Amid the diversity of shops in Port Washington, including the many family-run businesses that have served our community for many years, Magnum Sands Point Shop, is a relative newcomer with seven youthful years in town. However a look behind the sparkling window displays of this retail jewelry shop reveals a business that has been in existence for more than 160 years.

The Robert Bartholomew jewelry business was founded in Leghorn, Italy in 1840, and opened its first American operation in New York City in the early 1900s as an importer of precious stones. Seven years ago, the fifth generation of the Mazza family to own and operate the business relocated the company to Port Washington to bring the family business closer to the family's home base. Over the years, the Mazza family has grown and developed the Robert Bartholomew company from an importer of precious stones to designers and manufacturers of fine jewelry and added two retail outlets, one in Port Washington and one in Greenwich CT, that trade under the name Magnum Jewelers. Today, Magnum Sands Point Shop at 15 Main Street is a delightful emporium of quality jewelry and fine gifts including an impressive selection of difficult to find jewelry boxes and a very select range of Longchamps products including pocketbooks, traveling valet trays and briefcases. However it is not the quality or wide selection of merchandise that will surprise the seasoned shoppers who have come to expect the best from our town's purveyors, but the fact that 85 percent of the jewelry on display in the shop is produced on the premises.

Handcrafting jewelry under the original Robert Bartholomew company name, the Port Washington premises not only produces the majority of the jewelry for sale at Magnum but also thousands more pieces that each year are shipped to independent retail stores for sale across America. In addition to the retail outlets, the Robert Bartholomew designers also work directly with companies such as Yves St. Laurent and Jose Cuervo who commission specially produced items for corporate gifts and while many people were familiar with the Live with Regis and Kathie Lee show, few ever realized that the gorgeous assortment of jewelry sported by Kathie Lee during the series was almost exclusively produced by Robert Bartholomew right here in Port Washington.

Many shoppers who enter the Magnum store are so focused on the wonderland of gifts and jewelry in the display cases that they do not notice the glass doors separating the retail side of the business from the manufacturing side. But just behind a display case of Charriol jewelry and designer watches and timepieces, part of the Robert Bartholomew production team can be seen at workbenches cutting Mabe pearls and setting precious stones into their unique designs. Four members of the Mazza family; sisters, Laura and Janet, brother Bob Jr. and father Bob Sr. are currently active in the running of the business and are supported by a 15-member production team. A recent addition to the workforce is Donal Keogh who as vice president of marketing is using his Internet marketing experience to set up two websites for the company. One website will be dedicated to the retail business of Magnum Jewelers allowing shoppers to view and purchase their items online and the other will make the Robert Bartholomew line of jewelry available to wholesalers worldwide.

The behind the scenes business of Robert Bartholomew may not be as glamorous as their finished products but it is fascinating. The production process begins with Laura and brother Bob who work together to design new pieces for their extensive selection, combining inspired originality with seasonal trends to meet their customers' high expectations. Once a new design has been agreed upon it is carved in metal or wax and this unique piece is used to produce a mold that can then be used again and again. Each mold is numbered and Keogh said every mold ever produced is stored on the premises so any one of the thousands of Robert Bartholomew designs can be re-created going back to day one.

The next step in production is the casting process known as lost wax casting. The mold is filled with soft wax to produce a wax model of the piece. Several wax models are linked together and the result is a tree of jewelry sometimes with as many as 25 items. The wax jewelry tree is suspended in a flask, and "investment," a substance much like plaster, is poured around it. The invested flask is then placed in a kiln and the wax model is slowly melted out until only the negative cavity remains. Molten precious metal, such as gold or platinum is then centrifugally spun into this negative space and allowed to cool and solidify. After the metal "tree" has been removed from the plaster and the individual pieces disconnected, there follows the long finishing process. The excess piece of metal that joined the piece to the tree must be cut and ground and various polishing media are used to bring the piece to a highly polished state, then if gemstones are to be set they are mounted just prior to the final polish. From the pouring into the mold to the final buffing and polishing the process takes about 48 hours and, while daily production varies the team can produce as many as 75 pieces or more a day.

According to owner and designer Laura Mazza, one of the added advantages of having the skilled production team on-site is the ability to repair and reproduce jewelry at the customer's request. For anyone who has lost a treasured heirloom or one half of a favorite pair of earrings, the Robert Bartholomew team can reproduce the piece. This can be achieved either by working with the original half of a pair or walking through the design process with the customer and producing drawings and wax models until the original piece once again comes to life. Obviously individual pieces such as these take longer to produce, whether they are replacements or original designs, with the process taking two weeks or more from start to finish. Another benefit to hand crafting pieces on the premises is the flexibility with which the pieces can be adapted to the consumers' individual desires. Hence a yellow gold bracelet set with rubies can be reproduced as a white gold bracelet set with diamonds or whatever your heart desires and the pocketbook can afford.

Many residents of and visitors to Port Washington appreciate the town for, among other things, its diversity and artistic community and yet most are unaware that Main Street houses a family run business that produces handcrafted jewelry that is sold across America. While Magnum is just one of the many storefronts that makes shopping in Port Washington such a unique experience it is the treasures hidden behind the scenes at Magnum that are yet another sign that Port Washington has more to offer than the average town.