Introductory - New to PriceScope

[WhitehouseBrothers]

We see the name Whitehouse Brothers come up on PriceScope from time to time. As a representative of Whitehouse, I wanted to join the community and introduce myself. My name is Daniel Wanstrath. My brother, Scott, and I work at Whitehouse Brothers in Cincinnati. We grew up in the jewelry business, but joined Whitehouse 4 years ago. Today, we concentrate on die-striking Whitehouse mountings for our customers across the US. We enjoy not only the jewelry business, but the tool & die making process. Die design has become a specialty for us and an area of constant development. We hope to add some value and learn from others on PriceScope.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Welcome, Daniel! Many of us appreciate die-struck rings, and also there is such a love of old cuts diamonds here that I think your antique settings and wedding bands will gain some fans!

 

[OneFifty]

Hello and welcome!

Can you tell me a little bit more about die-struck jewelry (i.e. what it means)? Sorry, newbie here! Thanks!

 

[WhitehouseBrothers]

Thanks diamondseeker2006. Not trying to get too commercial here, but we do offer a unique service.

Not only do we die-strike our own styles, we have many requests for contour fitted wedding bands to match customer's original antique mountings. As a special order, we can match up one of our die-struck band blanks and hand fit it to the customer's original mounting. We set any number of stones and engrave the band to match the original antique mounting, so they look like an original set. Here is a sample image:

http://www.whitehousebrothers.com/53-370-thickbox/Array.jpg

I know this is a hard find sometimes and customers don't know where to get this type of work done.

 

[WhitehouseBrothers]

Hello and welcome!

Can you tell me a little bit more about die-struck jewelry (i.e. what it means)? Sorry, newbie here! Thanks!

OneFifty thanks for the question. In general, Die-Striking is the process of forging metal between die surfaces. For Whitehouse, this means we melt raw metal and roll sheet in Gold, Platinum or Palladium a desired thickness. You end up with a strip of metal.

We have dies that are two sided (male and female) that is a negative shape of the part we wish to strike. The dies are inserted into a press and the strip of precious metal is placed between the two surfaces. We startup the press and give the strip of metal a good squeeze between the die surfaces. We have a few different machines that can force up to 30 tons of pressure. The blank part is formed and can then be trimmed from the sheet.

Each die-strike ring is made up of several parts that are assembled to make a mounting.

Since our rings are pierced, we take the blank parts and saw out the filigree details and pre-polish the parts before assembly.

After the ring is assembled the semi-finished ring is pre-polished again inside and out.

We then bright cut and bead set the diamonds. We layout and engrave the patterns specific to each style.

Another polish is then applied to the inside of the head before setting the center stone.

The center stone is set.

The final polish is applied to the exterior.

The idea behind all of the polishing is to get the parts finished properly, so the inside of the mounting looks as good as the outside. A die-struck ring is much like a handmade ring, except you have tools or dies to aid in the manufacturing process, making it more efficient.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Beautiful! Very good to know you do that!

 

[ame]

SO NEAT to have you aboard. Love that you spelled out the process very plainly as well

 

[WhitehouseBrothers]

Hello and welcome!

Can you tell me a little bit more about die-struck jewelry (i.e. what it means)? Sorry, newbie here! Thanks!

Here is part two. What are the benefits?

-A major benefit of die-striking is the super compressed the metal. The metal is very dense & durable
-Dense metal means durable & sharp/vivid details (piercing, engraving, setting, and milgrain).
-Super compressed metal bright cuts to a very high finish. If you bright cut cast metal, you will see haziness to the metal. The haziness is due to small pits or porosity in the metal.
-The polish of a die-struck ring, simply put is awesome. The first time I saw a finish put on a die-struck ring, I could not believe how it glows.
-With a die-struck ring you will have a beautiful product that will last for generations. It is not uncommon to see pieces that are 75-100 years old that still look nice.

Drawbacks:

Some believe cost is an issue. With our experience in handmade, casting, and die-striking; this is not the case. With proper tooling and efficient manufacturing methods, die-striking can be just a competitive as casting. Dies are very expensive to produce and take special skills. We have a in-house machine shop where we produce tooling that is designed to be both beautiful and efficient. Through efficiency, we strive to make our "miniature sculptures" reasonably priced so that they can within reach of engagement ring buyers.

 

[Jim Summa]

Hi Daniel,
Welcome to Pricescope.

