Welcome to the T.R. Hawkinson website.

Keeping History Alive

I always tell people that I’m a history buff and a jewelry making fanatic. I made my first piece of jewelry in 1971. In high school at this time I took a history class. The instructor, Richard Demers, was a great history teacher and captivating story teller. We hardly touched a book and yet studied French, German and Russian histories. This interest survived as a fascination (and perhaps obsession) of the history of jewelry style and technique. The time frame I research is from 1820 to 1930. This window of time included Queen Victoria, her son King Edward, Art Nouveau, the Golden Age of Buttons, Dard Hunter, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and the Arts & Crafts Period. Celtic designs, filigree designs, antique trains, vintage motorcycles and tin ceiling tiles were included in my research.

Being also a scavenger hunter I began looking for tools and examples of the work made at those times. From Minneapolis to Rhode Island, and from Florida to Great Britain, the search has yielded some tremendous finds. Steel jewelry making dies were the first treasures. Detailed patterns were carved into steel. Then, gold or silver was pressed into them like coins are made. I found that the dies still worked! Jewelry could be produced with the same techniques used over 150 years ago. The jewelers of a bygone era could never have realized that the tools they made would still produce beautiful jewelry today. With emphasis placed on style, quality and craftsmanship I could see why these tools produced some of the most beautiful jewelry ever made.

Included in this search was the desire to uncover original designs, and antique jewelry requiring restoration. Turn of the century periodicals and graphic designs could be used as tools to keep history alive. Designs never before made into jewelry could be rescued from the pages of some obscure journal crumbling from time. Old and worn out jewelry could also be restored to its original condition for reproduction. What a challenge!

Please search each group and note that some of these patterns could have been appreciated by your great great great grandparents.

Todd Hawkinson

Please check out what we have to offer!

All of our items are hand-crafted in the USA and made at the time of order.

To view the martial arts jewelry we have, please visit www.trhawkinson.com.

If you have any problems with our store, please e-mail us at
trhltd@qwestoffice.net or call us at 651-227-3921.