A Little History, Part 1

Back in 1968 I went to work as an apprentice at Millers International. Ken Miller then the owner put me on the line to do production work. I put in heads filed castings and got real good at making the gold fashion original jewelry line. Several years went by and Ken put me in the custom jewelers department. There I blossomed because I worked with some great jewelers like, Tom Gardner, Gail Madsen, Bennie Katz, (a Auschwitz survivor). So many great jewelers and engravers went through that I was in heaven. I worked with everyone. Julius Olson was one of the greatest engravers I have known.
One fine day I was drafted into the army. Viet Nam was in full bloom and after infantry training that’s where I went. I spent 18 months there and of course I had some injuries but I made it…
Back to Millers and there I enjoyed more freedom to expand my art skills and I learned to draw jewelry. Many times Bob Miller would have me talk to the customer and learn what they really wanted. I was so successful that they had me talk to all the customers on all the custom work. And soon I was the head jeweler in the custom department. Even though some of the other very talented jewelers did the work, I had to oversee all of it. We turned out 3 to 5 custom pieces daily. There were some of the most creative pieces of jewelry that time period, (1970’s). I got to personally take on some very detailed and wonderful custom jewelry designs and make them myself.