 

[WhitehouseBrothers]

Jim, Cool avatar. Being from Cincinnati, we can appreciate Charles Harper.

 

[OneFifty]

Great explanation Daniel. Thanks for all of the info. I had no idea that this was an option.

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Welcome aboard! Always good to hear from new trade members.

Jeff (Cincinnati, town of Wyoming, resident from 1992-1995)

 

[WhitehouseBrothers]

Welcome aboard! Always good to hear from new trade members.

Jeff (Cincinnati, town of Wyoming, resident from 1992-1995)

Jeff, We are not too far away from Wyoming. Not sure if you remember the area. If you go up Glendale-Milford into Blue Ash. Right by the airport and Reed Hartman Highway.

 

[Rockdiamond]

HI Daniel,
Welcome to PS!

I think I know your brother- was he based out of an NYC diamond house in the '90's?

 

[WhitehouseBrothers]

HI Daniel,
Welcome to PS!

I think I know your brother- was he based out of an NYC diamond house in the '90's?

Rockdiamond, My uncle's name is also Scott Wanstrath. He worked for Fabrikant for many years. I am sure that is who you are thinking of. We have three generations of family in the jewelry business, starting with my grandfather in the 1930s.

 

[pandabee]

Welcome! I am not too far from you...may have to see what's down there sometime!

 

[Jim Summa]

Thanks Daniel,
I think I’ve seen Harper’s work.
Speaking of Cincinnati I have seen John Roebling’s masterpiece across the Ohio.....

 

[Rockdiamond]

HI Daniel,
Welcome to PS!

I think I know your brother- was he based out of an NYC diamond house in the '90's?

Rockdiamond, My uncle's name is also Scott Wanstrath. He worked for Fabrikant for many years. I am sure that is who you are thinking of. We have three generations of family in the jewelry business, starting with my grandfather in the 1930s.

Hi Daniel,
Please call me David!
Next time you speak to your uncle, please send my regards. We did work a Fabrikant during the same time for a while.

 

[WinkHPD]

Welcome.


Another vendor willing to share procedures and techniques is always going to be well received here. I look forward to seeing more of your posts.

Wink

 

[WhitehouseBrothers]

Hi Daniel,
Please call me David!
Next time you speak to your uncle, please send my regards. We did work a Fabrikant during the same time for a while.

David,
I will tell him. You have some really nicely made mountings on your website. Great jewelry and very clean setting work!

 

[Rockdiamond]

Thank you Daniel!
And thanks for the great explanation of the die striking procedure and characteristics.
Being from the "old school" I remember how companies like Church, and Jabel made the cleanest pieces- and were known a the best in the business.
I loooove die stuck pieces.
I remember the investment necessary for each piece by the manufacturer made it cost prohibitive for the "mainstream" market.

 

[Karl_K]

Welcome to PS!
I have always been a fan of die-struck jewelery.
It is nice to see someone still doing high end settings using it instead of just for the typical simple mass production parts.
It is really somewhat of a lost art in my opinion so its nice to see someone keeping the torch going.

 

[Karl_K]

Thank you Daniel!
And thanks for the great explanation of the die striking procedure and characteristics.
Being from the "old school" I remember how companies like Church, and Jabel made the cleanest pieces- and were known a the best in the business.
I loooove die stuck pieces.
I remember the investment necessary for each piece by the manufacturer made it cost prohibitive for the "mainstream" market.

What many people do not know is many of the old pieces that people drool over today were die-struck then hand pierced. Which is a large part of the reason they are still around after a hundred years.

 

[Laila619]

Hi and welcome to PS! Always great to see new trade folks join.

 

[mandasand]

Thank you so much for the explanation! I am currently looking at a die struck engagement ring and wedding band. I don't believe the e-ring is stamped with a brand but the wedding band is stamped Granat. The e-ring has a beautiful filagree design motif on the sides and a OEC center. The wedding band is platinum and diamonds. It's exactly the vintage set I've been longing for and we've been looking at rings for over a year! I've heard about die-struck before but I really didn't know what it was so this has helped a lot. Do you happen to have a video of the process?

 

[oldminer]

Welcome aboard! There are many of us here who love the way antique jewelry looks and yearn for more available alternatives. One of my specialties has been in old cut diamonds, so I already appreciate the character of your line of reproductions.