail! They are about 5 to 6 inches tall.

Made another dozen (4 plain with some finishing salt, 2 onion, and 6 grated Parmesan inside and on top). I feel like I am getting closer, still having trouble getting the outside to be crisp. I was able to correct my last batch being slightly flatter by boiling directly from the fridge instead of allowing them to come to room temp. Also getting a little better at hand rolling while keeping them an even all the way around. Open to any suggestions on how to crisp up the outside for my batch next week if anyone would like to share!

Edit: They crisped up after the cooled so one step closer! Still open to suggestions though if anyone has some.

This week for my third batch I made 6 sun-dried tomato and Parmesan (left) and 5 plain with a little salt and 1 onion (right). Overall came out pretty good but I made some changes that I think caused a few issues that I will need to tweak. I hand rolled all of the bagels this week vs using the punch through with my thumb on half last week; this caused a few air pockets and some uneven areas. I also didn’t stretch them enough after so almost all the holes closed. For changes, I added baking soda to the boil and increased the bake time to get them a little crispier! For bonus points I added an onion board I made as well, I know it’s not a bagel but I just thought I would share!

This is my second ever batch of bagels, decided to cook a dozen (this is from last weekend). They came out pretty good, left are Asiago bagels and right are Everything, Onion, and plain with sea salt. I am making another batch this weekend but of Sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan and 6 plain. I’ll post the results after they are baked.