My husband, Jim, is from Providence, RI, just a stone’s throw away from the factory where many of the EternaGold jewelry items are made. After our first show together, Ted Leach kindly extended an open invitation to tour the factory.
There are so attributes about EternaGold that are incredible. My favorites are the strength of their gold and their Limited Lifetime Manufacturer’s Warranty. Who does that??
Anyhoo, 2 years later, I finally made my way to Attleboro, Mass for the tour, and it was awesome!! I was so happy that my sister-in-law, Carmen, who is a jewelry fanatic, was able to come with me. The first thing we saw were bricks of gold (actually, they were more like 2x4’s of gold). I kid you not! We were both blown away by that and that the vast scope of technology, innovation and the sheer size of the factory. It was huge! Here are a few pictures of our trip last Spring (captions by Ted Leach).
Cupels in the fire assay lab. The little beads are pure gold.
- A cupel is a shallow, porous container in which gold or silver can be refined or assayed by melting with a blast of hot air (which oxidizes lead or other base metals).
Leach & Garner gold casting grain (nuggets of gold used as raw material for casting jewelry).
Picture of Ted’s grandfather Ed Leach (on the right) who founded Leach & Garner in 1899, and his partner Stephen H. Garner on Ed Leach’s dock in Vermont. C. 1945.
Wire being drawn through diamond dyes.
Discs of gold to be formed into tubing.
Polishing shot. This is used in the finishing process by tumbling jewelry in it to clean it and polish it.
Patent on Leach & Garner Gold.
Grigory Raykhtsaum—co inventor of Leach & Gold
